For my last hike of the summer, i headed for Ice Lakes based on the terrific write-up in 100 Hikes. The trailhead is at the end of Entiat River Road, 38 mi from Entiat on Rt 97, 1/4 mi past Cottonwood camp. The large parking area was virtually empty, save a few horse trailers (something referred to as a 'high hunt' apparently kept the crowds down this weekend). As noted, the trails are open to stock, so watch where you step. The dusty mini-highway that is the Entiat river trail begins the hike. Follow that trail an easy 8 miles until you reach a junction, with the Entiat trail continuing (signed for Entiat glacier) straight, and a trail to the left for Icicle creek and the Lakes. This section is a little confusing, since a few hundred feet down this trail, the trail forks, with the right fork signed for a ""stock ford"" of the river. If you prefer crossing the river on slippery logs, take the left fork and join the trail to the Lakes on the other side (stay left). Perhaps the better option is to wade cross the river via the stock ford; shortly after crossing you come to a sign for ""Ice camp-4 mi"" which heads west (left) and ""Entiat meadows-6 mi"" which heads right. The meadows are NOT where youre headed, if youre going to the Lakes (why Ice Lakes is not included on the sign is one of those weird hiking phenomena). Follow the creek trail, which gradually climbs into a valley of mixed meadow and forest. At the advertised four miles, you come to a sweet campsite beside a (now) dried up creek. It took me 5 hours to get to this point. There are several creek crossings on the trail, but nothing tricky. From the camp, ascend the valley up the creek drainage, past the waterfall that comes down from Upper Ice Lake. The trail climbs moderately at first. At about half mile from the camp, avalanche debris covers the trail, but if you follow the creek you will soon find the trail. The trail then climbs steeply up, miraculously weaving between talus, until you get to the top, overlooking Lower Ice Lake. I tried to find a trail to Upper Lake, but there doesnt appear to be any. So you can either follow a faint path westward and upward to a couple small frozen lakes, then scramble directly up the cliffs (before you get to the main waterfall) and to the upper lake, or you can skirt the east side of the lake and then climb directly up talus and snow to get to the upper lake. The whole area was interesting and some time could be spent exploring. Enchantments are more spectacular, but it was nice to have this whole area to myself--pretty surprising to not see anyone on such a nice weekend. It was COLD at night though--water bottle froze solid! Time for Fall hiking! Stats: 30+ mi RT, 5,000+ ft, 7.5 hr to up lake.

My planned 4-day trip partner cancelled out, so left with a 4-day supply of food and nothing to do, I took off up the Estes Butte trail. This trail is in excellent condition to the lookout -- just a couple minor blowdowns. The trail was re-routed (presumably for the horsie contingent?) and climbs at a reasonable gradient. Except where it's the old route. You can see the old route from time to time. No snow to the lookout site. Past the lookout, things change considerably. The trail isn't maintained, and can be quite hard to follow in a few spots. I wandered down a wrong path at Estes Butte, where I found sawed logs galore. However, the compass bearing was incorrect. I was discombobulated all day because the altimeter was ""off"" by 600'. But later I discovered that I'm just a dufus and it was right on all day. The route follows the ridge with glorious views. Near Old Gib it dives down to go around this ""volcanic neck"" (so Crowder and Tabor call it). But I had to climb a real volcanic neck. The route goes well on the south ridge, only becoming class 2 in a few sections. Right before the summit is a gully that looked attractive, heading down towards the west. Fortunately, it went quite well. Even more fortunately, I found the Estes Butte trail right where it is supposed to be. This section of trail is rarely travelled. There was considerable snow rounding the mountain, but I managed to find the trail by careful map studying. In this area I saw a porcupine. First time to see a quillmeister up close and personal. It rambled off and climbed a tree. The route continues along the ridge, with considerable snow cover. En route I had to climb up to the former lookout site south of Carne Mt. Lots of snow in the vicinity, trails are hard to find. By this time it's late, there are no campsites with flowing water, and I'm getting cold in the fierce wind. So I dropped to the east side, slightly down the Rock Creek trail and set up camp on a flat spot of snow. With one quart of unfrozen water, and a weak alcohol stove, it was a quick dinner and hope for good water someplace for breakfast! That evening it snowed a teeny bit. Day 2 I traversed off trail to Pomas Pass. Early in the day I found water and cooked up a big pot of oatmeal. Mmmm. Better. The route went well. Pomas Pass has lots of snow too. I dropped down the Pomas Creek trail on steep snow. By 5700' it was mostly bare. This trail is rarely travelled and could use an army of loppers. Some of the tread looks lonely and untrodden. But it goes well. The crossing of Ice Creek was made easier with a nicely placed couple of logs, a couple hundred feet upstream. It would be a challenge to cross without those logs. The trail continues to the Ice Creek trail. Here I found the first footprints in many miles. Ice Creek is mostly bare to the horsie camp at about 5500'. After that, the route is snow covered. I followed bootprints near the top, where an ice axe is mandatory for the sane. Topping out at lower Ice Lakes was a sigh of relief, and a spectacular view. Spectacle Buttes, as a matter of fact, along with Maude and the valley far down Ice Creek. I camped between the two lakes on a soft bed of pumice. Day 3 I hoped the snow would soften enough that I could traverse steep snow to the upper Ice Lake. Fortunately it went well. An hour later I was at the pass South of Mt Maude. I took a shortcut to the Carne Mt high route, then followed it to Carne Mt. Lots of steep, very hard snow. I really wished I had crampons. But later in the day it improved. At Carne Mt I had completed the top half of a ""figure 8"", so I crossed my route and headed down the Rock Creek trail. The east side of the crest also has been hammered by avalanche this winter. Many trees were knocked down and have probably crossed the trail in a few places. But since its under snow it's hard to tell. By 5200' I found the trail. It's patchy snow down to the lower crossing of Rock Creek. First sign of the elusive ""lug-soled hominid"" on this trail in many miles, and soon I saw their shelter near the trail. It's a long, long, long, long and frankly quite boring slog out to the Chiwawa River Road. Of the three routes to Carne Mt, this is my least favorite by far. Lots of pesky blowdowns in the upper section of the trail. Lots of bugs in the lower section where the horsies have been walking recently. Several pretty muddy areas as well.