Larches at Carne basin. Photo by Just a Hiker.

One of the finest viewing outposts in the Chiwawa region, Carne Mountain will leave your head spinning as you try to identify a seemingly infinite array of peaks spread out before you: from close-ups of Maude, mighty matron of the Entiat Range, all the way to Stuart and the Enchantments. And valleys too! Peer straight down into gorgeous emerald allies housing roaring waterways. The trail is well built, albeit steep. An excellent alpine choice in early summer-come for the wildflowers. Or miss the floral show and arrive later for the larch production, which receives golden praise year after year.

Carne Mountain was named by A. H. Sylvester for an English clergyman and is pronounced carn, not carnay, as in the Spanish word for meat-though you may feel like raw meat after attempting this steep, south-facing climb on a hot summer day. So get an early start to avoid the heat. Take a siesta on the summit and savor the scenery.

Starting from the Phelps Creek trailhead, don't despair if the parking lot is overflowing all the way down to Trinity (more on Trinity later). Ninety percent of those vehicles belong to hikers heading to Spider Meadow. Head down the Phelps Creek Trail a quick 0.25 mile, hopping over a refreshing creek just before coming to the junction with the Carne Mountain Trail. Time to break a sweat: the trail immediately commences to climb, switchbacking at times, shooting straight up at others.

As you wind through open forest, peek-a-boo views hint at the visual pleasures that lie ahead. After close to 2 miles of serious climbing, break out onto dry open slopes. While your eyes may be lured to scan the valley below, the myriad flowers painting the hillside may capture your attention first. Continue climbing at a good clip, passing a spur to a creekside campsite before reaching a series of tight switchbacks, views growing at each twist of the trail.

At 3 miles enter a high hanging basin (elev. 6100 ft) laced in larch and brushed with brilliant blossoms. Snow lingers late in this alpine pocket, providing a reliable water source for resident marmots and parched hikers. After a much needed respite from climbing, it's steeply up, up, and away once more. Soon reach a junction with the lightly traveled Old Gib Trail (elev. 6450 ft).

Head left, ascending through attractive groves of larches to crest a high saddle (elev. 6800 ft) between Carne's two prominent summits, coming to an unsigned junction with the Rock Creek Trail. Carne's 7085-foot summit lies left. Follow a flower-lined path 0.3 mile to reach it. Speedwell, buckwheat, gilia, gentian, lupine, paintbrush, partridgefoot, stonecrop, penstemon, buttercup, anemone, aster-what a line-up!

The panorama of pointy peaks and deep valleys is quite an arrangement as well. South it's the wild and lonely Rock Creek valley flanked by the Entiat Mountains, Old Gib, and Basalt. Look west to Buck and the Chiwawa Ridge, their glaciers and snowfields glistening in the sun. Directly below, make out remnant structures of Trinity, a former mining town, now a private ghost town. Stare north for the finale-straight up the Phelps Creek basin to its imposing watchmen: Fortress, Chiwawa, Red, Dumbell, Sevenfingered Jack, and then there's Maude! At 9082 feet, Washington's thirteenth-highest summit steals the show.