A four day fall backpacking trip to the heart of the Entiat Mountains.

Day 1: Hiked up the Entiat River Trail until we reached the Ice Creek trail in sunny weather. Both trails were in very good shape, no bugs, plenty of fall color. Snow started on the final stretch to the Ice Lakes. There were only a few inches of loose snow that obscured the rocks underneath so footing was challenging on the steep hill. There was perhaps a foot of snow at ice lakes with much deeper drifts in places. There were lots of golden larches at the lakes. We camped at Lower Ice Lake.

Day 2: After a very cold night, found low clouds that reduced visibility. We spent the day exploring the Ice Lakes and surrounding areas. Got on to the shoulder of Mount Maud, but didn't have the time or visibility to get much higher.

Day 3: Sun again. Spent the morning exploring more of the Ice Lakes and one of the nearby knolls. Found great views of many mountains near and far. We packed up camp in the early afternoon, and headed down the Ice Creek Trail to the Pomas Creek Trail. The trail was clear of snow until about the last mile or so. Dusk caught us at Pomas Pass, so we made camp.

Day 4: Hiked to Larch Lakes from Pomas Pass. This is a high trail with excellent views of the surrounding mountains. It had about 6 inches to a foot of fresh snow, so it posed no problems. Upper Larch Lake is a great lunch spot. After lunch we headed down the Garland Peak Trail toward Cow Creek Meadows. The trail had about a foot of fresh snow. It was easy to follow due to a set of footprints made by someone clearly familiar with the trail. Without the prints it would have been challenging to stay on the trail in places. There were plenty of great views of surrounding mountains. At the first intersection we left the Garland Peak Trail and descended to Cow Creek Meadows, then to Myrtle Lake. Finally we got back on the Entiat River Trail and followed it back to the car.

This was a great fall trip with lots of fall color, including plenty of golden larches, among some very rugged mountains. We saw only two hikers on the first day, nobody on the second and third day, and a few hunters near the trailhead on the fourth day. The nights got very cold. This trip requires a warm sleeping bag.

We hiked in to Myrtle Lake on July 3, making camp for two nights. Although there were quite a few people camping there, there were enough available campsites that it didn't seem overly crowded. Enjoying a swim in the lake was a must for all of us after setting camp.

Bugs were pretty noticeable at Myrtle. The flies were pretty thick, especially close to the lake. We camped away from the lake a bit, and found that the bug problem was drastically reduced by retreating even 50 feet into the woods.

July 4 was the hiking day. We set out early on the Larch Lakes trail, climbing the switchbacks past some lovely views and waterfalls. We paused at Lower Larch but were quickly driven on by the mosquitoes. There was snow on the trail from lower to upper larch, but not so much as to make the going difficult. What *was* difficult were the thick and relentless mosquitoes that plagued us from just before Upper Larch lake to well beyond.

From Upper Larch, we continued on up toward Fifth of July Mountain. There is a debris field from a fairly significant avalanche about a mile past Upper Larch Lake. We had to make our way carefully around trees and boulders and over snow, and then work a little to find the trail again on the other side.

After the avalanche debris field, there were no major blockages on the trail up to fifth of July or beyond, down the Cow Creek trail and back to Myrtle Lake. The only problem we had was, once again, swarms of mosquitoes as we began to descend toward Cow Creek meadow. Despite early and often re-applications of deet and continual swatting, we three hikers received well in excess of a hundred mosquito bites each.

The views as we neared the top of the hike contouring Fifth of July were absolutely breathtaking. I highly recommend the hike.

This was the annual larch trip for the usual gang including Blissman, Skip, Ace, Cisco, The Transporter and Maria. the best crew you could ask for on this end-of-the-season trip. We began on the Entiat River trail and the trail up to Larch Lakes. The weather was cloudy, but began to rain just before we got into camp. We lucked out though when the rain stopped just in time for dinner. We would have fantastic weather for the remainder of the trip.

Next day we packed up and headed to Raven Roost camp about 1.5 miles past Fifth of July Pass on the Garland Peak trail. The trail becomes very scenic once you get above the evergreens and into the larch! We dropped our packs at Fifth of July Pass and half of our crew scrambled Fifth of July Peak. This is fairly easy with slight exposure on top. Lots of rock, but easy going with a little use of hands. Fabulous views of Glacier Peak, Old Gib, Chiwawa, Buck Mt., Maude, 7 Finger Jack and to the east, Pyramid Mt., Saska, Emerald and lots of stuff I haven't figured out yet. From the pass we dropped down about 1000' into Raven Roost camp. It's the only camp on the ridge with sure water although there is a good stream near the junction of the Cow Creek Meadows trail if you could find a spot to pitch a bivy. No real campsites though. Raven Roost Camp is in a deep basin, but is pleasant enough with a little meadow and a nice talus back drop complete with squeaking pikas. The sun doesn't stay in the basin long though.

Our third day was a layover day with plans to explore and scramble the area to our southwest on the Garland peak trail. Cisco and Transporter had to be cut loose to have their own crazy adventure on Devil's Smokestack. Blissman, Ace and myself went off to scramble Rampart Mt. while Maria relaxed the day away on a high ridge. Rampart Mt. is a fairly easy scramble, but includes some loose rock and use of hands in spots. These peaks all seem to be of similar stuff -- easy approaches with crumbly rock summits. We then ambled on through fabulous pumice fields with stupendous views. Really beautiful. We then rounded a corner and got our first views of the approach to Garland Peak which included a drop of about 300' before heading up the pumice slopes to the summit. At this point, Ace thought better of the whole thing and left Blissman and me to do this one on our own. It looked like a butt kicker, but really went very well. It's just a long walk up that isn't nearly as long as it looks. This was my favorite summit of all. Maybe because I knew it was the last for this trip and maybe because the views were wonderful as it juts out into the valley with fabulous larch basins below and a dramatic view of Devil's Smokestack above, and also, pretty much the rest of this part of the world. Just as we were thinking of heading down we were joined by Cisco and the Transporter who told us of their adventures on Devil's Smokestack confirming to us that we made the right choice to skip that one! Apparently, it is very challenging and they did not summit. Knowing these guys, it must have been pretty tough if they didn't make it.

Our last day included climbing back up the 1000' or so to Fifth of July Pass and then down the Cow Creek trail to the Entiat River trail and to our cars. In Cow Creek Meadows I ran into my old friend Cathy L. who was camping with her dog buddy Cedar. After a nice chat we headed for home. Dinner at Gustav's of course!

A few notes on the route: the trail gets very sketchy in places after leaving Fifth of July Pass, but it is very doable if you realize this and pay attention. However, it looks like the Garland Peak trail is being deserted by the Forest Service and I don't think any maintenance has been done in a long while. Huckleberry and little trees are taking over and you will not be able to find it for long. It is very sad since this is one of the more scenic backpacks around in my opinion. It is also very enjoyable because there are so few people around. We only saw one couple, a solo hiker, and Cathy during the entire trip. We saw very little wildlife. However, the couple that we spoke with reported seeing bears at Larch Lake and goats at Cow Creek Meadows. Also, the Larch Lake trail includes a river ford that you can avoid if you take the trail to Cow Creek Meadows where there is a great bridge over the Entiat River. You then follow the connector trail over to the Larch Lakes trail. This is not on my Green Trails map, but I understand it is shown on newer maps. Larch is half gold, but getting there fast! Hike this trail now and ask the Forest Service to keep it open!

Left the trailhead near cottonwood cg at 1:30 on the 4th and headed up trail 1400 without a specific plan in mind. Decided to check out the crossing of snowbrushy creek and decide whether to go on or turn around. The trail is moderate and in excellent condition all the way. The crossing at snowbrushy may have been feasible but with our canine companion we decided not to risk it. Also weren't sure what other crossings we might encounter further up the river.

Turned around and headed back toward Myrtle. The ford across the Entiat is not passable for anyone, man or beast. The river is roaring there. Back to the bridge we went (lovely bridge btw) and headed toward Myrtle, but decided not to camp there even though there was a nice spot at the south end of the lake right by the trail. Instead we continued on to Cow Creek Meadows. Lots of elevation, a bit of a tedious grunt through dense trees, and one more stream crossing before the meadows which we managed to do on a log, but would have been faster to remove the shoes and cross in sandals. Cow Creek was spectacular despite a chilly wind. On a hot day the crystal pools would have summoned us. Camped at Cow Creek Meadows.

Next day continued up trail 1404 with Larch Lakes as our destination, which gains a lot of elevation but affords some stunning views of Cow Creek from above. Hit a lot of snow before the fork with 1408. Had some difficult route finding before reaching the T. Will probably be a month before this trail melts out. After the T we had more route finding problems and some steep snow crossings, but the snow was pretty soft. Took several hours to cover the few miles to upper Larch Lake. One other party at upper Larch, so we got the site that was left on the north shore (south shore still in snow), which was still soggy, but not bad. The skies were cloudy and we got a few sprinkles, so we saved the hike up to Pomas Pass for the next day.

July 6 was crystal clear and stunning. Packed up and did a quick day hike up to Pomas Pass, which is spectacular. Very little snow left--nothing difficult. Beautiful views of the Entiat Mtns. from this trail.

Came back, donned the packs and headed out along trail 1404, which was in fantastic shape all the way. In passing the lower lake it looked like there were a few nice campsites but the views are not as good as from upper. We had one log crossing along 1430.1 and one where we opted for sandals as the log was high above the water. Stopped at Myrtle for a quick dip (surprisingly warmer than expected) and got back to the car by 4:00. Mosquitoes were of course present but nothing out of the ordinary. The hike back along the river seemed long...

All in all, a beautiful loop, but I would definitely wait a few weeks before approaching Larch Lakes from the south--a lot of north-facing slopes to contend with in this high-snow season.