Chewuch River Trail, Cathedral Pass Loop, Boundary Trail - Pasayten, Windy Creek & Windy Peak — Friday, Jul. 12, 2024

Having never been to the Pasayten Wilderness, my partner and I decided to take a long weekend to see as much as we could. After camping along the road out to the trailhead on Thursday night (multiple official campgrounds and plenty of dispersed camping options), we started at Thirtymile trailhead around 9am. We got about 20 miles in on day 1, taking the Chewuch River trail up to the Lesamiz trail to the Boundary trail. Each turnoff was signed and easy to spot, and the trails were well maintained. Elevation was gradual until about mile 15 (we jogged a lot of it) and then climbed a few miles up into a meadow. The bugs were ever-present but manageable - until we got to our planned camp spot at Upper Cathedral Lake. Mosquitoes were EVERYWHERE - looking back we should have just camped a little further up the trail at the pass where there was a breeze and open space, but we were tired, so we just spent some time in the tent before being lulled to sleep early by the sounds of incessant buzzing. 

Day 2 was a long one - from Cathedral Pass on the Boundary trail and then onto the Windy Peak trail at Sunny Pass, about 25 miles. Water is plentiful at the moment, until the climb to Windy Peak, we never carried more than 1.5L at a time on a hot/sunny day and never felt worried about running out (some of the smaller creeks may dry up as summer continues). The wildflowers were INCREDIBLE, especially near Sunny Pass. The bugs were still pretty bad - unless there was a breeze, we weren’t able to stop and rest for more than a minute or 2 before deciding it wasn’t worth it and moving on. We had originally planned to stop at Horseshoe Basin, but because we thought the bugs would be better higher up, we continued to the saddle just north of Windy Peak. The last 2 miles were a SLOG, but it was worth it - the breeze picked up and we were able to head up to the peak for sunset and views. 

Day 3 we started down the Windy Creek trail. FYI the fork on the Gaia track is slightly off, follow the signpost and you’ll be on the right path. There are some blowdowns and areas of overgrowth, but it's pretty easy to stay on track. Made it to the Cathedral Driveway trailhead to connect back to the Chewuch trail to finish the loop at the Thirtymile trailhead. We were especially glad to have made it to Windy Peak the night before as this meant we only had a 13 mile, all downhill day and were able to have lunch in Winthrop before heading back to Seattle. 

 It was also really interesting to see the different stages of forest recovering from fires. Wildlife was plentiful (goats, grouse, elk, etc…no bears) and humans were few. All in all, a beautiful loop, and despite the bugs, worth it for the wildflowers, plentiful water, and lower fire risk than later in the summer.