Spider Meadow and Phelps Basin — Friday, Jun. 28, 2013

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - East

Spider Meadows is a fantastic multi-day hike up the Chiwawa River drainage. Spent two nights and hiked up DumbBell peak for a day excursion. Lots of water on train, flowing creeks, so need to dry out your boots or go bare foot on the many stream crossings. Meadow is pretty clear of snow once you arrive. There were a few campsites that were not in snow, most still had some snow. Above the meadow snow is pretty thick, but fun if you have some good boots, crampons, or ice ax. With the hot weather I would guess the snow would melt quite a bit in the next couple weeks. Bugs were not an issue, but starting to hatch. Very little blow down along trail and other than the water, the trail is in excellent condition. Many folks going up to Spider Glacier, but we enjoyed heading directly up the drainage and looking back down the Big Creek drainage. Highly recommend this hike, it was very quite and only 4-5 cars at trail head. But probably getting busier throughout the summer.