I did a lollipop loop from the Foggy Dew TH, hitting Sunrise Lake first, then going through Merchants Basin up to Sawtooth Ridge, then going down to Cooney Lake, then using the Martin Creek trail to connect back to the Foggy Dew trail. It’s a little over 17 miles and about 4,700 elevation gain. There was just one blowdown, which was easy to get around.

Larches are at peak at Sunrise Lake and were beautiful glowing in the late morning sun. Larches at Cooney Lake are not yet at peak, as you can see from the “from above” photo.

I arrived to four cars in the parking lot at 7:30 am. I saw a couple backpacking parties headed out the Foggy Dew trail this morning. No one was at Sunrise Lake when I was there. I passed about a dozen mountain bikers climbing up the steep trail up from Cooney as I was going down, and five trail runners also cruised down it while I was slowly picking my way down. There were five bikers taking a break at Cooney, but I didn’t see anyone else there or any tents. The benefit of going on a Sunday! I saw two bikers on the Martin Creek Trail, and those were the last people I saw for the day. There were two other cars in the lot when I was done.

Privy is unlocked (and will remain so during the shutdown since the door has no lock!), but TP is dwindling.

#HikeTheState

Two night backpack doing a very popular loop for hikers, horseback, mountain bikers, and dirt bikers alike: Carbon Creek to Upper Eagle Lake to Horsehead Pass to Angel Staircase to Switchback Peak to Cooney Lake to Carbon Creek.

I did the hike with an older friend (who just turned 71) so we did a slower pace, but managed to have a lot of free time at each lake, with the following times:

• 1145am-330pm Parking Lot to Upper Eagle
• 815am-915am Upper Eagle to Horsehead Pass
• 945am-1010am Horsehead Pass to Boiling Lake
• 1020am-1210pm Boiling Lake to Angel Staircase Trail
• 1210pm-155pm Angel Staircase to Switchback Peak
• 210pm-315pm Switchback Peak to Cooney Lake
• 815am-11am Cooney Lake to Martin Creek Trail Junction
• 1115am-12pm: Martin Creek Trail Junction to Parking Lot

The trails were in fairly good condition, though expect a lot of dust in sections, horse shit in others. One blow down on the hike out. A couple stream crossings requiring good balance.

Upper Eagle had incredibly bad mosquitoes well into dusk, leading to the majority of our time spent in tent--not ideal whatsoever. We camped at the Horse Camp but should have been on the water. There were only two others camping at the lake and they were there to view mountain goats, which we totally missed. Bugs were intermittent until we encountered intense horseflies on Angel Staircase and then again until late afternoon at Cooney Lake. These were massively sized and relentless, but went away before dinnertime. The wind at Cooney must have kept the mosquitoes away, but the morning had no wind and there were a ton of mosquitoes. Only one other pair camped at Cooney the night we did (with their blow up doll bachelor party mascot!) and they seemed to have wild success fishing.

The entirety of the loop was peak wildflower bloom.

If you are doing the loop, be sure to scramble up to Switchback, which is a very short boulder hop and talus balance right up the ridge trail after getting past the Okanagon Summit marker. It's on most maps. There is a summit register in a blue Nalgene.

The weather was utterly great this weekend, and though we had a great time, there was tons of activity on trail, the dirt bikes are incredibly annoying, and we probably won't return until late August if we go back, given the bugs.

For years I've had this on my list of hikes. It's just so dang far from Seattle, that it takes a full weekend to really get out here.

Fall Colors: Peak and absolutely incredible. So so beautiful.

Hiking Trail: Long and monotonous, but mellow. The hardest part is the last mile with a decent elevation gain and your legs are tired. Keep an ear out for mountain bikers, as they were out in force. 

Camping spots: 6-12 spots ranging from nice to ehh, but doable. 

Here's my full trip report from Cooney Lake with photos. 

Youtube video

Wednes, Oct 9 - Thurs, Oct 10

Quick review for my fellow larch junkies.

As you can see, the larches at the lake are glowing yellow.

I’m no larch-ologist, but…

1. Seems like peak to me

2. My experience says that larches turn a little rusty brown as they fade.  I didn’t see even the faintest signs of that, which tells me these guys have at least a few days of yellowy, prime glow remaining.

Parking lot was essentially full on my arrival Wednes 1p, same on my way out Thurs 1130a.  However, looked like at least a few options remained for hikers willing to get a little creative.

Saw me a bear on the road on the way up, maybe five miles before the TH. 

Enjoy!