Forum Index > Trip Reports > cathedral pass larchy loop + apex, the pope, amphitheater, remmel 10.1 - 10.4.21
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rubywrangler
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Joined: 04 Aug 2015
Posts: 509 | TRs | Pics
rubywrangler
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PostSat Oct 09, 2021 10:07 am 
I finally sucked it up and made the long drive out for my first trip to the far eastern Pasayten. Probably not my last. Ruby would have loved it out there. Really excellent wandering terrain and so many meadows to roll around in smile.gif Day 0 - a slightly rough start Made a last minute decision to do this trip and left Seattle for Winthrop at 3:30pm. Traffic was horrible on I-5 and I arrived at Old Schoolhouse at 8:07pm. They would not give me any food - kitchen closes at 8. Ugh! Tried Copper Glance, same. Luckily I had a whole pizza in the car, meant to be my lunch for the next few days. Then due to nonexistent cell service and terrible wifi at the Abbycreek inn, I could not finish researching the route I had roughly planned. Doh. Day 1 - cathedral driveway to tungsten meadow Once again I made the mistake of looking at work in the morning, and just had to send one! email - which due to the aforementioned terrible wifi meant a late departure. After a mandatory stop at Cinnamon Twisp, then 2 more stops in Omak and Tonasket for instant grits and gas, I finally made it to the cathedral driveway trailhead and hit the trail just after noon. It was neat to walk through a bunch of old burns in different stages of regrowth on this trip. The young trees are thick and green along the chewuch trail. It almost feels like walking through a tree farm. Tons of moose poop, but no moose. I was aiming for tungsten lake but it was 5:30 when I got to the mine and I didn’t think I had time for a bushwhack before dark so decided to camp in tungsten meadow. After checking out the mine stuff and cabins, I headed up the trail, then took an obvious side trail to the meadow, which turned out to be very swampy. I needed water so I crossed the swamp to get to tungsten creek. I noticed a cairn across the creek and made a mental note for the following day. Eventually I wandered back to the east side of the meadow and found a nice dry campsite (several actually) at its edge. If coming from the mine, these campsites can be found by following a side trail signed “dangerous to stock”. I quickly drank the beverage from OSB I had lugged along and ate dinner. A huge bird - owl I think- flew out of forest right next to my camp while I was eating. It was a cold night.
chewuch
chewuch
tungten mine stuff
tungten mine stuff
tungten mine stuff
tungten mine stuff
rails to nowhere
rails to nowhere
love the cast iron tub
love the cast iron tub
tungten mine cabin
tungten mine cabin
Day 2 - tungsten meadow to upper cathedral lake At 6:30 I woke up to a strange sound not far away. Thwack!…. Then a minute or so later, thwack! Sounded like something hitting wood. Or antlers hitting something? This kept going for a few minutes, got further away, came closer again. I finally decided to peek out of the tent and found… nothing. No idea what it was. Someone chopping down a tree? Dueling deer or moose? I took my time eating and packing up to give whatever it was time to go away. At ~9am I headed back to the cairn, and from there, a trail which led me to lovely Tungsten lake. There are several trails actually, and they all converge about 100’ below the lake. I was a little sad because I definitely could have made it up to the lake on this trail the previous day. There are a couple nice campsites west of the outlet. Unfortunately the overcast skies did not make for very good photos. After poking around for a little while I worked my way toward a basin north of the lake, around Apex's east ridge. I noticed a break in the ridge and climbed up. Except for one brief section where I dropped to the lake side, the ridge was nice and wide. At the top I picked up a path coming from apex pass and then it was a short walk to the summit. I found not one but two registers there. It was super windy and raining lightly so I didn’t stay long.
tungsten meadow sunrise
tungsten meadow sunrise
trail to the lake
trail to the lake
tungsten lake
tungsten lake
teeny larches
teeny larches
tungsten lake
tungsten lake
where i climbed up (steep at the top, may be better options)
where i climbed up (steep at the top, may be better options)
on apex east ridge
on apex east ridge
tungsten lake from the east ridge
tungsten lake from the east ridge
tungsten lake
tungsten lake
register 1
register 1
register 2
register 2
register 2
register 2
remmel
remmel
ptarmigan + tungsten lake
ptarmigan + tungsten lake
apex pass + beyond
apex pass + beyond
apex east ridge
apex east ridge
apex from the pass
apex from the pass
cathedral
cathedral
amphitheater
amphitheater
apex pass views
apex pass views
After lunch at apex pass I continued on the trail toward cathedral. I figured going uphill would keep me warm so I hiked up the Pope. The clouds were clearing as I hit the summit, yay! No register found. So weird to see the border swath in the middle of the wilderness. I had cell service so I voted on fat bear week and then headed down. About halfway back to the trail I nearly ran right into the back end of a grazing goat. We were both in our own worlds I guess. Once I got back to the trail it was a short walk to cathedral pass and then pretty upper cathedral lake. Surprisingly I had it all to myself. It was still very windy so I found a sheltered campsite and settled in. Clouds moved back in just in time to ruin the sunset but they made for a much warmer night.
cathedral
cathedral
cathedral pass
cathedral pass
the pope
the pope
looking nw
looking nw
looking n from the pope
looking n from the pope
north-est border tarns
north-est border tarns
cathedral from the pope
cathedral from the pope
lit larch
lit larch
cathedral
cathedral
cathedral pass
cathedral pass
upper cathedral
upper cathedral
upper cathedral
upper cathedral
amphitheater west peak
amphitheater west peak
Day 3 - upper cathedral to 4 point lake Again I got a slow start and headed out of camp at 9. The trail loops around amphitheater through really beautiful meadows, then gently climbs up to the mountain’s huge plateau. Then more low angle hiking through more fierce wind to the summit. Did not find a register here either. Backtracked to the low point of the plateau then peeked over the w ridge down to cathedral lakes before continuing on my way.
leaving upper cathedral
leaving upper cathedral
looking west
looking west
nice meadows w of amphitheater
nice meadows w of amphitheater
remmel, andrews, freds
remmel, andrews, freds
amphitheater summit
amphitheater summit
amphitheater summit views
amphitheater summit views
amphitheater summit views
amphitheater summit views
amphitheater summit views
amphitheater summit views
meadow east of amphitheater
meadow east of amphitheater
amphitheater summit views
amphitheater summit views
cathedral lakes & amphitheater shadow
cathedral lakes & amphitheater shadow
cathedral
cathedral
After some easy hiking through more meadows with great views of remmel, Andrew, freds, etc., I finally encountered another human (the only one I saw in 4 days) and his cute dog. He said there was a lame moose on the trail ahead and showed me a photo. So I slowed down and kept my eyes peeled.. but that moose must have been mobile enough to get off the trail and make it to an inconspicuous spot, because I never saw it. Good for the moose, but I was bummed to miss it. I turned left on the chewuch trail and hiked through the diamond creek scar until the trail got close to remmel creek. This was the only badly/recently burnt area on my route. At about 6000', I left the trail, crossed the creek and headed southeast to take the shortcut to four point lake mentioned in previous reports by Jake and others. The first couple hundred feet were moderately brushy and annoying but after that surprisingly fairly easy. After about 400’ the terrain became more meadowy and then eventually I came to a talus field dotted with larches. Then it was a couple hundred feet of rock hopping to the saddle and an easy descent to the lake. Tons of bear poop along the route, but no bears.
amphitheater
amphitheater
more meadows
more meadows
remmel
remmel
heading south from remmel creek
heading south from remmel creek
out of the trees and into the boulders
out of the trees and into the boulders
looking back
looking back
4 point lake meadow
4 point lake meadow
I reached the lake at 4, found a campsite, threw up my tent, dumped overnight gear, and continued on to remmel. I had been planning to hike up first thing the next morning but given my late starts the past days, I knew I’d likely end up skipping it. There’s about 2000’ of elevation gain from lake to summit and I figured I could get up there in an hour and a half - in time for sunset. After many many many switchbacks I made it in 1:27. Thankfully not windy on the summit. I had some hot chocolate and voted on fat bears while waiting for dinner to rehydrate and sunset to begin. There were some golds, some pinks, many photos, and then I hiked down under a pink-streaked sky. Made it almost all the way down the switchbacks before I had to turn the headlamp on. Played my favorite reggaeton playlist on speaker on the way back to camp, since it's been proven to scare pretty much all other creatures away. Thank you Bad Bunny.
en route to remmel
en route to remmel
en route to remmel
en route to remmel
en route to remmel
en route to remmel
en route to remmel
en route to remmel
remmel lake, amphitheater, cathedral
remmel lake, amphitheater, cathedral
looking nw
looking nw
diamond creek fire
diamond creek fire
remmel shadow, 4 point lake, 7088 tarn
remmel shadow, 4 point lake, 7088 tarn
remmel lake, amphitheater, cathedral
remmel lake, amphitheater, cathedral
Day 4 - 4 point lake to cathedral driveway Had a lakeside breakfast and wandered around taking photos, much to the dismay of the local squirrel population who made sure to let me know I was not welcome. One actually came right up to me in camp to give me his/her thoughts. On the hike down I passed 6 grouse and hiked through a section of forest that is clearly preferred by the local bear, every single tree was scratched. Otherwise the hike out was uneventful. You really earn your car beers with that climb at the end!
4 point lake
4 point lake
4 point lake
4 point lake
4 point lake
4 point lake
bear grove
bear grove
old burn
old burn
tree farm
tree farm
~44 miles, 13,500' of gain

abkoch3, raising3hikers, Prosit, Slim, Fletcher, silence, jaysway, resilient, jstern, reststep, Gimpilator, RAW-dad, fffej50, Tom, RichP, Randito, GeoTom  vk, awilsondc  ozzy, fourteen410, Kenji  outsider_bulu
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neek
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neek
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PostSat Oct 09, 2021 10:34 am 
sweet pics. looks cold, lonely, and beautiful. i keep trying to work up the courage to get back there. not this year i guess.

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Get Out and Go
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Get Out and Go
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PostSat Oct 09, 2021 3:07 pm 
Rugged, yet peaceful. tongue.gif Way to get in there in October with the seasonal clock ticking. My day will come.

"These are the places you will find me hiding'...These are the places I will always go." (Down in the Valley by The Head and The Heart) "Sometimes you're happy. Sometimes you cry. Half of me is ocean. Half of me is sky." (Thanks, Tom Petty)
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raising3hikers
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raising3hikers
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PostSat Oct 09, 2021 9:38 pm 
So glad you made the fall trip to the pasayten! Nice route choice and you timed it just right

Eric Eames
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Nancyann
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Nancyann
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PostSat Oct 09, 2021 11:37 pm 
Thanks for such beautiful pictures of some of my most favorite places, so gorgeous this time of year. That’s funny about the squirrel at Four Point Lake. We noticed that the Douglas squirrels at almost all of our campsites in this same area of the Pasayten, including Four Point, want you up and having coffee at 7am in the summertime. If you try to sleep in they start chattering and sometimes drop pine cones on you. We named them “Seven ‘O Clock Squirrels” and I think they are used to the horse packers getting up early to feed their horses. After they pack up and leave, the squirrels like to see what’s left for them.

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fourteen410
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fourteen410
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PostSat Oct 09, 2021 11:56 pm 
Great set of shots. How cool to see the ptarmigan in winter plumage!

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silence
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PostSun Oct 10, 2021 6:14 am 
Well done! Great trip and photos! up.gif up.gif up.gif

PHOTOS FILMS Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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