Lyman Lakes, Spider Gap & Holden to Hart Lake — Wednesday, Sep. 15, 2021

The road to the Phelps Creek trailhead is quite rough and will need a high clearance 4wd/Awd vehicle as the sandy ruts on the last 1/2 mile are very deep and loose right now. Cars were lined up along the side of the road, more than i have ever seen it, so we were concerned about crowds even for a weekday trip. We hiked up to Spider Meadow in good time as this section of trail is fairly easy. To our surprise, the Meadow sites were all empty! We continued up to the base of Spider Glacier for night 1 and enjoyed a fantastic campsite overlooking the meadow with views of Maude and 7FJ. The privy here is up a steep hill but easy to find. 
The next morning we tackled Spider Glacier up to the gap with Microspikes. Snow was nicely softened by 930-10 but this will obviously vary day to day especially with the storm system coming in heavy this week. There is a collapsing snow bridge in the middle of the glacier with several holes so please stay to the right side when hiking up.

The view from Spider Gap was every bit as incredible as i knew it would be and we lingered here shortly for a lot of pictures and snacks. Descending down to Lyman lakes was the most technical part of our whole 4 day route. There is a section of glacier here that has deep open crevasses that could end terribly if you slipped upslope so microspikes and poles were needed. Take care navigating the rocks down to the lake as it would be easy to fall or roll an ankle here. Many good campsite at both Upper & Lower Lyman lakes. We set up camp at lower Lyman and took daypacks up to Cloudy Pass. Don't miss this view! So cool to look back at the area you just made your way through. Endless wild blueberries to feast on. The only wildlife we saw were marmots and squirrels but I'm sure bears are a real concern with all the ripe berries so be sure to properly store your food at camp. 
Day 3 we hiked past Hart Lake to Holden Village. The views along this section were much more interesting than i thought it would be, and Hart Lake is a beautiful color. There are several nice campsites at Hart but not much otherwise along this section of trail. The first few miles were very overgrown and annoying, but the last few miles had recent work done to cut back the bushes so it wasn't all terrible. Too bad they didn't keep going up the trail with that cutter! The camping options just outside of Holden village was pretty underwhelming... 1 larger exposed group site with a bear locker, or you can tuck up in the forest into what looked to be an old unmaintained "campground". We took the forest option since it was raining and the trees offered more cover, but the winds picked up and left us with a sleepless night listening to trees snapping all around us. Too bad they don't offer more amenities for hikers passing through Holden Village... there was no area to hide from the rain, cook food or buy a hot meal or drink. The few residents we did see were not friendly or welcoming at all so it was a weird vibe in the village. The bus left at 9:30 am to connect us with a 10:45 boat ferry, and after a stop at the Stehekin pastry company we were back at our shuttle car in Chelan.

I would 100% recommend this route if you don't mind the hassle of a car shuttle, but don't expect much out of Holden. Staying the last night at Hart Lake and hiking out early in the morning to catch the bus might have been the better way to go in hindsight. 

Total Gaia stats for this route was 29 miles, 5,100' vert up and 5,300' down.