We hiked the Boundary Trail from west to east over 10 days from June 24 - July 3, 2023.
Overall: We had a great trip, but we would not recommend hiking the section between Ross Lake and the Pasayten River until trail crews are able to remove the downed trees from last year's fire. The section from the Pasayten River to the Iron Gate Trailhead was beautiful and the trail was in great condition.
Day 1 - Ross Lake to Three Fools Creek/Elbow Creek Confluence - 7 miles (after the lake): We planned to get a water taxi at 2:00 p.m. but didn't realize that the boat launch was about a 20-30 minute hike in from the parking area. Fortunately, they were still able to fit us into their schedule. The boat dropped us off at Lightening Creek. The first 4 miles in NPS territory are in good shape. We ran into to trail workers who had just cleared the logs until the border with the Forest Service land. The climb leaving the lake was substantial especially with heavy packs. We took a snack and water break at Deer Creek before continuing on. Our plan was to camp right before the big ascent on the Castle Pass trail begins. Burned and downed trees from the 2022 Three Fools Fire started piling up in the burn zone as we made our way further along Three Fools Creek. We got discouraged by the downed trees and were feeling tired, but wished we had continued another .5 mile or so to a better campsite along the river just before the trail starts to ascend.
Day 2 -Three Fools Creek/Elbow Creek Confluence to Big Face Creek - 7 miles: The log piles in the valley of Three Fools Creek continued to be bad from the burn. The trail got better as we ascended from the creek because there were fewer piles of big trees on the trail. The underbrush was completely burnt away. We lost the trail in places on the ascent but kept finding it for a while. We did eventually loose it after the last switchback and then contoured off trail until the intermittent stream crossing (dry) where we hiked back up to meet the trail. We ran out of water but were able to melt snow on the ridge south of Freezeout Lake where we took a break. The ridge there was beautiful and smooth hiking. Some ups and downs of elevation along the ridge. We hit flowing water on the descent from the ridge after trail 749A peels off the go to the summit of Joker Mountain. The stream runs above and below ground in spots so you might have to search for an aboveground part. The traverse over to Big Face Creek was much harder than we expected. The trail is overgrown with thorny bushes and hard to follow. We eventually got to Big Face Creek to camp wetter, more scratched, and more tired than hoped for. Big Face Creek is nestled into a beautiful valley with nice views of Joker Mountain and other peaks. Saw no other people on day 2.
Day 3 - Big Face Creek to Frosty Creek - 10 miles: We crossed Big Face Creek and couldn't see much of a trail so we just made our way straight up to the ridge choosing a path that didn't have underbrush. Gaia and our Green Trails map did not suggest any constant or seasonal stream, so we had filled up on water at Big Face Creek, but there were streams on both sides as we ascended. Once hopped on the trail at the top and took a break we it intersected a small creek. The climb was more shaded than we expected as well.Trail then contoured along and was beautiful. Then, dropped down to a ridge. Ups and downs and trail finding was easy. Trail was in decent shape. We got to Castle Pass sooner than expected and must have intersected with the start of SOBO PCT hikers. Ascent from Castle to Frosty pass was pretty gradual. Trail in good shape and easy to follow. Frosty Pass has good view down the valley. It looked swampy and buggy and was in fact swampy and buggy. We wish we had stopped higher on the descent by a creek to camp. We camped near a beaver dam near Frosty Creek. The next day we saw an obvious campsite near the trail off to the left. Saw only 2 today on the short section of the PCT.
Day 4 - Big Face Creek to Pasayten River (Pasayten Cabin) - 12 miles: This morning was the low point of the trip and we debated bailing on the trip. Initial miles in the burn were very hard. Complex piles of logs and hard to find the trail at times. Lots of climbing over logs with lots of branches. Also buggy and could be hot. Sort of miserable all the way to Chewanten Creek. Climb to Dead Lake was okay. Section next to Dead Lake had some harder trees over trail since you are constrained to where you can walk. Descent from Dead Lake had water and lots of trees on the trail basically all the way to the intersection within the West Fork Pasayten River. Stopped near trail intersection for lunch in Sunset Meadow First one to two miles north are amazing! Flat and clear and beautiful. Then, some logs start covering the trail but they have been dead for a while so the trunks are smooth and branches gone. Trail finding quite easy too. We had seen on the map something labeled Pasayten Cabin, which doesn’t seem to exist now. I would either camp just before that area before where a small bluff constricts the river or at the river crossing. We went to the second crossing not the PNT crossing because it seemed like less up and down. No bugs and nice swimming at the river. Saw no other people today.
Day 5 - Pasayten River to Quartz Lake - 12.5 miles: The trip and trails got much better today! We loaded up on water for the climb for the river, but there was more water along the way. For a mile or so after the river, there was some trees on the trail. Then, we went through a newer burn with some harder trail finding and trees on trail. Then the trail gets a lot better. There is a nice campsite before a Bunker Hill that is flat and has water. Bunker hill is amazing and the the views after that are great. The trail is also great. We cruised along the descent and ascent to Quartz mountain. Views along Quartz Mountain are amazing. We camped at Quartz Lake. It was fine. I would probably just continue to a big meadow that’s maybe less than a mile further along. The meadow is west of Peeve Pass and north of Sand Ridge. We ran into 1 other hiker crossing the Pasayten River in the opposite direction.
Day 6 - Quartz Lake to Ashnola River - 6.5 miles: Trail is pretty good. The last few miles descending to the Ashnola River must have been an old logging/mining road that is now single track trail. We stopped for lunch at the Ashnola River and then decided that we wanted to enjoy the river and camp in the meadow right there. We had a lovely and peaceful day. Saw no other people today.
Day 7 - Ashnola River to Upper Cathedral Lake - 6.5 miles: Climb from Ashnola River was on a similar former logging/mining road with big switchbacks and gentle elevation gain. The trails from here on out were excellent for the rest of the trip. We got a touch confused about the trail at the junction at Spanish Cabin about which trail was right. Cathedral Lake is beautiful with great swimming and rocks to lie on. It was a little buggier. We saw 2 other hikers at Cathedral Lake.
Day 8 - Upper Cathedral Lake to east of Teapot Dome - 12 miles: Smooth and quick hiking today. We saw a few more folks coming in to Cathedral Lake for the holiday weekend. We stopped at the Tungsten Mine site to explore the cabins. We initially planned to camp at the lake to the SW of Teapot Dome, but it was more of a marsh, so we continued for about 1 mile to a meadow that had a small stream.
Day 9 - East of Teapot Dome to Loudon Lake - 6 miles: Light packs and easy hiking!
Day 10 - Loudon Lake to Iron Gate Trailhead - 7 miles: Smooth trail and light packs! A friend was coming to pick us up in a small SUV. We saw another hiker at the trailhead in a big truck, so we hitched a ride with him. Our friend probably could have made it in her small SUV for the last 6 miles, but it was a lot smoother in his truck.
Other thoughts:
- You could fairly easily combine our last 2 days if you wanted to shorten the trip, but the camping a Loudon Lake is quite nice.
- Until trail work is done west of the Pasayten River, I might either come in along the PNT or along the Pasayten River Trail and do the rest of the loop.
- I included the Gaia link to the hike. Those were out planned 10 days, not what we actually hiked. We went further on Day 5 to Quartz lake and camped closer or further on some other days. Maybe I will straighten those out soon.
Comments
jndupuy on Boundary Trail - Pasayten
Bless y'all for tackling this! It's been on my list so long, and never knew which sections were good and which were still blowdown obliterations because the trip reports are scarce and USFS just says "trail conditions unknown" or only mentions a small section. Appreciate the beta!
Posted by:
jndupuy on Aug 14, 2023 11:27 AM