Quite the adventure as Aferrenberg, ngie, and I got up to the seldom visited summit of Red Mountain West via the Crater Lake Trail, which is at the end of the Money Creek road. The road is rough in places, but we were able to get to the end of the road with a Subaru. 

We missed the trail that goes to Crater Lake which starts behind some boulders at the end of the road, and took the well-defined path that took us to the mine. We checked out the mine ruins which were cool. We then followed a path that looked to hook up with the Crater Lake trail, but it fizzled out, so we had to go cross country to hook up with the trail. This trail is a fisherman's trail, so it's a bit primitive and overgrown in places, but had some good tread. We reached the lake on the east side of the outflow. We didn't see a trail on the westside of the outflow and the lake, and were fooled by a trail that went around to the eastside of the lake. This trail ended after awhile, and after some talus we were left with a lot of slide alder and brush to get to the NW side of the lake. We headed up some semi brushy talus which worked ok, but then we ran into heavy brush, as we did a rising traverse under Salmon Red to get to a upper basin above Crater Lake between Red Mountain West and Peak 5331. This was a royal pain getting up, as there were so many open areas with heavy brush in between the forested sections. Would not recommend this way. Our down track was so much better, as it was mostly in open forest, where the travel was significantly better!

Once we got to this upper basin at around 4800ft we ran into snow, and to our surprise we saw some footprints that led us up to the ridge between these two summits, and on up the ridge to the summit of Red Mountain West. Views really opened up on this section, as we were now in the open on snow covered heather slopes. There were two sets of prints, along with a dog, so we speculated if it was two fellow peakbaggers who we had met a couple of weeks ago on another trip, as they have a dog, and who are chasing the same peaks. Sure enough, we found out on the way home, that it was them! Too funny, as there was one previous ascent all year, and then five of us on one November weekend get up there.

Tough Peak to get too, but it had some great views!! After about 30 minutes on the summit, we headed down. We followed our prints down in the snow to where we first saw their prints from the previous day, and then followed their prints straight down which led us to some nice open forest. Terrain was steep, but with no brush we made great time down to the lake. There was a couple sections of brush, and we had to cross a ravine, but we made excellent time down to the lake. Once at the lake, we had one 100ft brush bash through some alder to get to the west side of the lake, and some nice flat open forest. We then found a trail that took us to a very nice camp next to the western shore of Crater Lake. Here we followed the lakeshore to the outlet stream. There was some minor rock hopping, and minimal brush, but so much easier than the eastside of the lake. At the outlet stream we were able to rock hop across, and get on back on the trail. We then hiked back to the car. We missed one turn coming down and had to backtrack a short bit, so beware of that.

We started at 7:45am and finished at 4:05pm. 6.8 miles with 3130ft gain. We had a lot of unnecessary mileage and elevation gain going the way we did taking the eastern shore of the lake with all the backtracking we did, which added a lot of time. Taking the western shore is the way to go, which will save you a lot of time and effort, and a lot less scratches and cuss words!! It will still be a tough trip, as many of the Alpine Lakes Homecourt Peaks are. We used micro spikes and gaiters. Micro spikes were useful not only on the snow, but on the steep duff too.

Have driven past Money Creek on Hwy 2 so many times, but never explored up valley, set out to explore Crater Lake, Lake  Elizabeth, and the Damon and Pythias mine entry.  Didn't find any money, but could have laundered some, due to the drenching I got from the wet bush/mist, haha. 

TL;DR;

• Crater Lake:
  • Being a "unmaintained miner" trail, had a bit of everything
  • If you are used to such things though, this one isn't too bad as it isn't that long
• Lake Elizabeth:
  • Nice small lake with loop trail, trail could use some TLC
• Damon & Phythias Mine:
  • Nice quick side trip, enter at your own risk 
• People:
  • One friendly group at Crater lake camping/fishing (said fishing better earlier in year)
  • Nice couple at TH doing a last hike before heart surgery ( best wishes! )
• Berries: 
  • Start ~3200', but past prime and waterlogged
• Road
  • Gravel in great shape for first 4-5mi ( kudos road crew )
  • After that gets a bit rockier/berm-ier, and a couple dry fords
    • So recommend medium+ clearance
  • Can park at small Lake Elizabeth TH, or more room...
    • A 1000' further up the road where the road is blocked 

CRATER LAKE

• This trail is unmaintained, but thanks to the trail angels, I found "relatively" easy to follow (for a boot path)
  • That said, I did have to back up a couple times on the way down
    • And reset after checking the GPS
  • Some sections are rooty, overgrown, rocky, muddy
    • Did bang my knees a couple times on branches hidden in the undergrowth 
    • But the tricky sections don't last long
    • Several blowdowns, but nothing difficult 
  • Today was very misty, and the vegetation was wet
    • So was drenched within about a 100m of starting
• At the end of the drivable road, take the rightward fork on a overgrown old road until it descends to cross the creek...
• Then a climbing traverse around into the Crater Lake drainage
  • ( "round the back" of the ridge you see when starting )
• At about 3200' there is a complex of overgrown boot paths, going in all sorts of directions
  • Look for easiest way upward for the Lake, or... 
  • Easiest way towards the sound of water, for the waterfall
• I missed the waterfall on the way up, but hit it on the way down
  • Worth the side trip, blocky waterfall into pretty pool
  • Would be a nice bath if hot
• As you approach the lake, the meadows get marshy/muddy, but soon emerged onto the lake shore...
  • Looking like a bedraggled cat who "meant to" fall into that pool
• Through the mist, the lake looked nice, and...
  • Was (currently) easily traversable on the W shore
  • However missed out on the good views due to mist (see other TRs)
• Would have liked to explore up towards Red Mountain,
  • But didn't see the point with the mist, and was getting cold

LAKE ELIZABETH

• Nice little lake with small roadside TH (couple cars) and loop trail
• The trail really needs a little TLC, and then could be the very nice nature walk it probably was when first constructed
• Start on E side ( anti-clockwise ) for best trail & views
  • The N/W sides are overgrown and muddy 

DAMON AND PYTHIAS MINES

• This hike was last minute, and didn't get any time to research, but saw CP and other's pictures, so knew I had to go check it out
• At the end of the drivable road, take the leftward fork road
  • Past the road block(s) the road is smooth and easy ( compared to Crater Lake)
  • And within 1/5mi you arrive at the mine site
  • Quick jaunt up the tailings to mine entrance covered by a corrugated steel awning
• I'm a scare-dy cat when it comes to mines I have no beta on...
  • So just wandered in a little.
  • Do your research before venturing any further
• Some interesting history links at the bottom
  • Discovered in the late 1890s
  • Actively minded/prospected until as late as the 60s
• The terrain towards the high Apex mine looked pretty steep, maybe another day I told myself, then headed out

All in all, a nice little "adventure", might go back for views on a "sunny" day,  since "partly sunny" doesn't mean much with these front ranges.

A couple of other cars at the end of Money Creek Road.  The most visible trail is the one to the mine and already you're pushing through a few bushes to the right of that trail to get on the old road.  Following the trail is tricky due to the overgrowth, and the markers don't start until ways in.  Take a GPS.  There is a point at which the trail splits and a short trek takes you west to a pool and waterfall and up the mountain takes you to the lake.  Nice campsite at the lake and that stretch is not 100% up-hill (some flat spots).  My expectations were low, so was generally pleasantly surprised by how nice the area was.  Getting late in the season, so things were a bit dry, but plenty of late-season mountain huckleberries.  

The road is fairly well maintained as mountain roads go. Worse as you get higher, but not bad overall.

As others have said, this trail is not as easy as it looks, it took about 3 and a half hours of moving time. It's overgrown in many places but someone has lightly maintained it recently, and was kind enough to tie survey tape blazes along the route. That said, we did lose the trail at times, and many of the blazes are unfortunately yellow which does not stand out against the foliage very well, especially in fall. We lost the trail once it turned parallel to outlet creek and ended up scrambling a while before rejoining it. On the plus side, we discovered a waterfall which we were able to swim at the base of.

Wildlife was plentiful; frogs, salamanders, many mushrooms presented themselves along the way. Lots of beautiful boggy moss mats, lichens and huckleberry bushes. The fall colors are beautiful, and the bowl around the lake was as well. There's a small campsite at the top which would fit 3 or so tents, though the ascent would be difficult with backpacks. The lake was clear and cold, and the presence of salamanders shows it's fairly healthy.

It might not be the grandest lake in the cascades, but if seclusion is what you're after, you'll find it here.

Trail was extremely overgrown and quite hard to follow, especially in the first half. We went in blind and it took us about 4 hours round trip, with several backtracks to find the trail. Having a good GPS track to follow would have made for much less bushwhacking.