[rubywrangler]

I am slightly embarrassed to admit I had never laid eyes on Lyman lakes until now. Thank you weather gods for this opportunity Day 1 The road to Phelps Creek trailhead seemed fine/better than the last time I was there (2018). I arrived to a nearly full TH at 2pm and spent some time mouse-proofing (ie hiding all food and paper items in cooler or other sealed containers), then got on the trail 2:30ish. After passing through Spider Meadow, I left the trail at the creek coming down from Genius and headed east. Following the description in an old TR by Rainie Too!, I followed the right fork when the creek branched, and then stayed on the left side of the right fork the rest of the way. The route climbs steeply ~2000' with a game trail to follow here and there and is completely brush free. At 6500 I hit a pretty bench full of larches. I climbed a little further and reached the more stark upper basin shortly before sunset. I was coming off of a weeklong cold and was totally spent. Ate dinner and crashed immediately.

heading for those larches, roughly

climbing to genius basin

looking back to spider meadow

hello larches

6500' bench

Day 2 Despite warm overnight temps, I didn't get moving until the sun came over the shoulder of Genius at ~9am. I also made the dumb decision to carry my full pack up to the summit rather than having to lose an extra 600' of elevation gain to come back to camp. I (slowly) climbed to the 7500' col north of Genius and made my way south up the ridge to the summit. The first 100' feet above the col is a bit scrambly but beyond that it's a walk. The summit has great views in all directions but the stars of the show were the glowing larches of Leroy Basin and the Carne high route. Didn't find a register.

genius basin 6900'

genius

looking back

pretty tarn below greenwood

looking up genius north ridge scramble. beyond this, just a walk

copper to maude

dumbbell bonanza greenwood

larches larches larches

down to spider meadow

dakobed, fortress, chiwawa

some of my favorite places

I backtracked to the col and over to the ledge described in Jake's 2017 report. The transition from basin to ledge was slightly tricky. Based on Jake's description, I expected this ledge to lead me to a ramp descending north, but the ramp ended at 7400', not the 7600' notch he mentions. I scrambled up to the next notch east, but it wasn't the right one either. So I gave up on the ramp and descended a gully just below the 7400 flat spot. It was kind of steep and loose but quickly dumped me out on slabs and talus. From there it was a talus, then heather, traverse to the basin below Dumbbell. I had hoped to climb both Greenwood and Dumbbell but was running short on time by now so skipped Greenwood. I took the lower passage through the first cliff band and then, being (slightly) smarter for this summit, I unloaded my overnight gear in the basin before heading up the loose class 3 gully to the summit ridge. This gully felt more difficult on the way up than the way down. Above the gully, it was a walk on moderately steep slabs to summit. More stellar summit views, dominated by Bonanza this time.

genius exit ledge ahead

genius from top of ramp at 7400'

looking back descent route

heather benches en route to dumbbell

dumbbell

first cliff band passage

class 3 gully

class 3 gully

dumbbell summit pano

summit view south

tomorrow's destination

After awhile I retraced my steps down and gathered my overnight gear - except my toiletry kit! a white dyneema pouch with toothbrush, etc which I apparently missed I picked up the climbers path below the basin and took it down to ~7100, where I filled up with water before heading north on heather benches dotted with larches to the head of Phelps basin, where I camped, arriving just in time for sunset. Barely a trickle of water and very lumpy, but great views. Saw zero humans all day.

descending the summit block

heading for heather benches again

camp view

Day 3 I was not entirely sure I would be able to make it over the 7400' notch in ridge at the head of Phelps basin. Beckey says it goes, but I could only find one other report on it - Fred's 2018 TR on this site. He hadn't mentioned any particular difficulties, but I'm pretty sure Fred has more climbing skills than me. And it looks kind of cliffy from afar. But as I made my way up, I noticed deer tracks here and there... a good sign. I followed the deer to the top of the talus and found easy ledges leading up to the ridge. Yay! The north side was a low grade talus descent to a heather bench. From the ridge, I finally got a glimpse of upper lyman lake! And a glorious larchy ridge running parallel to the lake basin, with another basin full of larches to the east. I abandoned my plan to drop down the to the lakes - I could go there on my way out. I needed to walk that ridge.

climb to the 7400' col

finally lyman lakes!

huge moraine and spectacular larch basin

that ridge is calling me

I strolled along, absorbing the spectacular views and taking too many photos. Eventually a bootpath appeared, and then quickly disappeared. I suspect it turned west and headed down to lyman lakes but I missed the turn. Just as I was about to turn west and try to find my own descent route, another hiker caught up to me. I was very surprised to meet another person up there, and even more surprised when he told me that Gaia shows a numbered trail on this ridge. Anyway, we descended a short, blocky gully to a talus field and then went our separate ways down to upper lyman on heather benches filled with larches. It also seems possible to stay on the minor ridge that runs NE-SW and get back on the trail below the middle lake - I noticed a path coming off this ridge when I went by.

follow the yellow larch road

hart lake

looking back

babylarch2

lower lyman

neat cliff

ridge views

ridge views

would be nice if that trail went all the way...

descending to lymans

descent gully

descending to lymans

upper lyman basin larches

descent from ridge was at the left edge of the trees here. trail in there somewhere

I continued on the trail through the larches of upper lyman, the gorgeous meadows and views near middle lyman, down to the lower lake and then up to cloudy pass. Another view I have been wanting to see for years, and it did not disappoint. The campsite at the pass was already occupied so I went back to the camp turnoff below the pass and then climbed up to the expansive meadows below Cloudy peak.

on the trail to lower lyman, looking back toward spider gap

what a view

and this one too

After a late lunch, I stashed my overnight gear and headed for North Star. I traversed east at ~6500 and picked up a trail (maybe coming from the designated camping area) that wrapped all the way around Cloudy's south ridge and dumped me into a spectacular land of larches, streams and slabs below North Star. I coudn't believe how much water there was! Just as I was congratulating myself for choosing this easy low route instead of going high and ending up in annoying talus, I stepped wrong on the edge of a hidden rock in the heather and rolled my right ankle. I went down hard but it wasn't too painful so I shook it off and kept going. Somehow it didn't end up bothering me until yesterday (Monday). I guess it just needed some time to stiffen up. The heather transitioned to slabs as I climbed higher. Eventually I got on the ridge connecting Cloudy and North Star, west of North Star's false summit, and walked east until I came to a ~20 drop off that I couldn't descend. If only I had read Fletcher's TR before this moment, I would have known the ridge doesn't go! Oops. Summitpost doesn’t mention this

lymans from the trail to north star basin

yesssss

slabs > talus

on the summit ridge, approaching dead end

I backtracked and dropped off the ridge, traversed east and climbed up to the notch just west of the summit block, and scrambled up to the summit. My route was class 3 and had some exposure, but you can also just walk around and up on the north side (which I descended). I was surprised to see smoke in the Spruce Creek/ Agnes Creek valley, from the Dome peak fire I guess? Seems unlikely after so much weather, but it was there.

back on route, south side of the ridge

summit block, scramble straight up or walk around

summit view north, smoke from dome peak fire or ??

summit view west

summit view south

grant glacier

My general meandering and unplanned detour had eaten up a bunch of daylight so I didn't spend too long on the summit. Rather than going back the way I'd come, I descended directly to the bottom of the moraine on the south side of North Star, and then made a beeline to the trail at 6500'. This route had even more larches, streams and slabs than my ascent; unfortunately the sun was already below Cloudy's south ridge and I was in shadow so didn't take many photos. Made it back to camp with (a little) daylight to spare. Total other humans seen today: 4

from near the bottom of the moraine

an easy stroll back to camp

Day 4 Woke up for sunrise but it didn't cooperate, although it looked like a nice one over Holden. Then back down to lower lyman. I took the trail on the west side of the lake this time, which is much more scenic than the normal trail. But eventually it dead ends and a sign directs to you rock or snow for the final ~150 climb to the middle lake. Crossing the outlet was very slippery and I ended up with 2 wet feet. I hopped on a trail that skirts the shore of the middle lake and eventually connected with the main trail leading up to Spider Gap. Then a leisurely lunch on larch knob, and back to the car at ~3:15. There were a handful of folks between Spider Gap and Spider Meadow, but zero people on the trail out until the last 1/4 mile when the Carne Mtn traffic kicked in. Must have been 100-150 cars up there. No sign of mice in my car!

nice sunrise... over holden

cloudy peak from camp

my nemesis

really awesome meadows here

lower lyman from west trail

end of the trail

that color, wow

upper lyman + chiwawa

spider gap view

larch knob lunch spot view

teeny genius summit

looking back to spider gap

my phelps basin exit is the notch in the ridge right of the pinnacle

~33 miles ~11,000' elevation gain This part of the Glacier Peak Wilderness is so great! Why have I not gone there for 5 years?? Won't make that mistake again.

[NWtrax]

Splendid!

[Gimpilator]

Nice trip.

[The Ghost of Bear 380]

OMG these photos are gorgeous! Cool trip!

[Nancyann]

Very cool adventure! Nice to see what the area looks like after the larches turn gold. I’m amazed that the berry bushes held their color for so long, they were scarlet almost six weeks ago! We camped at the west end of Lower Lyman but didn’t have time to walk up to the waterfall so it’s nice to see that it’s worth doing.

[rubywrangler]

Happy birthday Nancyann!