Blog version (disclaimers)

Quick-and-dirty version

Access: Summit Trail @ South Navarre Campground
Round Trip: 23 miles
Elevation Range: 5320′-7882′
Gear: microspikes, ice ax
Dog-Friendly: with guidance

Grade Creek Road temporary closure May 16 through June 30, Monday through Thursday at 6 PM. It remains open all day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

Approach

1. From Chelan, WA, drive Grade Creek Road to South Navarre Campground in 40 miles.
2. Hike the Summit Trail through Miners Basin and Horsethief Basin up to Deadmans Pass.
3. Drop down the north side to reach Old Maid Mountain's east ridge.
4. Traverse west up to the summit and return to Deadmans Pass.
5. Go back to Miners Basin and hike the signed Uno Peak Trail at the junction.
6. From the southeast saddle, traverse the ridgeline to reach Ferry's Peak's summit.
7. Return to the trail fork and hike the Summit Trail back up to the campground.

Highlights

• Expansive view of Sawtooth Ridge and nearby basins
• Morning sunshine

Lowlights

• Afternoon snow and rain
• No views to Chelan Mountains
• Cloudy day on Ferry Peak

This was a four-night/five-day hike using Star Lake (West Buttermilk Creek trailhead to Fish Creek Pass) as our base camp to wander 40 miles and gain 15,000' all in the hunt for golden Larch. We weren't disappointed. The best Larch trip I have ever taken - - - Larch were at peak or past peak. With the weather turning in a few days - likely we got the best weather window we could have! 

A full report and pictures can be found on nwhikers. net.

Every year we take a different route into Stehekin for an overnight trip.  This year, we did a 2.5 day/2 night backpack trip starting at the West Fork Buttermilk trailhead/overnight at Star Lake then took the Chelan Summit Trail/North Fork Fish Creek/overnight at Moore Point and then took the Chelan Lakeshore Trail into Stehekin.

It was a perfect time to go... the weather was pleasant and the wildflowers and wildlife was plentiful.  Easy social distancing... we only saw two people hiking in 3 days.

Day 1:  West Fork Buttermilk to Star Lake (7.5 mi, 3,404 ascent):  THANK YOU for whoever cleared the blowdowns in the last two weeks.  We did a reconnaissance hike 2 weeks prior and there were 30+ blowdowns across the path.  It was so much easier with large packs not having to deal with those!  Weather was cool so the approx 8 miles to the lake was fine and the trail in excellent shape.  We passed a couple coming out who said the bugs were terrible at Star Lake... they were the only people we saw while hiking the entire 2.5 days.  At the lake, perhaps because of the cooler temps and wind, the bugs were fine... it got down to 45 degrees overnight and having opted not to bring sleeping bags and just a down blanket we were cold!  Marmots aplenty across the lake!

https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/7ca9a2f0-6935-47bf-b971-61a3c033b011/?layer=GaiaTopoRasterFeet,SatelliteWithLabels

Day 2:  Star Lake to Moore Point (15.8 mi, 961' ascent, 6,919' descent!):  This was a long day but per an earlier posted, DO NOT TAKE THE East Fork Fish Creek trail as it has not been cleared since the fire.  Instead take the longer route along the Chelan Summit trail to the North Fork Fish Creek trail down to Moore Point.  The Chelan Summit trail was in decent shape but the North Fork Fish Creek trail is in desperate need of some brushing work.  It was fine but difficult to see in places.  As we descended to the lake it became very hot.  Plenty of places for water along the trail if needed.  We did run into one rattlesnake here.  Lots of people at Moore Point... none of them looked like they ventured from their boats onto the trails.  Found a nice campsite at the edge of the area and had a very nice night's rest.

https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/78df16d00839fc183e84c432189f82a7/?layer=GaiaTopoRasterFeet,SatelliteWithLabels

Day 3:  Moore Point to Stehekin (7.4 mi, 1,070' ascent):  We awoke early in order to get to the bakery prior to the Lady of the Lake departure at 12:30.  After 30+ miles, we opted to dump our packs and rent bikes to ride out since most of the shuttles weren't running due to COVID-19.

https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/4fd95431-0189-4bfb-a0ea-5820277d4fea/?layer=GaiaTopoRasterFeet,SatelliteWithLabels

Summary: Epic overnight trip! The bugs were awful on several parts, especially along Eagle Creek and I found a head net useful. Substantial overgrowth on sections of Oval Lakes trail and Eagle Creek trail where long pants were useful. You are very exposed after leaving Oval Lakes before getting to Eagle Creek so sun protection was a must for me.

Did an overnight as described in Backpacking Washington by Craig Romano published by Mountaineers Books. This was an epic trip and very do-able in two days. We did the loop counter-clockwise, taking 4 hours to West Oval Lake, and 10 hours back to the car via Eagle Creek including the summit of Gray Peak. The first four miles of the Oval Creek Trail #410A traverse a burned zone and have substantial overgrowth where long pants are nice. As the forest transitions to green the bugs come to visit and they rarely relent the entire way. There are blooming flowers before West Oval, but just wait until you get to the Summit Trail! West Oval had three other parties staying the night, and we were the last to arrive around 6pm. There were a few other sites open and there is a toilet available. At night, the bugs were not terrible at West Oval but it was a bit colder than I was expecting.

I woke around sunrise and watched the nearby peaks light up for an hour before the sun finally came into view. Shortly after the sun came up, so did the mosquitos. They were pretty bad at West Oval starting around 7:30am and I found my headset useful here. We set out to summit Gray Peak before continuing on the loop. The trail to the summit, Oval Lakes 410B, was not entirely obvious in a few places but don't give up, it continues marching upwards to Oval Pass on your right. We missed the fork to the pass and continued along the Oval Lakes trail towards Middle Oval on the left before realizing the mistake. Deciding not to turn backwards towards Oval Pass, we followed a steep climbers trail to the summit of Gray Peak where we found someone had left a tupperware container with a note. It looked more like trash than a climbers log. We enjoyed the views of the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness peaks, Glacier Peak, and Oval Peak for a bit before walking the ridge back to oval pass. From the summit, the Chelan Summit Trail is visible for a few miles.

We descended Oval Pass into the gorgeous meadows surrounding Tuckaway Lake. The bugs were not too bad here as long as you kept moving although I got a few occasional bites. Reaching the basin below Tuckaway, the way to the Summit Trail was not obvious to us, we used GPS here to find the trail.

Continuing along the Summit Trail views and wildflowers abound. There is terrific color diversity on both sides of the trail. Cresting a ridge, Glacier Peak comes back into view as well as Lake Chelan in the distance. Eagle pass and the trail we are taking up to Eagle Pass was visible across the valley. From this point it was another 50 minutes before we got to Eagle Pass. This section required some effort as you descend 850ft to get to Fish Creek Basin only to regain 750ft of that to reach Eagle Pass. The flowers continue to impress throughout the journey to Eagle Pass and even beyond down Eagle Creek.

At Eagle Pass, Oval Peak comes into view before you descend down the Eagle Creek Trail. From here it was a gentle downhill ride, but the bugs were relentless. Stopping for lunch or a break would have been unbearable so we pushed on. The trail leads to a crossing of Eagle Creek which was deep and flowing but not difficult to avoid getting wet walking across a small log. At this point, there is a connector trail that goes around Duckbill Mountain back to the Oval Lakes trail. This is not the junction point shown in many maps, including description of this trip in Backpacking Washington by Craig Romano. It adds a few extra miles to the total loop distance. We were not able to find the official path down Eagle Creek to the junction shown. this section is through burned forest and continues as such to back to the parking lot.

Starting July 15th, I got out on my first real high country pack trip of the year.

I took 4 of my Packgoats: Grant, Albert, Bryce and Benson on a 6 day pack trip in the Chelan Sawtooth area. Since this area is east of Lake Chelan the snow tends to melt our a little earlier than along the main Cascade crest. There were still a few snow patches in higher areas, but the trails were all snow free.

We started from the Crater creek TH. Access is from Gold creek road, about 15 miles south of Twisp.

The first day, Wednesday, we hiked to Upper Eagle lake and camped there.

Along the way, at the junction to the old Lower Eagle lake trail I noticed that a large downed tree which was in the junction and had been de-limbed and cut so it no longer blocked the old Lower Eagle lake trail.

I went about 0.2 miles on the old lower Eagle Lakes trail before encountering downed trees which the goats probably could not get over. It looked like hikers had been going over them. I did not see a good way around them for the goats but did not explore a lot. This trail has seen some logging out and looks like it’s being used. I decided to turn around and head back to the main Eagle lakes TH and on up toward Upper Eagle lake.

Thursday, we hiked over Horsehead pass to Boiling lake, then toward Hoodoo pass. At Boiling lake, the trail to Hoodoo pass is now signed and seems more used than in the past.

Evergreen Mountain Bike alliance has put up trail signs at most of the trail junctions in the area.

A little south of Hoodoo pass we headed off trail up to the ridge line to the west. There were snow cornices along the ridge line, but there was one place where the snow had melted out. From the ridge top we took the x-country high route above Dry lake, down the ridgeline into Prince creek valley and back up to Bernice lake to the north. This is mostly high meadow country.

Friday, we took the trail down from Bernice lake to the Chelan Summit trail then northwest to above Surprise lake and around to the lakes northeast of Finney Peak.

The Chelan Summit trail had a few blowdowns, only one require a walk around detour. Overall, this is a good trail. The trail crossed the base of several meadows between Prince creek trail junction and the Surprise lake trail junction.

Saturday, we came back along the Chelan Summit trail and camped in a meadow southeast of Dry lake.

Sunday we hiked southeast along the Chelan Summit trail to Angel Staircase, up over Angel Staircase, and down to camp at a pond near Cooney lake.

About 0.7 miles south of the Chelan Summit / Boiling lake / Cub Lake trails junction there is a horse outfitter trail which Y’s off to the left / uphill. Coming from the north, the horse outfitter trail is heavily used enough that it’s not obvious which is the Chelan Summit trail. I did not see any signs. I followed it up and soon passed the outfitter’s large tent then the trail seemed to end at the outfitters horse highline area which was at the edge of the meadows.
This is a well-built trail with water bars and bridges at a couple small stream crossings.
I saw what looked like motorcycle tracks heading across the meadow, apparently heading for the saddle southwest of Boiling lake.

From near the outfitter highline area, I headed south across the meadows taking the high route toward the Old Maid Mtn saddle. Once past the initial meadows I found a faint boot path to follow. Part of this section was pretty buggy.

Angel Staircase was the high point of the trip at 8,000 ft. elevation. It was warm Sunday afternoon, so we took several rest breaks going up Angel’s Staircase.

The Cooney lake trail, connecting Angel Staircase with Cooney lake was snow free and looks a lot more used than the last time I remember.

Monday we hike out the Martin Creek trail back to the TH.

We were generally hiking at between 5,500 ft. and 7,500 ft. elevation and traveling 6 to 9 miles per day.

The main trails from Crater Creek TH are open to motorcycles and generally well maintained. I saw only one motorcyclist, and that was on the Martin creek trail the last day.

I saw a few hikers and mountain bikers on the trails but saw no one from Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon. So, Social Distancing was no problem!

There were mosquitos buzzing around at times, but insect repellent did a pretty good job of keeping them off.

There were quite a few nice wildflowers, more in some areas than others.

It was a really beautiful, enjoyable, and peaceful hike.