Day 1 starts at the Phelps Cr trailhead with a fairly scenic hike up the valley along with the throngs heading to Spider Meadow for the weekend. Following the directions in the old "Routes and Rocks" guidebook, we veer off the trail and descend to a crossing of Phelps Cr and find vague tread of an old sheepherder's trail heading up the mountain. It's a brutal climb and eventually following a stream to a meadowed bench for our camp with great views across the valley to Mt Maude and Seven Fingered Jack.

Waypoints (WP) correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map. Stats include the Elevation; change in Elevation from the previous WP; Up/Down; Cumulative Elevation gain/loss; Distance in miles from previous WP; Cumulative Mileage for the Day; Cumulative Mileage for the Trip/

Getting ready to head out from the Phelps Creek Trailhead.  We've shuttled the cars so that when we come out at Trinity, we'll have to go and retreive the car at Phelps Cr TH but not have to send someone on foot as I have had to do on a couple of occasions.

The Phelps Ridge route begins with a ford of Phelps Creek. Andrew and Shelby in foreground.

Danny and Eric at the Phelps Creek Ford.  A little cool relief before the hot steep climb up the old abandoned sheepdrive over Phelps Ridge.

Its a long climb to the meadows and the old tread helps keep one on the right track.  This camp  is on the eastern side of Phelps Ridge.  A few thunderclouds prompted Shelby to prepare a shelter for the night.

The Phelps Ridge Trail is an abandoned sheep drive that takes off from the Phelps Cr (Spider Meadow) trail near Leroy Creek.  It is insanely steep but fairly easy to find (at least it was in 2001).  We camped in this nice meadow with great views across the valley of Mt Maude and Seven fingered Jack.

Entiat Ridge as seen from our camp on Phelps Ridge.  My brand new "Lightyear" 1 man tent is in the foreground.

The old Clip 3 into which we crammed 5 young scouts on the mini-miler in 1994.

Day 2 starts off with a pleasant jaunt up meadows and finally following a faint trail up to the ridge top. After descending to a nice basin from the ridge, you begin what we came to refer to as "Bastard Miles": Bushwhacking thru brush; looking for an sign of a trail that will occasionally appear and then disappear again a short distance later. We made camp near the junction with the Chiwawa Trail. I stayed in camp as the boys headed up the trail till its end and then climbed up to the ridge overlooking Spider Gap.

Waypoints (WP) correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map. Stats include the Elevation; change in Elevation from the previous WP; Up/Down; Cumulative Elevation gain/loss; Distance in miles from previous WP; Cumulative Mileage for the Day; Cumulative Mileage for the Trip/

Filling water bottles at stream in upper Phelps ridge meadows- Shelby, Chip, Eric, & Bill (on bank) Roger & Danny in foreground.

Shelby takes a break - The old tread can be seen just below the rockface above.  It traverses the ridge but is lost in the meadows above.

Heading into the upper basin before climbing up to the ridge crest.  Andrew and I had day hiked this portion in 1994 up to the ridge crest.

Guys heading up to the old tread which follows the green belt up between the darker pines above the rocks.

Looking back down from the old tread - Bill is beginning the climb below.

Taking a break at the ridgetop - Shelby, Eric, Roger the red, Danny, Chip, and Andrew (behind Chip)

Taking a long break at the crest of Phelps Ridge.  The usual card game is in progress.

Start of the "Bastard Miles" - descending the western slopes of Phelps Ridge. Up till this point the trail, such as it was, had been fairly easy to follow. On the other side of the ridge it became much more difficult.

Chip, Eric, Roger, Shelby, Andrew, and Danny  - Every now and then we can find a section of the old tread such as this one crossing a break in the trees.

Buck Mountain from Phelps Ridge. - Andrew .  After a long slog through the woods in a mostly futile search for the old trail we finally come out into the meadows. Buck Mtn beyond Andrew.

After a series of false trails we finally hook up to the old tread again and are soon just one basin over from the Red Mountain trail (I recognized it from our Sept 1999 trip to Chiwawa Basin found HERE).

I had hoped that we would be able to get to Massie Lake to camp, but the "Bastard" miles had taken their toll and sapped our (at least mine) time and energy. The video shows the scenic upper Chiwawa valley including Chiwawa and Fortress mountains.

Fortress Mountain looms over the Chiwawa valley.  We camped here for the night - a beautiful spot. I was not too disappointed that we hadn't made Massie Lake as planned as it was across the valley and many "bastard" miles away, including as steep and difficult a trail as the one coming up Phelps Ridge.)

Our camp site just off the Red Mtn Trail.  Usually, we're getting into camp fairly late and having to do dishes using headlamps.  Today we were early and  had time to enjoy some leisure time in camp.

With time and energy to burn, Andrew, Shelby, and Roger hiked up the old Red Mountain trail (actually an old road built to access a couple of mining adits high up on the ridge).  Shelby is exploring this one.

Shelby and Roger hiking up to the top of the ridge from old mine site.

View over the edge - Spider Meadow is in shadow as the sun sets. Seven Fingered Jack and Mt. Maude  crown Entiat Ridge across the valley.

Showing almost the full length of the Spider Glacier with Spider Gap at the pass at the left of the photo.

Far below the foot of the Spider Glacier can be seen.  We've been up that way many times before.

Andrew on Phelps Ridge above the Spider Glacier - Spider Gap can be seen beyond at the top of the Spider Glacier.

Day 3 begins with an easy descent following the Chiwawa R trail. Following the directions in the "Routes and Rocks" book, we veer off the trail to find and almost identical version of our Day 1 ascent of Phelps Ridge. After crossing the Chiwawa (some of us waded and others crossing on a jumble of logs) we head up on very steep faint trail until we leave the forest for a meadow. The cutoff to Massie Lake isn't far. Rounding a shoulder, you spy beautiful Massie Lake and with a short descent you reach a fine campsite. For all its beauty and scenery, you would have wasted a trip if you came for the fishing as I've only seen one fish caught here in the three times I've been here (never got a strike myself).

Waypoints (WP) correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map. Stats include the Elevation; change in Elevation from the previous WP; Up/Down; Cumulative Elevation gain/loss; Distance in miles from previous WP; Cumulative Mileage for the Day; Cumulative Mileage for the Trip/

Roger and Shelby elect to ford the stream rather than use the logs and branches. Just beyond the ford the old sheep driveway climbs very steeply up to Massie Lake.

Bill on his way up the Massie Lake Trail.  Although the trail has been long abandoned, the old tread can still be followed.  It is hard to believe that horses once used to use this trail it is so steep.

The old tread breaks out of the woods and at  the top of this switchback, a spur trail leads around the shoulder for a quick descent to Massie Lake.

Rounding the bend, Massie Lake comes into view - Danny and Andrew are almost there.

L to R: Chiwawa Mtn (8459'), Peak 8134' ,and Red Mtn (7646)  anchor Phelps Ridge across the Chiwawa valley.

As night fell we saw this weird cloud to the east.  Turns out it was from a fire near Lake Chelan.
Although we weren't affected by the smoke, hazy skies persisted for the rest of the trip as evident in the photos.

We retrace our steps back up to the trail and continue on good tread up to the ridge separating the Chiwawa River and Buck Creek. The tread peters out in the high (and steep) meadows. At one point, you descend through rocks to a steep meadow that you have to climb down (you can see the basin you want to reach) and finally find some tread. The route along the ridge is a little more reasonable than that of Phelps Ridge, with more frequent stretches of trail (especially as you near Buck Cr Pass). We found a gem of a camp in a meadow with great views of Buck Mtn and Glacier Peak.

Waypoints (WP) correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map. Stats include the Elevation; change in Elevation from the previous WP; Up/Down; Cumulative Elevation gain/loss; Distance in miles from previous WP; Cumulative Mileage for the Day; Cumulative Mileage for the Trip/

Breaking camp at Massie Lake - This is a very beautiful lake with nice campspots.

Danny on Massie Lake High Route above Massie Lake. The trail heads up to the right of that rocky outcrop above.

Across the way is our route along the western side of Phelps Ridge.  We crossed the ridge at the low point to the right of the photo.

Bill climbing up to ridge top above Massie Lake (as seen in the previous photo) - Red Mtn on Phelps Ridge is across Valley.

Chip and Eric - the vague tread that brought us here peters out in the meadow beyond and we are on our own.  Glacier Peak can be seen behind the trees to the left.

Breaktime on the ridge crest - Chip, Eric, Andrew, Roger & Danny
You can see the rocky outcrop beyond

Starting out - the tread soon disappears.  We scouted ahead traversing across steep meadows and finally find a way down through the cliffs.

There appeared to have been some use of this shortcut through the rocks to the meadow beyond.

A steep descent down the meadow then a traverse to a large basin which was noted as a camp on the Routes and Rocks map had no water this year.  We also pick up the vague tread again as it leaves the basin.

Andrew and Danny at one of the many basins along the route.  Buck Mountain beyond.

Danny traversing Massie Ridge.  The High Pass route goes up the ridge across the valley.

Cascade Bill taking a break near the end of the days travel. Andrew got quite a laugh at the grizzled prospector look.

Hazy sky obscures the view to the east.  We found that the haze was due to fires started by the thunderstorms our first night out.

As the sun dips below the horizon, Glacier Peak shimmers in the distance

The rest of the Massie Lk HR was on pretty good tread until we reached the superhighway of the Buck Cr Pass Trail. We reached the Pass and continued on the High Pass Trail. Our goal was to go over High Pass to a high camp (That my son Greg and I had used in 1990). Unfortunately, the problematic snowfield at High Pass had not melted out so I made the decision to backtrack to Buck Cr. Pass to camp.

Waypoints (WP) correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map. Stats include the Elevation; change in Elevation from the previous WP; Up/Down; Cumulative Elevation gain/loss; Distance in miles from previous WP; Cumulative Mileage for the Day; Cumulative Mileage for the Trip/

The tread can be seen traversing the ridge. It dissapears for good when it drops into the meadows below Helmut Butte beyond.

Andrew, Roger, Danny, Eric, and Shelby - taking a break along trail to High Pass above Buck Creek Pass.  Helmut Butte in background.

Danny along Trail to High Pass - the Massie Lake High Route followed the benches of the ridge across the valley.

Massie Lake High Route follows the benches of the ridge across the Buck Creek Valley. Note Seven Fingered Jack and Mount Maude in the hazy distant ridge.

Andrew along trail to High Pass - this route was constructed to be part of an alternate of the Cascade Crest Trail on the east side of Glacier Peak.  That project was abandoned and the trail dead ends at a pass near Triad Lake.

Andrew heading up the trail which ends at the saddle above.  The trail is not maintained and there are a couple of spots where you need sure feet and a calm head.

The constructed trail ends at the saddle below, but a crude boot track continues up the next hill to High Pass. (Danny and Roger)

The old "bootworn" track is very steep.  The guys are near the top of the first section.

High Pass lies at the head of this snowfield.  We thought we would be able to cross this because of the low snowpack but the snow field blocked our progress and we would have to return to Buck Creek Pass to camp.

Bill - if only we could get over that snowfield and down the Napeequa. Not this year. (Shelby and Danny below are returning from side trip to Triad Lake)

This was a typical last day - a lot of miles and a long descent. Not much fun but with visions of Burgers and Shakes at the 59'r Diner we made it.

Waypoints (WP) correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map. Stats include the Elevation; change in Elevation from the previous WP; Up/Down; Cumulative Elevation gain/loss; Distance in miles from previous WP; Cumulative Mileage for the Day; Cumulative Mileage for the Trip/

Chip putting the tent away for the last time on this hike.
It was Chip's last night camping with the troop! (rev 10/2022)

During the night, the onshore flow brought a sea of clouds in from the west blanketing Buck Creek Pass in fog and mist.  Buck Creek Pass is on the Cascade Crest and on the east side of the pass the fog gives way to sun and clear skies - a most unusual sight.