Eagle Creek, Chelan Summit, Oval Pass & Oval Lakes — Friday, Oct. 13, 2023

The Eagle/Oval Loop was an incredible 3-day Larch Madness hike, just past peak but still stunning. The road was in fine shape for a sedan going slow-ish when it turned to dirt for the last few miles. I hiked the loop counter-clockwise. I camped at Silver Lake the first night, which made for a shorter first day after the long drive to the trailhead. Silver Lake, despite being mundane as alpine lakes go, did have several nice campsites. The trail there is very well graded, but was made infinitely more difficult by dodging hundreds of land mines left by a team of twelve horses who dropped off a pair of hunters earlier in the day over Eagle Pass (I met them as they were headed back to the trailhead). The first day to Silver Lake was rather boring, to be honest, with no views and just trudging uphill; the same was true going downhill on day three descending from camp at West Oval Lake. However, the middle day was absolutely stunning. The larches start coming into view about a mile shy of Eagle Pass, and from there all the way around to West Oval Lake the views and the larches were indescribably beautiful. Tuckaway Lake in particular was mesmerizing. There were some patches of snow on the trail, in particular when climbing on the Chelan Summit Trail just before the unnamed pass looking down into Fish Creek Basin, and again climbing Oval Pass from the south, but the worst was on the Oval Lakes Trail just below Oval Pass until the saddle heading into Middle and East Oval Lakes (there was fresh snow the day I did it, and that night it got more along with an overnight low of about 25*). I didn't need any traction, but the stretch leading to the saddle between Oval Pass and Middle and East Oval Lakes will likely need traction after mid-week, if not now. Middle and East Oval Lakes were beautiful, as were the high meadows in the descent to the lakes. Middle Oval definitely has better campsites. West Oval (where I stayed) had many great camps, too, but as previously noted, the birds are quite friendly and have become accustomed to food. The hike out down Oval Creek was long and monotonous, made worse by overgrown brush spreading into the trail and getting my pants and shoes absolutely drenched with rain from the night before (snow at higher elevations; it was 30* at sunrise at West Oval). After navigating around the horse poop again in the final two miles it was back to the car and a stellar drive home over the North Cascades Highway.