White Pass and Sand Flats Horse Camps, Washington

I had to take about three weeks off from riding, due to an injury, so me and my pony were both chomping at the bit, to get back out camping. White Pass and Sand Flats, with all their beautiful scenery, were just what the doctor ordered.

On the PCT near White Pass.

Driving still bothers my injury (riding does not, luckily) but I had to do a fairly long drive in order to get out of the wildfire smoke back at home, so when I arrived at White Pass, I was extremely delighted to finally exit the truck. I was the only horse person camped there the first two nights.

If you are heading west, White Pass Horse Camp is to the right just off Hwy 12, a 1/4 of a mile before you get to the summit and ski hill. There is a campground/trailhead sign and a horse riding sign, but nothing on the highway that actually says horse camp. Once you get to the camp/PCT trailhead, which is shaped a bit like a lopsided figure eight, there is a pretty wide open area, and then an additional camp loop. The loop is nice and shaded, but it is closer to the highway. The sites are not numbered, but there are 6 in the loop and then an additional 12 if you count the open area with all of the hitching rails and little pullouts. It seems to me that the camp was configured differently in the past. Several of the extra spots are not as nice, and it's obvious that no one uses them. There is a bathroom and you can find stock water from a nearby creek, however it's too far to haul it back to camp. There is no manure bin, and it is free with a NW Forest Pass. Bigger rigs can fit into the open area, but might have a tougher time squeezing into the loop spots. There is great cell service, at least with Verizon.

My spot, a pull through, still partially in the open area.

White Pass Horse Camp.

Leech Lake is close by, with a people campground that has an additional two bathrooms, and there are two dumpsters in a parking area near the lake. The PCT runs right through the horse camp so hikers tend to make frequent pit stops at the bathroom, and sometimes set up their tent and spend the night. Maybe it is not always like this, but the bathroom was not stocked with toilet paper and there were no new permits to fill out at both of the northern trailheads.

Leech Lake, and White Pass Ski Hill.

The first ride was to the north on the PCT, which was nicely cleared, but I did see a few ground hornet nests ( my horse did not get stung). Then I looped around via Dumbbell Lake, Cramer Lake Trail and Dark Meadow Trail. The shortcut trail past Dumbbell Lake was clear, but after that Cramer was only partially cleared. I found out later that evening, when a guy drove through camp and stopped to talk to me, that he had done the clearing, but was not able to cut the larger trees, with the size of saw that he was carrying. Everything was fairly easy to negotiate other than a very large tree right on the cliffy section of Cramer Lake Trail, at which point I had to dismount and my horse and I had to climb straight up a steep hill with loose dirt, and back down, Man From Snowy River style, to get around it.

On the PCT, heading north.

At Dumbbell Lake.

Cramer Lake.

On the Cramer Lake Trail looking over towards Dog Lake.

The William O Douglas Wilderness sign.

On the second day, I rode the PCT to the south. After crossing the highway, I was only riding for a few minutes when I came across a big downed tree, which continued to be the theme for quite some time. Eventually after climbing uphill for quite awhile, you get to the scenery, and it is worth it! The PCT runs across an open side hill for awhile, the trail is decent, but hikers do have to step off of it, in order for a horse to pass. Shoe Lake is the obvious destination for a day ride, but I rode a little bit further past it first, just to get some more views of my beloved Goat Rocks. I've always loved that area since I first visited it about 10 years ago.

Mt. Rainier.

On the PCT in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

On the PCT.

On the PCT, heading south.

Looking down onto Clear and Rimrock Lakes.

The Goat Rocks.

Then I backtracked and rode cross country down to Shoe Lake. There is an actual trail that goes to the other side of the lake from the PCT, and so I rode it back up, after spending about 45 minutes chilling out down below.

Shoe Lake is stunning.

Down at Shoe Lake.

On the way back I decided to quit dodging hikers on the PCT, and more importantly, I didn't feel like going around all the downed trees again, so I followed the Chairlift Trail over to White Pass Ski Hill and rode down from there instead. Once you reach the highway you can cross it, ride through the lodge parking lot and then get onto the trail beside Leech Lake, but I decided to just ride the 1/4 of a mile along the highway instead. Since there is a very wide pullout lane I wasn't particularly close to the traffic.

On White Pass Ski Hill.

On White Pass Ski Hill, looking at the lodge and Leech Lake.

That evening I got company! Three different horse campers set up shop in the loop, and at one point or another, I met and talked with them all, exchanging info about the state of the trails.

The following day I left and drove over to Sand Flats Horse Camp. This entailed driving on a paved but bumpy road through Mt. Rainier National Park, as well as getting stuck behind a very slow moving road striping truck, all on the steepest part of the downslope, and making sure not to mow down some cyclists, having no room to move over because of a plethora of traffic coming the other way. Consequently it took an hour and a half to drive just over 40 miles.

When I arrived there were two rigs there that looked like day riders, and another rig with a couple of ladies who had just gotten back from packing in. They were parked in the one spot with shade, but they mentioned they were leaving soon, in case I wanted their site. I had found a level area by then, so I stayed where I was, but I did chat with them briefly and took a picture of a map they had of the trails. When they heard where I was from, they mentioned that I had just missed a fellow rider from my home turf, whom I have met a couple of times.

Sand Flats Horse Camp.

The one shaded spot at Sand Flats Horse Camp.

Sand Flats is a small camp, if there a lot of people there you would have a harder time maneuvering with a bigger rig. There are four sets of highline poles and some hitching rails, but you can camp wherever you feel like it. The aforementioned shady spot is the only one with a picnic table and official fire ring. There is a bathroom, a bear proof garbage receptacle and a spring fed stock water tank that is located where everyone can easily get to it, as well as water from a creek. There is no manure bin, no cell service in camp, but you get it once you ride uphill just a little ways, and it is free to camp with a NW Forest Pass.

Sand Flats Horse Camp.

The centrally located water trough at Sand Flats Horse Camp.

After the two ladies left I had the place to myself until the owners of the two other rigs rode back into camp. One of them also left, but Becca and Tracy with the Tahoma Back Country Horsemen, spent the night.

I knew the riding in this area was more suitable for a seasoned horse, but Tracy proceeded to introduce himself, and then launched into a couple of horror stories about mishaps he had had riding on the trails, including a friend's horse who had died falling off the specific switchbacks that I was planning to ride the following day. The funny thing was, once I got onto the switchbacks, I was wondering what all the fuss was about, especially once I rode some sections of the nearby PCT, which were much more sketchy. 

I always let my pony roam loose in horse camps to graze, if possible, and Becca and Tracy decided to let their critters out too, although with hobbles. With the water trough in the middle, we just treated the camp as a large pasture, and everyone was happy!

From Sand Flats, you could do one big loop leaving from one side of camp and returning on the other side, but I wanted to do two long rides, and I wanted the extra time for detours, so I left on the Norse Peak Trail the next morning.

On the Norse Peak Trail.

Looking at Crystal Mt. Ski Hill.

It didn't take long to reach Goat Lake. The day before, Becca and Tracy had just installed a second hitching rail above the lake. From there I followed the newly made horse route around a wash out and eventually reached the PCT. I headed north briefly, to check out Crow Basin, and then turned back south until I reached a junction, at which point I took a detour down to Basin Lake.

The junction for Goat Lake.

The new hitching rail put in by BCH.

Goat Lake.

On the PCT.

At the junction to Basin Lake.

Basin Lake.

After hanging out at Basin Lake, which is a great place to pack in to, I went back up to the PCT and continued south to Norse Peak. My plan was to drop back down through Bullion Basin. I hadn't reached the actual junction to Bullion yet, but I came across a trail going down into it, and so I took that. This turned out to be the quicker but much steeper way down. From there, the Bullion Basin Trail continues dropping in elevation until it reaches a service road, which I rode all the way back to camp. 

On the PCT by Norse Peak.

Looking down into Bullion Basin.

Down in Bullion Basin.

If you follow the bridge across the creek from camp, the Northway Trail heads up the mountain on the other side. It was the weekend and I had heard that cyclists use that trail, so I thought maybe I would skip that section. Instead, for my second ride, I started out on the fairly boring service road again, over to the Silver Creek Trail which climbs back up in elevation, somewhat steeply, and passes several lakes.

An old mine with some fake skeletons in it, on the Silver Creek Trail.

On the Silver Creek Trail.

A fly fisherman at Henskin Lake.

At Upper Henskin Lake.

From the lakes I continued on the Crystal Mt.Trail to the top of the ski hill where they have a gondola that takes hikers, bikers and tourists up to the top, and they can wander around and enjoy the view of Mt. Rainier, or hike back down. Some of them seemed a little unprepared for hiking back down, carrying nothing with them, and wearing inappropriate footwear. This is definitely where I started to see quite a few more people and when I got to the top, of course, all the people were delighted to see a horse. One group of Asians mentioned they had never seen a horse before in person, (how is that possible?) and so I told them they could pet and take photos of my pony. The short way back to camp from the top would be to take the Northway Trail, but instead I retraced my steps back down to the lakes and then took an uncleared trail straight up to the PCT. I rode south briefly from there heading towards Chinook Pass, but turned back at one of the only sections that I could actually turn around on, since the trail is cliffy in this area, and went back north until I got to the junction of the Bullion Basin Trail.

Mt. Rainier, from atop Crystal Mt.

A tourist volunteered to take my photo atop Crystal Mt.

The gondola on Crystal Mt.

Heading back down the Crystal Mt. Trail.

On the PCT, heading back north.

Becca and Tracy had already left the day before, and another non horse couple with an RV were gone by the time I got back, so the camp was deserted that night.

This is definitely a gorgeous area to ride, but you need to be experienced, have a steady horse and you cannot be afraid of heights. There are some very narrow sections of the PCT, with steep drop offs that have eroded, and your horse has to be careful about where they put their feet. When you are at some of those sections, often there is no way to turn around, so you have no choice but to keep going. Having said that you could also do shorter rides, like up to Goat Lake and back, or into Bullion Basin and back, and skip the PCT all together.

GPS COORDINATES TO WHITE PASS HORSE CAMP

GPS COORDINATES TO SAND FLATS HORSE CAMP