As a middle-aged trail runner who doesn’t mind a bit of effort, this trail was spectacular. I found it more “runnable” and less brushy than I expected. I could at least shuffle almost the whole time, except for the two-mile climb on the chain lakes trail, and the only really brushy section today was within half a mile on both sides of the icicle creek crossing. Maybe my baseline for brushiness has changed after an excursion to Joe Lake last week?

The chain lakes basin was really beautiful today. There was a bit of red foliage on the hillside and the sun was reflecting off the rippling water. It was really nice up there. Highly recommend. 

We had a foggy start just after 8am and  the foliage was pretty wet on our way out, but the sun came out by the time we got to the chain lakes and we dried out nicely.

Started from Steven's Pass and headed south on the PCT. Turned on to Icicle Creek trail and descended past Josephine Lake. Continued to drop down gradually through meadows and forest to meet the Chain Lakes Trail. This trail is a strenuous climb especially near the beginning. It was getting dark when the dog and I arrived at Chain Lakes and fire activity in the Leavenworth area was clearly visible to the northeast. We went to sleep quickly, but were awakened by a massive thunder clap around 12am. This was quickly followed by an intense electrical storm. I wished I would have packed my tent, but made do with just a tarp. The dog and I huddled together and rode out the storm hoping (in vain) that no more fires would ignite. We woke up to a damp and foggy morning and headed up the rocky path towards Doelle Lakes. Many marmots, pikas, and chipmunks chatted to us along the way. We dropped down to Doelle Lakes and got soaked by the slightly overgrown vegetation. Of note, the trail down from the saddle between the Chain Lakes and Doelle Lakes takes off to the right, and the trail down to lower Doelle Lake takes off just before the outflow stream from the upper lake. There are many nice campsites around all of the lakes. As we meandered, the sun peeked out and felt wonderful. Eventually we headed back towards Steven's Pass. We saw only one other small group of people the entire time we were off the PCT. 

Fantastic three night backpacking adventure with Ups n Downs, and three other friends. Ngie even joined us for one of our day hikes out of camp

Day 1 -Aug 28- We got started at 3:50pm from where the PCT crosses NF road 6960 under the power lines. The last mile of this road is very rough, and should only be driven by high clearance 4x4 vehicles. We took the PCT southbound before taking a left on the Icicle Creek Trail high above Lake Josephine. While on the PCT we chatted with a few thru hikers from the Netherlands and France. Once on the Icicle Creek trail below Lake Josphine we ran into many huckleberries to munch on. It had rained the night before, so the encroaching vegetation was a bit wet. At about 2 miles down from Lake Josephine we found a  camp about 0.2 miles after crossing Icicle Creek. Here we would set up camp for 3 nights.  4.5 miles 600ft gain

Day 2 -Aug 29- We got started at 7:05am for our hike up to Chain Lakes and the surrounding peaks. The trail up to Chain Lakes is steep in spots, but is in great shape. Once up at Chain Lakes, we headed up towards Bulls Tooth. All of us made it up to the summit of Bulls Tooth, and signed the summit register. Mostly class 2 scrambling with a couple of class 3 moves. Going round to the right at the summit block is easier than coming in from the left, as I did. Awesome views from the top. The best of the group, although the views from Lemool were pretty sweet. After our summit stay, two of us went over to climb Doughgob. This involved going over a pass, before dropping down 400ft to Doelle Lakes. Here we filled up with water, before heading ovr to Doughgob. We hit both highpoints. A new register is needed, as the one there is full of water. After this summit we went back to Doelle Lakes, back up the pass, and then back down to the first Chain Lakes. Once here it was what I thought only me going up to summit Lemool. I took the ridge up to the summit, and lo and behold one member of our group was on the summit. We signed the summit register, and headed down. Once down to around 5100ft on the main trail, I was on my own again for an attempt on Peak 6077. I dropped down 500ft on some super steep duff before crossing a creek at around 4600ft. Here I stayed in the forest for the most part avoiding the thick huckleberry bushes. Up around 5500ft I ran into some steep talus , which I stayed to the left of before hitting some super steep slabs that I had to avoid going to the right. There was then some super steep heather that I had to go straight up. Wearing micro spikes worked well on this section. Pretty soon I was on the summit. Signed the newly placed summit register and headed down. It was now 6pm, and I had to get down, as daylight was fading. I made pretty good time going down to the creek crossing. The 500ft gain back to the trailhead was grueling, as I was quite tired. I finally got back to camp at 9pm   15.5 miles with 8000ft gain

Day 3- Aug 30- Ngie had come into camp about 9:45pm, shortly after I got back from a long day. We now had six of us for our hike to Lorraine Point. We hiked down about 3 miles on the Icicle Creek Trail before hitting a great campsite along the Icicle. Here we crossed the creek, and took the trail up 2000ft to both the lookout site, and the high point. The high point has no view, but the lookout site has a pretty nice view. The trail is in great shape. A few blowdowns, but that's it. Thanks to the crew that logged and brushed it out a couple of years ago. On the way back to camp, we all soaked our feet in Icicle Creek before heading back to camp. 10.5 miles with 3100ft gain.

Day 4-Aug 31- We packed up camp and hiked back out. All that elevation that we lost on Thursday we had to regain. We finished at 9:30am. This worked out well, as we were first in line when Zeke's opened at 11am! 4.5 miles 1300ft gain!

Total 35 miles 13,000ft gain

Awesome trip!!

This was a backpack trip to camp and do a couple days hikes I wanted to cross off my 100 Hikes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness list. Our group of five included my infamous friend kidz won't hike whose research and tracks motivated me to add Bulls Tooth to my adventure.

We started by driving FR 6960 to meet the PCT on the backside of Stevens Pass Thursday afternoon. From there we hiked to the junction above Lake Josephine and took the turn onto the Icicle Creek Trail. Once past Lake Josephine the trail was overgrown in areas but easily passable. Just past the Icicle Creek crossing we set up camp for the duration of our trip.

On Friday we hiked up to Chain Lakes. Three of our party hiked the switchbacks towards the pass above Upper Doelle Lake and side hilled to a talus gully to climb to Bulls Tooth. Another friend and I followed the trail around the third Chain Lake to approach the talus. That trail deteriorated into the heather and blueberries but wasn't too bad to follow. The climb is talus and heather all the way, the best approach was just to the right of the tooth. Epic views though a little hazy. Last entry in the log was 2023. Afterwards we two side hilled over to the saddle above Doelle and waited for our other friends to return from their trip to Doughgob.

Saturday, we traveled back down the Icicle Creek Trail to find the Lake Leland Trail to get to Lorraine Point. This portion of the trail was a little more overgrown but still easy to follow. At the junction there's a huge campsite. The creek has a log you can cross or rocks as well. The creek was low so there were no problems. At the Lake Leland fork we stayed right on the unmarked trail to Lake Lorraine. There are a few larger trees to get over and the trail is rough in spots but otherwise in great shape.  Thanks to those who put in the work the last few years to keep this trail open. Most of it was in the shade and that was nice until just below the Point and old fire lookout site. There's no sign or obvious trail to the lookout site; you just have to bushwhack through blueberries to get there.  The view was outstanding here too. On our return we took the time to soak our feet and take a bird bath.

This morning, we got up early and hiked out. We saw very few hikers which was nice. Though some in the party did additional peaks, these hikes totaled 28 miles with roughly 8000' of gain.

Day 1 - Hatchery Creek to Augusta Lake.

This trail is an absolute mess, the amount of blowdown, burnt blow down, exposure, lack of water, route finding... A note at the TH said "766 down trees, yes we counted". It may actually be more than that. Another said "it was the worst hike ever," I agree, it really was the worst hike i've ever done. Another note, "Falls Creek is Dry".

Surprisingly there was water at 2mi in. I almost called it and turned around until this point. I filled everything I had, cooled off and recalibrated the trip. Seeing that note about Falls Creek was dry, I wasn't sure when the next water source would be if any until Augusta.

A fellow hiker I passed on the way up, I ended up running into 3 days later, now headed the opposite direction on Icicle Creek. He said he thought he was about to get heat stroke and turned around and called for a ride out. Which got me thinking, if you did have an issue on this trail, search and rescue getting in and out with all the blowdown would be a really bad situation. 

If you want to try this, start really early AM, and/or on a cloudy cool day but hopefully now you have a better expectation of the embrace the suck for the first 5 miles. 

Day 2 - Augusta Lake to Mary Lake

The ridges are great, but everything below the treeline is slow going. Big descents and ascents, trail is very overgrown at times, blowdowns causing re-routes. Lots of very helpful cairns, Gaia GPS was fantastic for me. Really once over the ridge from Augusta to Chatter Creek it's just slow to get through the valleys and brush. Edna is incredible. I'm terrible with heights so Cape Horn took me a minute to focus enough to scoot around the corner. Camped at Lake Mary.

Day 3 - Mary Lake to Susan Jane

Woke up to a flat mattress, couldn't find the leak in the lake. Otherwise, Mary Lake to Susan Jane was pretty straight forward, some fun steep sections traversing along the ridge. Lower Doelle might be my new favorite alpine lake. Once I got to Josephine I saw several closed for restoration and day use only signs so I kept boogying to Susan Jane. 

Day 4 - Susan Jane to Stevens

Yep, mattress still flat, butt pad under the hip, sleeping on clothes, still got some shuteye and could hear the winds picking up. A slight sprinkle woke me up around 6:30am and got me packed fast and on the go, but with a dead mattress I threw in the towel at Stevens and grabbed a ride home.