I completed a long hike yesterday in the Ingalls Peak area, visiting three lakes and one peak. This route is not for the faint of heart - lots of scrambling in the middle section on rock and some snow. 

15.3 miles, 4,850' of elevation gain, 10:22.

ROAD: I drove to the Esmeralda TH, arriving about 7:15 AM. The road is in great shape - a bit of washboard but no issues for any car. There were about a dozen cars at the trailhead, mostly backpackers I think. The bathroom is clean and stocked.

INGALLS WAY: The Ingalls Way Trail is in excellent condition with no blowdowns. It was a smart move to do this one early in the morning - pretty much the entire trail up to Ingalls Pass was in the morning shade. There are loads of wildflowers blooming, and the rock gets more red and more interesting the closer you get to the pass. Some parts of the trail are fairly narrow and on a steep side slope, so watch your footing.

HEADLIGHT BASIN / LAKE INGALLS: Once reaching the pass, the views are amazing. Headlight Basin is a wonderland of slabby red rocks, green meadows, and snowmelt streams. I took the upper trail through the basin, and encountered 2 large groups of mountain goats right on the trail. I made a wide detour around them, but they definitely seemed very curious - one large one followed me for a bit before losing interest as I continued down the trail. I lost the trail one time when I missed a turn, ending up in a pile of car-sized boulders with no apparent way through. I retraced my steps and found a left turn that I missed. A little bit of mud in places through here, but not a big deal.

The trail seems a bit chaotic as you climb the final rise to the lake. Apparently one way goes left and one goes right, as I later found by looking at my map. Both routes eventually take you to the lake. The lake is a beautiful blue color and the scenery is astounding. I now fully understand why people flock to this hike - it's hard, but not too hard, and the red rocks seem like a slice of Arizona or Utah has been dropped into our midst. I only saw five people on my way to the lake - all backpackers except one Mount Stuart climber who started out about the same time I did, but quickly passed me on the way up.

I saw no one the rest of the day, except near the bottom of the Esmeralda Trail, where I saw three backpackers heading up.

SOUTH INGALLS PEAK: To get to South Ingalls, the easiest route is to climb up the gully due west of the lake, aiming for the col (pass) between Ingalls and South Ingalls. At the bottom part you can go up the rocky gully, or just scramble up the slabby red rock south of the gully. I chose the slabby scramble, which was really fun and well protected in most places. After you reach the top of the slabs, you still have more gully to climb, and ultimately there is a path of sorts through the loose rock. You want to aim for the "tooth" or "fang" rock at the top, which is right at the pass. The large pyramid-shaped tower you can see from the bottom is south of the pass, so stay right of that. There is still plenty of snow in some parts of the gully. You might be able to avoid it by being creative, but it was easy enough walking up with my mountaineering boots, which I carried all the way up in my pack.

Once at the pass, I followed directions from earlier reports, and dropped down the other side to find a way to scramble back up to the ridge. There is a shorter way where you only drop about 30', and an easier way where you drop more like 80'. Either way, you will scramble back up gullies and solid rock to attain the summit ridge south of the pass. Once you are back up to the ridge, it's pretty obvious how to follow the route to the summit, and it's just a walk-up. Mind the drop-offs on the west side, they're quite severe!

The views at the top of South Ingalls are phenomenal. You can, of course, see Lake Ingalls and Stuart, but you get 360 degree views into the Stone Kingdom, Mount Daniel, north to Baker and Glacier, and south to I-90. 

DESCENT TO LAKE ANN TRAIL: After lunch at the top, I returned to the col and then dropped down the NW gully to eventually connect with the Lake Ann Trail about 3/4 of a mile north of the lake. The top 500' of vertical here is some loose rock, and lots of HUGE boulders, combined with a few snow fields here and there. There are some cliffy rocks in places, but it's not hard to find a way around. I got out my ice axe for a few steeper snow sections, but usually there was a way down on rock nearby. Once I reached flatter terrain, I contoured roughly NW through open woods until I reached the trail. If I had to do it again, I would just continue following the stream gully west and directly downhill to the trail, which would minimize the off-trail stuff. However, the brush through this area was not bad at all.

VAN EPPS PASS / SPIRIT LAKE: Continuing north on the Lake Ann Trail, you will eventually reach a road, 4W303. This is about 0.3 miles from Van Epps Pass, and it's eventually merged into 4W302 about halfway to the pass. Views at Van Epps are pretty nice, but better yet there is a refreshing breeze. From Van Epps Pass, I followed a road east and then a boot path toward the Van Epps summit. At about 5970' I dropped of the ridge and bushwhacked NE toward Spirit Lake. There are way trails down the hill in places, but they all seemed to peter out eventually. The lake is not far, but the terrain is quite steep, and it's easy to get lost in the forest -  only recommended for those with routefinding and off-trail skills. There was more brush than I expected here, but most of it is just steep forest. Spirit Lake is quite pretty - I suspect most people would be content to observe it from above, on the boot path up toward Van Epps Peak.

LAKE ANN: Returning to the Lake Ann Trail, I walked back past Lake Ann and then down Esmeralda Basin to the car. North of Lake Ann, this is mostly quite a nice trail, with a gentle grade. There are some muddy spots, and a few places where the trail seems to disappear in a grassy meadow. When in doubt, just traverse across - there are no switchbacks on this part of the trail.

Lake Ann itself is very shallow but also very pretty. I had seen it from atop South Ingalls and it looked like a muddy pond, but it looks quite different when standing next to it. I suspect one could wade across the entire thing since it looks to be about 3' deep at most, but the color is beautiful and it's striking next to the rock of South Ingalls. There are several camp sites on the hill next to the lake. The climb south to the pass leading to Esmeralda is rocky and potentially hot, but fortunately it's not long. The worst part of the trail (IMO) is the section south of the pass - it's full of loose rocks almost all the way down to the Esmeralda Trail - this was hard on my tired legs, but poles helped a lot.

Once joining the Esmeralda Trail, the way is smoother, and the slope is very gradual. The last few miles take longer than you expect due to the many switchbacks in the trail. Views are less impressive here, but it's still open in many places so you can see the Esmeralda Peaks. Also, the wildflowers are good on the Esmeralda Trail and you cross the same stream 5 times in case you need to refill your water, LOL.

BLOWDOWNS: There are maybe 3-4 blowdowns on the Lake Ann Trail north of the lake, and perhaps 2-3 between Lake Ann and the Esmeralda Trail. On the Esmeralda Basin Trail itself, I would say about 4-5 blowdowns. Pretty much all of these are small or medium, and could be easily taken care of with a hand saw.

BUGS: Bugs were a non-issue, even at the lakes and other areas with water. There was a nice breeze in most places that probably contributed, but even when there wasn't, the insects were tolerable and I didn't use any insect protection. Hopefully that means we are past peak bug season!

The two of us began our backpacking trip in the afternoon from Emerald Basin trail parking lot. There were maybe seven cars in the parking lot on a Thursday. The trail had lots of wildflowers, including a bit of indian paintbrush, columbine, and tiny lupine. Little waterfalls went across the trail several times but they were all very easy to cross.

Our first night was at the end of the Emerald Basin Trail. Maybe three other camp groups all dispersed very well throughout the area. The wind was a little strong, but seemed reasonable for the elevation. There mountain goat footprints all over the area, but no wildlife besides bugs and birds. 

The next morning we packed up and decided to try camping at Lake Ann, as the bugs were becoming uncomfortable. It seemed steeper and longer than what we remembered on the map but we got there with no obstacles. There was the tiniest patch of snow across the trail near the bottom of the ridge and moments before you get to the lake. No other campers in sight, and we continued to wander through beautiful wildflower meadows before picking a huge grassy opening to set up our tent. 

As soon as we had settled, and began breaking out the pan to boil some water for coffee, a mountain goat immediately came out of the bushes. It kept its back to us, staying way too close though, but keeping a shrub or two between us. We poured our coffee, drank it while using stern voices to tell the goat to move along. It circled us slowly then left. We had our lunch, thinking we had cleared the area. A second mountain goat came out, and we tried again to sternly encourage it to leave. At one point it did the "head-rub-on-brush" aggressive move and stared us down. We grabbed our bear bag, bear spray, and water and quietly left the meadow when it wondered off again (they seemed to have short attention spans).

We waited for a moment from a higher level camp sight across a stream in a more rock/dirt/tree environment, hoping maybe they just wanted the grassy field to themselves to eat, or maybe they had a den on the other side of the lake that we were too close to. We moved our tent, hung up our food, and noticed the goats were back to the other side of the lake. Unfortunately, 20 minutes later they came back around, right between where one of us was pumping water from the lake, and the other was in the tent. Within three feet of us we were getting nervous, so I crawled back into the tent at another opportune moment when it had moved on. Once again, maybe 20 minutes later, it came back again and began peering in the tent. This was our queue that we were not going to stay the night, and we quietly packed up inside the tent, and did a quick tent takedown when we could see it was out of sight. 

We left the lake basin, went back up over the rocky ridge, and camped at a large subalpine horsecamp halfway back down to where the Lake Ann Trail meets the Esmerelda Basin Trail. It was worth it to move as we felt much safer and could abide by the wildlife distance rules.

If we had seen any trip reports about unnatural behavior by the mountain goats, we may not have visited. It seems they are unfortunately comfortable with humans, which is dangerous for everyone. It is a beautiful home for them and I think they deserve all the space they can get. If I were ever to visit again, I would hike through Lake Ann for the wildflower meadows and a water break, but not pitch a tent or even break out snacks. Even urinating near a campsite or trail can bring them out closer to humans to lick the salt in it, which is so hard to find in those alpine environments. 

Even though the mountain goat encounter was a startling event on the trip, it was still some of the most beautiful wildflower meadows and accessible high elevation camping I have been to in a long time. Even the rocks are pretty, being a beautiful emerald green. Our hike out on Saturday around 10 am included passing a few backpackers, and the parking lot had spilled way down the trail head parking lot with dozens and dozens of cars. 

In summary: go mid-week, respect the wildlife with space, and enjoy the wildlflowers while they last.

On a beautiful sunny day and not too hot we hiking to Lake Ann.  The Esmeralda basin trail to the turn off to Lake Ann was in good condition.  The trail to the saddle above Lake Ann was rougher and, in some places, hard to figure out where the trail was.   The view from the saddle was fantastic, Mt. Rainier, Glacier Peak, Mt. Daniel in the distance and Fortune Peak on the right as you ascend.  I have never gone down to the lake and we didn't this time either.  I think the lake should be renamed "Ann's Puddle".  

The road was in good condition and the parking lot was nearly full when we arrived at 9:15am.

This was a loop hike from the Cle Elum River road.  We parked a bit up road 170, or perhaps it is road 160 (maps differ, and it is unmarked), from the Cle Elum River road.  The intersection is 3/4 of a mile past the crossing of Fortune Creek.  We did not like the looks of road 170 or 160 and so decided to walk it.

After about 2.5 miles we reached a signed junction with the trail to Van Epps Pass.  We took this trail, which starts on a jeep road then branches left.  This piece of trail seems hardly used--moss was growing on it, and it was faint at times.  We got our feet wet at the crossing of the North Fork Fortune Creek.  The trail was steep, gaining about 2000 feet in two miles.  Never saw the supposed junction with a trail shown on the map heading northwest toward Scatter Peak and Scatter Creek.

At Van Epps Pass there was a jumble of jeep tracks, an old sign mentioning the "County Line Trail," and peekaboo views into Jack Creek valley.  The County Line Trail was an old trail along the Chelan-Kittitas county line.  It ran from Blewett Pass in the east to, well, I'm not really sure where.  Trico Mountain, maybe?  Anyway it's fragmented today, parts obliterated by logging in the east and other parts allowed to vanish over time.  If you ever climb Iron Bear or Miller Peaks you will walk on parts of this trail.

The trail from Van Epps Pass to Lake Ann is a piece of the old County Line trail.  This is an excellent walk, through subalpine fir and flowery meadows, with views west toward the Dutch Miller Gap peaks, and Mts. Hinman and Daniel.  There were a few patches of snow to cross here.  Lake Ann was unfrozen, located at treeline under Ingalls Peak, with some larches.  After a break, we continued on the trail over the divide to the south, catching some views of Glacier Peak, and reaching the upper Esmerelda Basin.

We turned right on the Esmeralda Basin trail, crossed a divide back into the Fortune Creek drainage, and descended steep switchbacks to the jeep road along the South Fork of Fortune Creek.  Hawkins Mountain was in view the entire time.  The intersection with the jeep road is about a mile north of Gallagher Head Lake.  We turned right and walked about five miles down the road back to the car.

This is a good early season hike.  We reached 6500 feet without encountering any serious snow.  It felt like we were in the heart of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness even though we were outside the capital-W Wilderness the whole way.  There were rugged snow-covered peaks in every direction.  We met only one other party, a family in the Esmeralda Basin who had walked from the end of the Teanaway River road.

Trail to ingalls pass have defined footsteps and easy to follow. Went to fortune peak instead of Lake Ingalls and you could see from there that lake is almost frozen. The hike down the lake Ann trail was easy at first but it turned into soul crushing with all those stream crossings, fallen trees and a maze of snow bridges. There are only few down trees on Ingalls pass trail. Lake camp fire girls will be ready for pond skimming by next weekend. Ice axe and traction device were needed for peace of mind. Hiking poles were essential for crossing tens of streams in Esmaralda basin. Navigation(device or map plus compass) is crucial while hiking on lake ann trail specially in forested area and Always stay east of the North Fork Teenaway river if you get lost and try to get back to trail. Didnt meet single person after getting on the ridge from Ingalls pass met few people before that and saw many people heading back from Lake Ingalls while I was on Fortune peak.

Used : Sunscreen, Ice Axe, glacier glasses, gaiters, poles, spikes, map, GPS/downloaded route, gloves, water filter(as refilling was easy from so many streams)

Road to Trailhead

Road in great condition. Reached parking at 10 am with only 7 cars parked and still lot of spots to park. The pay station is closed and it asks you to pay at De Roux campground 2 miles behind you. Restrooms were stocked and clean. North fork Teenaway River can be heard roaring from Parking lot. 

Parking to Ingalls Pass :

I was in doubt if I should approach Fortune from Lake Ann side or Ingalls Side but after looking at the destruction at the split off at junction to Esmeralda basin I turned right and stayed on path to Ingalls pass. Lots of snow on the trail but easy to follow. Snow was soft and already kicked in steps on the trail made it more consolidated and hence no issues of postholing. Reached Ingalls pass around 12pm and immdiately headed to Fortune peak. The views from the pass itself is very impressive and can be a good turn around point for many. Refilled water from the last stream just before the pass.

Ridge traverse between Ingalls pass and Fortune Peak:

I had looked at multiple routes on Caltopo from Ingalls pass to Fortune peak, I couldnt find the one which goes via Lake Camp Fire Girls on the south side of the ridgleline so I followed a boot path on the north above the Lake Ingalls trail which went uphill for a while but then started going down. I saw two skiers and their skin tracks right above me on the slope and they were breaking new trail with switchback for themselves however it felt very steep on soft snow for me so I tried to continue further west in the headlight basin. However with lack of snowshoes I kept on sinking and postholing up to waist in some cases so I backtracked and came to the rocky outcropping east of the avalanche/rockfall debris.

The climb to the saddle was very challenging and definitely class 3/4 scramble. There might be easier way but I didnt want to risk transitioning between rocks and snow so pushed forward. On a previous trip report on WTA from last year from ngie she mentioned about testing each rock you hold. This was life saver on this ridge traverse. Many times I would hold a rock and it would just come off and you can see it plunging down the slope for more than 100 feet before it even slows down due to steepness. All that testing each hold slows you down but very crucial in this area. Any fall here could prove fatal. 

Once on the saddle you can see a boot path in some places and it is covered in snow at others. I had to downclimb at multiple places which were bit exposed and the rocks are unstable and slippery. At some places there were no tracks or sign if anyone has come this route. All that soft snow is not good for putting ice axe for stability. At one spot I had to clear some snow so that could downclimb. All that scrambling and dealing with slipper rocks plus melting snow became mentally exhausting so I had a snack break after an hour on ridge traverse.   

Final push to Fortune Peak Summit

After snack break and some much needed rest continued with ridge traverse further while mostly staying on the south west side of the ridge if I had to downclimb but stayed hugging the top of ridge close. The views on both side of the ridge are amazing. At this point I was above Esmaralda Peak and mount Rainer was sticking above the clouds on the east you can see many enchantment peaks and Lake ingalls also starts appearing with glaciated blue corner around the frozen center. Above the Lake camp fire girls I could see skin fresh tracks for skis but didnt see any person. The final push to summit for last 300 feet is steep and on the snow most of the time so took out ice axe just to be sure and slowly made it to the top on the corn snow, no postholing issue. Stopped just before the last 100 feet before the summit becomes almost flat and to appreciate what you have achieved in last two hours after leaving ingalls pass and the steepness of slope in headlight basin and so many ski tracks in the snow bowls below you.

Since I had already spent almost 3 hours in this ridge traverse and I was mentally exhausted I dropped idea of going towards Ingalls peak or Ingalls lake and enjoyed the views at summit for 30 minutes. There were too many Ladybugs at SW corner of the flat summit. The views from the summit were amazing and probably one of the top five views on any summit I have been in WA state. So it was totally worth the effort. 360 views in all direction and only Ingalls Peak being slightly higher (250ft) than Fortune and in north direction so doesn't block any views and rather adds to the majestic views.

Fortune Peak to Fortune Creek Pass:

Decided to go down via Lake Ann route at 3:30pm. There were rocks and trees branches jutting out at many places and hence didnt want to glissade down. Also the slope here is more than 60 degrees for sure so ice axe is a must here. Considering the snow was firm at many places while I descended. There is a faint trail which sometimes disappears and had to downclimb slippery rocks while doing ridge descend on the south west side of the Fortune peak. Overall this section was much easier and safer as compared to traverse from Ingalls but still requires some scrambling and very careful downclimbing. There was only one spot where I had to deal with sketchy snow here. There were also recent booth path from someone as seen on the snow. 

Fortune Creek Pass to Esmeralda basin:

I did not see any skin tracks or anyone skiing anywhere on Lake Ann side. Lemah, Overcoat, Chimney, Daniels all had this layer of cloud behind them which looked like them wearing a cape. Once down to the pass I took a breath of relief, enjoyed the views had some snacks. I used my ice axe to glissade down some section which seemed pretty safe for descending 400 feet down to the Esmeralda basin around 4pm and refilled water from a stream. 

Esmeralda basin to Ingalls Junction

I have been to Lake Ann earlier so this section was supposed to be fast walking back to the car. However once in the basin there was no clear trail or boot path from previous travelers. I used navigation and map to stay as close to the trail but I was unable to do so. You are following the trail and then it comes a opening in snow so I go around it so that I am not climbing on the snow bridge but then you lose the trail. In the forested area I got lost multiple times. I had to carefully walk over a mesh of snow bridges and hoping they wouldn't collapse on me. The number of blow down trees on the trail(not counting that you run into when you take detour to avoid snow bridges) is soul crushing and mind numbing. Once I reached very close to the Teenaway river thanks to the map I knew I had to stay on the east of the river and I was able to get back on trail.

There is so much flowing water in the basin that you have to be careful of your footing. I crossed tens of water stream on the trail so didnt bother to keep my feet dry and rather submerged my shoes in water to get a better foot holding. Gaiters were of no use here. At one point I had to take a detour to avoid bunch of snow bridges and I was walking in marsh land for a while. Trail kept on appearing and disappearing all this while. I also observed forested area has bunch of old trail(bit overgrown) which can trick you into believing that you are on right trail so without GPS it can be hard to find the real trail. 

Ingalls Junction to Trailhead:

Finally after 3 hours I reached near the junction to Ingalls way. In 2020 I did this section in fall in less than an hour so it is important to give yourself ample time on this section. I could see the signage board from this side but there is a log pile of literally hundreds of uprooted huge trees, many snapped in half. The images I captured of this area does not do justice of how hard it is to cross this water filled log pile area. It took me 20 minutes to cross this section and injured myself multiple times during this. Now I knew why no one has been traveling on to Fortune creek pass or Lake Ann from Esmeralda basin. Back at TH around 7:15pm and only one other car parked in the lot.

Caltopo link : https://caltopo.com/m/DT871