A grand trip of larch-viewing, meadow lounging, and peak-bagging: Friday we drove up the well-maintained road from Twisp to the West Fork Buttermilk trailhead. Then we hiked through miles of inches-thick-dust to Fish Creek Pass. While at the pass, Jeff and I eyed the peaks Buttermilk Ridge and Courtney, and wandered up. The rest of the party enjoyed the views from Courtney Peak. Both are safe scrambles when the lichen-covered rocks are dry. (But watch out for shifting boulders.) We camped west of the pass in a large meadow (with Jeff and I arriving after dusk). Lo and behold are a couple guys we know! Small world. Saturday all the campmates walked to Star Pass over the also-dusty trail 1259, and scrambled up easy terrain to Star Peak. From here we could survey miles and miles in all directions. An impressive smoke column rose to the north. Most of the rest headed for Gray Peak, northbound on trail 1259. Mike and I eyed North Sawtooth (8067) and Spirit Mts, and spent a long day en route. Bernice Lake is a lovely spot, with a trail (abandoned? Boot-beaten?) to ease sore soles. Our brushy trip from Spirit Mt took most of the spirit out of our legs (2 hrs brush and a 1200' climb back to Fish Creek Pass) but we managed to stumble into camp at dusk just as Jim, Andy and Gordon stumbled from their adventure to Finney Peak. Sunday morning the group headed to Finney, using Jim's advice. But first I had unfinished business with Gray Peak, so I went there before catching the gang. We followed the trail towards Surprise Lake (1249), then took off across a meadow towards two beautiful lakes NE of Finney Peak. From here it was a scramble up nice ridges and ugly loose talus to the top. On the way back we detoured over Baldy Mt, a nice change of pace from the dust of horse-beaten trails. For once, I got back with a little daylight to spare. That evening, the sunset was spectacular, possibly due to lots of smoke from a fire. The larches are a bit past their prime, but golden larches are always a special treat. Monday was an exit day. While the gang hiked out the West Fork Buttermilk trail, I took the abandoned trail #436. While in the neighborhood, I ran up Oval and Scaffold Peaks. This trail has a few semi-confusing sections near Oval, but gets easier to follow towards the eastern trailhead. This trailhead has a gated road, so isn't used much. There are some logs across the trail, but none impede progress completely. It is far less dusty. Some good views of Buttermilk Meadows, larches, quaking aspen (maybe?). The road walk down is long... so I descended grassy slopes and some forest to the W Fork Buttermilk, and walked a tiring mile back to the trailhead.

We did the Golden Lakes Loop over the gorgeous long weekend, and we saw a total of 5 backpackers, 3 mountain bikers, 2 equestrians, and 3 relatively quiet motocyclists along the trail on this pretty loop. We had every lake we camped at to ourselves. Stunning! I thought it would be much more crowded. Day 1-- Up the trail to Eagle Lakes. We were confused by a well-used spur trail heading off to the left that was not on the Green Trails map. We didn't take it and ended up OK. About 4 miles in, saw a bear along the side of the trail. He looked at us and ran away, which is good, because it was either him or us that would be running, and we were slow with our packs on. :) Trail was very well-maintained. We stayed at Upper Eagle. We didn't check out Lower Eagle, but it was definitely worth the hike to Upper Eagle rather than camping at the smaller pond along the main trail. Much less marshy. Cold and windy, but clear, that night. Day 2-- over Horsehead Pass to Boiling Lake, where we waited for j, who had taken off early to scramble up Mt Bigelow. He said it was very nice, but had some exposed places. The rest of us were content to sit in the warm sun till he showed up. Leaving Boiling Lake, we were a little confused by many trails crossing the main trail, but the next turn (to Summit trail) is well-marked once you get to it. Ascended a small ridge that looks like it's right out of ""The Sound of Music,"" then headed on up Angel's Staircase. Gorgeous views. Took the small spur trail to Cooney Lake. There is still a bit of snow at the top, but you can descend it carefully at an angle to the trail below- you only have to be on snow for about 20 feet. The trail to the lake was a bit slippery with run-off. We stayed at the upper lake. VERY windy that night, and cold once the sun went down. Day 3-- more sun! Since it was to be a short hiking day, j and d and I scrambled up Martin Peak while the other d and a enjoyed the sun at camp. D and I stopped before the absolute peak because it looked a bit exposed, but j says it was really not that scary. We were content with the view from the ""false summit,"" though, but a bit embarassed when j said that the summit register said there was an 8-year-old boy up there in '95. After lunch, we headed to Martin Lake. Again, the trail near Cooney Lake was pretty wet and slippery in places, but once we got to the main trail, it was fine. Martin Lake was either shielded from the wind, or the weather had changed. Either way, it was nice and warm, but the mosquitos came out. They were annoying but not bad enough to ruin our fun. D thinks this was the prettiest lake on our trip. My vote is for Upper Eagle, but all were nice. A couple of people fishing in Martin when we got there had caught a few, and we could see more fish in the shallow water. Day 4-- headed out! It was at least 15 degrees warmer once we got out of the mountains. A little overwheming with 5 dirty campers in one car. Non-trail related note: if you head out Hwy 20, be very careful of deer between Winthrop and Twisp!

PURPLE MTN LOOP & REYNOLDS PEAK Sep 13-15, 2002 Friday morning, Laura and I met Donna at Fields Point, where we boarded the Lady Express for a quick trip to Stehekin. There, we rode the shuttle bus several miles up-valley and debarked at the Rainbow Loop Trailhead. Hot, sunny, dry weather followed us for the next 6 hours as we hiked up Boulder Creek to the comfortable accommodations of Reynolds Camp (picnic table, babbling creek, and bear wire). After a leisurely breakfast Saturday morning, we shouldered summit packs and struck off through the forest on an eastward bearing. Dense firs gradually gave way to sparse larches and heather slopes below Reynolds Peak. We veered right and wandered through a delightful grassy basin, then ascended talus slopes to gain the 7300-foot saddle between Reynolds and Camels Hump. From here, a long northward traverse over sand, scree, loose talus, and rock ribs led to Reynolds' imposing southeast face. We scrambled up a Class 2-3 gully to a notch in the ridge crest, which features slightly exposed Class 3 climbing on nice rock to reach the summit. Laura and Donna prudently opted to take advantage of the lightweight rope that we had packed with us, so we completed the climb with running belays. Our ascent from camp took about 5 hours. Hazy skies prevented long-range viewing, but we enjoyed more than an hour of gazing from the warm summit. The register indicated that Outward Bound classes virtually own this peak during the summer months---several groups of a dozen or so instructors and students have signed in each year. Curiously, many of the independent groups mention climbing Reynolds via ""The Horsefly."" Does anybody out there know what this refers to? After retracing our steps to camp, we packed up and continued hiking toward Lone Mountain Pass. This location provides a splendid vantage of Reynolds Peak and its impressive architecture. For the next 3 miles, we traversed high ridges on well-worn trails as the sun sank behind Purple Mountain and turned the landscape from brown to gold to gray. I couldn't resist declaring this visage to be true ""Purple Mountain majesty""! We crested War Creek Pass in dusky light and descended to tiny Lake Juanita, where grassy flats provided a welcome campsite for the night. Sunday dawned with overcast skies but warm air. We arose at first light and quickly ate breakfast, then broke camp and headed up toward Purple Pass. I insisted that we take a sidetrip to Boulder Butte, an old lookout site, so we dropped packs and hiked up. The overcast was dissipating and allowed nice views in all directions, including straight down to Lake Chelan---6300 feet below us. We groaned at the thought of our impending plunge to lake level but were hoping to catch the Lady Express before she left Stehekin at 11:45. About 3 hours and a thousand swithbacks later, we hiked across the boat landing and directly onto the waiting boat, scant minutes before departure! Stats: 25 miles, 10,000 feet.

Starting Saturday 7/13 I did a 4 day hike in the Sawtooth Ridge area northeast of Lake Chelan. This is a great ‘early season’ high country hike. This whole area (above around 6500 ft.) is mostly meadow with rocky peaks. While the alpine meadows of the main Cascades are still under snow this area is essentially snow free, with just enough snow left to make great pictures. The access road was in very good shape, paved to within about 4 miles of the trailhead. Access is off the Methow Valley highway a little north of the ‘town’ of Methow. The first day was up Foggy Dew Creek trail (#417 & #429) to camp at Cooney Lake for two nights (7-8 mi. 3700 ft elev. gain). Sunday was day hiking to explore the Cooney Lake area and hiking over the ridge toward Merchants Basin (trail #434), down Angels Staircase to Chelan Summit trail (#1259), then south to East Fork Prince Creek. Monday was moving camp from Cooney Lake up over the ridge to upper Merchants Basin, exploring Merchants Basin and hiking to Sunrise Lake (#417B). Tuesday was hiking out Merchants Basin trail to Foggy Dew trail and the trailhead. Cooney Lake and Sunrise Lake are at about 7200 ft. elevation and very picturesque. The hike was made easier with my pack goats to carry the load. There were lots of wildflowers, particularly in Merchants Basin and along the section of the Chelan Summit trail I hiked. This area is also beautiful in the fall when the Larch are golden. The trails were all snow free except two moderately steep snow patches on the trail from Cooney Lake over the ridge to Merchant basin, one a little above the lake and the other at the ridge crest, both were passable. The main trails (Foggy Dew, Chelan Summit, Martin Creek) in this area are open to motorcycles. As a result, these trails are very well graded and maintained thanks to our state gas tax dollars. There were a few trees down across the Sunrise Lake trail, but they were no problem. In the 4 days I met two motorcyclists on the trail, two horse parties and 4 hikers.

Eagle Lakes, Chelan summit July 8-12. Isn't the Chelan summit trail supposed to be in the North Cascades region? We hiked from the Crater Creek trailhead to Stehekin. It took 1 and 1/2 hours to drive to the trailhead from Chelan. Hiking was great up to Eagle lakes but the wind kicked up hard and cold that one night but it calmed down about 10pm. One other group was camped with us at the lake. The next morning we saw a group on horseback heading to lower eagle lake but we saw no one else on the trail until after Purple pass, three days later. Great views along most of the trail and when there were no views, it was nice to be in the shade trees. Snow not a serious problem and I don't know how to use an iceaxe or whatever that thing is. The most snow was present near the wilderness-recreation area boundary with about 10 foot drifts but they were all on top- we just kept to the south of them and had no problem finding the trail after it seemed to disappear. Upper prince creek is untouched by fire but the drainage of fish creek just north of the pass below star peak has a lot of burned areas that the trail passes. In some places the trail is in good condition but in most of the burn the trail is gone and there are several charred trees to step over or stoop under. We could not find the junction with the fish creek trail after the turnoff to star lake because of the burn. Routefinding was no problem though- just keep contouring around the slope and eventrually you find the trail past the burned areas. Although it was a little hearbreaking to see ashes and cinders, the naturalist at Stehekin said nature does heal herself and we believe her. The wildflowers are trying mightily to make up for the burned landscape. It was interesting that the south slope of fish creek appeared virtually untouched by the fire so its not like the whole place is brown and black. We were extremely pleased that the camp at horseshoe basin was intact and beautiful- one of the best camps I have ever seen. No problem with burned areas after this camp. There is also decent camping in the basin northeast of Chipmunk pass, where we also stayed. The stream coming down from the moutains a mile or so before horseshoe basin was a wonder- great water, but no snow above. We got to watch a bear who was less than 100 yards away from us at deephole spring- got a great picture of her standing on her hind legs- you gotta love those Cascade bears! The trail in the basin that leads to Lake Juanita was great with beautiful views south to the Entiat mountains that are wonderful in the late afternoon. We climbed star peak, but it was a little much for one day- I would suggest taking an extra day just to do that so you can be on top before noon. Walking through some of the talus slopes along the trail in the late afternoon was like walking through an oven, although it was pleasant in the meadows. I was actually more impressed with the view from Boulder Butte near Lake Juanita than with the view from star peak, but that is probably because the sun was in our eyes (about 5pm) at star peak rather than behind us like it was at boulder butte (about 10:30 am). Stehekin hasn't changed much in the last 23 years.