A friend and I hiked Carne Mountain on Sunday, October 6th.
The road to the trailhead is long and rough, but if you are practiced in driving rutted, rocky, potholed forest service roads I imagine you could handle it in any car. The road to Phelps Creek Trailhead has been freshly re-graded, so if you remember that nightmare section of road from years past, it is no longer a concern! Cars stretched out of the parking lot and well down the road when we started hiking, around 9am, but roadside parking is abundant.
The hike itself is phenomenal. One of my new favorites in Washington. The first section is through the forest, but you have views of the mountains and valley through the trees. Then, you enter an open slope that leads to a small meadow, around mile 3. There is a small stream at the start of the meadow section if you need to filter water - this is the only water we observed on the whole route. The meadow is full of larches at the moment, ranging from mostly yellow to a few light green. Larches continue to dot the landscape, as you ascend out of the meadow to reach the ridge. From the ridge, you can see down into the next valley, and it is gorgeous. After taking a left at the ridge, you reach the small summit of Carne Mountain, complete with a land survey marker! Views in every direction are phenomenal - you can see Clark, Glacier, Fortress, Sinister, Seven Fingered Jack, Maude, Icebox - the list goes on. I could spend hours up there with a map and not get tired of peak finding!
Alas, my friend and I were only out for a day hike, so after eating lunch on the ridge and admiring the scenery for a while longer, we had to return to the car. Like every trip I go on to the Glacier Peak Wilderness, I wish I could've stayed longer, and my list for future trips is getting longer and longer. What a beautiful place, I can't wait to go back!
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