Duplicate Report. See my August 2nd 2010 report.

TH starts at 3000 feet. It had just rained a couple days ago so the trail was not dusty at all. I didn't see anyone on the trail except my trusty dog, Bandit, for this entire trip even though there were 2 cars at the parking lot when starting (& 2 more upon return). After 1.5 miles there is a creek crossing which was manageable. The trail climbed steadily and the huckleberries were ripening. I skipped the turn off to West Oval and kept going up past treeline to a saddle just below Grey Peak at 7500 feet. The views were great from there. The mosquitoes started at about 5500 feet. Dropped down thru meadows to middle Oval Lake and set up camp. Great views of Courtney. Head net came in handy to keep the bugs at bay. Many Tamaracks in the area which would make this a great fall hike after the bugs are gone. The next morning I walked over to East Oval Lake and scoped out possible approaches to Oval Peak - but decided against it. Got back to camp & packed up. I thought I could lose the bugs back at the saddle but no. I headed east to the ridge between Grey & Courtney (crossing a small snowfield). I then headed west up to Grey Peak. It was starting to cloud up but still very pleasant to be on top of at 8080 ft peak. Someone put a register up there. I headed down to Oval Pass and on the way down to Tuckaway Lake it started to rain a bit. I found a nice big Tamarack to wait out the downpour. I then headed up the ridge above Tuckaway as I heard there is a trail along the ridge to Eagle Pass. I would seem that I would "cliff out" but sure enough there is a narrow knife edge (dagger?) trail that leads down to the ridge. It was a bit too much exposure for my taste with my old-fashioned external framed backpack on but I took it nice & slow. I felt more comfortable putting my hiking poles in one hand and leaving my other hand free for holding on to the cliffs in a couple places. The ridge quickly got wider and more comfortable. Soon I was at Eagle Pass. I hung out at Eagle Pass & surrounding meadows for a bit and thought of spending the night (melting snow for water). After a couple booms of thunder, I decided my gear was not adequate for the potential downpours that could occur (like they did a couple nights previously). I headed down the Eagle Creek trail and sure enough it did start raining for a short while. With a brief stop at Silver Lake, I continued on back to meet up with the trail that I came in on. I got back to the TH and 30 minutes later it started pouring.

We had a late start on the trail, but no matter - we were the only car at the trailhead and the the solstice was near. The hike goes through some nice forest for the first two miles to the junction with the Oval Lake trail (410B). There were two stream fords (one before, one after the junction) - both, however were knee-length at highest and easily crossed, sans boots. After the junction, the trail remains in not-so-scenic forest. About 2 1/2 miles from the junction, though, you hit the first "meadow" (avalanche chute, really). This is where we camped, since we saw a big snow drift there and were afraid that the trail would be covered after that point. The next day we continued on the trail and saw little to no snow until about 1 1/2 miles (about 6500') after the Silver Lake Junction . The Lake itself is pretty unspectacular, but there are flat sites there. The trail opens up quite a bit after that first meadow, so be patient through the unspectacular forest after the junction. We lost the trail due to snow in the upper Eagle Creek basin near the approach to Eagle Pass. We scrambled up Snowshoe Ridge (east and west-facing ridges were clear) to get a fantastic view of the basin, as well as the War Creek drainage. The pass looked like it would not melt out for another two weeks, at least. After one more night, we headed down to the car - still not a soul in sight. Overall, a very nice early season hike, even if we didn't get high enough to see Lake Chelan (probably could have scrambled up Battle Peak, if we were feeling adventurous). Wildflowers were starting to bloom, it was too early for bugs, the wildlife was good (Mule deer, marmots) and the solitude couldn't be beat.

Went up Eagle Creek to Eagle pass and 1/2 mile beyond the past few days. No snow the whole way -- oval peak had a very small patch of snow on the north side, but honestly too little to mention. Some of the tributaries to Eagle Creek are a bit muddy but the mud is drying pretty fast and I was able to step over the mud with no problem. Trail is in good shape, a tad overgrown in places but not bad. My guide book made a big deal about fording the river to get to silver lake but didn't say anything about fording the (larger) river earlier twice. There are logs you can cross on but they're under a few inches of water and pretty slippery (round). Saw lots of wildlife on this trip, marmots and several kinds of birds and rodents (squirrels or their cousins). At one point I rounded a bend in the trail and a giant doe (it's back was as tall as my forehead and I'm ~5' 11"") was 20 paces in front of me. There were four or five kinds of moths / butterflies. One landed on my hand to take a rest. Higher up there are several flowers, blue and purple lupine and lots of white, yellow, pink flowers. The flowers are a little past their prime now. There were several kinds of berries along the trail, varying from tiny red berries to giant black-looking berries. Early on there are patches of thimbleberries along the trail, some ripe but others ripening. There are several good places to camp that aren't on the map or in the book I have. One at ~1.8 miles, just before the first river crossing. That one was notable in that there were no mosquitos there. The next is about a mile later after crossing both rivers (Eagle Creek fork of the trail). A little over two miles later there is a clearing then a decent campsite. It was fun sitting out in the clearing watching the sunset on the haze created by the fires to the northeast. Further up the trail a few more miles there are a couple campsites close to silver lake, which is honestly more of a pond than a lake. It was very peaceful, with the lilly pads and tranquil waters. Then a couple more miles and the country is more open. Another campsite. But no campers. I saw nobody on the trail the whole time except for on the way back there were a few backpackers coming up. The pass itself had a couple trees but was largely exposed. I sat down for lunch but there were quite a few flies up there. The bees kept thinking the blue lids on my water bottles were flowers. The views were spectacular, although almost none of the peaks in view (several ranges in each direction) had any snow on them. It's obvious horses used this trail earlier this year, and in a couple places they punched foot-deep holes in the now-dry mud near tributary crossings. There's also ample evidence on the trail itself. If I go again, I'd like to spend more time up there and explore around more.

We did a loop trip going up Eagle Creek, over Eagle pass to the Summit trail, over Oval pass and down the Oval Lakes Trail. We spent 4 days and 3 nights with camps at Silver Lake, Tuckaway Lake and Oval Lake. The Eagle Creek trail is in excellent shape and there was no problem following it over Eagle Creek Pass. The views start in Eagle Creek Basin and the larches were a beautiful yellow. At the pass, the vista over the Glacier Peak Wildnerness was clear as a bell and magnificent. We dropped down from the pass and joined the Sawtooth Summit Trail and then up to Tuckaway Lake. This is a small lake with a well used camp site. The next day, we headed down the Summit Trail with the idea of going to Fish Creek basin and then following a trail shown on the Green Trails map that headed back northeast and over a pass to Middle Oval Lake. This trail does not appear to exist anymore - at least the two of us could not locate any trace of it after searching for an hour. A fire darkened much of this area and may have wiped out the trail. Instead, we headed up to Eagle Creek pass with a stop at Star Lake. A beautiful place. We then went back to Tuckaway Lake and packed over Oval pass. The wind was picking up by this time and was blowing us sideways as it caught our backs. We abandoned the idea of going to middle Oval Lake and headed down to West Oval Lake. We found a nice campsite out of the wind and had and excellent dinner. This is a very overused area and the Forest Service is trying to restore it. The next day we headed out on the Oval Lake Trail. This is a great weekend or two night loop trail. The trails are in good shape, there are many campsites along the way and the scenery is magnificent. In our 4 days up there, we only encountered two other backpackers - no horsemen.