Aferrenberg and I got up to the summit of Chikamin Peak via the Mineral Creek trailhead. We got started at 6:50am. The first stream crossing, which is Kachess River, is fairly straightforward as the river is super low. There are rocks to walk across, just beware of the one loose one. The second one, which crosses Mineral Creek, is super low too, and has some nice rocks to cross. Mineral Creek trail has been brushed out, and I think there was only one tree across the trail. Thanks for all the work done on this trail!
When we reached Park Lakes, there was tons of berries to munch on. We stopped numerous times, which slowed our progress, especially on the way down! Past Park Lakes we took a left on the PCT(southbound), and at around 5200ft, we took a right taking the trail up towards Glacier Lake. At this pass, which has a fantastic view, we had to head down a super steep trail that would drop us down 550ft down to Glacier Lake.
From Glacier Lake outflow, we took a trail around the north side of the lake. This trail then takes you to a boulder field with some huge house sized boulders. We went left of the giant upright boulder. We found a passage way through a hole between two enormous rocks, that we could walk upright thru.
Once past these boulders there is a trail we followed that followed a creek bed. Where this creek took a left towards the upper lake, we stayed to the right of the deep ravine. Up near the upper lake there was some nice slabs to scramble up. At the upper lake we crossed the outflow, and then headed up a faint trail that would take us up to the steep slabs. The slabs were grippy, and were nice to walk up. Up past the slabs there were a couple of scrambles to find the correct route up.
Once up at ridge at around 6600ft to the south of Chikamin's summit block, we now had the 400ft ascent up to the summit. The first part there is a climbers path up to around 100ft below the summit. To find the proper chimney, take a left and then look up and you will see the chimney that is well protected. Glen99 has a great picture of the proper chimney yo take on his recent trip report on 8-31-25. It's a 4th class scramble, but has excellent holds.
The winds had shifted throughout the day, so it was quite smoky as we made the ascent up to the peak from Glacier Lake, so we didn't get the big views. On our way back down, the winds must have shifted again, as the smoke had cleared up quite a bit, which was nice for the long descent back to the car. The climb back out of Glacier Lake was tiring, and we took a couple of long breaks back down at Park Lakes to feast on berries! The numerous small inclines on the long hike back out were also tiring.
We arrived back at the car at 7pm, 12 hours and 10 minutes after starting. Great trip! 17 miles with 6406ft gain
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