We were already staying at Holden Village for a week, so decided to do a one-night backpack trip out of there to Upper Lyman Lake, having heard reports from many in the Village that it's a true stunner. It is!

We left Holden after breakfast on Tuesday around 10 am, after a day or two of rain, so the weather was cool. There's not a lot of elevation between Holden and Hart, till near the lake when you have to go up and back down to get to the lake. There are a few spots where the trail feels pretty overgrown (though nothing compared to the trail to Lyman later). Lots of ripe berries. We saw a bear noshing on some, but she scampered away when she heard our footsteps. Also saw a large log across a bridge that appeared to have been gnawed down by beavers! One day hiker passed us between Holden and Hart, but otherwise we saw no humans.

After lunch at Hart, including a little swim and use of the campsite's nice little privy, we started ascending toward Lyman Lakes. There is a creek crossing right after Hart which was somewhat challenging but my feet stayed dry in my boots. Also was a good place to grab water before going up, up, up to Lyman. The trail between Hart and lower Lyman also has spots that are overgrown and extremely slow going because of that. Sounds like it's kind of impossible to keep it all at bay. Several areas have burned in the last decade and the brush is happily growing. We got to lower Lyman at 6 pm ish and saw one more human who seemed to be camping there. We decided to head to upper Lyman then, just maybe 1.5 mi further. Also, started getting cold. 

Upper Lyman is truly stunning. Expansive, rugged, remote. Meadows with wildflowers. We were the only people there, probably because it's so hard to get to... also because it was SO BUGGY. The bugs were a real downer, to be honest. But, the solitude was really nice. The stars were incredible, of course. Nice privy in great shape.

We camped out for the night and awoke to a decent amount of condensation in the tent. We aired everything out at breakfast, and then ended up heading out around 11 to go back to Holden. Sort of wish we'd left earlier but it worked out. Hiked the same way back, took maybe 2 hours less time. The bugs are pretty bad throughout the trail and so it was best to just keep on moving.

TL;DR: stunning, remote hike, v buggy.

Stunning but very buggy 5 day/4 nights with 3 nights at Lower Lyman. We took the ferry to Lucerne, shuttle to Holden, then hiked to Hart Lake and continued on to Lower Lyman, day 2 hiked to Cloudy Pass and partway up Cloudy Peak as a day hike, then day 3 hiked to Upper Lyman and partway up Spider Gap as a day hike, then day 4 hiked back to Holden, camped outside town, and took the shuttle/ferry back on day 5. The stream by Hart was rock hop-able in the morning, but required fording in the afternoon. The snow is mostly gone, just patches, apart from Spider Gap. The trail between Hart and Lyman is seriously overgrown, hip-chest high for miles but navigable. We tried Lyman Ridge, but there was way too much snow to even get started. Bear sign in a couple of places, but didn't see any. Check back for a short video. There is a map with pics at the bottom (no app required on a computer). 

Getting to the TH: We went the complicated route, via Holden. We parked at Field's Point ($45/week or $9 per night) and took the Express Ferry (around $100), then the Holden Shuttle (reservation required, only once daily and only runs some days,$10pp suggested donation). In Holden you can also pre-order meals and/or stay the night (no pets). Once you get off the shuttle the trailhead is just under a mile walk through town.

Holden Village Campsite: There are two sites (one could fit a couple of tents) in the official site with two picnic tables, a bear locker, and a trail to the stream. There is a nice pit toilet by the "ball field" and more overflow camping. The ball field seems to be abandoned at the moment. 

TH to Hart Lake: Fairly flat trail with a lot of sun. Slightly overgrown near town but not bad. Mostly dry dirt/sand. The only water source once you leave town is the horse ford, which is close to the Holden side. There is a nice log bridge for people with no water access. The valley is stunning and the view from above Hart Lake is better than at the lake itself. 

Hart Lake: A few wooded campsites without views but close to water, box toilet in good shape, small pebble beach. 

Hart to Lower Lyman: Just past the lake you will hit the creek crossing. In the afternoon we had to ford it. I did it barefoot and the rocks weren't terrible, water only came to my calf. On the way back in the morning the flow was less and with the assistance of hiking poles we were able to cross with dry feet. 

The trail stays rocky for a little bit and then transitions back to dirt. There is one camping area before you really start climbing, in a wooded area with a stream. The bugs were relentless there. There seems to be water at least every half mile, but I'm sure some will dry up as we get later in the season. Most were easy to cross but there was one or two that required some footwork and climbing up and down into and may get your feet wet it if you don't have waterproof shoes. This section is also much shadier than the pervious section, including the steep switchback, which was a bit of a relief being a hot afternoon. 

Watch your ankles! There were lots of animal holes, many large enough for a foot, and they are often hard to see. We had hip to shoulder high soft brush for much of this trail and it wasn't hard to see the trail, but it was hard to see your feet. 

Lower Lyman: There are some rough stairs near the lake outlet to get you down to the water and another muddy trail with beach access nearby. The main camping area has a loop with a bunch of sites spread out in the woods, no views, but two box toilets and some large sites. There are a few more sites on a stream about 1/3 mile further on the west side of the lake. There is also a box toilet here, although it is in clear view of the trail. There are peak-a-boo views here and a nice beach nearby with a shallow sand/silty bottom and views. The trail continues past the camping area but the water was too high to cross at this time without thigh deep fording, but looks like you can usually rock hop. 

Cloudy Pass: The trail up here was marked and in great condition. It starts out tree covered with a few streams and opens up to a meadow with Marmots and wildflowers. At the pass you can see Glacier and lots of mountains on both sides. You also get a nice view of the lakes, but it gets better if you go up further. Just past the split for Lyman Pass there was snow fully blocking the trail. 

Cloudy Peak: We only went partway up to a viewpoint area. This trail is a touch rough and a bit of a choose your own adventure. Bits are a narrow muddy stream not much bigger than a show, other parts are rocky. There are a bunch of trails that dead end. The view up there is spectacular in every direction and well worth the extra effort. There is a shear cliff on one side which makes it feel even more dramatic (trail stays away from it for the section we were on). 

Lower Lyman to Upper Lyman Lakes: The trail is marked and easy to follow. There is a large log bridge to cross the outlet of the lake, then the trail follows a narrow path through the trees along the side of a slope. Passing is difficult in some places along here. It climbs up and breaks out of the trees as you approach the lake. Lots of water along this trail and the bugs were terrible, one of the pools appeared to be boiling due to the huge number of bugs. As you approach Upper there are lots of little viewpoint/social trails all over. It looks otherworldly up here  and I really like the contrast of the vibrant reds in the rocks with the snow and blue water. Marmots and wildflowers in some areas. The last like had little "ice bergs," which was pretty cool! The first camping area had a toilet box, views, and water access, but not great spots, especially if you like something flat. There was a second marked area closer to Spider Gap that also had marked spots with a few flat tent sites, water access, and views, but no toilet box or good "bathroom" area. 

Spider Gap: We only went about 1/3 of the way up, stopping before we hit the snow fields, but we watch and talked to a few people who came down. The section we did was rocky/scree but not bad. There was a bit of a trail and in some places you find your own way. There was a water crossing but it was very doable when we were there. The stream had a bunch of ice bridges over it and looked pretty cool. People seemed about 50/50 on whether they used microspikes or not. Some had them and didn't bother because it was soft/slushy. A few did take some unintentional slides. We didn't see a lot of people over the time we were there, but most people came in over the pass. We could smell smoke at the Upper Lakes and see a bit of discoloration in the clouds at the top of the pass. Air quality everywhere else was fine on this trip. 

Stats: Holden to Lower Lyman was about 8.6 miles, 2560 ft elevation gain, and took us ~4.5 hours moving time with ~30-35 lb packs and about 3.75 hours moving on the way back down finishing at the camp which shortens the trail to about 7.8 miles. 

First time to the Entiats and it won't be the last!

Chelan>Lucerne>Holden>Hart Lake>Lyman Lake>Upper Lyman Lake & Cloudy Pass 6 days, 5 nights.  A few cutthroats caught, VERY little snow and not difficult to pass.  Surrounded by gorgeous peaks: Copper and Dumbell Peaks, Chiwawa and Fortress, Fernow and 7 Finger Jack, Bonanza and Martin Peaks. Eight bulgers I wanted to desperately climb/scramble, but this trip was an introduction for me.  A tremendously beautiful and difficult place of Washington to access.

Snow level (consistent snow) is at 5600-5800 and melting extremely fast.  Will be snow-free below 6K+ by the end of the week.  It seems like everything and everywhere in the state is melting out at an incredible rate and early. This is unfortunate as we'll all be inhaling smoke before long.  The Pomas fire in Chelan is in extremely difficult terrain and was one river valley outlet (Chiwawa River) away from where I was.  Smoke was not even noticeable surprisingly.  Might be because Pomas is burning prior wildfire (Minnow Ridge 22') terrain.

If you head out this way, contact Holden village for possible in or out reservations at their lodge and transportation to/from the Chelan boat dock.  This will save you 10.5 miles, one way.

The hike up to Upper Lyman reminded me very much of the core of the enchantments.  Alpine terrain, lots of terns, and mountains in your face.  This would be a good alternative for those losers of the Enchantment lotteries.  I enter every year (6 years running) to keep my options open and for ease of accessibility.

You know summer climate is present when you get hollered at by whistle pigs!  Marmots will echo you if you make the right pitch of "beeeep".  I had an intense conversation with one up at Cloudy pass.  He got the last word in.

Bugs where TERRIBLE at each camp I made, especially at "lower" Lyman Lake.  I'm so glad I brought tons of 100% DEET and head net for some relief.

It was a great trip and Mr Max, the mountain Pyreneese, was very much in his element!  I was just there to provide food and transportation.

September 9th
Great trail run route from Phelps creek trailhead to High bridge at Stehekin. 35 miles
My wife and I were dropped off at 6am at Phelps creek TH ran up thru spider meadow and spider Gap. With the Glacier gone and more scree and rock this was the only area slowing down the pace with 30 min, once over the  gap  you kinda pick your own line down  again on rock and scree then smooths out as you approach upper lyman lake. From here it is beautiful along the lyman lakes and a quick stop for blue berries. Up Cloudy pass had nice easy gains then dropping down using the PCT north connector trail to the PCT north. From here to High bridge it was great and perfect trail running conditions. We missed the 3:00 pm bus at High bridge by one hour but instantly got rides hitching it down to the bakery. Later then walking down to Stehekin landing for the evening, setting up tent at Lakeview campground, had dinner and drinks at the lodge, used the public hot showers and called it a day under the stars.  Next morning we hit the bakery again then later boarded the lady Express to downtown Chelan boat dock then took the public Link Transit bus back to our home town of Wenatchee.  This route is a perfect distance running route with nearly all of it smooth runnable miles.  We packed minimum both around 7 pounds using our running vests. I carried a ultra light  2 person Nemo tent, sleeping bag, air pad and pillow and snacks to get us to the bakery. 

The road to the trailhead wasn't as bad as we had seen in the past-a sedan or two were even at the trailhead! The hike into Spider Meadows was fairly easy and the views in the meadow were gorgeous! We saw two marmots pushing each other around on a boulder! We stopped for a water resupply before heading up to Larch Knob and over Spider Gap. There was water at Larch Knob so we probably didn't need to carry as much up that climb as we did. It was a climb but the textbook perfect views of a glacier-carved valley were spectacular! 

Up and over Spider Gap and the glacier wasn't bad. We skirted the first section as it had some crevasses. After that we simply followed the boot path across the rest of the glacier. We were happy to have our poles! One of our group only hikes with a staff and I expect he would have rather of had two poles at this point.

We hiked past Upper Lyman and it looked beautiful. It even looked like you could find some places to hammock. We continued onto Lower Lyman and camped there for the night. There were a couple other groups camping there as well that night but it was pretty quiet. We had a curious deer keep coming through camp but we just shewed them away. The bugs weren't really a problem either. The backcountry toilet was also appreciated. It was cold so with the fire ban it was an early night for us all.  

We continued down to Hart Lake the next day and found the small beach area to eat our lunch and take some very refreshing dips in the lake at! Hart Lake was quite pretty and there were a few people camped here as well. (Also! Another backcountry toilet!)

BEARS:

We continued onto Holman Village and camped at the ballfield there. This is where we saw all the bears! First, in the afternoon while part of our group was filtering water one bear wandered past them and into camp where the rest of us were resting and eating gorp. We made noise and "Hey,Bear!"-ed him to the other side of the river. Then later that evening, hanging around and chatting outside my tent a mama and baby bear showed up. We backed up, "Hey, Bear!"ed again and then moved my tent further away from the river up near the rest of the group in their hammocks. And the next morning, as we were headed to retrieve our bear bags from the bear locker across the field the mama and baby cross the field first, headed toward the privy area. We are usually pretty bear aware as a group but we were extra cautious making sure all scented items were placed in the bear locker. Hopefully everyone who camps near Holden is doing the same. I'm sure the village is an attraction for the bears.