Glacier Peak Wilderness: Entiat Mountains/Upper Ice Lake
Take this rugged 15.7-mile, mostly cross-country hike only if you like your summits and scenery served up with a big helping of solitude.
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Trail Facts
- Distance: 25.5
Waypoints
ETS001
Location: 48.0825843811035, -120.835014343262
This loop in the more arid Entiat Mountains is step for step the stiffest outing we’ve done in Glacier Peak Wilderness, with difficult routefinding, exposed scrambling, and 2,000 vertical feet of bush-whacking. Which means: There’s no one out here. From Phelps Creek trailhead, start by hiking 3.2 miles up Phelps Creek Trail 1511.
ETS002
Location: 48.1228485107422, -120.839782714844
Campsites along creek
ETS003
Location: 48.1262130737305, -120.840385437012
At 4,200 feet, on Leroy Creek’s south bank, turn NE off-trail. Look for a faint but continuous user path; finding it makes this steep bushwhack much easier.
ETS004
Location: 48.1322174072266, -120.821662902832
Emerging from the trees at about 6,000 feet, angle up and right and look for an unmapped yet surprisingly clear trail–it’s even marked by cairns–that traverses the talus southward at around 6,400 feet. A mile farther, at a small basin with campsites, climb straight up to the 7,300-foot saddle west of Point 8033.
ETS005
Location: 48.1233329772949, -120.80883026123
7,300-foot saddle. From there, swing north to another pass, this one about 300 feet higher.
ETS006
Location: 48.1264495849609, -120.807167053223
Maude’s South Saddle; descend to Upper Ice Lake
ETS007
Location: 48.1292343139648, -120.799369812012
Pitch camp near Upper Ice Lake and hike Maude’s S ridge.
ETS008
Location: 48.1376991271973, -120.803665161133
Summit views from Mt. Maude stretch as far as the distinctively fractured skyline of North Cascades National Park. Return to camp
ETS009
Location: 48.123161315918, -120.808700561523
The next day, regain the 7,300-foot saddle and contour south across talus and scree. At 1.5 miles, aim for a gully (not as steep as it looks) splitting the cliffs above a small basin of enormous boulders. A rough, unmapped trail continues south, traversing a narrow, exposed ridge, to Rock Creek Trail 1509.
ETS010
Location: 48.0956344604492, -120.797096252441
Stone arrow marks route
ETS011
Location: 48.0897674560547, -120.798332214355
Join Rock Creek Trail; continue S
ETS012
Location: 48.0852813720703, -120.801132202148
At this pass, a good user trail leads (in 15 minutes) to Carne Mountain’s 7,085-foot summit and wraparound views.
ETS013
Location: 48.0883636474609, -120.803070068359
Carne Mtn. Summit; return to Waypoint 11, turn R, and descend 3.5 miles on Carne Mountain Trail to the trailhead.