I started from Cathedral Driveway and headed off towards Tungsten Mine. There were very few obstacles along the way: there were a handful of small logs over the trail a few miles in, but they were easy to step over.

I stayed at a campsite a couple miles from Cinch Creek -- lots of animal activity there (some kind of cat; elk; chipmunks). Sleep was a bit hard to get there with all of the "stomping around" (the campsite was right next to the trail and the local watering hole) 😝. There was another slightly better campsite about a mile uphill from where I camped (better running water).

Ran into some nice folks at Tungsten who were spending the night; their upstairs neighbors (mink? marten?) in the cabin were apparently quite boisterous and stopped by to say hello a few times the night before to the human guests (imagine waking up to a mink in your face!).

I went east down Boundary Trail ~3 miles (saw the sign for Horseshoe Basin) and heard some wolf howls nearby (some of the Chopaka Pack I guess). I turned around after that point on the trail.

The larches are starting to come in down the Boundary Trail (turning gold, but there was still some neon green). I would have gone over to Apex Pass, but I ran out of daylight and the smoke was bad (I wore my N95 on the hike). The smoke was nasty from the Lower Sugarloaf fire, but not as bad as it was near Wenatchee (it's so bad on the drive back down the 97), but it should die down a bit this week with the rain/snow at high elevations 🤞. Temps were chilly at night (low 50s), so I was a happy camper curled up in my 32° sleeping bag 🙂.

Water wasn't too hard to find get once you got off on the Chewuch River Trail, but it was a bit sporadic up Tungsten Trail until I got to Cinch Creek and close to Tungsten Creek a few miles past that.

I hiked the Cathedral pass loop over 3 1/2 days, starting on the Chewuch River trail from the Thirty Mile Trailhead, going right on the Tungsten trail, connecting to the Boundary Trail to reach upper Cathedral Lake and then down Lesamiz trail back to the Chewuch river trail (with side trips up to Amphitheater Mountain and Remmel Lake).

Overall - long stretches of riverside and woodsy walking (through lots of open burned forest with fresh young pines and dense undergrowth), some surprising muddy/brushy sections, relatively gentle gradients with sweeping valley/mountain views closer to and on the Boundary and Lesamiz trail with a beautiful larch-filled basin around Upper Cathedral lake. 

Some notes from the trip:

- Larches are starting to turn golden yellow at Upper Cathedral lake and Apex pass!

- No bugs at all!  

- The sun was warm but air was cool especially at night when it dipped to the low 30s (my water bottle had frozen water after the first night in the Chewuch river valley where I camped). The wind was especially strong and cold at Apex and Cathdral passes but not too bad in the trees around upper Cathedral lake.

- Smoky haze filled the valley at the trailhead (and in the Methow valley) but (at least when I was there) the air was relatively clear at higher elevations (about 5 to 6 miles in or so).

- Water - Chewuch trail is relatively dry (even though the river isn't far below through the brush), the Tungsten and Boundary trails are even drier so I'd load up before you start up the Tungsten trail and at one spot (Cinch creek) a few miles up the trail where two creeks cross the trail. There's limited water on the Lesamiz trail but several stream crossings once you complete the steepish descent down the Chewuch trail.

Trail conditions

• Chewuch - open with river and hillside views, smooth, gradual, sandy in spots, wide;
• Tungsten - woodsy with limited views, smooth and straight in long stretches turning cobbly rocky (and an uphill grind but not super steep) as you ascend towards the mine;
• Boundary - smooth and relatively gradual ascent over Apex and Cathedral passes, valley and mountain views, larch forests;
• Amphitheater Mountain (trail unmarked but obvious, less than a mile from Upper Cathedral, left at a sign indicating you're on the Boundary trail) - open high valley and mountain views, sandy in spots near the pass, but easily accessible saddles with views straight down to Cathedral lake and south on the other side;
• Upper Cathedral lake basin - several informal trails and open areas for easy wandering north to a shoulder or through the larches around the lake;
• Lesamiz trail (I took an informal cutoff trail from Amphitheater, so I didn't hike the entire Lesamiz trail), rutted in spots, decent tread with loose cobbles, nice views;
• Chewuch trail down - smooth at first, then lots of down with mixed cobbles/gravel through miles of burned forest, lots of brushy sections further down with several muddy/wet sections (some difficult to avoid except for a few strategically placed logs), wide and smooth after the junction with the trail to Four Point lake. 

Camping

• Chewuch to Tungsten - limited spots (unless you're hammock camping) for at least six miles when you reach some open areas (its either too brushy or trees lay like matchsticks in the forest);
• Tungsten to Boundary - limited spots (except for lots of trees for hammocks) until you reach a nice spots near the Cinch creek a few miles up and then limited again after that;
• Boundary to Upper Cathedral - Some large camp spots near the mine and smaller ones at Apex Pass (limited water though);
• Upper Cathedral lake (and basin) - lots of open areas for potential camping in the basin (but only a few more established spots from what I could tell - one on the north side of the lake and another on the west end and several near a dried up pond near the trail north of the lake);
• Amphitheater mountain and Lesamiz - limited camp spots (especially since the valley is considered fragile/sensitive);
• Remmel lake - one nice spot next to the lake, a large area for horses away from the lake;
• Chewuch trail down - very limited most of the way due to brush and downed trees until you reach a stream crossing where there's an open area just down from the stream, lots of flat open areas with trees after the junction with the Four Point Lake trail, nice spots near Tungsten creek, the junction with Tungsten trail and at Horseshoe creek. 

June 28th Saturday - Arrived at the Cathedral Driveway trailhead around 9am. Saw lots of cute cows and calves along the road driving up to the trailhead. There were about 5 other cars there, there is a nice clean vault toilet at the parking lot. Trail descends steeply for ~2 mi until it meets up with the Chewuch River trail. There is a river crossing about 6 miles in right before the trail intersects with the Tungsten trail. There is a semi-stable log you can walk across or, or you can wade through the river. We continued west on the Chewuch River trail at this junction. Mainly hiking through burned out areas, lots of nice wildflowers. There are A LOT of felled trees that you have to go over/under or around, we did see a trail crew working to clear some of the felled trees. Also A LOT of bugs. And the trail is quite muddy/flooded out in some spots. Good amount of water sources. The elevation gain is gentle until you get closer to Remmel Lake, then it becomes steeper which was tough after a long day. Having to navigate the felled trees was also very tiring. Turned east onto the Boundary Trail, and ended up camping in a boggy area right before the junction to Lower Cathedral Lake. Despite the warm temperatures during the day, it got quite chilly at night. 18.5 miles.

June 29th Sunday - Continued up to Cathedral Pass, there are still some patches of snow but it is easily navigable. Dumped our packs here and summited Cathedral Peak. Mainly scrambling, made it almost to the top but there is a class 4 move that requires crossing an exposed gap we were not comfortable with. Great views at the top. Descended then continued on the Boundary trail. Once you get close to Tungsten mine, there is an unmarked trail that goes to a large group camp - this is NOT the Tungsten trail. Continue on the boundary trail until you get the the real trail junction, there is a trail marker. On our green trails map it says it's 6 miles from the mine to Chewuch river, the trail marker says 8 miles, per our GPS it's closer to 8 miles. North of the trail marker are some of the abandoned camp buildings. Continue onto the Tungsten Trail a bit and you will get to the old mine shaft. The rest of the hike is mainly descending. Not many felled tree obstacles in the section but there were still quite a few muddy/flooded sections of the trails. Camped at the intersection of Tungsten Trail and Chewuch River trail. Lots of bugs at camp and on the trail. 14 miles.

Day 3 June 30th Monday - Hiked  out along the Chewuch River trail, pretty gentle descent. Once you turn onto Cathedral Driveway, the ascent is brutal, especially on day 3 legs. After getting out of the forest area and back into the burned out area the elevation gain becomes gentler. 6 miles.

Overall great trip. If able, would consider spreading it out over 4 days, but is totally doable over 3 days given the long sunlight hours. Cons - hiking through burned out forest which means navigating felled trees, muddy/flooded trails, a lot of bugs, and got quite hot. Pros - encountered a minimal amount of other hikers, beautiful wildflowers, great views at Cathedral Pass and Cathedral Peak, lots of water sources, no permit reservation needed ahead of time (you fill one out at the trailhead).

https://caltopo.com/m/EPVSEGD

From Thirty-Mile Trailhead, did a three-day backpack through Cathedral Pass. Went up Chewuch River Trail to the Tungsten Mine Trail on day one and camped along the Tungsten Mine Trail - the trail was clear and snow free, but bugs were pretty bad along the first 8 miles of our day.  Then continued up the Tungsten trail to the PNT and to Cathedral Pass and camped at upper Cathedral Lake. Trail was still snow free and mostly clear of wind-fall. We cleared some of the smaller tree-fall and what remains is easy to get around.  The lake was gorgeous, and bugs were not bad at all.  For anyone interested in visiting this area I'd recommend coming this way and then returning back the same way. 

Day three we continued on the PNT to the Chewuch River Trail and did encounter a little snow - but not much and it wasn't too bad to cross - should be gone soon.  But pretty soon after hitting the Chewuch we were into serious windfall and the going was less fun. Parts of the trail were flooded and the mosquitos were out in serious force. They were so bad we decided to forgo staying another night and hiked the full return distance (about 21 miles) to the trailhead.  100% recommend getting on the Tungsten trail as it was gorgeous, but do an out & back instead of the loop!

We did a variation of the cathedral pass loop from the Thirtymile trailhead. We went up the Chewuch trail, then up the Tungsten trail, the Boundary trail to upper Cathedral lake, up the snow gully to Ampitheather Mountain where we slept near the summit. We descended to near Remmel Lake, then the Lesmiz trail to the Chewuch trail and out again. Conditions are as follows:

Road: excellent condition that's OK for any vehicle until right before the trailhead parking where there is some very deep water that will require high clearance. Or park before it and walk around it. 

Chewuch trail: only a few blowdown on the first 8+ miles. One stream crossing is a ford, or a sketchy multiple skinny log crossing. The Chewuch river crossing around 8 miles in is definitely a ford, recommend shoes because it's very cold and wide right now. Not more than knee deep though. 

Tungsten trail: a few blowdown, exposed to the sun and felt very hot going up. As you approach the old mine site the trail is quite boggy for a bit. 

Boundary trail: punchy snow as you approach apex pass interspersed with melted out areas. Apex pass has melted out areas, we saw a tent there. Then snow free until approaching Cathedral pass, which has more annoying punchy snow the last 1/2 mile or so. Upper Cathedral Lake is all snow covered. 

Up to Ampitheather: we were here in the late afternoon on a very hot day and made it up with spikes and poles. The snow has a very firm layer, there was just enough soft snow on top for the spikes and poles. Crampons/axe would be the smartest tools, particularly for early in the day or a colder day. The peak is mostly melted out with snow patches. 

Descent to Lesmiz trail: once down the peak into the basin on the south we were in annoying punchy snow (will you stay on top? Will you posthole fully in? Find out!) alternating with some very moist boggy areas. By 7200 the snow became more patchy, and by 7000 feet we were mostly out of the snow. We could see Remmel Lake from above, it appeared melted out with some surrounding snow patches. 

Chewuch trail: from Remmel Lake area to the junction with Tungsten the trail isn't in the best shape, it's worse higher up and improves as you pass the Four Point lake trail. We found more blowdown (again, not a terrible amount, but they are there), however, more challenging were the boggy sections. I ended up taking off my socks and just letting my feet be wet. You could probably bushwhack around all the boggy, wet and muddy sections but it would take a lot more time. There were two fords in addition to the Chewuch ford. All three of them had no dry foot option I could find, and wearing my trail runners helped me get through the frigid water more efficiently. 

Lots of beautiful flowers out, esp in the lower elevations.