Got to the Phelps Creek TH around 11pm and began on the trail just before midnight. We made good time and the trail was pretty easy to follow until just after the junction with the SFJ trail after the basin. The trail was off from my map and at times was hard to see in the dark so it slowed just down just a little, but we made it to the saddle above Upper Ice Lake around 4:30 am. Up till this point there was at most 1 short snow crossing, but from here snow is continuous up to the ridge leading to the summit. Temps were in the 40s and the snow was ice so we put on crampons. Sun was just starting to peak as we were up the ridge to the summit so we almost ran the rest of the way. The views were incredible, it was below freezing on top but as the sun hit it got warm very quickly. We spent a good hour soaking in the views and warming up before heading back, running into several marmots and taking our time looking at all the wildflowers. The trail from Leroy Basin and down was incredibly dusty but water sources were aplenty. 

This is a brief trip and trail report on a long day hike up Phelps Creek trail to Leroy Basin and from the basin to Seven Fingered Jack then across the basin to Mount Maude. From Maude I descended to the Carne Mountain High Route back to Phelps Creek trailhead.

As a warning - this is a technical and dangerous route with significant fall/rockfall hazard. I'm leaving this to help with current route conditions. Please hike and climb safely!

Road up to the trailhead is rough but passable. I made it up in a sedan without too much trouble. Phelps Creek Trail is in good shape. The creeks are running really high and I wasn't able to keep my feet dry after the third or fourth crossing.

The trail to Seven Fingered jack is snow free until above the basin. At which point it's pretty much snow-covered up to the summit ridge. Because the basin is in the shade in the morning, I found the snow pretty firm and icy and tools (crampons or spikes, ice axe, poles, helmet!) would be really nice to have to make travel fast and safe.

My trip across the basin to hit the trail up Mount Maude was fraught. The trail on the map drops back to the Leroy Basin and I tried to avoid the ~1k of drop by traversing. This is technically doable - there wasn't any showstopping cliffs, but there wasn't a clear route and the scree field is super loose. Once you hit the ridge up to Maude, the route gets much more fun. The final slopes to Maude are snow-free, just steep. There's no running water from Leroy Basin up to Maude. I found a trickle flowing on the northside of Maude. There are a few more creeks once you start on the High Route.

The north face of Maude is still holding snow, basically up to the summit. Two other climbers crossed the saddle and dropped down to climb the north face. Mount Maude has some of the best views in the state, just fantastic! Rainier, Baker, and, of course, Glacier were looming large.

I dropped off the north side of Maude from the saddle, almost down the Ice Lakes. From the summit, the route to the High Trail wasn't clear but once on the north side, there were some boot prints and the trail got a bit easier to follow. For the most part, the trail is in good shape. Sometimes hard to find and to follow at times without a GPS and a map and is about half snow, it seems! I was consistently finding it and losing it in meadows or across snowfields. But I was able to take it all the way to Carne Mountain and from there, drop back to the trailhead.

Did a 2 night backpack, with intent to do both Maude and 7FJ, but only made Maude.  Multiple stream/creek crossings up to the turn off for Leroy Creek, we packed sandals and switched a few times into them.  Trail to Leroy Basin, is short and steep, a few small downed trees but easy enough to maneuver around.  Campsites at the basin were melted out, newer pit toilet available.  Lots of running water at camp, so don't need to worry about packing it in. 

Intermittent snow up to Freezer Pass, we put our crampons on a couple times to get up to the pass, there was one steep slope that felt a little sketch, but will likely be melted out soon.  Solid snow once you get to Freezer Pass and then up to the ridge, again used crampons, although the snow was getting pretty soft.  From the ridge to summit was snow free. 

Overall, we felt like we underestimated this hike, we were worked!  This was a fun adventure with lots of variety.  Saw several parties going up 7FJ, we (ok, I), just didn't feel comfortable to attempt 7FJ based on how steep and exposed the upper snow fields looked from camp and how tired Maude made us. 

Kudos to the gal and guy who did both 7FJ and Maude, C2C, beasts!!!!! 

We planned to do a two-night traverse in the Entiat Range, hiking in to the Leroy Basin Camp on the Phelps Creek and Leroy Creek trail Friday evening, climbing Maude, Seven Fingered Jack, and Fernow on Saturday, camping at the Dumbell Cirque, and climbing Dumbell and Greenwood Sunday on our way out.

We got to the trailhead around 7:30pm, hiking by 7:40pm, and up at camp just before 10pm. It rained and we were quite wet, but it was much warmer than we expected. The camp is nice, lots of spots but didn't find water nearby - we heard some running water but it seemed far away.

Woke up at 5:15am, started up the 7FJ trail to the saddle below Maude (after a water fillup just before the saddle), then traversed South a bit before starting up towards the West Gully. We ended up ascending the gully North of the actual West Gully since it looked like more solid rock and less annoying scree traversing (that's not to say we didn't get our fair share of loose scree...). Helmets are a must and poles were very helpful for the loose rock. After a couple hundred feet we got some great 3rd and 4th class scrambling on nice, solid rock. Then popped out on the ridge (a little North of where we were aiming), traversed/downclimbed to gain the nice shoulder, and up a little trail to the summit at 9:10am.

Then down the South Ridge route partway, headed west down a scree slope towards the actual West Gully, then traversed across to meet the 7FJ trail and followed that up. Routefinding was much easier here, although be careful not to go too far right. We ended up scrambling 3rd and 4th class (fun) terrain that was uneccesary. The trail trends much more left than you'd expect, crossing over a little ridge to avoid any steep rock/real scrambling. At the summit at 12:45pm, summit register could use a new notebook. Met two other parties of two on the summit.

Then down (this time on the actual trail, which is easy to follow from the summit but after a small bench gets pretty sparse/unclear in the heather below. Just pay attention that you don't get cliffed out on the way down, it's easy to backtrack but annoying) to the saddle, filled up on water, and all the way down. Back at the cars at 5:45pm. 

The road seems to be in better condition than I remember, but I remember it as on of the worse forest service roads I've ever driven so that isn't saying much. Our Subaru Forester made it up just fine, although it isn't a smooth ride.

Road was rough towards the end.  Would recommend higher clearance vehicles.  Went for mt maude and high pass trail on the way out (high pass had a lot of downed logs to climb over).  Many others out and about but only 3 other people climbing Maude.  Two were doing 7FJ and Maude. I am not nearly that good of shape. Still a bit of snow on the backside bowl near as you get ready to summit. Would recommend microspikes and an ice axe for that part. Also we measured 8.1 miles to the top, so it might be a bit longer than wta says. Lots of bugs mosquitos down low and lots of flies at the higher spots. Slight breeze helped with the bugs in some spots. Great view at the top.