Cathedral Pass Loop — Monday, Sep. 15, 2025

Day 1: Left Seattle at 5 AM to get to the Thirtymile Trailhead by around noon.  Hiked for 6 hours to get to a somewhat swampy and chilly Tungsten Creek campsite after the 1200 ft elevation push just past the loop junction for a total of about 12 miles.   SO MANY varieties of mushrooms everywhere!  I'm no mycologist but I'm guessing there are likely undiscovered species around here.

Day 2 (Sept 16): I stopped at Tungsten Mine for lunch and exploration and then up over Apex Pass.  The first glimpse of Cathedral Peak made me gasp!  Set up camp at Upper Cathedral Lake just as the wind started picking up. Some larch are just starting to turn yellow.  I set up my tent close between two large boulders hoping to help with the wind gusts, turns out it didn't help...  Cloudless day and beautiful red sunset light on Amplitheater and Cathederal, but the wind gusts kept picking up...  That night the roaring wind gusts kept me up most of the night.  At one point a powerful gust blasted my tent and pulled a few of my tent stakes out of the ground.  I had to scramble in the dark to get everything re-secured.  The wind took my Gossamer Gear thinlight pad, it's likely in Canada by now.  Right around 4 AM it suddenly becomes calm and quiet like someone turned off the wind machine and I finally get some sleep. In all honesty, as alarming and wild as this was, sometimes it's good to have nature remind you who's the boss.  

Day 3 (Sept 17):  I day hiked up Amplitheater while I seriously considered moving down to the lower Catheral lake to try to avoid a repeat of the previous night.  The only bonus of the wind was that it pushed all of the hazy fire smoke away.  The views from Amplitheater were incredible!  I could see Mt Baker, The big North Cascade peaks, Glacier Peak...wait, is that Mount Rainier?!!  Plus so many visible ranges in Canada.   I planned to climb Remmel as I continued the loop, but seeing it so steep and imposing from Amplitheater, I had very serious doubts.  Returning to camp I decided to stick it out another night at the upper lake and am so glad I did; it was a perfectly clear and windless evening with another 5-star sunset against the rock faces of Cathedral and Amplitheater.  This place is magical.  I can only imagine what it's like when the larch trees max out.

Day 4 (Sept 18): Another perfectly sunny day.  I packed up and reluctantly left paradise to reach Four Point Lake Trailhead (start of the climb for Remmel) passing through some very burned out sections around Remmel Creek.  Arrived with plenty of time before dark, camping at the rather unpleasant site just across the creek.  It was cold and damp there, with very little sun reaching the site all day and a number of snags nearby looking like they would to fall over if you gently blew on them.  A definite downgrade coming from Upper Cathedral Lake.   

Day 5 (Sept 19):  Climbing up Remmel, I met two very athletic young hikers with fancy GoPro rigs coming down.  Despite appearances from a distance, it's a very doable hike!  View was hazier than at Amplitheater, but TOTALLY worth it.   I was shocked to find I had cell phone reception (AT&T) from the top, so far from civilization.  I called my wife and sent her a selfie.   The descent is harder than the climb, according to my sore 57 year-old knees.  I used sticks and wore knee braces and toe sock liners for the descent and I'm so glad I did...you might be too.  I was exhausted when I finally got back to camp aound 4:15 but refused to stay there another night so I packed up in a record 18 minutes and headed down the Chewuch 4 more miles back to the junction with Tungsten Creek, arriving at the big horse camp with 45 minutes before sunset. Nobody else around except for an owl.  A long day but this gave me just 8.5 miles to reach my car for my hike out.  Total of 13 miles and 3700' elevation climb and around 4000' descent.  Bring ibuprofen.  

Day 6 (Sept 20):  There are very few water stops between the Tungsten Creek junction and the Thirtymile trailhead, and it's exposed for miles due to the terrible 2001 fire, so be prepared.  Be sure to stop at the Thirtymile Fire Memorial a few miles down the road from the trailhead.  I stopped there before and after my hike and it gave me a deeper perspective of the incredible destructive power of forest fires (and the stupidity and horrible consequences of abandoning a burning campfire*) and made me ponder the painfully slow-but-sure recovery of the forests from all of the many burns I passed through over these 6 days.  First comes the fireweed, then the shrubs, then the new little trees finally start breaking through.  With time they will become again the towering sentinals we all love.  Most of us will be long gone before the Chewuch looks anything like it did before the fire, but one day it will, and that fills me with hope.  The Pasayten Wilderness is a very special place, please treat it with the upmost care and respect!  

During my 6 days on the trail, I saw 5 hikers, 4 grouse, 3 hunters (2 on horses) 1 deer and 0 bear.  Total distance was around 58 miles.

*Google Thirtymile Fire.