We backpacked this beautiful area of mountains and tundra for 4 days/3 nights. Our original plan was to hike a loop from Iron Gate trailhead to Horseshoe Basin to the Windy Peak Trail then to the Clutch Creek trail then out. But, after a very helpful discussion with Cole, a ranger at the Tonasket office, we decided that since the Clutch Creek trail hadn't been maintained in the past few years, with a chance of the blowdowns being impassable, the loop wasn't hikeable on our schedule. So we hiked to Louden Lake, set up a base camp and did day hikes from there.

To drive the road to Iron Gate Trailhead, you'll need a high clearance 4WD vehicle. On the trail there were some over/under blowdowns but nothing too terribly bad. Some we climbed over, or under, or we could find a path around. By the time we returned, much of the downfall near the beginning of trail had been cleared (thanks!). However, the turn-off to the Clutch Creek trail was completely obsured by a huge blowdown pile--so who knows what condition the rest of that trail was in?

The trail is easy to follow. As other trail reports note, it goes through a large burn. This area is recovering quickly now, and the willows and wildflowers were very pretty here, with lots of sign of moose grazing and nugget-dropping. This early in the season there were lots of streams along the trail up to Sunny Pass and beyond, so water seemed plentiful. Louden Lake is a beautiful place to camp. The surrounding meadows had enough room for several parties of campers (we were alone on nights 1-2, but one of three groups on night 3) with lots of separation between groups. Noise really carries here; please keep that in mind as you chatter. There were a good number of mosquitoes, and that got sort of irritating on the first day/evening, but a frosty night seemed to kill most of them.

From the meadows, we climbed Armstrong Peak by meandering up its open slopes to the boundary with Canada and incredible views. Note that from camp you cannot see the top. There are several false summits to scale before you get up there. We also walked along the Boundary Trail toward Teapot Dome. There is a very long, very recent (2023) burn to traverse, and we grew hot, unexcited, and, knowing we'd run out of time before reaching Teapot, we turned around early. After a beautiful, frosty, starlit night, we hiked the Goodenough Trail and scaled Goodenough Peak. Back to a rainy evening, then the next day we hiked out. While we up there, the clear days seemed to build to late afternoon thunderstorms and rain (and some hail.)

We heard wolves, plus saw lots of their scat and some tracks. Also, there were big piles of bear poop, and lots of moose nuggets.  Animals we saw: bighorn sheep, golden eagles, a gazillion ground squirrels, deer, hares. Birds singing everywhere and wildflowers galore: paintbrush, lupine, columbine, fireweed, too many to name. It was was awe-inspiring to be there.

The Pasayten Wilderness is breathtakingly beautiful. I definitely plan to return and look forward to climbing Windy Peak or approaching the wilderness from one of the many different trailheads. My friends agree.

I have a mixed reaction to this trail: the destination is wild and beautiful, but you need to put in a lot of miles through burn area to get there. After a short section of forest at the beginning you enter the burn and it doesn't really end until shortly before Sunny Pass. After that, it's great. It would be much more enjoyable when flowers are blooming in the burn area.

Iron Gate TH was busy with hunters on a Friday in late September - I think we were the only dayhikers on the trail. The road in is rough and rocky. High clearance is a must. Took about 25 minutes from the Toats-Coulee turnoff.

There is a good stream running about 1/4 mile before Sunny Pass and several other small streams are flowing between Sunny Pass and Horseshoe Pass, including a sizable one at Horseshoe Pass itself.

A little too early for fall color. The larches in Horseshoe Basin were just starting to turn bright green and aspens are still thinking about it.

We backpacked past Horseshoe Basin to Louden Lake 7/11/2024-7/14/2024. Beautiful, incredible, remote, quiet area that is not seeing crowds of hikers. Found solitude here!

The last 5 miles of dirt road are rough but slow and steady does it - if you are experienced and comfortable driving uneven, rocky roads in a sedan then you will likely make it. The parking lot had a clean toilet and the flies were biting relentlessly here while we loaded up our gear to head out. We spent 2 nights at Louden Lake and 1 night on a rocky perch above Sunny Pass.

The first 4.5 miles of trail are very exposed and hot due to the 2006 fire. Beautiful, new and healthy forest growing but still too young to offer shade. Highly recommend hiking through here early in the morning. Thankfully the grade is gradual, no steep areas to climb. At the time of our hike the wildflowers were spectacular and so fragrant!

There was a good water source at mile 1.5 and again at mile 4 and beyond. Lots of springs and small streams past mile 4 but some could dry up later in the summer, so fill up when you can. Before Sunny Pass everything becomes lush and you leave the burn area behind. Prairie dogs everywhere! There are hidden campsites left and right of trail at Sunny Pass and can be found if you just head towards clusters of trees. There are no obvious trails to campsites because this area is so lightly traveled but if you just head towards clusters of trees you are likely to find an established campsite. Approx 1/4 mile past the Albert Camp Trail turnoff there is a strong flowing spring - this was our water source on night 3. But for nights 1 & 2 we went past Horseshoe Pass and followed Boundary Trail to Louden Lake which was “lake-like” because it was full of water - however it is very shallow, only 1-2 feet deep and will likely become more like a drying tarn in a few weeks. We found a wonderful campsite here, we had a breeze on evening and night 1, which made the bugs bearable. Day 2 and night 2 were another story, the mosquitos and flies were relentless as the air became still. We treated our clothes prior to our trip, applied picardin lotion and brought our head-nets and escaped with minimal bites.

We highly recommend day-hiking up to Armstrong Mountain, which has no visible trail, but the elevation is gentle enough and due to the lack of trees you can “find your own adventure”. Just head straight up and slightly to the right from Louden Lake and after gaining approximately 1000 feet of elevation you will find 2 monuments that mark the U.S./Canada border. You will also see the border line, cleared of trees, left and right of the monuments and below you. Beautiful views! We returned to Louden Lake via west side of Snehumption Gap until we ran into Boundary Trail again.

Two other backpackers recommended Louden Lake over Smith Lake so we did not explore around Smith.

For day and night 3 we headed back to Sunny Pass and found an established campsite east of the pass, just off Albert Camp Trail. This campsite, perched on a rocky outcrop had a good breeze and offered some relief from the bugs. From here we day-hiked up Albert Camp Trail in the late afternoon, up the switchbacks, and near the end of the switchbacks we followed the ridge north to the top of Horseshoe Mountain. Beautiful views from the top here and some dramatic drop offs and views into green, lush basins below. Highly recommend you “find your own adventure” here as well, as there is no defined trail to the top of Horseshoe Mountain.

The alpine tundra and sparse trees of the area provide a pastoral setting. Most of the basins and peaks allow for easy exploration because you can see your topography for miles. Download a map or purchase Green Trails Map #21. The lack of established trails was strange for us, coming from the west side of the state, but it is commonplace to just meander over the landscape out here. We only saw elk, deer, lots of prairie dogs and a hare… but one hiker (out of 7 hikers total in 4 days!!) saw a moose at the trailhead parking lot! What a special place!

Road: the Iron Gate trailhead is a solid 6 hours from Seattle, but worth the drive! The road is suitable for any car until the last ~6 miles to the trailhead. Then, it gets a bit uneven/rutted and very rocky. I wouldn't want to drive a sedan on this road. My Mazda CX-5 handled it like a champ!

Trailhead: 15 cars on the Friday after the Fourth of July. In the parking lot, I met the famous Don mentioned in other trip reports. He was very friendly and gave helpful details on the trail conditions!

Trail: only one blowdown from Iron Gate TH to Sunny Pass, very easy to get over. The grade is gentle and easy, just very exposed on sunny days. The regrowing pine trees in the burnt area is very encouraging to see. LOTS of wildflowers throughout the trail. My favorite patches were the meadows between Horseshoe Basin and Loudon Lake. The smell of the lupines was divine! I also went up Armstrong Mountain to see the Canadian border and border monument. There was no defined trail and no real scrambling required, but it was very steep. The whole area is wide open, so you can't really get lost.

Water sources: Clutch Creek was the first water source at 1.5 miles, then I started seeing small streams before Sunny Pass at around 4 miles. After that, there were plenty of small creeks (and a couple of bigger ones) up to Horseshoe Basin through to Loudon Lake. Even saw several small creeks on Armstrong Mountain.

Bugs: The trailhead had a lot of flies. Bugs were mostly not an issue while hiking, but were annoying at camp around Horseshoe Basin, especially in the evening hours. Having a headnet, rain jacket and Thermacell helped make it manageable. Surprisingly, the bugs weren't bad at all on Armstrong Mountain (maybe it was more breezy?)

Camps: It was hard for me to find defined campsites on the Boundary Trail right after the Horseshoe Basin junction. I finally found an area with a dirt patch near some trees. I would recommend looking for trees in order to find a suitable site.

Crowds: Very low! Saw five parties (including one horseback rider) total during my two-night trip. Most of the time was in complete solitude.

Wildlife: Heard chirping pikas and saw several calm deer, including a few that wandered around my campsite.

This was a Seattle Mountaineers backpacking trip, seven in the party, six days/five nights July 3-8, primary destination being upper Cathedral Lake via the Boundary Trail, also known as the Pacific Northwest Trail or PNT. We elected the late start from the Iron Gate trailhead to allow for the longer drive time from Seattle. We’re an older group and wanted a moderate trip, so we opted for relatively short daily mileage.

Key points: this is a kinder gentler way to get to Cathedral Lake, you start high (Iron Gate trailhead is at 6,117 feet) and stay high, seldom going above 7,500 feet unless you are scrambling to any of the easy summits along the trail. Delight: Wildflowers. Spectacular meadows, even in the burns. Our leader counted more than 70 different species in bloom. Warning: bugs. Use your permethrin and bring your head net. Reminder: please fill out your Wilderness permit at the trailhead, you may encounter summer ranger Don who will ask you for it. Water: Plenty at the time we were there, as there were still snow patches on the higher elevations. Caution: On day 2, we crossed a nice stream coming off Armstrong Mountain to feed Louden Lake. When we came back on day 5, the stream was bone dry.

A note about wildlife: We saw one deer at Louden Lake, one large hare on the way to Apex Pass (apparently a snowshoe, as its hind feet were huge and still had white fur), some ground squirrels here and there, a few birds, a raptor hunting the meadows of Horseshoe Basin, and lots of moose poop and coyote scat on the trail. No critter attacks on our gear (some like the salt in sweaty clothing or backpack straps) or food (we all carried either Ursaks or bear canisters). We saw evidence of recent horse traffic.

Day one (July 3, Wednesday) started at 1:30 pm. The road up from Loomis was in excellent shape, and the dreaded last six miles, well, you just have to take it slow and pick your line. Low profile tires not recommended. Only three vehicles at the trailhead. We hiked into Horseshoe Basin 6 miles, through the Tripod Complex burn from 2006. We felt surprised by the amount of new growth, particularly the wildflowers. Some brush beginning to crowd the tread in places. Clutch Creek flowing well at about 1.5 miles, several other water sources on the way to Sunny Pass where we were greeted by Don the longtime summer ranger and former smokejumper who asked us for our permit. We had forgotten to fill it out at the trailhead, please do this task before you leave the trailhead, it helps the National Forest Service direct resources to protect and maintain the Pasayten Wilderness. We camped at the base of Arnold Peak.

Day 2 took us westward on the Boundary Trail, a section of the PNT/Pacific Northwest Trail 7.1 miles past lovely but shallow Louden Lake, then into a short burn, gentle ups and downs and then a much larger burn, from the Crater Creek fire of 2023, about 2-3 miles long and with perhaps a dozen trees down across the trail, none posing a major problem. Shortly after a small fire-blackened pond there was a nice shady oasis of green with water. We camped below Teapot Dome and several of us scrambled up (about a mile & 700 feet) to a small lovely lake (swimming!) and then onto the rock dome. Views average.

Day 3 continued westward to Apex Pass, about 8.5 miles. Enjoyed a lunch break at Tungsten Mine (played horseshoes). Several of us walked up (about a mile, 800 feet) to the Apex summit for great views.

Day 4 we left with day packs for Cathedral Lake, about 4 miles. Very cold but beautiful. Spent 3 hours there. Several of us hiked up to the western shoulder of Cathedral Peak and enjoyed expansive views including Mount Baker. All of us enjoyed a dip in ice-cold Cathedral Lake (there were snow patches touching the water). We hiked back to our camp, packed up, then hiked to near Scheelite Pass (photo). Total 12 miles, but just 4 with full packs.

Day 5 we continued eastward to Horseshoe Basin, about 10 miles, electing an early start in order to avoid going through the large burn in the afternoon heat. We camped on the west side of Louden Lake. Several of us ascended Armstrong Mountain and touched the border (about a mile, 900 feet) with terrific views.

Day six we hiked over Sunny Pass and back to the Iron Gate trailhead, about 6 miles, for a total of about 51 not including the side trips. Happy to respond to questions if you want more information.