Did a overnighter to climb Mount Maude. Amazing trip!

Road/Trailhead
Arrived at the trailhead at 11:30 am. The road in starts paved then is miles and miles of gravel. Most of it is fine, until the end before Trinity when it gets very rough. Large potholes but also very rocky, like will tear something off a low clearance car rocky.

The final road up to the Phelps creek trailhead is the worst part. It's deeply rutted the entire way with large dips. And there is another section of large sharp rocks. Your low clearance car is not going to make it up this road.

My car made it up fine, it's a fun drive with clearance.

There is no bathroom at the TH and the register at the beginning needs new pages. There were only 5 other cars on the lot when I arrived.

One cool thing about the trailhead that I didn't know was that you can see Maude and 7 Finger Jack from the trailhead up the valley.

Phelps Creek Trail

Not much to report, very easy flat 3.5 miles. Goes by quickly, mostly shaded. The creeks alone the trail are flowing.

Climb to Leroy Basin

This is one of the steepest sections of the whole trip. The first 0.4 miles are the worst. Not fun with a heavy pack. It's doable, and there are some views along the way and a waterfall view. But one of the least pleasant parts.

Leroy Basin to Freezer Pass

The basin is stunning. Lots of great camp sites, it was completely empty when I got there. The creek is flowing near camp.
The only water sources beyond the actual camp are two creeks very early into the traverse across the basin. After that there is no water until Ice Lakes. These creeks will likely run dry before the end of the season without more snow/rain.

The trail that traverses across Leroy basin before the climb up to Freezer pass is pretty flat, but there are a few areas where the trail can be lost and a few washouts to navigate. It's all pretty clear which way to go, but some of the washout sections don't have great footing.
There are cairns in the rocky sections that are quite helpful.

The climb up to Freezer Pass is steep and the hardest part with a heavy pack. The incline is unrelenting and there are a few places in the scree when a fall would be very bad. The trail is fairly clear until the scree, after that the cairns are helpful.

Freezer pass itself has stunning views and quite a few bivvy and tent sites. I made comp there to catch the sunset and sunrise. Had the place to myself.

Climb to the summit

Took 2 hours from camp to the summit in the morning. You drop down into the basin below freezer pass and cross to a steep gully to climb. This gully is steep loose dirt and rock, the path is clear an it is not as bad as it appears from the pass. It's very similar in steepness and feel to Aasgard pass.

After gaining the Maude ridge it's a clear bootpath to the summit.

The summit itself offers some of the most stunning panoramic views I have ever seen. It's so remote and so many massive mountains are on full display. The views of Glacier peak were probably my favorite.

The Return

Going down on this was hard on the knees. It went faster and slower than expected. The constantly changing terrain and scenery passed the time.

I encountered one party ascending into Leroy basin, only people I saw the entire 2 days. It's incredible how gorgeous and empty the area is.

Got back to the TH at 4pm and it only had 7 cars.

Final Thoughts

This is a pretty straightforward climb, it doesn't involve any scrambling, but it is steep, involves some mild navigation and all of the elevation of the climb is on a pretty sharp incline. For a 9k peak it's shockingly easy, but it's still a big climb.

But if you are up for a steep challenge this one is for sure worth it, the whole area is stunning.

Climb of Mt Maude, with camp along Carne High Route from 8.3-4 2024.

ROAD: Bumpy, some rather rocky stretches, rough, and rutted. Made it in our Subaru Forester, but of course there was a Tesla at the TH (and not the truck version, either). No outhouse or facilities (can we petition to have one put in at this very popular TH?). Parking was more full than we expected!

CARNE MOUNTAIN: This trail was in pretty good shape with one or two blowdowns and some brushy spots. It was a steady climb, first through forest, and then more hot and exposed. We were more than ready to refill our water bottles at the creek in Carne Basin. Huckleberries are happening, though! From there we slogged up to the saddle, dropped packs, and tagged the walk-up summit of Carne.

CARNE HIGH ROUTE: From the pass, we began the ups and downs of the Carne High Route. It was fairly straightforward to follow, which I found pleasantly surprising as I was expecting it to be rougher/less-defined. We were feeling the heat of the day as a lot of the trail was exposed to the sun, and we ended up deciding to camp near Box Creek at around 6,500'. 

The trail at this point hit a junction and split off to the right - there were some large cairns marking the way, but the trail itself was not obvious or well-trodden and looked like it kept going straight.

MT MAUDE: The next morning, we decided to get an early start to beat the heat and left camp at 5.15 a.m. The rest of the high route to Freezer Pass was definitely a bit more rugged than before, with some sections of undefined trail and route-finding through boulders, rough and rocky sections, and traversing across steep, loose hillsides. 

From Freezer Pass, we descended a little bit before hopping rocks over towards Maude and managed to find a bootpath that was fairly easy to follow through the rocks and scree. There was some flowing water through this rocky area. There were some patches of snow, but could all be avoided or walked over with ease.

It was a bit loose and steep gaining the ridge, but from there the bootpath got even better, and it was a straightforward slog to the summit through some very pretty wildflowers. 

We enjoyed our summit views - distant peaks obscured by wildfire haze, but still a beautiful spot. 

We retraced our steps for the descent, headed back to camp, and hiked back out the way we had come. I would say that doing the loop down Leroy Basin would be faster and easier, as it is a bit shorter and doesn't have the elevation gain on the exit that the High Route has - but such is the price we paid for not hauling full packs up to Freezer Pass/Ice Lakes!

BUGS: Horseflies were aggressive and super annoying - I often had 3-4 huge ones circling me. There were also smaller biting flies and just a few mosquitoes.

WANT MORE PHOTOS? Follow along on instagram @thenomadicartist for more adventures! 😁

I lost a teal outdoor research jacket on the way up to ice lakes, if anyone found it my number is 8048743058

the best camping views I've ever experienced. Noteworthy: for water sources there is a nice waterfall about 3.5 mile into the trail and then small creek shortly after 7FJ trail junction, afterwards we had to get our water from Ice Lake. We climbed Mt Maude that same evening on Friday, from Freezer pass it took us 1.5 hr to go up and 45 min to descent. Used alltrails maps, which was straightforward, easy to follow trail, except for one little loose rock sketch spot, trail was steep but in a great condition. I did not even wear my helmet. On Saturday morning, we left our camping spot at 10am and hiked back to 7FJ trail junction. Dropped our bags in the bushes and begun climbing. Trail is easy to follow up to about 6700 ft and then you're kind of on your own. My partner went to the left and did his own thing but I tried to stay close, as much as I could, to alltrails map but it was challenging as the trail shows up in spots. It got even more complicated the higher we climbed. 7FJ scramble is type 2 kind fun, level 3 with some level 4 sections. Lots of loose rock, definitely appreciated my hiking poles and helmet, those are must. We were the only ones on the summit, views were slightly obscured by nearby fires but very satisfying. Met only 3 other climbers going up on the descent. 7FJ trail is crazy steep and I think it took us about 3 hours to go up and around 2 to go down from the junction. Back to our car at 7:20 pm exhusted but happy with our accomplishments. Trail is incredibly beautiful this time of the year and about to get even better once larches turn yellow.

From Leroy basin we made our way towards the saddle below Freezer Pass at 6800 feet.  This is a stunningly beautiful trail in the shadow of Mount Made, with lots of fall foliage, beautiful sub-alpine terrain, and incredible views.  The trail to Freezer Pass skirts just below the Maude Massive.  You can see the rockfall below you from the steep cliffs above.  Once at Freezer Pass, you finally see the true summit of Maude, Ice Lake, North and South Spectacle Buttes, and many other peaks in the Entiat and Chelan ranges.  The trail to the summit is straightforward, with loose rock before you reach the saddle at 8100 feet.  From here, it's a walk up a well-identifiable path.  Views are amazing from the summit.  We found some water to filter in the basin above Upper Ice Lake, but there is not much, so plan accordingly.