Cow Creek Meadows, Larch Lakes (Entiat) — Wednesday, Jul. 6, 2022

WTA’s Lost Trails Found Pro Crew spent a week on the Cow Creek Meadow trail and the Larch Lakes trail from 7/6/22-7/13/22. Both trails branch off the Entiat River Trail after Myrtle Lake. Our goals were to perform logout as a first priority, then brush and tread.

There are 2 stream crossings before a junction, where the trail to Cow Creek Meadows is the left fork, and the trail to Larch Lakes is the right fork, but the water level seemed to be decreasing at this point in the season - we were able to cross using logs on the way in, and opted to wade across in shin deep water on the way out.

The trail to Cow Creek Meadows is now logged out for the season, and we made an effort to widen the tread in several sections. There was plenty of snow-free camping at Cow Creek Meadows, although where the trail continues past the meadow via the Garland Peak Trail and climbs in elevation was still consistently snow covered. There is a final creek crossing about a quarter mile from the meadow, which we could easily ford at shin level.

The trail to Larch Lakes is also free of logs, with efforts to brush and re-tread the trail as well. There are some small snow patches at the top of the trail before reaching the first lake, and some more consistent but still navigable snow right before the second lake about a quarter mile from the first lake. We camped on the closest side of the second lake, where we had a great view of the lake and saw larches abound. On the far side of the lake there is a larger camping area as well.

It was constistently buggy in all areas we camped and worked during our trip, and our bug spray and bug nets came in handy. Wildflowers are starting to bloom in the lower parts of the Entiat valley approaching the Cow Creek and Larch Lakes junction.