<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/34095232924/in/album-72157681263747784/" title="Chiwawa and Fortress"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4271/34095232924_e9706ac07e_b.jpg" alt="Chiwawa and Fortress"/></a> - [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/albums/72157681263747784/) - Distance: 35 miles - Elevation gain: 7300ft - Elapsed time: 17 hours - Area: [[Glacier Peak Wilderness]] - Gear: Snowshoes, ice axe I wanted to do a more remote solo hike this weekend, but it was challenging to pick a good destination with the current snowpack. I wasn't comfortable with exposure to wet slides and cornice failure. After eliminating various things from my to-do list, I decided to attempt something along the Suiattle River, depending on how it was going Image Lake, Middle Ridge or Cloudy Pass. The last one was my preferred destination, but it is crazy far so I wanted to have some backup options if I didn’t make enough progress. I saw a WTA trip report last year from somebody who did Cloudy Pass as a dayhike, and with snow expected only in the last 5-7 miles I thought this may be feasible. The day didn’t start to great. I drove into some sizable rocks on the road that caused an immediate flat tire. I had never replaced a tire, but at 4:30am in the dark I ventured in the trunk of my car to see what's in there. Fortunately, I managed to figure out how to replace the tire, and lost only about 20 minutes. This happened right before the Downey Creek trailhead. I think there are often rocks on the road there, so be careful. We (me and my dog Liesl) started at 5am from the [[Suiattle River Trail]] trailhead. The forest is beautiful, and there are currently an incredible number of Calypso orchids. There is not much Trillum (not even later at higher elevation), not sure why. The creeks are running very high, and some crossing will get your boot wets. We reached the PCT in about 2 hours, and continued to the Image Lake intersection, which took another hour.   WTA was working on the trail. In the first miles they seem to be doing mostly minor maintenance, but a bit before the Image Lake trail I ran into a second crew who are removing blowdowns (my favorite trail maintenance for sure!). We chatted briefly and I promised to count blowdowns on the remainder of the trail. The trail gets more interesting after the Image Lake trail, with more views and variation in where the trail runs. Right after the Image Lake intersection there is finally a nice view of [[Glacier Peak]]. The climb to the Middle Ridge shoulder was easy (PCT grade). Getting there took another hour (now 4 hours total). I was still feeling pretty well, so decided to continue to attempt Suiattle Pass and perhaps Cloudy. There is one nasty blowdown that I had to squeeze under (no bark). This may be a challenging one for some, but the WTA crew was heading in this direction. The Miners Creek drainage is a lot longer than I remembered from the map, but we finally reached the intersection with the Buck Creek trail in another hour (now 5 hours total). I noticed some footprints, so somebody has been here 1-2 days before. I didn’t see prints later towards the passes. Snow started at about 4200ft. Initially, the snow was pretty annoying (pretty solid and slippery, and not deep enough, so breaking through all the time). From the bridge crossing it got better, even pleasant. I used snowshoes for a bit, but it was easier to use boots (too slippery with snowshoes and the flotation wasn’t needed). I tried to follow the PCT a bit up the ridge, but it was hard to follow. It may have been easier to just find my own route (easy terrain). Approaching Suiattle Pass the views open up on Glacier Peak and the upper Miners Creek drainage with Fortress and Chiwawa. This was my first time seeing these mountains from this angle, and I was quite impressed! [[Suiattle Pass]] was nice, but there are quite a few trees and the pass is a bit too low for truly excellent views on Glacier Peak and other mountains. I forgot to check the time, but I think I was there around noon.  [[Cloudy Pass]] looked appealing and we had enough time, so I decided to continue. From satellite pictures I had already figured out that the shortcut and the terrain below it was a no-go area for avalanches, so I detoured roughly following the PCT down. The climb up Cloudy Pass was easy with the clear gully to follow. I decided to go a little higher towards Cloudy Peak for better views, which was definitely worth it (Glacier Peak is partially blocked on the pass itself). I took way too many photos of Dumbell, Chiwawa and Fortress, which are gorgeous from Cloudy Pass. The soft snow with a good foundation was excellent for walking back. The route down from Suiattle Pass was a bit clumsy. I tried to avoid some elevation gain, but that didn’t work out so great. The walk out was largely uneventful, just very long. We saw a couple of deer when it got dark. Finally got back to the car at 10pm and drove down the road very carefully ... Except for the WTA crews, I only saw two other parties coming in. <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/34550947040/in/album-72157681263747784/" title="Glacier Peak on way out"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4247/34550947040_ea9c574a55_b.jpg" alt="Glacier Peak on way out"/></a>