Spider Gap, Spider Meadow and Phelps Basin, Phelps Creek, Upper Lyman Lake & Lyman Lakes — Friday, Jul. 12, 2013

Central Cascades > Entiat Mountains/Lake Chelan

After taking a day off work to hopefully boost our chances at getting a lottery Enchantments permit, it was looking promising. With only one other group in the drawing, we liked our chances. But, it wasn't meant to be. However, our backup plan wasn't too shabby. Disappointment was only temporary as we hit the road to the Phelps Creek Trail and shortly afterwards came home happy! We started on the trail around 9:30am with only a few cars in the parking lot. One other group was getting a start as we arrived. We made it the 5.5 miles to the entrance of Spider Meadow in 2.5 hrs moving at a modest pace and one 15 minute break. There were several stream crossings and a few trees blown down over the trail... but all were safely passable with the appropriate waterproof high-top footwear. We had lunch at the entrance of the meadow, along with the other group. This is the last we'd see anyone for the next day and a half! Complete solitude. We made our way through the meadow, upper meadow, and came to the junction to Spider Gap - Phelps Basin. It's clearly marked showing Phelps Basin to the right and Spider Gap to the left. We'd explore Phelps basin on the way down (a very short 5 minute detour). It was steep going up to the base of Spider Gap, but the trail was well marked/maintained. At the base, the route turns to snow. There's a toilet at this point, and it's the last one until Lower Lyman lake. Better use it here if you need it. And, it's quite the loo with a view! We took our time up from the meadow and on the snow field as we were taking lots of pictures. The snow traveling was fairly strait forward. We chose a route just right of center, as it looked the safest. At the top of the gap, we took a short side trip over to the right side to peer down Phelps basin below. It looked like a Cathedral of source snow feeding the Phelps Creek. Pretty awesome. We then travelled just a bit further left to the top of Spider Gap where we got our first shot of the Upper Lyman Lakes. All in all we spent about an hour at the top. We glissaded down to the Upper Lyman lakes in fairly quick time, hugging the right side of the snowfield on the way down. The lighting at the Upper Lymans was epic, as very vibrant blues, greens, reds, and blacks/grays were out in full force. We crossed a section of the uppermost lake to explore the glacial tributaries. It was very beautiful but BE WARY, as you approach the short of the lakes/tributaries the glacial silt can sink on you. It didn't seem too dangerous, except for the section where the water entered the lake, where it almost swallowed me into the freezing water! We spent a little more than an hour here. After we realized we should be moving on, We found the trail again to Lower Lyman lake. The trail was difficult to find in the rock, but the path is pretty clearly marked once you get into the meadow. We reached Lyman Lake at about 6pm. We set up camp near the drainage point. There were only a few campsites available here, as the spots close to the lake were "closed for restoration." Had we gone a little further on the trail, we would have found a couple more sites before heading up to Cloudy Pass. The bugs are Lyman Lake were out. Not vicious, but the worst they were during our entire trip. We left Lyman Lake at 11am, headed past the Upper Lyman lakes only pausing to take photos of the Lyman Glacier. Then, we hoofed it back up the snowfield to the top of Spider Gap. The snow was steeper going on the way up, but our switchback route was plenty safe. We encountered the other group at the top of the gap around 1:45pm as well as others admiring the views. We took a quick trip down the gap, and over to Phelps basin. There were a few groups camping here, a pretty awesome spot if you ask me! We then made it to the entrance of Spider Gap around 3:30-4 where we claimed a campsite (it was pretty packed at this point) and took a dip in the freezing Phelps Creek to re-charge our batteries. At evening, the deer came out in full force. Most of them were grazing, but one couple was rutting, which seemed very unusual since I think that stuff happens in the fall. They were sprinting through campsites, chasing each other through the meadow. Very entertaining to watch. The bugs at Spider Meadow were not bad at all. And, the valley had a slight smoke haze in it as pretty much every group had a campfire going. We left in the morning, and made it back to the car in an hour and 45 mins! Overall a great 2 nighter! Summary: - Quick going to get to the entrance of Spider Meadow - Waterproof footwear pretty much mandatory with all the creek crossings - Bugs not bad at Spider Meadow, non-existent at the campsites at Spider Gap, didn't notice them at the Upper Lymans, and somewhat annoying at Lower Lyman Lake - Spider Meadow campsites pretty packed, only a few groups camping in Phelps Basin, and no one camping at Upper Spider Meadow - Only a few snow patches and blowdowns until you reach the base of Spider Gap - Wildflowers blooming, but not in full force. Full photo album: http://on.fb.me/15HNtEp