[Conrad]

Ladies Pass & Cape Horn

A 3-day loop with my 15-yr-old son NW up Icicle Creek and back SE on Icicle Ridge, including the abandoned trail from Doelle Lakes to Frosty Pass (where we lost the trail evening #2). Lots of hot hard work, adventure, meadows, lakes, and mountains, although the mountain views were often hazed by smoke from the Jack Creek fire. This trip was on my list even before the Icicle Road washout, and once I learned that we could hike past the washout, I was looking forward to hiking this popular area when it would presumably be less crowded. Summary: Day 1 (8/15 Fri): NW up Icicle Creek to Leland camp. Day 2 (8/16 Sat): Up E to Chain & Doelle lakes, then SE on abandoned trail to 1 mile NW of Frosty Pass where we lost the trail and improvised a camp. Day 3 (8/17 Sun): Refound the trail, continued SE past Frosty Pass, Lake Mary, Florence Lake, Ladies Pass, Cape Horn, and Lake Edna, then S down Chatter Creek back to Icicle Road. Bugs: Yep. Fairly constant flies in the heat, plus a few mosquitos mornings and evenings. Not more than I could swat, though. Creeks: The Icicle valley is well-bridged, and the higher creeks are small; we never had to wade. Crowds: Few. Passed a pair of horse riders and a lone fishery worker on Day 1. A couple of parties passed us during our 2-hour lunch at Chain Lake on Day 2. A party of campers at Lake Edna on Day 3. Snow: None. OK, one 20-yard stretch of the trail was covered by snow. Day 1: Up Icicle Creek From Leavenworth we drove up the Icicle road to the current road closure at Ida Creek Campground. There's designated parking on the shoulder. I hung our Forest Pass but I don't know if it was required. I was annoyed that the closure was so far E since I thought the washout was at Doctor Creek, a mile further W; but it turned out that just a few minutes' walk beyond the campground the creek flows over the road. Apparently the washout caused the creek to take a long detour. So here we took the detour dirt road and then the detour trail, which after about a mile returned to the Icicle road. At Chatter Creek Guard Station we crossed the fancy footbridge to the S side of Icicle Creek and continued W on Trail 1555A, a "nature trail" which gave us 1.5 miles of easy trail walking instead of road walking. This trail routes somewhat differently than on my old Green Trails map, but by careful attention to the map I figured out how to stay on it when it crossed Jack Creek on a road bridge and ended up near Rock Island Campground. Here we had some route confusion because (1) we had come off the trail onto the Jack Creek spur road rather than the Icicle Road as I expected, and (2) the Jack Creek Trail trailhead parking lot is now here, unbeknownst to my old GT map. But we figured it out and continued W on the Icicle Road. Finally around noon we reached the end of the road at Blackpine Creek Horse Camp. Interestingly, just before the camp there's a signed Jackpine Trail heading uphill S which doesn't appear on my GT map at all. Finally after lunch we started the "real hike", NW up the Icicle Creek trail, wide, level, & even:

French Creek confluence

There's a fancy bridge across French Creek and camps on both sides of French Creek. 3 miles after French Creek the Icicle trail crosses Icicle Creek to the N side, on another fancy bridge, with another camp. From here almost to the Chain Lakes trail there are stretches of brush, the kind of soft brush which hides the trail (and your body) but which you can beat back with a stick if you have time. 2.5 miles after the Icicle crossing we stopped & camped at the start of the Leland Creek trail. Nice big camp right on Icicle Creek with a sandy beach and gravel bottom for bathing, which we did, barefoot; too bad I later found a barbed lure in the dirt, a cut-off fish tail in the creek and other assorted junk. My son fell asleep around 6 PM and slept for 12 hours (we'd been up since 2:30 AM).

Day stats: 11 miles, < 1000'. Day 2: Chain & Doelle Lakes to almost Frosty Pass Struck camp and continued NW up Icicle Creek. I was planning on stocking up on water at Chain Creek for the climb to Chain Lakes, but we never saw Chain Creek; perhaps it was a wide dry rock-wash we crossed. So, at the Chain Lakes trail start, we parked our packs and continued N on the Icicle Creek trail on a side trip for water, which we fortunately found a few minutes north. Then we climbed the hot (record temps that day in much of WA, I had heard) 2+ miles E to Chain Lakes. We took a 2-hour lunch break at the outlet stream of the 1st Chain Lake, where we cooled off in a perfect deep little "bathtub" in the stream. Then we continued E toward Doelle Lakes. When we reached the 2nd Chain Lake there were unmarked forks; the correct fork goes left around the left side of 2nd Chain Lake (but the right way looked stronger, so we took it, but it kept climbing SSE toward Bulls Tooth, so we came back).

2nd Chain Lake (go left here)

Then, after starting on the correct trail around the left side of 2nd Chain Lake, we came to another unmarked fork, well actually "marked" by an upright stick propped up by some rocks. Here the correct fork goes left again, toward the Chain/Doelle dividing ridge (but we took the right fork which turned out to be a scenic detour to 3rd Chain Lake, then came back). Finally we started up the correct trail over the Chain/Doelle divide:

At the Chain/Doelle pass, the old trail goes left, but the new, correct, trail goes right, which is a bit counterintuitive because it actually climbs a bit before dropping to Upper Doelle Lake:

Dropping to Upper Doelle Lake

At Upper Doelle Lake you have to almost circle the lake clockwise to its E side and then drop NE to Lower Doelle Lake. Here at the E side of Upper Doelle Lake we took another wrong turn, going too far S and getting into steep slopes SW of Lower Doelle Lake. As you head S along the E side of Upper Doelle Lake, if you cross the outlet stream and get to a small meadow then you've gone too far S; backtrack N and find the obscure brushy trail dropping NE to the NW side of Lower Doelle Lake. From Lower Doelle Lake it was actually easy to follow the trail as it continued E, following the outlet stream down into Doughgod Basin, then entering 5300' "Doughgod Meadow":

Doughgod Meadow

The trail fades into the meadow but we could actually detect it, cutting across the L side of the meadow and continuing up the wooded slope on the left. Then the trail rounds a wooded SW-pointing spur. Then it traverses, brushy and rocky, 1/2 mile E across a steep S-facing rock slope. Then it climbs to a pretty little soft-floored flat wooded 5600' pass; a nice place to camp, except dry. Here at "Flat Wooded Pass" a fascinating strong-looking unmarked, unmapped trail takes off downhill N; if it descends to some little basins on the map, there might be good camping down there. From Flat Wooded Pass the trail continued 2/3 mile SSE to a lovely little NE-facing meadow basin at 5700' I call "Little Basin", 1 mile NW of Frosty Pass. Here we totally lost the trail. We tried to continue on obscure maybe-trails, but they faded to nothing in steep brushy slopes. Finally after 8 PM, well after sunset, we retreated to Little Basin and made a quick camp. Looking back now, and after seeing Tim Hagan's GPS track of the route, I suspect that we were already off on a side trail, down in the flat of Little Basin, when I first questioned where the right trail was; and that the real trail contoured higher, "on the wall" of Little Basin. Anyway, I picked a patch of flat lightly-vegetated (including a few baby trees) dirt and spread the tarp, pads and bags on it (skipping the tent). My son had dinner but I skipped it; too late, tired and worried about losing the trail. There was a tiny but adequate stream. Fortunately in the heat wave it was a great night for sleeping out; mild breeze all night; and there were just a few mosquitos which later disappeared. There was a bright full moon all night. The tarp-covered ground was a bit lumpy (especially over the baby trees ) but we were tired enough not to care. It was the first night I'd slept under the stars in many years and it was kind of enchanting.

Camp site in Little Basin (the next morning)

Day stats: 10 miles, 3500' (plus lost-trail searches). Day 3: Frosty Pass to Chatter Creek to Icicle Road to car We got up, packed, skipped breakfast, and set off to find a route. Now I had a new plan: give up on contouring the steep brush where the trail was "supposed" to be, and instead, drop NE on gentler slopes to a larger meadow shelf at 5500', then climb back up S on fairly gentle slopes to hopefully intersect the trail further along on its SE course. And this worked (although we had to climb some rather steep brushy open forest). We rediscovered the trail, strong and easy, 1/2 mile NW of Frosty Pass:

Rediscovered trail

Here we had a well-deserved breakfast. The next several hours, SE from Frosty Pass to Lake Edna, were classic alpine hiking past meadows, lakes, and mountains; the only problem being that the Jack Creek fire smoke hazed out the distant mountains too much for pictures.

Near Lake Mary

Approaching Marys Pass

Looking across Spanish Camp Basin to Ladies Pass

Lunch spot in Spanish Camp Basin

Ladies Pass & Cape Horn

SE of Lake Edna

From Lake Edna we headed S on the Chatter Creek trail. Where this trail tops Icicle Ridge a mile SSE of Lake Edna, and starts its long drop down Chatter Creek, it appears a number of people have briefly lost the trail and slid straight down the steep dirt to the 1st switchback. For the real trail, on the ridge top, walk L (E) along the ridge a few yards and find the trail dropping down the S slope. So we followed Chatter Creek down and more down. At 3000', where the trail used to end at a road on my old map, the "new" trail now crosses Chatter Creek and wanders SE to the new trailhead E of Chatter Creek Campground. And I mean "wanders"; although the terrain is gentle, the trail switchbacks and turns flatly all over the place, seemingly trying to tour as much of the woods between Chatter Creek and the trailhead as possible. Finally back on Icicle Road, we retraced our steps from 2 days ago and returned to our car at Ida Creek Campground after 8 PM. We didn't get home to Moscow until 3 AM, our latest return ever. Day stats: 12 miles, 2000' gain (plus lots of drop).

[Movenhike]

Awesome report Sometimes I wish I could sleep 12 hours while camping! That trip has been on my list, but I'm afraid I don't think I'll get to it before I leave the state in a couple weeks

[Conrad]

Yeah, I could never sleep 12 hours anymore for any reason. Plus, it helps if your dad is doing the camp chores while you sleep.

[Conrad]

[Conrad]

<bump> Breathe, TR! Breathe, dammit!

[HitTheTrail]

Want a bump ... you got it! Thanks for the info. It sounds a little confusing but would probably be more straight forward if coming from Frosty as I would do.

[Conrad]