Purple Pass — Monday, Jul. 18, 2011

Central Cascades > Entiat Mountains/Lake Chelan

This was intended to be a multiday loop backpacking trip from Stehekin up the Purple Creek trail to the Chelan Summit trail, southeast on the Summit trail to Prince Creek, then back to Lake Chelan on the Prince Creek trail and on to Stehekin again on the Chelan Lakeshore trail. When we reached the summit of the Purple Creek trail at Purple Pass, we found the Summit trail still covered with 2-3 feet of snow we were unprepared to traverse to the Prince Creek trail, so we overnighted at the summit and returned to Stehekin directly on the Purple Creek trail the next day (July 19). So, this report covers specifically the Purple Creek trail. Based on what we could see from Purple Pass and experienced between Purple Pass and Juanita Lake, I suspect the Summit trail will be passable without extensive snow exposure in 2-3 weeks: roughly mid-August. The Purple Creek trail is in pretty good shape from end-to-end. The first two miles or so from Stehekin has been cleared of blowdowns. From roughly mile 2 to mile 5, the trail is overgrown and there are a half dozen or so blowdowns. Only two or three of the blowdowns are more than obnoxious, and all are very passable. Past about mile 5, you're above most of the heavy underbrush growth, so the trail isn't overgrown anymore and the few remaining blowdowns are easily stepped over. We encountered a few small (10-15 feet) snow patches near Purple Pass - only one was particularly scarey. All are likely to be gone in a week or so. We didn't run into any bugs on the trail, but they were plentiful in the Juanita Lake basin and at the pass in the late evening.