First 5.5 miles (up to Mackinaw Shelter) is wet, muddy and full of horse dropping at times, mossy old growth forest. A family was building a bridge over Red Creek. 3.2 miles of zigzag to the junction of PCT. 2 miles to the left (west) till Red Pass. Took me almost 7 hours from ~2200 ft till ~6400 ft! 2 perfect camp sites just below the pass to the west, overlooking a lovely valley, close to a patch of ice for water. Once emerged from the forest, less bugs, and huge slope of meadow. Flowers were past the prime, but still quite nice. Huckleberry was ripening. Leaves were turning color. Clouds moved in in late afternoon. Freezing at night.
A family of grouse woke me up on Sunday to a sunny blue sky. Fog lingered in the valley, adding a touch of ephemeral beauty. Mt Rainier was clear. Hiked up north to Portal Peak ~7000 ft. Magnificent 360ยบ view. Found a geology society survey cap of 1945, and a geo-cache. Wrote a note. Retraced PCT and left the backpack at the junction. Continued east to White Pass (~5800 ft). 
Endless meadow (lots of lupine pods), many possible camp sites, but no water. Too lazy to climb the barren White Mountain (~7000 ft), opted for a plateau (~6500 ft) just south of the pass covered with false hellebore. Took 4 hours back from the junction to TH (8.7 miles). Total human encounter: ~dozen. Half of these went solo.
Direction: Mt Loop Hwy, just north of Badel, turn SE on FSRD 49 (7 miles north of Barlow Pass, or 16 miles south of Darrington) for 6.7 miles.
