Bald Eagle/Pilot Ridge July, 2003

A trip that had always seemed alluring was the "Bald Eagle Loop" from the Mountaineers 100 Hikes series. After all these years, I finally decided to plan the trip for late July. I needed a hiking partner, and Tom was interested in the area. We met on the appointed weekday morning, and started up I-5, cutting over past Darrington to the Bald Eagle trailhead, far up the North Fork Sauk River road. We leisurely arrived at the trailhead at about 10:00 am, already feeling the heat - the forecast was for hot temps for a few days. In three days we would be coming out 2.5 miles back down the road at the North Fork Sauk trailhead. Somehow we would make it back to the truck. This wasn't important now, as we were eager to get started up the trail.

Nearing Curry Gap, looking back to the NW at Sloan Peak

Curry Gap is a narrow, lush meadow with lots of greenery

After climbing from Curry Gap we traversed steep meadows

The first 2.5 miles of the Bald Eagle trail is an old roadbed, easy to hike. It had been a very dry summer so far, but water was found at several places. The old road turned into a trail, and it climbs very slightly to the narrow green meadows of Curry Gap at 4 miles. We stopped for a bite to eat, it had taken us about 2 hours to get to the Gap. From the trail intersection, we turned uphill and began the steep switchbacks towards Bald Eagle Mountain. The trail on this section was nice and smooth, having been the subject of recent trail maintenance. After about an hour of trudging, we were rewarded by views and an easy tread that swept across steep meadows. Soon we crossed the ridge, and passed below the summit of Bald Eagle Mountain on rough open slopes.

The Monte Cristo range is seen on the climb towards Bald Eagle Mtn

On the ridge past Bald Eagle, are the meadows of Long John Camp

Spring Camp has an established campsite and a good water source

From the side of Bald Eagle Mountain, the trail descends slightly along the ridge. After about 2.5 hours from Curry Gap, we reached the open meadows of Long John Camp (UTM: 631339mE 5313528mN). There was a small meltwater pond there with water that could be filtered. The clouds of mosquitoes pushed us on past, where we climbed the ridge gradually towards Long John Mountain. An hour past Long John Camp put us at Spring Camp (UTM: 632519mE 5314828mN) by 4:00 pm, where we took an extended rest and rehydrated ourselves. Spring Camp has an established campsite, next to the spring. Originally we thought we would end the day here at Spring Camp, but with more hours left in the day, we pressed on towards June Mountain.

The trail traversed large meadows below Long John Mountain

As we neared June Mountain, Pilot Ridge could be seen in the distance

Little Blue Lake at sunset with Johnson Mtn in the background

After about 5 minutes of hiking past Spring Camp, the trail suddenly breaks out into the open and traverses huge meadows below Long John Mountain. This was probably the most beautiful section of trail seen that day, with more to come the next day. The trail then entered the forested ridge for a while, and then started to climb in more open slopes, switchbacking up towards the summit of June Mountain. We stopped at a nice viewpoint for a while, just short of the summit. It would be possible to camp on one of the level benches here, and some patches of snow lingered to provide pools of filterable water. We could see over to Pilot Ridge from here, as well as down to Little Blue Lake. By this time, it was nearing 6:00 pm. We decided to push on the Little Blue Lake to camp. We climbed up near the summit of June Mountain, then down a draw on many switchbacks to where the trail traversed over to the lake. It was about 7:00 pm now, and we found a horsey but suitable campsite on the SE side of the lake.

Little Blue Lake from the climb to Big Blue Lake, June Mtn behind

Blue Lake from the outlet, side of Johnson Mtn behind

The Pilot Ridge trail starts steep past the Blue Lake junction

Little Blue was a nice place to camp, the bugs seemed to have found somewhere else to hang out. The next morning came bright and hot. We broke camp at about 9:00 am and followed the trail for about 15 minutes to the Blue Lake/Pilot Ridge junction. The Blue Lake trail led steeply up for a short while to the lake, which was deserted. Many beautiful campsites were everywhere, and a privy somewhere in the bushes. We hung around the lake and explored for about an hour. Then we packed up, went down the trail to the junction, and climbed the steep start of the Pilot Ridge trail.

Climbing Pilot Ridge, looking back at the Blue Lake area

Climbing a spur of Johnson Mountain (in background) through flowers

Looking ahead at the trail passing below point 6305'

The famed meadows of Pilot Ridge started right away, and continued for miles. At first steep, the trail soon leveled off somewhat as it approached the west spur of Johnson Mountain. We finally reached the junction for the route to the top of Johnson Mountain at about noon. Tom dropped off most of his gear and started off towards the top. I was tired and going to keep plodding for another mile, and see what the camping looked like, on Pilot Ridge just north of point 6305' where there were some meltwater tarns.

Remaining snow near Tarn Camp area, just NW of point 6305'

Looking NE over the ridge to Glacier Peak, Red/White Passes

The beautiful meadows of Pilot Ridge and the route back home

After a leisurely mile, with stops to eat, the GPS indicated the spot to turn up from the trail to the ridge. It was steep but short to the ridge where there were snow banks and 2 small ponds. Someone with a horse had been all around the first tarn. Yuck. I left the pack and climbed over the top to the 2nd tarn, and sat around taking the view in towards Glacier Peak. This would be a great place to camp, and interestingly just a day or two before, fellow hiker Jim K. had camped here on a similar trip. I tried to rehydrate myself, as it was brutally hot by 3:00 pm (temps would reach almost 100' in the Puget Sound area that day) and the bugs were merciless.

Soon I heard shouts from Tom, and he climbed up to one of the small steams to get water. We decided to hump it out all the way to the trailhead that afternoon, and soon started down the Pilot Ridge trail at about 3:30. The miles of ridge walking, mostly downhill was a dream. To stop meant sweating in the hot sun, with hundreds of flies swarming on unprotected skin. At about 6:00 pm, we started down the steep punishing switchbacks to the North Fork Sauk, reaching the bottom painfully at 7:30. The final trudge put us at the North Fork trailhead at about 8:30, where we luckily were able to hitch a ride back up to the truck at the Bald Eagle trailhead.

References:

• 100 Hikes in the Glacier Peak Region - Mountaineers. Bald Eagle Loop.
• Don't Waste Your Time in the North Cascades - Copeland. Pilot Ridge/Blue Lakes trail info.
• Routes and Rocks: Glacier Peak to Lake Chelan - Crowder/Tabor. Blue Lakes trail.