Directions to the TH are good in Craig Romano's "Day Hiking North Cascades". The trail begins in a forest untouched by the 2003 wildfire that blackened most of the area. In 0.4 mile you enter the Pasayten Wilderness and begin walking in a blackened landscape which provides very little shade on a hot day like today! The trail climbs gradually and in a long 4 miles reaches Black Lake. The fireweed adds beauty to the blackened trees and stumps. Aspen will be beautiful in the fall. Twin flowers, scarlet gilia, yarrow, tiger lilies, columbine and spreading dogbane were some of the other flowers blooming. About 1/3 mile from the lake there was water on the trail which the average hiker can traverse by walking a log, but I stopped here while Bob continued to the lake.

The road to the trailhead was clear, no blow downs. The views heading to the trailhead are spectacular, lots of flowers blooming. It was a fairly warm day with a light breeze. The creek is running very full, there was a few places with some water on the trail, nothing that is too difficult to cross. A handful of down trees on the trail, pretty easy to cross, one was a little bit challenging when your legs are tired on the return trip. Lots of beautiful flowers, a very easy hike with only a few rolling sections. The lake is beautiful, with a blue sky it is pretty spectacular. Spent some time at the lake enjoying the view and resting, then continued on down the trail that follows the edge of the lake to the end. Very well maintained trail. This is a trail that is pretty miserable on a really hot day, something you want to do before the heat of summer. We saw some fresh moose tracks, two different sets and sizes. It would appear like we barely missed seeing one, lots of brushy vegation covering the valley floor. Great hike, fairly easy, with a beautiful lake at the end. More photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/janzstersview/sets/72157634052300246/

We were dropped off at Iron Gate Trailhead at the east end of the Boundary Trail on June 27 and camped the first night in the basin below Pick Peak. Road was open, no snow or bad mud. First snow encountered along trail just below Sunny Pass at 7300' on June 28. The next section traversing to Horseshoe Pass had considerable snow, unconsolidated and not supporting our weight in most places. Trail challenging to follow through trees on northwest facing slope, but open area at Horseshoe Pass junction was clear. Lots of snowmelt water everywhere. The trail was clear beyond Louden Lake with more snow on trail as it traverses the north side of Rock Mtn. The one set of boot prints in the trail ended here. Beyond, no sign of hikers this year. Camp 2 was near Teapot Dome. We ate lunch at the cabins at Tungsten Mine in sunshine on June 29. More snow in places, especially climbing up to Apex Pass and in the pass. Trail easily located dropping off the west side of Apex Pass. Camp 3 was in Cathedral Ck basin east of Cathedral Pass. June 30, we woke to a good freeze overnight, dusting of snow around dripline of tentfly. Small snow melt runnels had ice, snow that would not support weight the previous day was crunchy and hard. The trail up to Cathedral Pass was heavily snow covered, and the slope under the peak steep and hardpacked. We used our ice axes due to the firm surface and pitch. Trail completely covered but clear where it went. Snow continued down to Upper Cathedral Lake and surrounds. Lake was frozen still. Trail very difficult to locate at and below the lake, finally found small sporatic signs of it after several posthole efforts in wrong directions. We used ice axes again on the traverse under the peak SW of Upper Cathedral Lake where slope was again firm, steep and trail covered fully. We took the variant of trail #533 north by Lower Cathedral Lake which then curves south to meet trail 545. Lost the trail briefly just west of Lower Cathedral Lake in marshy open terrain, but found it further on. The main #533 was remarkably free of downed trees, and in good shape despite having no attention from trail crews since winter at least. The variant was much less well defined with more mud, narrower tread and more downfall in places. It seemed to us that the trail #545 has been relocated more to the west coming down the ridge toward the junction with #533 than shown on the 1986 Green Trails Coleman Peak map we had. We saw two curious deer in profile on a luxurious green grass hillside. Camp 4 was at Spanish Camp, the junction of #533 and #545, 510 and 504. We saw a black bear several hundred yards away from camp moving away up an open meadow slope. The porch on the Forest Service patrol cabin sheltered us for breakfast from snow showers and rain on July 1. Seeking to avoid worse snow and wind on Bald Mountain, we took a variant south on #504, then west on #503 Spanish Creek Tr. which is very seldom maintained or used. Much grass and other vegetation in tread, some brush, some trees across trail. The creek was high and there are no bridges. About midway to the junction with #500, the trail crosses, then recrosses twice in a quarter mile. No logs in sight. We bushwacked through marshy ground, very wet, to avoid crossing and picked up the trail further along on our side. 30 mins for .25 mis. It rained lightly all day, never hard, but never really stopping for long either, just a drizzle. Camp 5 at Ashnola River. Log bridge there with hand cable, and a trail shelter, no seeums were a problem, some holes in roof. That night, my partner had a second bout of severe abdominal pain. The first was two nights earlier, and we thought it was food related, since it passed and he felt fine after. This one passed too after an hour, but the sign was clear that we needed to head out to be nearer the healthcare system. We suspected kidney stones. July 2, we started south on #500 upstream on the Ashnola River Tr toward Ashnola Pass. Downfall in this area was worse than we'd encountered elsewhere. And stream crossings were also more challenging due to lower elevation, bigger water. Some had logs a hundred yards up or downstream that could work, many logs were wet, slick and barkless. We had to ford twice, in knee deep current with boots on due to boulder bottom. Very time consuming. The trail leaves Ashnola R. to follow Spotted Cr. to Ashnola Pass and enters an enormous burn that continues to the Lake Cr. trailhead below Black Lake. Windfall across the trail increased considerably, along with bad waterflow down the trail. The trail below Ashnola Pass steepens and windfall increases further. We counted 30-60 obstacles per mile, some easy, many requiring detours around one end or the other. This was the roughest section of the entire hike, between the pass and Black Lake. Camp 6 was off the trail about two mis above Black Lk. We saw our first people since leaving the road the morning of day 7 at Black Lk. Boot tracks showed someone had been up the pass a day or two earlier. At the road end, the hikers we met at the lake gave us a ride into Winthrop, where we treated them to rootbeer floats. After failing to hitch a ride to the westside on July 3, we found a shuttle service in Winthrop to drive us to Brewster where we stayed in a motel, caught the bus in the morning, and were back in Seattle at 12:15pm on July 4th. My partner was fine the entire hike out and ride home, but later confirmed kidney stones. The summer season is late in the Pasayten this year. It was our first trip over there, and we're planning to return for a finish of the Boundary Trail next season. See www.pcta.org for info on permits to enter Canada on the PCT. The form says to apply 3 mos in advance. We were able to get expedited approval by calling because we were unaware of the advance timing.

From trailhead to Black Lake the trail is in pretty good shape. A mile or two after Black Lake the trail has lots and lots of blow downs. I encountered only snowpatches hading up to Ashnola Pass, and total snow-cover once at the pass and at the lake, which was 100% snow covered. Coming down from Ashnola Pass the hillside was 100% snow bound all the way down to the ford of the Ashnola River. This first ford of the Ashnola River was not hard, just above knee deep and cold. But the 2nd and 3rd crossing of the river looked impossible, deep and very very swift. I didn't even try it. I instead decided to bushwhack on the right side of the river for 1/4 mile, through the bogs, and hit the trail again at the next ford.