[pct-l] Glacier Peak bypass

[ietura at wanadoo.es (Inaki Díaz de Etura López)]

I went south bound through the High Pass route. There's a trail all the way but it fades out in a few places. Rock cairns help sometimes, others it's just a matter of keeping on the right direction till the trail appears again. There's no off-trail bushwalking but low on the Napeequa valley the tread is narrow, faint at times and goes through dense brush. Not difficult but surely not to PCT standards. The climb up to the upper part of the valley (if going north) was very steep but otherwise easy through the alder. It'd have  been very difficult here without a trail. The upper Napeequa valley has very low brush so the going is easy. It helps to know where you have to go as this is the part where the trail disappears momentarily a few times.

The High Pass area was probably the most beautiful part of my hike. North of the pass there's a tricky section while crossing a rocky bowl where there's no trail and late season snow (nearly none left when I went through in mid August), after that it's an easy and spectacular trail down to Buck Creek Pass.

In good weather, I'd take this route as it's much shorter than the official detour and avoids quite a few up and downs. It'd be tricky in low visibility conditions though.

Does anybody know if the official detour will be still in place and just the same for the 05 season?

Inaki