We did Carne Mountain High Route plus Mount Maude as a loop. We came via Leroy Basin then summitted Maude and then hiked out via Carne Mtn High route. The weather was perfect with no clouds and great 360 views. Larches are peak right now with only a few lime green ones. The trailhead was packed with most people hiking Carne Mtn although we saw a fair number of people going up Maude and at Ice Lakes. Stats: 18 miles, 7,300 ft of gain, moving time 7:26, C2C 9:49.  

Came for the larches and they did not disappoint! Great hike, friendly crowds, and unforgettable views! The only negative was parking but that was to be expected. Cars were lined down from the trail head maybe 2 miles.

Beautiful day and larches at peak!

As noted last part of road redone and great.  Section before that rough but passable in any car.  We got there before 7am and had to park short walk down road.  When got back there were hundreds of cars and people blocking and had to wait a bit for somebody to back out as tight and cars lining both sides.

Trail great condition. Only couple trees down and easy to cross.  Nice smooth trail for most part.  Lots of dogs and backpackers going up as we were headed down. Water source just before basin (where larches start)  8.2 miles/3600 gain. 

LARCHES. Peaking on Carne Mountain! You don't get the big larch effect before the campground meadow, which is lovely. 25-30 people were lounging about, scattered in groups of one to four, soaking it in, when we hit the meadow around 12:30.Great lunch spot. Continuing out of the meadow, you get a kind of golden tunnel effect on the trail. 

COLORS. A lot of rich autumn color -- red, yellow, orange ... Great photos for this on the mb99 trip report for Oct 12. 

BIG CROWD. Well, peak larch Saturday on Carne, what should I expect. We parked .6 miles below the trailhead when we encountered the unmoving line of cars ahead at 9:35 a.m.. Walking up from there, indeed the road was parked up with little exception all the way to the trailhead. Returning in the evening, we saw some cars still parked another .2 miles below us.  (At least, there are already terrific views from that road segment below the TH.) 2:00-3:30 (and no doubt earlier), we saw the Carne summit covered with hikers (who were in no hurry to leave). After that, the summit thinned out. On the trail itself going up -- tons of people, plenty of passing. The trail is excellent for steady elevation gain and tread, but in the long forest segment is mostly narrow without stopping spots. Given the local nature of the larch viewing and autumn colors, cloudy weather on an upcoming  weekday may be a small price to pay to catch the larch peak and avoid the crowd. 

WATER. Good reliable running water at the camping meadow, maybe slightly before. Nowhere else.

ROADS. Any vehicle can get through with appropriate caution. That long dusty narrow  one-lane dirt road stretch of Chiwawa River Road has you searching for a pullover spot if some is coming the other way. And waiting patiently while that  occasional supercautious driver is enough to slow down a long line. 

CAUTION. That very nicely upgraded half mile below the trailhead is not totally solid on the downhill side (left as you drive up), at least for a moving larger vehicle right on the edge. One such had politely pulled way over to make room for an upcoming car, and caused that bit of side-of-the-road to collapse -- at 6:30 pm, we saw it dangerously slanted with its right two wheels well off road, as the driver waited for tow truck help to winch it out. A long and fraught wait. 

MISCELLANEOUS. From the summit, nice views of the big watershed valleys, some Glacier Peak to the west, the lovely ridge of the Entiats east/northeast, Maude, etc. You can go on from the summit a little ways to a lower rocky point with a nice view of that photo 4 "wall" separating the  Phelps Creek and Rock Creek watersheds (both creeks empty into the Chiwawa River). At the summit, there is a large antenna set up. One guy (ham radio??) was hooked up at the antenna and trying to make contact.

The larches are now reaching their peak gold color. I'd estimate that 70% are at peak and 30% still have a little lime green color. It should remain outstanding through the weekend.

The dirt road section is a bit rough just before the final 3 mile switchback to the TH. This final 3 mile section has been recently worked on an is in great shape.

There were 24 cars in the parking lot at 10:15am. We only encountered about 15 people all day so some of those people must have been going up to spider meadow. 

The trails in very good shape except for two blowdowns. In the afternoon it got a little powder dry but otherwise good tread. There's a good water source right before you reach the larch meadow at around 3 mi.

RT 8.2 mi, 3600 ft