Cow Creek trail is in great shape up to Garland Peak trail. Water available at 1 mile above Myrtle Lake and at Cow Creek Meadows. Only a handful of trees down and all easy to navigate. Sections are steep and hot due to no tree cover, but views are outstanding. Water source just past the junction with the Garland Peak trail and next source at Upper Larch Lake. No downed trees on this section.Larch Lake trail has a few downed trees and one jumble of several trees but again easy enough to get around. Was unable to find the connector trail from Larch Lake trail back to Myrtle Lake though the junction is obvious enough on the Myrtle Lake side. Forge or logs exist at the Entiat River for crossing. Saw very few people at the lakes along the length of the route. Camps at Cow Creek Meadow and  lakes.

First of all, the hike to Cow Creek Meadows is NOT 3500 ft of elevation gain, it is closer to 2000 ft gain given occasional brief descents. Gaia showed me 3180 ft elevation at trailhead (3750 ft at Myrtle Lake)and 5100 ft at Cow Creek Meadows. If you were to continue on the Cow Creek trail up the side of the mountain up to the ridge, that would get you to 3500 ft.

Since the 2015 fire, this hike is 98 percent full sun, so highly recommend a partially cloudy day if hot out. Brush and small trees are returning, primarily at lower elevations, but may be a couple decades until shade returns. Myrtle Lake and Cow Creek Meadows do not disappoint. I was shocked that I did not even need to apply bug spray, as both locations or notorious for long mosquito season. Did encounter some biting flies when taking breaks up to Cow Creek trail.  I counted four downed trees along the trail, three of them above Myrtle Lake. WTA crews did a wonderful job rebuilding Cow Creek trail a couple years back.

If you own a mountain bike, I highly recommend biking the first 3.5 miles to the turn-off to Myrtle lake. Not just because of this is a gentle sloping beginning mountain bike trail that cuts the time up to the lake in half, but because of the 20 minutes of bliss it takes to complete the last 3.5 miles returning after the long slog through the burned out forest.

In all, I was on the trail 6 hours with breaks, lunch, etc. Add a 2-3 more hours if not bike/hike. Only souls I saw on the trail was a group of backpackers setting up at Myrtle lake upon my return. Only two other small groups were registered at trailhead on being in the upper Entiat Valley trail system when I arrived. Road is in wonderful shape, all cars make it easily.

Road to trailhead is in good condition and was passable without AWF, high clearance or traction tires. I counted about ten logs over the trail in the first four miles before the junction with Cow Creek Trail. Otherwise the trail looked to be in good condition. There is a single grove of mature trees about one and a half miles from the trailhead but otherwise shade is scarce and precious. We saw innumerable bees, songbirds, chipmunks and butterflies playing chase through the abundant wildflowers along the Entiat River Trail. The vegetation here is dense with young trees and in every direction you look there is a diversity of all kinds of green, flowering shrubs. 

The bridge over the Entiat river is sturdy steel and concrete and makes a great, shady and cool spot to take a break. Upon entering the Wilderness after Myrtle Lake, the trail gets rougher but is passable and we never had trouble finding our way. There are a handful of logs on the cow creek trail that need logout. Tread work, erosion control and brushing could be done as well. The junction with the Myrtle Lake to Larch Lakes connector trail is unmarked. Take a left to go up to Cow Creek Meadows. 

As we climbed the young trees become more sparse and vegetation is mostly huckleberry. Thousands of bleached white snags with black burn scars still stand like skeletal remains as if frozen in time from some fateful battle. Hiking amongst this ghostly forest inspires the imagination to wonder far away into dark fantastical realms of demons, giants and forest spirits.

You need to cross Cow Creek to get into the meadows. Wading across the creek is simple enough and was below our knees. Alternatively some folks bushwhack upstream to find a log to cross. 

Cow Creek Meadow doesn’t disappoint, the peaceful sound of the waterfalls interrupted only by pikas and marmots whistling to warn of our arrival. Overall, this hike has a high payoff, low traffic, and relatively low effort. 

The entire trail from the Entiat River trail head to Myrtle Lake goes through open burn area and there is no shade. The crossing of Myrtle Creek(?) is bit hard to figure out. Walk a bit past the sign showing the turn off up Cow Creek Meadow trail and you see a log across the stream that is easy to cross.

From Myrtle Lake up to Cow Creek Meadows there is some unburned forest as the trail switchbacks up the ridge.  You meet the mosquitoes as you cross Cow Creek. Thousands of them are lying in ambush as you decide if you want risk balancing across on the riprap in the stream or change footwear and wade across.

The trail from Cow Creek to the meadow is forested and what looks like official campsites are in the trees. Figured there would be better views and more chance of a breeze so I camped out in the meadow.  This area is the staging headquarters of the billions of mosquitoes that inhabit the meadow. There are small pockets of marsh everywhere plus a few clear pools. Saw hardly any mammals (one deer and a ground squirrel) so I think the mosquitoes have chased them all away. The meadow is beautiful though.

Even as you continue up the Cow Creek trail towards the junction with the Larch Lakes Loop trail, the mosquitoes are with you, all the way up. The climb out of the meadow is in the burn area and south facing, so it is a hot slog up and there is no water until 6600 feet were the trail crosses a stream that looks to be seasonal.

There is knob at 6200 (1200 feet above the meadow) that has really nice views down the Entiat and towards the mountains along Lake Chelan.  Above 6000' it is still wildflower season, and the most common bird sightings were hummingbirds. Wear a bright t-shirt and you will be scoped out.

If you want to continue to Larch Lakes, the first creek to cross is running high and has a snow bridge of unknown thickness over it.

WTA’s Lost Trails Found Pro Crew spent a week on the Cow Creek Meadow trail and the Larch Lakes trail from 7/6/22-7/13/22. Both trails branch off the Entiat River Trail after Myrtle Lake. Our goals were to perform logout as a first priority, then brush and tread.

There are 2 stream crossings before a junction, where the trail to Cow Creek Meadows is the left fork, and the trail to Larch Lakes is the right fork, but the water level seemed to be decreasing at this point in the season - we were able to cross using logs on the way in, and opted to wade across in shin deep water on the way out.

The trail to Cow Creek Meadows is now logged out for the season, and we made an effort to widen the tread in several sections. There was plenty of snow-free camping at Cow Creek Meadows, although where the trail continues past the meadow via the Garland Peak Trail and climbs in elevation was still consistently snow covered. There is a final creek crossing about a quarter mile from the meadow, which we could easily ford at shin level.

The trail to Larch Lakes is also free of logs, with efforts to brush and re-tread the trail as well. There are some small snow patches at the top of the trail before reaching the first lake, and some more consistent but still navigable snow right before the second lake about a quarter mile from the first lake. We camped on the closest side of the second lake, where we had a great view of the lake and saw larches abound. On the far side of the lake there is a larger camping area as well.

It was constistently buggy in all areas we camped and worked during our trip, and our bug spray and bug nets came in handy. Wildflowers are starting to bloom in the lower parts of the Entiat valley approaching the Cow Creek and Larch Lakes junction.