Phelps Creek, Spider Gap, Lyman Lakes, Image Lake via Miners Ridge, Upper Suiattle River, Gamma Ridge, Triad Creek, Buck Creek Pass & Massie Lake — Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022

Day 1 - August 20th. Trinity Trailhead to Spider Meadow.  Parked at Trinity Trailhead and road-walked up to Phelps Creek Trailhead to start on the Phelps Creek Trail.  This trail is very well established / clear and very popular, despite the long rough road leading there.  First night we camped at Spider Meadow, along with quite a few other groups (maybe 10?).  Beautiful flowers, a few ripe blueberries by the creek, and moderate level of bugs.  Brief downpour in the evening.

Day 2 - August 21st. Spider Meadow to Upper Lyman Lake via Spider Gap. The trail up to Spider Glacier was clear and easy to follow, although steep on the main ascent.  We hiked directly up Spider Glacier around mid-day (no crampons/spikes needed), then crossed over to the rocks on the right (east ridge) for the final stretch to the pass.  On the north side of the pass there is a clear trail traversing the east slope -- we started that way but it didn't appear to be headed to Upper Lyman Lakes, so we backtracked a bit and scrambled down the rocks to the glacier and descended that way.  Beautiful basin and turquoise tarns, with wildflowers along the creek.  We camped at the obvious site (with a toilet) at Upper Lyman and had the place to ourselves.  Beautiful view!  Plenty of ripe blueberries around if looking carefully.

Day 3 - August 22nd. Upper Lyman Lake to Image Lake via Cloudy Pass, Suiattle Pass.  Scenic and easy trail the whole way.  Plenty of blueberries!  We camped at a nice secluded site in the lower / group campsite area.  We reached camp early, then day-hiked up to the saddle north of Image Lake and ridge-walked east along Miner's ridge to the unnamed peak at 6922 for a spectacular 360 view!  Bugs were an annoyance.  Swimming is permitted from the south-west beach, although the lake is somewhat mucky and not the best for swimming.  There is a sign mentioning recent bear activity in the area.  We did end up seeing the "cinnamon bear" the next morning meandering around the lake as we were on our way out.

Day 4 - August 23rd. Image Lake to Gamma Creek via the PCT.  We made a brief stop at the Miner's Ridge fire lookout and visited with the very friendly and helpful ranger there, then descended down to the PCT through beautifully mossy forest.  We crossed the Suiattle on the PCT, then turned onto the Upper Suiattle River trail at the junction at Vista Creek.  A few blow-downs coming down from Miner's ridge and on the PCT in this area.  We crossed Vista Creek via a log just upstream from the trail crossing.  The trail from Vista Creek to Gamma Creek was easy to follow and had some blow-downs and overgrowth but was for the most part easy to navigate and provides a tour through a magical old-growth forest.  Plenty of oval-leaf blueberry, red huckleberry, and wintergreen (also mountain huckleberry and salal but they were less ripe).

Day 5 - August 24th.  Gamma Creek to Gamma Hot Springs via Gamma Ridge Trail.  Gamma Creek was an easy log crossing (at trail crossing), but fording / rock hopping would be trivial as well.  The stretch of trail from Gamma Creek to the junction with Gamma Ridge was again relatively easy to follow but with attention needed to regain the trail after blow-downs.  There were more blow-downs along this section than previously but nothing extreme.  We found Gamma Ridge Trail to be in surprisingly good condition pretty much all the way up. From the flats to the meadows on the ridge many blow-downs had been cleared, though we still encountered some.  There is water at the creek crossing where the trail starts switchbacking steeply up.  The trail is very steep initially but eventually becomes easier.  Attention is needed for trail-finding in some places, but overall the trail is quite followable.  The meadows were full of flowers and the ridge provides spectacular views of Glacier Peak and surroundings.  When first emerging from the trees there is a campsite left (east) of the trail (at approx 48.15295, -121.04063) and there is a spring about 100 ft down the east slope from the campsite.  There is a stretch of the ridge near the top that has a handful of fir blow-downs across the "trail" but this is passable.  From the saddle below Gamma Peak we descended to the Hot Springs via a carefully selected route.  This is not an easy descent, and the route must be very carefully studied to avoid treacherous and impassable cliffs/gullies, but it is possible.  The most frequent travelers in these parts are clearly goats (as evidenced by the goat hair covering many tree branches along these trails), but not all goat trails make sense for humans!  We brought a rope, but did not end up using it, as we were comfortable scrambling along the steep dirt/rock banks of the creek. This should only be attempted by goats or those very comfortable with sketchy, steep scrambling and/or rappelling and with very good route finding skills.  We camped on a lumpy but barely passable (for 2 people) "flat" spot next to the springs.

Day 6 - August 25th.  Gamma Hot Springs to Suiattle River (at Crossing with Triad Creek Trail) via Gamma Ridge Trail, Upper Suiattle River Trail.  We retraced our route back up to Gamma Ridge, then dropped packs and made a quick ascent of Gamma Peak for some fantastic views!  We descended Gamma Ridge Trail back to the junction with the Upper Suiattle River Trail, then continued on towards Dusty Creek.  From the junction the trail quickly descends to the sandy banks of the Suiattle (a few blow-downs on the way down).  Once in the sand the tread is lost, but we were able to follow cairns towards Dusty Creek and then upstream for a ways until flags (orange tape on tree branches) marked a decent crossing point.  The cairn route may not be obvious, so careful attention is needed to follow it.  We ended up fording Dusty at the flagged crossing point at about 5pm (high water).  The current was strong, but doable for us.  Early in the morning the ford would probably be easier.  Once across we bushwhacked for a ways towards the ridge that rises from the conflux of Dusty and the Suiattle.  As we reached the start of the ridge we regained the tread of the trail, which was in surprisingly good condition.  The trail follows the spine of the ridge with steep slopes on either side, but is generally easy to follow.  We were able to follow the trail all the way to the junction with the Chocolate Creek Trail.  There were many blow-downs to navigate and the trail becomes quite overgrown, but remains followable with care.  The junction itself is located in a different spot than my map suggested and the trail from there down to the Suiattle also takes a different route, so maybe this was re-routed as some point.  In any case, there is a faint trail heading off towards Chocolate Creek (we didn't follow it), and there is a clear trail heading down to the Suiattle.  We camped at the obvious site right where the trail meets the sand.

Day 7 - August 26th.  Suiattle River to Massie Lake via Triad Creek Trail, Massie Lake High Route.  We woke at 5am to start looking for a crossing of the Suiattle, hoping the lower early morning flow would render some part of the river fordable if needed.  We hiked up-river for a ways, then tested out a possible ford spot.  The water was too swift and deep to ford safely.  After hiking up-river, we rejoiced in finding a large log crossing the river (at approx 48.13104, -121.00240).  The log made for an easy crossing (with care), and we were greeted by a loaded raspberry bush on the far bank.  We made our way back to the trail crossing, which was very clearly marked by cairns and balloons.  The tread of Triad Creek Trail is evident from the river bank, and in fact is followable all the way up to the creek crossing at the beginning of the meadows just below Buck Pass!  There were many blow-downs to navigate, some that were big and awkward, but altogether the trail was largely followable and tread was mostly evident.  There were also several (green) flags along the trial to help with trail finding in places where it was less clear.  Triad Creek was beautiful!  We did lose the trail in the meadows and didn't regain it until the upper stretches of the meadow just below the pass.  Lots of blueberries and huckleberries near the pass.  In the afternoon we planned to hike the Massie Lake High Route, starting from just past the crossing of Buck Creek.  We started on an apparent use trail which lead to a campsite, but then fizzled out.  There may have been a different small trail to follow up to the traverse that we didn't see, but we ended up bushwhacking through steep and thick brush all the way up until the slope became more gradual.  We eventually encountered a small but clear trail through the trees, which we followed into the meadow-bench.  There were several campsites around there.  We continued following the trail as best we could, but we lost it many times, and ultimately ended up on what seemed like a network of goat trails that forked and converged endlessly.  Nevertheless, these proved sufficient as a means to complete the traverse.  We eventually gained the ridge and traversed through lush larches and descended the subsequent ridge to encounter a more established trail leading to Massie Lake.  The lake was beautifully blue, deep, and surprisingly not too cold (great swim!).  The larches and surrounding steep cliffs / snow / valley below make for a magical camp.  There were 3 apparent sites around the lake.

Day 8 - August 27th.  Massie Lake to Trinity Trailhead via Massie Lake High Route and Chiwawa River Trail.  The descent from Massie Lake to the Chiwawa River Trail was steep but much easier to follow and more clear than than the traverse from the prior afternoon (although still a primitive trail).  There also were occasional blazes to guide the way.  The trail reaches the Chiwawa river at a point where crossing was trivial via rock hopping and logs.  We didn't regain the trail on the far side of the river, but instead just hiked up the short distance to find the Chiwawa River Trail, and from there cruised back to complete the loop at Trinity Trailhead.