Truly a hike that has a little bit of everything -- vibrant meadows, towering glaciers, sparkling alpine lakes, dense forests, and breathtaking mountain views. The adventure starts before you even take your first step. I'll emphasize what has been said before: the road to the trailhead is rough. We managed to make it in Prius, but wouldn't recommend it. We ended up parking at the fork in the road between the roads to the Phelps Creek Trailhead and Trinity, where there were maybe a dozen other cars parked, and made the couple mile climb up to the Phelps Creek Trailhead.
The hike up to Spider Meadow is gradual and we ended up camping the first night right after Spider Meadow, but before the climb up to Spider Glacier. If we had done it again, we probably would have continued on to the camps on the other side of Phelps Creek or up at Spider Glacier, but we didn't want to make the climb and end up without a spot.
The hike from the base of Spider Glacier to Lyman Lake is truly one of the most spectacular sections of trail I've hiked in WA. We saw other people putting on spikes for Spider Glacier, but the footing seemed strong enough for running shoes and we made it without an issue. I slid on the microspikes for a bit of the glacier descent on the other side of the gap, but it probably could be done without them.
We spent the second night at Lady Camp, which provided absolutely incredible sunrise/sunset views of Glacier Peak. There's only maybe room for 3-4 parties at the camp (we grabbed the last spot) and the Image Lake camp also seemed crowded, so it's probably a good idea on a weekend to arrive somewhat early to lock down a spot if you're planning to add on Image Lake to the loop. Thought it would be late enough in the season to not have too many mosquitoes issues, but they were pretty persistent in the morning/evening up at Lady Camp.
Ended up feeling ambitious on the last day and hiked out to Trinity from Lady Camp. Originally planning to camp at Buck Creek Pass, and the views from those sites looked amazing, so will need to revisit at a later date.
Water sources are plentiful and the trail is in great condition -- now is a great time to give this loop a try!
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