[mbravenboer]

TLDR: - No snowshoes needed (fortunately I did not bring them) - Ice axe and traction needed (for me, but I prefer to be safe on steeper traverses) - Maybe 10 inch of fresh snow at Mutton Mountain. No older snow below the fresh snow there. It seems like this will all melt next week again. - Deep Creek is obliterated by blowdowns from the road to 4500ft. Very unpleasant. - 23 miles loop, 5400ft gain I started at the Palisades trail at 4:30am. I started there because 1) I thought it would be a nice loop and 2) my guess was that gaining elevation would be easier there in the dark than at Deep Creek (which turned out to be very true). I would not want to do Deep Creek in the dark. I was at Little Ranger Peak at 7am. I carried a lot of gear (notably a heavy lens), so it was a bit slow going. Until Little Ranger Peak there was almost no snow (just a dusting). The last section up Little Ranger had a few inches of fresh snow. The flat section just above Little Ranger has quite a few blowdowns from the fire, but not too terrible (nothing compared to Deep Creek). The Dalles Ridge traverse was fairly easy travel. There is some steeper traversing around 30-40%, for which I prefer to use ice axe and crampons. It helps to have CalTopo open with slope shading so you can pick the easiest path. Views at Noble Knob were fantastic. I brought a 100-400mm lens (earlier I had only used it for animals in Costa Rica) and was pretty happy with the result. Traverse from Noble Knob to Mutton Mountain similarly has some 30-35% traverse. I do not mind going straight up 40% at all, but extended traverses I find pretty unpleasant. I used ice axe again. Mutton Mountain also had nice views, but honestly it did feel a little redundant after Noble Knob. Deep Creek is really bad due to the 2017 Norse Peak fire. There was not enough snow coverage to cover up hundreds of blowdowns, many kind of hard to get over. It was physically quite demanding after a long day. If you go up and down that route, you are not having a good time unless you have some sick fascination with blowdowns. Erosion and washouts are also starting due to the fire. This trail does not appear to have a bright future ahead. White River trail back also has some burn sections, but gets pleasant after Dry Creek. All photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/albums/72177720314741679/

View from Pt 5661 on Dalles Ridge

Big Snow, Thomson, Huckleberry from Dalles Ridge

Chikamin, Lemah, Summit Chief, Hibox, Bears Breast from Dalles Ridge

Looking north towards Snoqualmie Pass area from Dalles Ridge

Kaleetan and Chair Peak from Dalles Ridge

Noble Knob from Dalles Ridge (approached from Palisades)

Big Snow, Thomson, Huckleberry from Dalles Ridge

Alpine Lakes Wilderness panorama from Dalles Ridge

Approaching Noble Knob

Trail directions at Noble Knob

Mt Stuart from Noble Knob

Noble Knob looking back at Dalles Ridge

Kaleetan and Chair from Noble Knob. The treeless ridge is Granite Mountain.

Lundin and Big Snow from Noble Knob

Lemah and Chimney Rock area in the clouds

Enchantments from Noble Knob

Glacier Peak briefly visible behind Thomson and Huckleberry

Lemah and Chimney Rock area in the clouds

Little Tahoma and Mt Rainier

Little Tahoma

Mt Rainier

Mt Rainier from Mutton Mountain

Ridge towards Mutton

View towards Castle Mountain

View from Mutton towards Stuart - The massive 2017 Norse Peak fire in the foreground

Little Tahoma from Mutton Mountain

Mt Rainier from Mutton Mountain

GPS track of Noble Knob and Mutton traverse

GPS track around Noble Knob

[zephyr]

[mbravenboer]

[RichP]

Monster hike. Great photos, Martin.

[hearingjd]

Thanks Martin, about Deep Creek trail-- based on what you said sounds like over a mile of blowdowns... Any guess on the number of trees down? 100?? I helped USFS cut out Corral Pass road last year and we cut over 400 trees to get the road cleared, so guessing that will be nearly as bad as last year, based on what you encountered...

[mbravenboer]

[uww]

Nice one! Thanks for all the amazing photos- I've only seen clouds from up there.

[thuja]

Your comments about the Deep Creek trail are interesting. I've been up down it several times since the 2017 fire and not had issues with much in the way of blowdowns. Assuming you were following the summer trail these must be more recent.

[mbravenboer]