Starting July 15th, I got out on my first real high country pack trip of the year.
I took 4 of my Packgoats: Grant, Albert, Bryce and Benson on a 6 day pack trip in the Chelan Sawtooth area. Since this area is east of Lake Chelan the snow tends to melt our a little earlier than along the main Cascade crest. There were still a few snow patches in higher areas, but the trails were all snow free.
We started from the Crater creek TH. Access is from Gold creek road, about 15 miles south of Twisp.
The first day, Wednesday, we hiked to Upper Eagle lake and camped there.
Along the way, at the junction to the old Lower Eagle lake trail I noticed that a large downed tree which was in the junction and had been de-limbed and cut so it no longer blocked the old Lower Eagle lake trail.
I went about 0.2 miles on the old lower Eagle Lakes trail before encountering downed trees which the goats probably could not get over. It looked like hikers had been going over them. I did not see a good way around them for the goats but did not explore a lot. This trail has seen some logging out and looks like it’s being used. I decided to turn around and head back to the main Eagle lakes TH and on up toward Upper Eagle lake.
Thursday, we hiked over Horsehead pass to Boiling lake, then toward Hoodoo pass. At Boiling lake, the trail to Hoodoo pass is now signed and seems more used than in the past.
Evergreen Mountain Bike alliance has put up trail signs at most of the trail junctions in the area.
A little south of Hoodoo pass we headed off trail up to the ridge line to the west. There were snow cornices along the ridge line, but there was one place where the snow had melted out. From the ridge top we took the x-country high route above Dry lake, down the ridgeline into Prince creek valley and back up to Bernice lake to the north. This is mostly high meadow country.
Friday, we took the trail down from Bernice lake to the Chelan Summit trail then northwest to above Surprise lake and around to the lakes northeast of Finney Peak.
The Chelan Summit trail had a few blowdowns, only one require a walk around detour. Overall, this is a good trail. The trail crossed the base of several meadows between Prince creek trail junction and the Surprise lake trail junction.
Saturday, we came back along the Chelan Summit trail and camped in a meadow southeast of Dry lake.
Sunday we hiked southeast along the Chelan Summit trail to Angel Staircase, up over Angel Staircase, and down to camp at a pond near Cooney lake.
About 0.7 miles south of the Chelan Summit / Boiling lake / Cub Lake trails junction there is a horse outfitter trail which Y’s off to the left / uphill. Coming from the north, the horse outfitter trail is heavily used enough that it’s not obvious which is the Chelan Summit trail. I did not see any signs. I followed it up and soon passed the outfitter’s large tent then the trail seemed to end at the outfitters horse highline area which was at the edge of the meadows.
This is a well-built trail with water bars and bridges at a couple small stream crossings.
I saw what looked like motorcycle tracks heading across the meadow, apparently heading for the saddle southwest of Boiling lake.
From near the outfitter highline area, I headed south across the meadows taking the high route toward the Old Maid Mtn saddle. Once past the initial meadows I found a faint boot path to follow. Part of this section was pretty buggy.
Angel Staircase was the high point of the trip at 8,000 ft. elevation. It was warm Sunday afternoon, so we took several rest breaks going up Angel’s Staircase.
The Cooney lake trail, connecting Angel Staircase with Cooney lake was snow free and looks a lot more used than the last time I remember.
Monday we hike out the Martin Creek trail back to the TH.
We were generally hiking at between 5,500 ft. and 7,500 ft. elevation and traveling 6 to 9 miles per day.
The main trails from Crater Creek TH are open to motorcycles and generally well maintained. I saw only one motorcyclist, and that was on the Martin creek trail the last day.
I saw a few hikers and mountain bikers on the trails but saw no one from Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon. So, Social Distancing was no problem!
There were mosquitos buzzing around at times, but insect repellent did a pretty good job of keeping them off.
There were quite a few nice wildflowers, more in some areas than others.
It was a really beautiful, enjoyable, and peaceful hike.
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