Mt. Maude/Entiats

A few years ago, we hiked the Leroy Carne High Route and camped/explore the Larch-filled alpine playground. That trip had its fair share of adventures, but one of the biggest takeaways for Katy and I was that we wanted to come back and scramble to some of the Entiat summits.

When this early-October weekend came around, we got lucky with some gorgeous, warm, clear weather, so we hopped in the car and drove east towards the hills. We were rewarded with an awesome adventure and gorgeous autumn colors.

The Entiat Mountains are sandwiched between the Entiat and Wenatchee rivers, and are an in-your-face reminder of how beautiful Washington can be. In autumn especially, the colors and contrasts of golden larches and crimson huckleberry, growing in the alpine beneath 9,000′ peaks amidst craggy ridges and steep granite walls makes for a sensory feast.

We spent two days traversing the route, camping on a saddle with sweeping views of Glacier Peak Wilderness and the Entiat Mountains, under the shadow of Mt. Maude and overlooking Ice Lakes. The area was closed for the last few months due to the Wolverine Fire, but was reopened a few days before we hit the trail. The fire was still smoldering in the drainage below Ice Lakes — a healthy reminder of dry, hot, and dangerous summer we’ve had.

The Leroy Carne High Route follows the ~6000-~6800′ contours north along these mountains. Maude is the large broad mountain left of center. Ice Box Peak is the shadowed mountain at center, and Freezer is the hump between the two.

On day 1 we got a leisurely start and made it to the saddle in solitude. We were stoked on our epic campsite, and after dropping our packs, hiked down to Ice Lakes to fill water for the evening and following day. As we got back to the Saddle just in time for a stunning sunset, we realized that the solitude was only temporary: some 3 other groups set their tents up just feet away from ours, an effectively blocked our epic from-the-tent views.

For what’s its worth, the other campspots by the lake were off limits since that area was still closed for the fires, and it was a pretty incredible spot to stay at. We don’t blame them, though we were admittedly a little frustrated that we were no longer going to have the peace and serenity of being in the alpine completely alone.

After one of the most brilliant star-shows I’ve seen in Washington and a total failure in capturing that astral beauty on camera, we got some excellent sleep and planned for an early morning start to tag the ‘Chilly Peaks’ south of Maude, as well as Maude, and perhaps Seven-Fingered Jack the next day.

A beautiful and solitary campsite! We’ll be alone here! It’ll be great! For five minutes.
Freezer Peak in the background. The hump in the middle is where Katy and I turned around due to the icy-dew in the morning.

Ice Lakes at sunset.

Maude and our camp at sunset. Another couple tents were set up shortly after this as well. We’re the orange tent.

Glacier Peak (center) at sunset

That wouldn’t have been that ambitious of a plan, as we planned to move swiftly and with light packs, but when we awoke before dawn to start tagging Freezer Peak, we found the rocky/scrambly route to be covered in frozen dew. What would normally be a fast class 2/3 scramble across a relatively secure ridge was suddenly a confidence-shattering slippery challenge. We decided it wasn’t worth it as I got really uncomfortable traversing over some steep cliffs, and we returned back to the tent and got some more sleep, opting to shorten our day and wait for the sun.

A few hours later, as the temperatures warmed, we got up again to much better traction. We made fast work of cranking out the 2000′ feet or so up to Mt. Maude, and then returned for a quick tag of Freezer Peak. The views from both were absolutely incredible. The haze from the fires brought out stunning mountain layers to the south and east, and clear weather to the north and west provided expansive and breath-taking views of the cascades.

After some of the busier weeks that Katy and I have had at our respective jobs, being high in the alpine, enjoying the fresh cool air and moving amidst the mountains was exactly what we needed.

On the summit of Maude!

Mt. Maude summit fun

Katy scrambling on Freezer Peak

The Entiats

Remnants of the Wolverine Wildfire. Close for comfort.

After packing up camp, we continued north along the route, descending to Leroy Basin. Looking up at Seven Fingered Jack and then back down at the time, we decided to save this climb for another time. It’s always nice to have a good reason to get back a gorgeous part of the state.

Here are some more photos, with quite a few more on Flickr.

Autumn in the Cascades

High Above the Larches

Cascade Layers

Gorgeous autumn colors in the Entiat Mountains

Larch meadows in the Entiats