Chewuch River Trail, Tungsten, Boundary Trail - Pasayten, Windy Peak, Windy Creek, Basin Creek & Cathedral Driveway — Sunday, Jul. 24, 2022

Spent Jul 24-30 in the Pasayten. Started at the Thirtymile trailhead. Went in the Chewuch trail to the Tungsten trail, then up Tungsten to the Boundary, then west on the Boundary to Upper Cathedral Lk and around to Amphitheater, then back east on the Boundary to Horseshoe Basin, south to Sunny Pass, then to Windy Peak, exiting via the Windy Creek and Cathedral Driveway trails back to the Chewuch and the Thirtymile TH.

As of the 24th, there were some logs down on the Chewuch. Nothing that was a hassle. Interestingly, these had fallen in the past several weeks since a WTA BCRT had logged the trail earlier in the month. Either USFS or PNTA had cut a few trees the BCRT left and had done some brushing and tread work. On the 25th, trees were still down on the Chewuch past the junction with Tungsten, so we didn't do that portion of the loop given the earlier reports.

As of the 28th, there were still messes of logs between Haig Mtn and Loudon Lk, but much of it had been recently logged. (Yay PNTA, I presume!!) It was a hassle but reasonably short -- not at all like the earlier mess reported on this site.

The trails from Sunny Pass to Windy Peak and then from the Peak down Windy Creek were generally clear, with some remaining trees that were easy enough to step over or go around. Windy Cr was pretty brushy. The use of tools for this clearing was interesting, but hurrah, IMO, for getting the job done. I was grateful. Volunteer on a WTA or PNTA trail crew; donate money; tell your congressional reps to better fund the USFS; the Pasayten trails need so much love to keep them from disappearing. And they were all worth keeping!

We didn't hike the Basin Creek trail but talked with two people who had come up it on the 28th. They reported that it was full of downed trees. It sounded like a horrid climb.

The Cathedral Driveway trail down to the Chewuch was the worst trail of the whole week. It's in steep terrain and, as of the 29th, there were lots of BIG trees that had fallen. This section was far worse than the Boundary Trail, though thankfully only about a mile maybe. The sign at the TH warning horses of the impassibility still seemed very accurate. We made it through but it wasn't fun in the heat.

No snow of any substance along the whole route; just a tiny bit along the wall SW of Upper Cathedral Lk that's probably gone by now. River crossings were all rock hops except for Horseshoe Cr in the afternoon but not in the morning. There was frequent water for drinking along the Boundary Trail, though I imagine things are drying up more every day.

CalTopo MapBuilder layer doesn't show the Windy Creek trail or the top of the Basin Creek trail; the 2018 Green Trails Horseshoe Basin paper map shows both, but the actual Windy Cr trail didn't cross the creek as many times as shown on the map, and the actual Windy Creek trail starts/ends at the Cathedral Driveway (aka Chewuch) trailhead instead of half mile west of it. The CalTopo 2016 USFS layer shows both the Windy Peak spur and the top of the Windy Cr trail starting further south than they do. In reality, they connect. At least the trail sign is correct!

Met a former Methow wilderness ranger on Amphitheater who said Chewuch should be pronounced Chee-wok.