Day 1: Phelps Cr TH - Lyman Lake via Spider Gap ~ 12 miles

3:30 wake up in Longview, 5 or so hour drive to the Phelps Cr TH, on the trail by 9:30 am. Road to Trinity is fairly good til the last 2 miles, road from Trinity to Phelps Cr is less good but still passable with a regular car. You can do the road walk either at the beginning or end of your hike. If at all possible, do it first. I did it last, and it is not fun!

Phelps Cr Trail is gorgeous, lightly traveled, excellent tread, tons of water available, no bugs, no snow. Beautiful big trees, peekaboo views through the forest of nearby peaks.

When you hit Spider Meadow you start getting views of surrounding peaks. About midway through the meadow there is a big pile of avalanche snow. I got turned around here, thinking I had already passed Phelps Creek and started looking for the trail to Spider Gap. Don't make my mistake, I wasted maybe an hour of time on the snow, in avalanche fall, bushwacking, etc, which took a physical and mental toll later. For whatever reason I thought there was no official trail from Spider Meadow up to Spider Gap, but that is not true. Just stay on the main trail, eventually you'll hit a signed trail junction at the bottom of the headwall, and you'll turn up slope toward the Gap.

The ascent from the meadow to the Spider Snowfield is steep and hot. Bring lots of water. The snowfield is soft and safe on a warm day like the one I did. Don't need any special equipment but poles might make it easier. It's apparently only a mile but it feels longer.

Spider Gap is spectacular, views for miles, and a good place for lunch. You'll have to swat a few deerflies, though, precursor of things to come.

Heading down now onto the Lyman Glacier is definitely steeper. With warm, soft snow a set of poles is all you'll need, but an axe or maybe crampons would make me feel safer. There's a thread at NWHikers.net with excellent info about how to find your way down the snow and onto a trail. Don't go right too soon are you end up cliffed at an overlook. But don't go right too late (like I did) or you miss the main trail and end up having to scramble down scree for hundreds of feet, which is tiring.

Once you find the trail, it's an easy up and down to Lyman Lake, which is beautiful. Camping sites are pretty mosquito-ey, but right at the lake there were hardly any flies or skeeters and it's got lots of warm, shallow areas perfect for a hot day. Gorgeous views!

There were some camping spots up higher on the ridge between upper and lower Lyman Lakes, which were scenic, breezy, and lonely, but you would have had to have gotten your water from upper Lyman lake or earlier, as there is no water right at those sites. Worth it though, for those who plan ahead.

Day 2: Lyman Lake - Cloudy Pass - Image Lake - Miner's Creek ~ 13 mi

On trail about 8 am. Easy jaunt up to Cloudy Pass with great views but again, lots of bugs. Definitely bring a headnet and spray. I was going to go with just a tarp since we had such great weather, but in the end I brought my 16 oz homemade bug tent too, which I was very grateful for - more for flies than mosquitoes.

The hiker shortcut to Suiattle Pass is snow-free, no trouble, but kind of steep and rocky.

Trail to Image Lake has a few blowdowns, nothing big. There are signs of active bears en route to Image Lake with several stripped trees and tons of scat near the miner's cabin ruins.

Image Lake itself was infested with horseflies. The campsites appear to be located over a ridge from the lake itself with great views of Glacier Peak but none of the Lake. I didn't camp here, instead moving on to Miner's Creek.

Hint: Miner's Creek bridge goes right over a 4 or 5 foot deep pool of water in the creek, exactly right for jumping in to neck depth for a great rinse off and cool off on a hot and dusty day. Water is cold but tolerable.

There aren't a lot of good campsites at Miner's Creek - I only saw one good one. I made do with a so-so spot and I didn't see any others sites.

Day 3: Miner's Creek - Middle Ridge/Sheep Driveway - Buck Creek Pass - High Pass Lookout ~ 12 mi

On the trail at 8 am. From Miner's Creek you're up to Middle Ridge through forest then parkland, again lots of flies and mosquitoes. There is an unmaintained but well-known trail there that you can go up about a mile and get big views of Glacier Peak et al. Worth it. Then down to Small Creek, a beautiful stream, then back up to Buck Creek Pass. This is around 6 mi, pretty easy, I was there before 11 am.

Note the official Buck Creek Pass campsites are down a hundred or two hundred feet in elevation next to a little stream. They have better access to toilets and water, but much inferior views, also cooler at night and less breezy, bad for bugs. Try to get the unofficial site visible from the main trail if you can, the one you pass as you first head down toward the official camping area.

After setting up camp at the unofficial campsite just off the main trail - the one still high enough to see sunset and sunrise on Glacier Peak - I set off for a dayhike to the unnamed pass just short of High Pass, described in Doug Lorain's "Backpacking Washington." It's an easy first couple miles, rounding Liberty Cap with ever-better views of Glacier Peak, etc. After a long 2 miles you hit an unnamed saddle and round the north-facing side of a ridge. Then you start to hit snowfields - about half a dozen in all. The first is too steep to safely pass. You have to scramble briefly down and around, which isn't too bad. The next few are safe to pass, with proper precautions. To be safest you should have an ax. I didn't. I had in-step crampons, but it was warm and the snow was soft. In retrospect I was probably taking a risk. The final snowfield which is literally immediately before the final destination is not passable. However you can scramble sort of back and up and reach the ridgeline, which you can then traverse briefly to the pass for the best views. Whoa!!! Icy Triad Lake, mostly frozen over, tons of snow and ice, glaciers, peaks, Glacier peak visible to the right, etc. This is an awesome and worthwhile short day hike if you can do it safely! Thunderheads were starting to build at 1:30 so I headed quickly back, just in time to cover my bug tent with my tarp as the first (and last) raindrops fell. Note there is no water once you start up Liberty Cap, bring what you need from Buck Creek Pass.

Day 4 - Buck Creek Pass - Trinity - Phelps Cr ~ 12 mi (plus 1 mi in a vehicle)

7:30 am start. Long, long, steady downhill with spectacular views of Buck Creek Valley and many snowy, icy peaks and slopes. The undulating portion of the valley can be wet with dew, swarming with flies, and hot and humid as there are a few avalanche slopes that are exposed. There are some ripe huckleberries here, but the flies keep you from hanging around too much. Saw some inbound hunters on the way down.

Once you get to the road, it's a long 3 miles, maybe 3.25 miles from Trinity parking lot to Phelps Creek TH. As mentioned, try to do the road walk on entry rather than exit. I found this a very painful and not fun part of the hike, would have been better at the beginning. However, you probably need 5 days to do it that way (staying the first night in Spider Meadow after a 10 mile hike in including the road walk), otherwise you end up starting off with a 15 mile plus day, and the last 3-4 miles are descending the Lyman Glacier in late afternoon while you're probably pretty bushed, which doesn't sound that safe to me.

Great hike, would be nicer in 5 days than 4 but rarely is the hiking steep and the trails are all well-graded and easy to travel (obviously excepting the Spider snowfield and Lyman Glacier).

Really spectacular scenery. Maybe flies and skeeters will be doing out shortly with cooler weather coming this week. Huckleberries just coming on. One of the most scenic backpacks I've done! I didn't mention all the flowers, just tons of lupine and many other common Cascade flowers on the parks of Buck Creek Pass, Lady Pass, Cloudy Pass, etc.

Thanks to posters at NWHikers.net for their tips on traversing the snowfields at Spider Gap!

I did not hike Little Giant Pass, but checked the ford. At least one person had apparently forded. The water looks high, but smooth and doable, knee-deep at least I think, you'd want a good stick, and belay the dog. This was in the morning. The current spreads out here. Bring a pair of tennis shoes; keep your boots dry. I wouldn't want to do it barefoot.
Wildflowers peaking along lower Phelps Creek Trail. Bugs are there but not awful. Stream crossings no big deal. A deer on the trail, and a porcupine. Leave it! Good dog!
At the little stream just before Leroy Creek, note a notched concrete block (4'Wx10'Lx3'H?) with a log ruin behind it and a pipe. I'm wondering if this was the foundation for a Pelton wheel power unit?
When you cross Leroy Creek, ascend the trail a few hundred yards -- worth it for the waterfall.
I think Leroy Creek Trail is an old sheep trail -- very steep, not engineered, gullied in places, unmaintained, but in surprisingly good shape.
Snow starts in upper Leroy Creek Basin at about 6000'. Several campsites; one is, I think, an old sheep camp in the basin beneath Seven-Fingered-Jack and Maude. The upper basin is still all under snow, a lovely place.
Go up to about 6100' to find the Leroy Creek High Route, it's an obvious trail, but I eventually lost it in the snow. There are cairns. Go high; if you lose the trail, use the snow. This is a very good time to do this route; the snow will be gone in a few weeks and it'll be all rock -- but then, if you can keep to the trail, you can avoid the chossy icky stuff.
Snow travel conditions were ideal -- a few inches of mush-on-crust -- lightweight crampons maybe saved energy on the ascent, but not strictly necessary. Traversing upwards east of the col, crampons will be necessary if it freezes hard. I used them on the ascent (not strictly necessary), but not on the descent. It's a bit steep here but the runout OK except in a few places, with rocks underneath. A cornice that's maybe not as bad as it looks; you don't have to walk underneath it.
Bivvied on the summit. Weak-looking lenticular wave clouds to the west warned of the marine push that would rob us of our summit sunrise. Dark starry night with distant lightning on the eastern horizon ruining my sleep (people who sleep on lightning rods don't sleep well). Clear until we awoke in a whiteout. The clouds were less than 2000' thick, perfectly situated to ruin our sunrise; the ceiling was about 8500'. It cleared by noon, but by then we were back in Upper Leroy Basin, looking at Maude and 7FJ silhouetted against a dark blue sky.
Still a lot of snow at Spider Gap.

The road to the trail head is the first part of the adventure. A long single lane dirt road that serpentines through some beautiful country, passes a nice waterfall, looks down a sheer cliff to creek below and has a section near the end where you do a mini boulder crawl, to arrive to a phenomenal view of the surrounding mountains. A dozen cars at the trail head, but only passed 2 other parties going in and 2 going out, with only one other group spending the night with us at the camping area in the meadow.
Hiking conditions were beautiful, 99.9% of the trail is in great shape. Of the numerous streams you have to cross, only one (Leroy Creek) requires you to remove you boots to ford, if you have even a modest amount of dexterity. There is plenty of water to purify all the way to the end of the meadow, about 6.5 miles from the trailhead. The final ~3/4 mile before the meadow is where you still have to hike on snow (hiking poles were nice but nothing dangerous), and encounter 3 significant blow-downs, all easy to negotiate.
This is one of our favorite hikes in the country to do with our dogs. Our party consisted of me, my wife, our 14 year old daughter, 12 year old son, 100 pound German Sheppard, and 8 pound Papillion. There is plenty of shade and water for the dogs, and even the little one can cross many of the streams on her own. The deer wander very close at night but the dogs finally got used to it, and there is an extremely vociferous marmot that seems to take offence to your being near his boulder.
The kids love the opportunity to play in the snow in the middle of summer and even did a little garbage bag sledding. We had to build a fire in the evening to discourage the mosquitoes and deer flies from swarming the tent, thankfully there is no ban yet for the fire rings. The meadow is a vibrant green with the wild flowers just starting to bloom.

I went on a Cascadian backpack to the Spider Gap area Fri – Mon, 8/14-17. We hiked in under cloudy skies with occasional drizzle but also quite a few sucker-holes to give some sun. When we reached Spider Meadow the ceiling was low, but Larch Knoll was below the clouds and, since it wasn’t raining, we decided to head on up. The campsites on the knoll were taken, but we found one that would fit our 4 tents a little ways up the boot trail that goes up the rock spur east of the Spider Glacier. Drizzle & a cold wind arrived as we set up camp. This site had a nice view of Red Mtn, but not much else and when a couple of the party members found more scenic sites a little higher, we decided to move camp in the morning.
We woke to clear skies and moved after breakfast (except for two party members that left early for Cloudy Pass). There was a nice site in the saddle a short ways up the trail from our original camp, but we chose the more airy site on the top of the knoll just south of this saddle. Having been at Larch Knoll 3 times before, I can say that this is the most scenic campsite in the vicinity, with 360 degree views of Dumbell Peak; 7- Fingered Jack, Mt Maude, & Carne Mtn; Red Mtn & the shoulder of Chiwawa Mtn; and, 1500’ below, Spider Meadow. The down side is that you need to haul water up from the creek some 2-300 feet below.
After setting up camp & lounging around for a while, we set off about noon for Spider Gap via the boot trail up the rock spur. When we arrived about an hour later we found thick marine clouds pouring over Cloudy Pass and dissipating. Plummer Mtn was completely hidden & Sitting Bull Mtn was in & out of the clouds. Dome & Sinister were visible in the distance and below the cliffs of Chiwawa Mtn were the turquoise lakes of Upper Lyman Basin. Even in less than perfect weather, the view from here is one of the nicest in the Cascades. After lunch & photos, we walked out the trail toward the old mines so we could see the Lyman Glacier and catch a glimpse of Bonanza, then headed back to camp.
The wind blew pretty hard at times that night, but the morning was sunny and after breakfast we set off again, this time for Upper Lyman Basin itself. When we reached Spider Gap the mountains to the north were shining in the sun beneath puffy clouds – the classic view. After some photos, we headed down, arriving in plenty of time for lunch. It was hot when there wasn’t a breeze and there were a few mosquitoes, though not too many due to the cold weather of the previous days. The views of Chiwawa and the Lyman Glacier were impressive and the flowers were still quite nice in the basin, especially the purple monkeyflower & broad-leaf willow-herb. I also found a nice stand of the little white tofieldia.
After a couple of hours of wandering around the basin, it was up and over Spider Gap and back to camp. After all the walking we had done the last few days, we were all weary when we got back so we just sat against our packs with a cup of tea and gazed out at rugged mountains near & far. What more could a backpacker want at the end of the day!
On Mon we packed up and headed out. We spent a little time in Spider Meadow enjoying the views we missed on the way in because of the low clouds. Though many were past, there were still some nice flowers in the meadow as well. We stopped for lunch at Leroy Creek, but didn’t linger because of the hoards of flies – the only real problem we had with bugs on the entire trip. We arrived back at the cars mid afternoon tired, but satisfied. Few bugs, good weather, good company, and spectacular scenery had made for a great trip.