Boundary Trail - Pasayten, Horseshoe Basin & Cathedral Pass Loop — Sunday, Jun. 28, 2009

North Cascades > Pasayten

Thanks to WTA's Hike of the Week selection, we decided to head to Horseshoe Basin and onwards for a 5 night backpacking trip. What a great suggestion! It took us 7.5 hours to get to Iron Gate trailhead from Seattle, but that included a coffee stop, a leisurely lunch stop, and 97Alt instead of 97, so it could be shortened. Starting at 3:30, we hiked in 5+ miles to our first campsite at Sunny Pass, where we found a little stream from a snowbank for water and nice views of the basin. It was sunny, but cool and windy. We saw one other couple camped near us (but out of sight of our tent.) In the morning, many of the little springs in Horsehoe Basin had iced over. We hiked through cool sun to Louden Lake, dropped the packs, and headed up Mt Armstrong to the Canadian border, a fun side trip with good views and a chance to illegally cross into Canada and back. Then back to the packs, sigh. We hiked past nice campsites in flat areas with streams before and after Teapot Dome, and ended up camping on a ridge west of Teapot Dome, though the small spring we used for water had dried up considerably on our way back. On Day 3 we headed past Schelite Pass, the interesting old tungsten mine, Apex Pass (where we had lunch), and Cathedral Pass to Upper Cathedral Lake basin. The lake itself was sparkling and pretty, hemmed in by the dramatic cliff walls of Ampitheater Mountain. Looks like lots of good rock climbing here for those so inclined, and we heard there's a faster way to get to this area from Canada. We camped close to an upper tarn, out of the way of the trail and other people, with great views to the west. It felt like we were the only people there, although in walking around we saw 3 other tents, and there were probably more. On Day 4, we headed back, dropping our packs and scrambling up Wolframite Mountain on the way. More great views, including downed trees along the US/Canada border. We camped at Scheelite Pass, near a little pond south of the trail. Day 5-- more heading back. Although we'd had sunny and clear weather for the whole trip, Day 5 was the first day it felt really warm. It was nice. We camped that night ina hidden site on the flanks of Armstrong in Horseshoe Basin. A few hours after we arrived, the mosquitoes found us and made us a little miserable-- but one night of bugs out of 5 is not that bad, this time of year! On Day 6 we headed out. The hike thought the 2006 burn zone is very interesting. In some areas there is lots of green underbrush coming back, and in other areas it still looks like a bit of a moonscape. Throughout the trip, the hiking was great-- the trail was amazingly flat (relative to others we have hiked in this area), with any altitude gains and losses at a moderate angle. There were probably only about 10 switchbacks in the entire 27 miles we hiked. The trees were fairly wide apart, so even when the trail was below the treeline, there were lots of nice peek-a-boo views. We encountered no snow at all on the trail. There were lots of anemones, lupin, indian paintbrush, and shooting stars in bloom, as well as other flowers we don't know. We saw a bear outside of Loomis on our drive in, but were surprised to see no large animals on the hike, just one marmot and lots of ground squirrels. We had no trouble finding water, although later in the season I suspect many of the springs we found may dry up. There are many established campsites near the permanent water sources, and also a little off the beaten track if you look for them. We had no bugs except on the last night, when the wind died down, the air warmed up, and we were swarmed with mosquitoes. We thought we would see tons of people hiking in as we hiked out on July 3, but we only saw a few. I wonder whether this area is always so empty. All in all, an excellent trip! We want to go back and explore more of the area.