Day 1 Rode the Express from Fields Point to Stehekin.  Paid $10 for the red bus to High Bridge. Hiked from High Bridge to Spruce Creek.  Met a friend catching the bus back to Stehekin and they just got back from climbing Dark Peak.  He said the bugs were about a 7 out of 10 at their camp but were held at bay with the campfire.
The trail was in good shape and the wild blueberries were ripe and plentiful.  Quite a few section hikers and others coming from Stehekin.   Met a couple of groups coming from Holden.  The PTC part of this trip was fairly busy.  About ten passed us coming from Stehekin and about fifteen were coming from Holden (on the PTC section of this trip).  Mice an issue at the campsites by the river (2 campsites).  One of our group stayed down there and had a mouse run over his bivy a couple of times during the night.  There are about 4 tent sites upper above the river (no mice issues up there).  I had a head net so no issue with bugs and the others used bug juice and had no problems.

Day 2 Hiked from Spruce Creek to Cloudy Pass.  Long hike with lots of elevation gain.  This part of the trail is also in great shape. There are two more campsites not listed on any maps that I could find after Glacier creek on the west side of the river and one more between Spruce and Glacier.
The high meadow below Sitting Bull Mtn was absolutely stunning with over 20 waterfalls and the Scouts were in awe! The hike up to Cloudy Pass just about killed them.  There are resident deer at Cloudy pass that made a continual appearance but were not an annoyance.  The pass lived up to its name. Misty rain started at about 5 am and continued throughout the next day.  There is water about ¼ mile below Cloudy pass on the east side of the pass just down the trail and campsites right next to it (this is before you get to the Lyman Lake campsite).  It would be worth hike the extra ¼ mile down if the wind is an issue.

Day 3 Hiked from Cloudy Pass to Lyman Lake.  The new bridge across railroad creek is in, thanks to whoever built it.  It is well anchored and has a cable railing.  We hiked to upper Lyman for lunch but with the rain and low clouds there wasn’t much to see, and everyone was cold and wet, so we headed back without heading up to the snowfield.  The trail from Lyman to Hart lake was like walking in a jungle.  The foliage was so thick you could not see your feet and it went on for over two miles.  The only breaks were when we broke out on the talus.  The rain had stopped but the foliage was so wet that every step was like dumping a bucket of water into your shoes There is a campsite about ¾ mile above Hart lake in the trees (I didn’t see a toilet).  I would suggest continuing to the one just above Hart lake (on the west side of the lake) it has many sites and a toilet with a creek right next to it.  The stream crossing above Hart lake was blown out and the water was too fast to make a wet crossing.  We moved a log and rocks to make something work but I doubt it will hold up much longer.  The rain started again about 1:00 am and it was bucketing for about an hour.  We woke up to sunny skies.

Day 4 Fast hike down to Holden, I told the boys if they wanted lunch and ice cream, they had to make it in time, so they did.  The trail was clear and well maintained.  Be careful in Holden, there are a few chipmunks that know who you are and as soon as you put your pack down, they are on it.  There is no real safe place to put your pack and one rascal ate right through my hip belt pocket zipper rendering it useless.  Thursdays are a “light lunch” day so keep that in mind if you are looking for something substantial.  Lunch was $10 each (even though it was “light”).  The Lentil soup was delicious.  The ice cream is a bargain at a $1 per scoop and their single scoops are big. We rode the afternoon bus down to Lucerne and hiked over to refrigerator bay campsite, had a snack, dropped packs and hiked up to Domke Lake.  That trail is in great shape even though it doesn’t seem to get much use.  I think the F/S should open it up to camping again. The area is really come back after the old fire.

Day 5 Took the express back to Fields point.

The elevation gain from this direction is greater, but I think the PTC section is kind of boring for the 15 miles outside of Stehekin.  You are mostly in the trees.  The real views are from Sitting Bull Meadow to Holden.  I would rather have more elevation gain and views at the end of the trip instead of quick views and then fifteen miles of tree walking.

As a side note:
The fishing about 10 miles from Stehekin looked awesome! Agnes creek flattens out for about a mile or two into some of the fishiest creek water I have seen.  I didn’t have time or my flyrod.  It might be worth a trip up there just to fish for a few days.

Back in late 2018 I contact MyOwnFrontier(Joey) about doing the Redoubt High Route and he was super interested. Fast forward to game time the weather forecast for the west side was horrific but it was decent on the eastern crest near GPW. So we went with one of the back up routes I had planned.

June 24-30

The trips original route was a 7 day trip.

Camp 1 : Lyman Lakes

Camp 2 : Bannock Lakes

Camp 3 : Canyon Lake

Camp 4 : Image Lake

Camp 5 : Buck Creek Pass

Camp 6 : Napeequa River Valley

Day 7 : OUT over Boulder Pass

Due to weather we had to modify the route and exit a day early. Going into the trip the weather other than Wednesday looked good. But after Wednesday the weather turned on us fast.

Reality we ended up doing...

Camp 1 : Lyman Lakes

Camp 2 : Bannock Lakes

Camp 3 : Forest below Totem Pass (thunder storm sent us on a retreat)

Camp 4 : Miners Cabin (I forgot to mention it was cold and snowing at image lake)

Camp 5 : Buck Creek

Day 6 : Hike OUT

The road to Phelps Creek TH is still garbage. It was littered with car parts on the way up which I found humorous.

Spider Gap Conditions are similar to that of late to mid july.

To Lyman lake, cloudy pass then bannock lakes. Got to camp after basin along PCT N where the trees form a 'V' or 'Arrow" pointing toward the unnamed ridge/pass. The climb up was tough.

Bannock Lakes still have lots of snow and hard to find a flat spot to camp. Easiest and safest way down from "Character Ridge" (what we called it as it was definitely a character building type climb, especially with a 7 day pack) was to go under Saddle Bow's little off branch knob and start zig zagging down the snow on the rocks. There were some moats but not too many. There are probably LOTS now though.

Favorite part of the trip was Lower Bannock Lakes to Ross Pass/Hanging Garden. The amount of run off and snow made it kind of challenging and a white-knuckler at times.

As we were approaching Totem Pass a crazy thunder storm rolled in and sent us sprinting down the mountain to the trees. It was also hard to find a flat spot to camp but we found it. At this point with all the wet heather slopes we had to work through we've all fallen down / slipped close to a 100 times.

The next day we got over totem pass in the fog and relaxed at canyon lake for a bit. There was lots of snow on the creek below Totem Pass so we just followed that down to the flat part where we saw a trail that is slowly starting to fade or form in order to go over to the lake. After that it rained hard on and off for basically the rest of the trip. It snowed at Image lake and our camp at Miners cabin. Looked like it stuck on the ridges above image lake but didn't stick at miners cabin. Buck Creek Pass looked like an amazing spot but storms chased us down Buck Creek where we out ran them and were finally able to have a fire and dry all our crap out.

Amazing trip with MyOwnFrontier (Joey) and Aaron. We are already planning future trips together. Unforgettable experience in some remote areas!

FOUND: one (almost brand-new) Salewa mountaineering boot, sitting on a log at the south end of Spider Meadows. If you can identity the model and size, we'll get it back to you!

Overnighted at the high camp at Spider Glacier - fantastic views overlooking both Spider Meadows and Phelps Basin!  We found road and trail conditions pretty much as advertised in Stuke's latest trip report - lots of downed trees and creek crossings, but only one deep enough to merit taking off the boots and wading.  No snow worth mentioning until we reached the camp at the base of the Glacier, but there were still plenty of dry sites.  The meadow is not yet in bloom (give it a few weeks yet), but still quite beautiful amidst snowy peaks and waterfalls aplenty!

We also scrambled up to the top of Spider Gap to take a look at the other side, but didn't descend all the way to Upper Lyman Lake.  Pretty consistent snow above 6000ft, but we managed well enough with microspikes and trekking poles.  Campsites around the lake look to be melting out, but we elected to camp on the south side of the gap because weather conditions were considerably more pleasant =)

This was a two night trip doing the loop counter clockwise starting from Phelps Creek trailhead, with night 1 at the top end of Spider Meadow and night 2 just North of Buck Creek Pass at the Flower Dome trail junction. Also did a side trip to scramble up Cloudy Peak from Cloudy Pass. Great weather, fairly warm at night and still some larches and other fall colors to see, especially in the lower valleys.

Trails conditions - all trails were in good shape with an occasional downed tree (mostly between Suiattle Pass and Buck Creek Pass), light brush and occasional short mud and/or icy spots in some higher areas.

The re-routed trail around Lower Lyman Lake was well marked with signs and survey tape across the trail at both ends and frequently along the route. While the re-route is a little brushy in one or two spots and gets lost a few times as it descends the last slope to Lower Lyman, it's still pretty easy to follow. The other re-routed trail from below Cloudy Pass to Suiattle Pass is also easy to follow and well marked with tape and signs at both ends.

Snow - Spider Glacier was surprisingly gentle in slope but quite icy in the morning. The North side of Spider Gap actually had steeper snow - there are at least three snowfields N of the Gap where I almost put on microspikes, but they were short and not too bad if you're careful with good technique. All of the snow patches on the N side of the Gap could be bypassed on the talus on the right, though it would take a little longer.

While I carried microspikes I never put them on, although people less comfortably on snow will likely want them. Other than spider gap area, there was no other snow on the loop, other than some icy (frozen) bits of trail near the passes.

Water - there's water available at least every half hour or so along the entire loop with the exception of the stretch between Cloudy Pass to about a mile West of Suiattle Pass. In particular, there are high water sources at the foot of Spider Glacier, half way down the N side of Spider Gap, a quarter mile East of Cloudy Pass, a half mile E of Middle Ridge, at Small Creek (N or Buck Creek Pass) and about 2/3 mile down the S side of Buck Creek Pass (upper Buck Creek).

First. Larches. 

Second. I ate more huckleberries that I picked than I did the food I brought with me. 

This is a great overnight backpacking loop! Going counterclockwise, there are a bunch of campsites before you get to Spider Meadow so we decided to night hike the first 3 miles so we could get an early start the next morning. Once you get between Spider Meadow and Spider Glacier make sure to stay on the trail and not accidentally follow deer trails somewhere you are not supposed to go.

After you finish the ascent to the base if Spider Glacier, there is no longer a marked trail. Hike on the glacier to the top of Spider Gap and then back down the glacier on the other side of the gap.We started to follow a trail that mislead us to too far right of the glacier and we ended up having to scramble down to the valley bellow. I do not recommend. I would recommend, however, at least having trekking poles with you. If you aren't used to hiking on snow/ice then bring some extra traction for your shoes.  

Once you are next to Upper Lyman Lake, follow it until you find a very large cairn that marks the continuation of the actual trail. From that point the trail is very clearly marked and well maintained for the rest of the loop. 

Water was readily available along the trail and easily accessible. All stream crossings are doable via rock hopping and without wet feet. 

One fire closure rerouted the trail out of the bottom of the valley between Cloudy Pass and Suiattle Pass but rather had us take a shortcut along a ridge above the valley. 

It was cloudy during the day obscuring our view of Glacier Peak which would otherwise be watching over you during your hike in this area.

From Buck Creek Pass to the road has a ton of large campsites protected from the elements (sadly we didn't camp here).