The larches don't start until after a relentless 2700' climb up from the trailhead, but once you make it up to the Carne Basin Camp its all jaw-dropping views from there to the summit. Right now is definitely the peak of color but with rain starting again on monday it will quickly fade out so get it while you can! 

Getting to the trailhead requires high clearance, good tires and a bit of patience. The dirt road is long and rugged. Not many parking spots in the main lot but a good amount of room for cars to line the road, just please don't block other people in or park so emergency vehicles can't get down the road if need be! It was a beautiful day to be out and lots of other people out enjoying it as well. 

The views here are amazing, which is good because you will earn it.
Starting with the road. The first 10 miles are great paved two lane road.
Then 12 of potholed and sometimes slow going rocky.
The last 2 miles are rutted, wash-outs and large rocky sections.
That said, the lot was full (mostly Subarus) and a 1/4 mile of cars overflow.
Don't be discouraged by that, most aren't taking this hike. Only saw about 20 or so people on a Friday.
The hike is steep and has a large exposed section, great for views but hot if the sun is out.
The views across the valley will keep you going and once you hit the larch filled valley, you'll figure everything that preceded it. (At least until the next morning. :-)
Once you reach the summit, you will be glad you persisted.

If you are looking for maximum Larch overdose, this is the place.  I would have loved to camp out, but only had a day, so here's the stats on one big larch loop.  I went up Phelps Creek to Leroy basin, up to Freezer Pass, tagged Freezer Peak and then ran the Carne Mountain High Route, over Carne and out. Gaia said 15 miles total, and I'm estimating total vertical at or above 6000 ft. While I suspect the navigation is a little trickier this direction, it has the benefits of a) not having to go down the quad-busting Leroy basin trail, and b) reaching Carne after the hoards have left - had the summit to myself at 5pm on a Friday.  Larches start at Leroy basin and it's just a solid larch march, a veritable larchapalooza for the next 7-8 miles.

A few quick notes on running the loop in this direction:  Up through Freezer pass the trail is in decent shape and easy to follow although steep scree just below the pass. I tagged Freezer peak and cut down to the Carne High Route which was visible partway back towards the pass. Would love to have jumped in the lake but didn't have that much extra energy.  The first mile+ of the High Route has the least defined trail, and a couple times a secondary trail branched to the left (which I followed in error) - both times I think people were trying to stay higher and contour, but the real trail drops - you have to drop all the way to 6200 ft no matter what, so trying to stay high doesn't help.  Gaia was pretty accurate in both cases showing me off-track.   Once you're down in the Box Creek area the trail gets really nice - I expected a scratchy climber's route, but this is a solid, well defined, and well routed track.  Box creek had plenty of water, but the other streams were just a trickle. 

I will be back to do this again - hopefully with a night or two in the middle next time. Fantastic route, and avoids most of the crowds.

Phelps Creek Trailhead parking lot is not that big. When we arrived at around 10am, the lot was already full. I pulled in the lot, turned around and parked on the side of the road so I could just leave after the hike.

There’s no vault restroom at the trailhead so I used the restroom at gas station located where Highway 2 and 207 meet.

I did see a vault restroom on the right side of the unpaved rocky road with potholes on the way to trailhead. This bumpy ride goes on for 40 minutes or so. Once I start this drive, I’d rather get it over with quickly. I drive a Honda HR-V and went at 10 mph most of the time and scraped bottom of my car once.

Trail was narrow. It was somewhat difficult to let people pass. There were a few fallen trees and overgrown areas. We saw lots of chipmunks running around. We started seeing larches almost 3 miles in our hike.

At the beginning of Carne Mountain trail, there was a purple bag of dog poop. When we came back, a green bag was added to the purple. We saw about 5 dogs today.

Tough hike but man was it worth it! Larches are at their peak (a few are still lime yellow) and the weather today was incredible. 

Road to the trailhead is pretty rough in some spots, but very doable with a higher clearance car. I wouldn’t feel comfortable driving it in a sedan.

Arrived at the trailhead 8:30am on a Thursday. Lot was half full (mainly folks parking overnight) and only saw 1 other person on my way up. Had the whole summit to myself. Ran into 20 or so people on my way down. 

Trail is overgrown in some spots, but nothing you can’t easily get around.