[RayD]

I got a late start from Spokane, got to the Little Giant Pass trailhead, waded the Chiwawa (an easy ford) and camped out. I'd never been into the Napeequa via this route and wanted to get an early start for the 3800 ft climb. The trail starts off through woods with gentle switchbacks but gradually gets much more serious on the climb to the pass. Nearing the Pass I was slowed down considerably by the ripe huckleberries. Hah! That was a good excuse for frequent breaks! Then I saw a party of three coming down the Pass and since I love to chat with other hikers (and I needed another break), I waited for them at a nice sitdown spot near more berry bushes. Turns out they were completing 14 years of doing segments of the PCT! The 67 year old woman said "no more!" but her 70 year old hubby looked ready for more adventures. Then they went and scared me with stories of how bad the trail was going down to the Napeequa! "Straight down with some dangerous spots!. Well, I expected something like the Massie Lake Trail and girded my loins and had a swig of my liquid pain killer. Turns out that the trail had actual switchbacks and while being narrow on a steep hillside, wasn't such a bad 2000 ft drop.

Lower Napeequa Valley as seen from Little Giant Pass

I continued on through the horrible bug and slide alder infested valley

The lovely slide alder of the lower Napeequa

to Louis Creek and camped there in a pretty campsite with lots of black flies and old growth timber.(Singing "Mammas don't let your babies grow up to be Napeequa hikers".

Old growth shoe tree and root bench to sit on

But the Louis Creek waterfall is a jewel!

There is a nice camp site on the Napeequa River Trail with a view of these falls on Louis Creek

Next day I continued on to the West Fork of the Napeequa and camped near and old Sasquatch campsite that apparently hadn't been used for some time due probably to the re-routing of the PCT and subsequent traffic. I found and old Sasquatch fire pit and camped near it for comfort.

An ancient Sasquatch fire pit.

Then day hikes to explore and admire that wonderful area that begins higher up the lower valley towards High Pass and up the ridge from the West Fork of the Napeequa.

The Upper Napeequa (North Fork) from the route to High Passs

The beautiful and alder free upper valley of the North Fork of the Napeequa

Triad Lake at High Pass and Glacier Peak peeking up over the ridge

Richardson Glacier on Clark Mountain

Pilz Glacier on Clark Mountain

The North Fork of the Napeequa cascades down into the lower valley

View towards Clark from High Pass

Richardson Glacier on Clark Mountain

Clark Mountain from Little Giant Pass

Above the west fork of the Napeequa is a beautiful flat area at about 7200 feet. Butterfly Glacier and Glacier peak.

Then after a few more days of exploring I got an early start up that climb out of the Napeequa, over Little Giant Pass and back to the trailhead where I found that my mechanical horse had a flat tire! Ouch! But I won't bore you with the rest. The upper Napeequa and High Pass is truly amongst my top 3 favorite places to hang out. To add another trip i took a couple of weeks before: Phelps Ridge near the Red mountain trail. I camped and day hiked for a few days there and here are a few pics of the area. Saw a magnificent cinnamon colored black bear in the Chiwawa Meadows. No pics, sorry.

Looking east from Phelps Ridge

A view of Massie Lake

A fishy cloud

Evening tango

Chiwawa basin and Buck Mountain

[Slugman]

Sweet! Fabulous! Too bad I'm the world's biggest brush wuss, so I'll never see that area personally, but at least I can go there vicariously, so thanks. I wonder if the cinnamon bear you saw is the same one I saw in the Buck creek valley just north of the junction with the Chiwawa on Aug 20th.

[RayD]

[torn_hike]

RayD Thanks for the report. I have been to Little Giant before and always wondered what the upper Napeequa valley looked like. This satisfied my curiosity.

[Quark]

How did you gird your loins? Other than the crossing of the Chiwawa, which you already answered, that is my question. I love those waterfalls! Nice pics of a beautiful place with a mysteriously half-built/half-sheep trail leading to it. Ain't that last switchback up to the pass wierd? I know why it's there, to save the slopoe, but odd that they didn't spend time building trail through those meadows. Nice built trail from the Chiwawa, then miles of sheep driveway, then the massively eroded and grooved driveway of the meadows, then that wonderful built switchback.

[wildernessed]

Awesome !

[Tom]

Nice pics Ray. Any reason you uploaded small ones?

[RayD]

[Tazz]

dial up! great tr and superb pics!

[Andrew]

Wow, the view of Clark from Little Giant Pass is refreshing. It has a much different character than from the typical High Pass perspective. Thanks for the report and beautiful (if small) pictures.

[Apheta]

Hey RayD! I see you haven't made any trip reports for a while, but I hope you are still kickin and get this reply. Fantastic trip report, very helpful! I'm planning a September counterclockwise loop up Phelps Creek and over Spider Gap, then around over High Pass and down into the Napeequa Valley, and out via Little Giant. Your description and photos are very helpful. You mentioned going up the West fork of Napeequa and had photos of Clark Mtn; no trail showing on my map, how was the going? I was contemplating going up that way and then going off trail over the shoulders of Luahna and Clark to ford the Napeequa at Louis Falls. Looks doable by Google Earth, but, CAN I ford the Napeequa. What did the river look like at Louis Falls? Thanks a mil