Started at the Carne Mountain trail and completed the Carne Mountain High Route in a day.
Note: the road to the Phelps Creek TH is very rough, but it's passable. For reference I drive a 2005 Toyota Carolla and if you drive slow it's no big deal.
The trail to Carne Mountain is well defined and has recently been used by stock. It's dusty but beautiful. Biting flies and mosquitos are thick right now, but it's worth it.
After Carne MTN the high route basically side-hills the Entiat Peaks. It's pretty well defined and easy to follow in most parts. In a few places, particularly the more lush meadows and the loose boulderfields, the trail disappears so some routefinding experience is good here.
The final pass before Ice Lakes is very loose shale with no trail and additionally at the pass there is a steep snowfield where the trail descends and connects with the Leroy Basin trail. I was running parts of the trail so I was wearing running shoes, therefore, even though I had an ice axe, I decided not to descend the snowfield but to climb the ridge and then descend the ridge line (class 3 scramble) down to the pass above Ice Lakes. Without spikes this is probably your best route until that snowfield melts out.
Maude has a lot of snow still and traction is probably the best idea to ascend.
I descended to Leroy Basin which is a steep unmaintained trail but it's easy to follow. The trail from the basin to Phelps Creek Trail is steep and has a few small blow downs, but it's not an issue.
Easy stroll out Phelps Creek. My GPS had me at 20 miles in 9.5 hours. Beautiful day!
Comments
Jake.Thomas on Carne Mountain, Carne Mountain High Route, Ice Creek - Ice Lakes, Mount Maude, Leroy Creek High Route, Phelps Creek
Is there any water available along the high route? If I try backpacking to the lakes, is there anywhere to stop before the trail gets really difficult that has water available to filter?
Posted by:
Jake.Thomas on Aug 08, 2017 01:29 PM
Pen C on Carne Mountain, Carne Mountain High Route, Ice Creek - Ice Lakes, Mount Maude, Leroy Creek High Route, Phelps Creek
There is plenty of water along the route, but yes, the very last basin has a small spring/snowmelt creek at the bottom before that last pass.
That approach to the lakes from the high route would be a spectacular couple days!!
Posted by:
Pen C on Aug 08, 2017 02:25 PM
bertman4 on Carne Mountain, Carne Mountain High Route, Ice Creek - Ice Lakes, Mount Maude, Leroy Creek High Route, Phelps Creek
Thanks for the trip report. It helped me out. I did this as an overnight on Oct 13-14, staying at Ice Lake.
Posted by:
bertman4 on Oct 16, 2018 10:25 PM