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!

5 days’ freedom and perfect weather amid world-class scenery and peaking wildflowers. No need to carry water; abundant everywhere. High Pass is still all snow; ice ax required, crampons too if it freezes hard; Spider Gap likewise. Much more snow than usual, rendering the landscape more beautiful and varied, and the travel easier if you are skilled at alpine snow travel. Bugs more abundant than normal. I did not treat any water. I’ll post a followup if I get sick.
Future readers: 2011 is a record-snowpack year; water, snow, flower, and insect conditions described here are more like late July-early August, and bear no resemblance to ordinary Septembers (dry, no bugs, no flowers, carry water).
My guess: weekend of Sept 10, 2011 should still be amazing for flowers.

DANGER, PLEASE NOTE: I brought crampons, not strictly necessary WHEN THE SNOW WAS SOFT, but taking them was a good call: if it freezes hard –- it soon will -- they will be necessary, and ice ax too of course. On the trail south of Buck Pass east of Pt. 7276, and on High Pass itself, I saw several people equipped with nothing more than poles and light hiking shoes crossing steep snow that I considered lethally dangerous. Yes, it was soft and easy; yes, there were steps; yes, many other people had crossed safely, but these people were oblivious to the fact that they were on deadly terrain. I watched a young couple with light shoes, single poles, and a dog, crossing several steep snow tongues on the east (Buck Creek) side of the High Pass trail that I wouldn't dream of crossing without an ice ax, alert. The runouts were 100+' onto steep scree and boulders. I broke my ankle in more forgiving ground. PLEASE! Whenever you venture out onto snow, LOOK DOWN. Where are you gonna land if you slip? How fast are you gonna be going? You think you're gonna arrest yourself with a hiking pole? Forget it! My ice ax and training didn't do me any good. I only went 20'. 20' more, and I'd be dead. It happens JUSTLIKETHAT. Whenever you venture onto snow, especially hard snow, think: Mouse. Cheese. Trap! Don't make us read about you in the paper.

Expect hunters:
The Chiwawa region is a favorite of hunters ancient and modern. Bear season starts Aug. 1 (remember the Sauk Mt. tragedy). High Buck Hunt in this area is Sept 15-25 this year, if I have it right. Be aware of this. Get yourself some safety-orange gear. Good time for a hike in a national park.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/hunter_orange/
http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01184/wdfw01184.pdf

Little Giant Pass:
Ford is unusually deep for Sept: almost knee-deep. Bring old shoes to throw back across (weight with rocks). A wooden stick is nice. Between Chiwawa R and Little Giant Pass, a thorough trail crew has done everything but bridge the river. Nice job, thanks. Even in much drier conditions, there is water at the bottom of the high meadows.

Little Giant Pass to Napeequa:
brushy, steep, but serviceable, easy to follow; it's been the PCT detour.

Napeequa valley:
Lovely, but I'd never want to camp here in bug season. I’ve always seen bears and/or bear hunters in this general area. Unmaintained, but not enough trees for blowdown problems.
The usual route to High Pass crosses N. Fork Napeequa and ascends to the lovely hanging valley in a steep but short, moderate bushwhack. Nice camp at the outfall.

Louis Creek High Route to High Pass:
We took the Louis Creek High Route to High Pass. The ascent to the hanging valley of upper Louis Creek is very steep meadow, ice ax all the way (yes, on steep dry meadow). Amazingly, the 25 lb. dog could do it (minor help). I would not ask a dog to go down this way; descending is much harder on their backs. Start a few hundred meters left of Louis Creek. It's almost all alder-free. Night 1 at the Berge-Buck col amid larches on a pumice dome. The whole unusual landscape is blanketed in Glacier Peak pumice.

Al claims first ascent of Buck Mt. by a tricolored Pembroke Welsh corgi on a September Saturday without supplemental oxygen. It's an easy scramble. Try to do it in conditions like this, with lots of snow – if you can still ford the Chiwawa. Or try it on 6" legs.

High route from Buck Mt. across Berge col to High Pass is fairly straightforward (in good viz; see photo) and the snow cover makes it easier (ice ax required, as always). From the col south of Berge (the summit SW of marked Pt. 7948), drop SW, then W to 6800’, then traverse N as high as possible just under the rock buttress guarding the High Pass outfall. This year only, there’s so much snow that with ice ax/crampons, it looked like one could climb this steep 6840’-to-7040’ section above the High Pass outfall on snow, a straight NW–SE line from Berge col to High Pass outfall. I did not do this.

High Pass:
Night 2, solo bivvy site on sand and rock right at the top, grand view in calm weather, Napeequa and Glacier Pk right in your lap. Also a very exposed windy tent site in the notch to the south, sand, fairly low-impact. Don’t mess this place up. No trace.
I weenied on Napeequa Peak – looked too much for the dog – that’s not all I blame on my scapedog.
High Pass is all snow this year. Triad Lake is not even fully melted out yet. I used crampons here, maybe not strictly necessary if you’re good on snow – it was getting soft – but had it been hard, crampons would have been necessary.
I saw people crossing with hiking poles, almost certainly unaware of the danger. There’s a steep spot there. I crossed it last year with mountaineering boots and a bamboo pole, and it was scary, steep runout onto rocks. Although it can sometimes be almost snow-free by September, this place is an accident waiting to happen.

Mt. Cleator 7625’:
A 10-15’ walkup from the south end of High Pass. Not to be missed.

Pt. 7276:
Also a fine view. Take it easy with your feet, don’t trash it.

High Pass to Buck Pass:
Allow lots of time for this even when meadow flowers are not peaking; world-class views east and west slow you down more than blackberry thickets. This area was one of A.H. Sylvester’s favorite places, for a reason. If you go to Buck Pass, DO NOT SKIP THIS. Go south as far as you can, but don’t cross the steep snow E of Pt. 7276 unless you know you know what you’re doing.

Middle Ridge Sheep Camp:
This place gets dry in September, so I loaded 5 L of water at Small Creek, and humped it up past stream after stream after stream until I dumped it in disgust at the sheep meadow amid rushing brooks and waterfalls. There’s a 5-star campsite at the 6400’ saddle, but the higher you go, the better it gets. Follow the fence of trees to 6480’, 6700’, 6800’. The views get better, the campsites smaller.
From the sheep camp meadow, we went gingerly straight NE up lush steep meadows to the lip of the moraine at 7400’, 2-star campsite with 5-star view and nice rock furniture (just S of an obvious huge sloping flat rock). We spurned this for a 0-star climber’s bivvy on top of the 7530’ knob (oval contour on the 7.5’ topo) with a 6-star view (5-star scale) of Berge to Shuksan, Glacier Peak right in our face. No water; melted snow <kindly restrain your laughter>. Warm, dead calm, no tent, utterly clear, early moonset, dark enough to see Andromeda Galaxy with naked eye, one of the best nights ever, higher than Helmet Butte. Hunters at the 6350’ sheep meadow had a fire on a night when I scarcely zipped up the sleeping bag at 7500’. Go figure. They were shooting in the morning.
Check this out if you like high country. Just a steep walk. Lip of the moraine in a magnificent cirquelet between two nearly 8300’ towers. This is Pt. 8297, the unnamed(?) NW spur of Fortress – the stupendous thing you see from Miners’ Ridge Trail or the PCT. West of the divide, it would be a major peak. You’ll not forget this place. It faces SW, looking right up the upper Suiattle valley to Tenpeak and the Kololos. See photo.
I didn’t look closely, but there might be a way around the knife-edge cleaver to the SE at maybe 7200, possibly ascend NE to the 8200’ ridge from there. That’s for climbers.
"East of the Divide", Chester Marler; he talks about the sheep herding and lots of other neat stuff. "Tales of a Western Mountaineer", C.E. Rusk.

Miners’ Ridge Trail:
Just above the cabin ruin, find the miners’ trail that climbs rightward. This will take you to the main adit, still open, very dangerous loose mine-dump terrain. Bright blue-green-turqouise copper minerals lying about. There are also 3 filled shafts or adits due N of the cabin ruin. See the 7.5’ USGS Suiattle Pass topo. All portable artifacts already stolen, but please take no souvenirs.

Cloudy Pass:
Night 4 at the pass, 6440'. Bugs (!) at dusk, dawn, but vanished with cool breeze at night (I had no bug net; this was our lowest camp). There is water just below the pass on either side. No significant snow, trail well-maintained, some beautiful rock work. One year, I humped water up here from Lyman Lake, only to find water flowing in the dry-looking meadow SW of Cloudy Peak (campsite there).
A better choice: climb high on the SW shoulder of Cloudy Pk, as high as you can go. There is a small bivvy site up there with jawdropping views of Glacier Peak, Dome, North Cascades, Bonanza, Chiwawas. Cloudy Pk is a walkup scramble except for a Class 3-4 dog-unfriendly chimney at the top. Remember, dogs are stupid about rockfall.

Lyman Lake:
I took a photo of the trail sign at the junction, didn’t read it, and took the wrong turn. Trail to upper Lyman looks like a social trail, compared to what you’re used to at this point.
Then I did it again.

Spider Gap:
NW side, snow from about 6500’ to top. Soft snow, might be difficult if hard, but runout seemed OK and not too steep. I used crampons for traction on the ascent, not really necessary. S side, all snow to the knob camp at the Spider Glacier terminus. NOTE: the place to hang out is not Spider Gap, but the level 6960’ ridge SE of it, less than 200’ lower than the gap, like a North Cascades version of Canyonlands overlooking the huge Phelps Ck cirque.
Somebody took a sh!t on the rocks right at the best viewpoint at Spider Gap, so I got to clean it up. C'mon, you're not gonna start a forest fire if you burn your buttwipe at 7200'. If you can't burn it (SAFELY) or pack it out, stay home, I'm tired of you. At that barren elevation, it can be best to do a "desert smear" on a south-facing rock and let the sun bake it -- but don't do this at one of the most popular spots in the sate, OK?

Phelps Creek:
At the first stream below Leroy Ck, note the concrete mining ruin, maybe the foundation for a Pelton wheel powerplant? I believe there are two adits on the other side of the river. I think the Glacier Peak Mines (on Plummer Mt) and the Red Mt Mine (Trinity) are discussed in "Discovering Washington’s Historic Mines", Oso Publishing, vol. 2 – the one I don’t have yet. Recommended.

Phelps Creek TH back to Little Giant:
A 4-6 mi. road walk, stretch those tired legs, kinda nice with a moon and a dog. One might stash a bike at Phelps Creek TH.

Beats a leash walk around the neighborhood.

Once again I am blown away by the fantastic hikes we have in Washington. Glacier views, old growth forest, steep, lush winding trails, wild flowers, and on and on. We did this loop in the clockwise direction although some guides recommend doing it the other way. We spent 3 nights out having half days of hiking at the beginning and end. We also left a shuttle bicycle at the Spider Meadows parking lot which saves you a few miles of dry and dusty road walking back to the car.

The trail up to Buck Creek Pass is part of the PCT reroute and is brushed almost all the way to the pass. It is gentle in it's climb. There are regular campsites and good views of Buck Mountain.

Our second night was spent on an arm extending west of Suiattle Pass. There is an unmarked trail of heavy use turning west from the PCT just a short ways past the junction with 1279 going to Cloudy Pass. The high meadows beneath Plummer Mountain were spacious and fun to explore. We found the remnants of an old cabin, saw deer and signs of bear and eventually hiked up to some unnamed lakes just below Plummer's east face. A ridge scramble seemed reasonable but not for our canine companion.

Back to the Cloudy Pass hiker's shortcut we went. The shortcut traversed a face crossing a few snow patches, bobbed and weaved through streams and flowers...Wow. Gaining Cloudy Pass one gets expansive views of Lyman Lakes. Chiwawa and Fortress mountains ring the horizon in snowy and rocky ramparts. My friend stayed at the pass and dried or tent and gear. I ran up and down Cloudy Peak. It is a 1500' hike following a nearly treeless ridge line. The last 50' or so scrambles easily up through rocks to the summit.

The trail down to Lower Lyman lake is wide, well brushed and spectacular. We buzzed by the lower lake on route to the higher, more alpine upper lakes. The upper lakes are two or three depending on how you look at them. Glacial moraines lay about as though they were laid down yesterday. Terminal moraines seem to be dropped quite regularly dividing the lakes. The water is teal and green and shimmering blue. We swam (albeit briefly) in the glacier fed waters. Camp sites were not hard to find. We settled on a sandy beach and pitched our tent by the lake shore. It was nothing short of fantastic.

Our last day was a fun hike up 1100' feet of mostly snow to Spider Gap. We explored the high ridge and considered going over to Red Mountain before bailing and heading out the regular way through Spider Meadows. The glacier descent is not steep nor is it crevassed. The trail itself down the valley bottom is quite steep.

As gorgeous as Spider Meadows is I think that it was lost on us. The day was getting hot and our feet were tired.

This loop was promoted by guide books and fellow hikers as one of the best in the state, and now I see why. Stellar views in all directions every step of the way, interesting challenges, and enough elevation gain/loss to give us a real sense of accomplishment.

"We" was myself, another adult, and 9 teenage girls. We took seven days to complete the loop, with a layover day at Image Lake and a few extra jaunts added on to make the loop 48 miles for some, 53 for others.

Day 1: Phelps Creek TH to Spider Meadows. Easy 5-6 mile stroll.
Day 2: Spider Meadows to Lower Lyman Lake. We crossed Spider Gap around 2:00pm. Lots of other people coming and going over the Gap - though we were most concerned about this part of the loop, it was no problem at all, as long as hikers have basic self-arrest skills in case of slippage. We had hiking poles for balance, no ice axes. Would have preferred to cross earlier so as to arrive at Lyman sooner - hard to get 11 people up and going in the morning! More about The Gap below.*
Day 3: Lower Lyman to Image Lake. Some of us took the Hiker's Shortcut, others didn't. The ones who took the main trail got to to the Suiattle junction slightly before the short-cutters. Still patches of steep snow on the shortcut.
Day 4: Image Lake to Miner's Ridge Lookout. Stunning beauty. You can't imagine how it can get better but it does.
Day 5: Image Lake to Middle Ridge. We found the Sheep Camp described on other reports on this site. It was just as amazing as advertised - the best spot I've ever camped (though we had clear, warm weather, so that helped). Glacier Peak is sentinel directly in front of you.
Day 6: Middle Ridge to Buck Creek. 2-3 avalanche paths, easy to navigate. Thanks to the trail crews, the many downed trees coming up to High Pass are mostly cleared.
Day 7: Buck Creek Camp to TH. Easy stroll down the valley, transitioning from alpine to lowland plant communities, from wilderness back to civilization.

Bugs were manageable the entire route - some of us used bug spray, others not at all.

I'd do this loop again in a heartbeat, and am happy to report that the high country has melted out enough that taking a group of younger hikers over this route was easily done (though they were definitely challenged by the miles... but that was the point!).

* I debated whether or not to make trekking poles mandatory for our group. I AM SO GLAD I DID! Can I say that again? I am so glad I did. They were definitely useful for crossing the Gap in terms of balance, but they were even more useful for the entire route. Their aid in balance while crossing the many creeks on this route, in taking weight off the legs and back and distributing it to the arms while ascending/descending was invaluable. We gave a lesson in how to properly use the poles at the TH, showing the girls how to firmly plant them with each step, engaging the arms, rather than lazily using them, and the importance of adjusting their height depending on terrain (lots of online tutorials on this).

I became a trekking pole convert this spring and wanted to promote their usefulness to the girls, but still allow them to stow them for the duration of the trip if they found them annoying. Once they found their stride with them, they were never out of hand for the duration. There were numerous times I asked the girls to lift the poles up and stop using them while we were climbing a hill, so they could see the difference of hiking with/without them. Most of them retorted "No way!" They became a vital piece of equipment for all and in the end they weren't sure how they had ever backpacked without them.

YakTrax would be useful for snow crossings, but not necessary. None of us had them. More important for us was to stop at Larch Knob and rest (we had lunch there after a challenging climb up in the hot sun), then walk further up toward the Gap and give a tutorial about snow travel. We taught them how to plunge step, how to kick stairs (and follow one another up those stairs), how to identify snow bridges and mulans (snow holes), how to self arrest by turning onto tummy and digging knees and toes into the snow, butt in the air. We practiced all of this before going up the Gap. We followed each other up, with space between each one in case of slippage. The grade is pretty gentle, and the fallout is safe should someone slip. We glissaded down the first part of the other side toward Lyman, first checking for exposed rocks. Super fun and a reasonable grade with it leveling off so glissaders slowed automatically. Prior to doing this, we demonstrated how to use hiking poles as a brake on one side.

Though crossing the Gap was a much-anticipated potential hazard for us trip leaders, it turned out to be pretty straightforward, as long as the group was focused on safety and sensible, slow snow travel. However, on a stormy, rainy, cold day, it would be a very different story - there are definitely conditions that would have led us to turn back (namely, icy, slick snow). We were fortunate not to have those conditions.