Five Mile Camp — North Cascades National Park

From Park Creek Pass, the Park Creek Trail descends quickly through heather and wildflower meadows into a hanging valley and then down again into willowy meadows just before reach Five Mile Camp. Look back for final views of Buckner and its hanging glaciers. The trail heads into the forest and shortly arrives at Five Mile Camp, a creek-side stock camp. Contouring down the forested slopes of Park Creek Valley, the trail passes one more camp, small Two Mile, just after crossing Park Creek on an improved log crossing. The floods of 2003 re-arranged this camp significantly, leaving only the one small site. The trail drops steeply once more, through a forest that now includes big leaf and vine maple, before leveling out and intersecting the Upper Stehekin Valley Trail (the old Stehekin Valley Road, which was washed out by floods in 1995, 2003, and 2006 before the upper stretch was finally closed). Park Creek Camp sits at this junction. From here, parties can head west following the Stehekin River up and over Cascade Pass, or turn east to head toward Stehekin or Bridge Creek. High Bridge, which is the turn-around point for the Stehekin Valley shuttle bus, is a 7.5 mile (12 km), mostly flat walk.