10/2, Saturday. Partly sunny. O arrived Friday night, she forgot her sleeping pad. Luckily I have an extra insulated pad. We decided to share stove. I just brought a small gas can. We drove out to Oval/Eagle Creek TH ~7:30am. Arrived a little after noon. Already 13 cars in the parking lot. According to the registry at TH, many groups are doing Eagle/Oval loop, even though I cannot find any map that shows the connection between the 2 trails. It turns out that all the maps (maybe except for Green Map) have many mistakes and omissions in this area.
This area was burned a few years back. Right now, millions of fireweed are sending their fluffy seed. I wonder what it would be like when they are in bloom. But summer here will be a sizzling infernal.
It's about 7.7 miles from the TH (~3000') to West Oval Lake (~6800'). Larches don't show up until almost at the turn to the lake. About 1.5 in, we entered Sawtooth-Chelan Wilderness. There's a fork about 2 miles in (Caltop, Gaia, FStopo are all wrong), where you can take Eagle Creek trail to make a loop (my preference). We stayed on Oval Creek trail all the way (in and out). The creek is not always accessible, but enough to refill if needed. 1L of water is enough today as it was cloudy and I was cold.
A short spur trail goes down to West Oval Lake (~6860'). There were 2 camps already when we arrived ~4pm. After pitching our tents, cleaned up, ~5pm, we headed back on to Oval Creek trail towards the other 2 Oval Lakes. There's a good creek (not sure where the water is from) not far up the trail. More and more larches.
Then it thinned out as we walked along a talus slope (good trail) over a ridge of ~7700', then down to the basin with Middle and East Oval Lakes. Along the way, we passed two trail junctions. The first one is not on my map, which goes up the ridge down to Horseshoe Basin (to make to Eagle Creek trail), the 2nd is to ridge between Gray and Courtney. The meadow above Middle Oval Lake is beautiful with tons of larches. But I didn't see good water source.
Middle Oval is 6695'. A group of people were sitting at the shore waiting for the nightfall. It was already 6pm, O turned back. I ventured towards East Oval, but changed my mind soon and also returned. Filtered water at the creek in headlamp. The camp was already very dark when I arrived. O cooked dinner sitting inside her tent. Getting chilly quickly.
Water didn't freeze. So not too cold overnight. But my feet were cold.
10/3, Sunday. Sunny. O left before dawn, because she wanted to climb all 3 Bulger peaks in this area (Oval, Star, Courtney). I headed out a little past 8am.
. I took the 2nd junction to Gray Peak. As the trail dropped a bit towards the ridge, I took right straight up to Gray, so not to lose elevation. This is a bad idea. The slope got steeper as I got higher. I was uncomfortable enough to put on helmet. I made to the 8082' summit after some struggle. Saw a girl walking over from Gray's west ridge. I continued down Gray's east ridge, which is very gentle. Excellent view all around.
The long east ridge is exceedingly pleasant to ramble. Saw 2 trail runners here. At the end of the ridge, before the rocky slope of Courtney, a trail (not on map) goes along the north slope of Courtney. As the elevation lowers, I hesitated to continue on it. At one cairn, I took off the keep my elevation, and scrambling over boulders, faint path here and there. Eventually I lost any track.
The west ridge of Courtney is very jagged. I tried to keep close to the ridge, but had to drop down quite a few times to cross scary edges like this. The scrambling took too long.
By the time I reached the 8392' summit, it was almost noon. An hour behind my imagined schedule. Also excellent view all around.
Courtney's east ridge is straightforward. Quite easy. Multiple trails going on both side of the east ridge, but you can keep the ridge itself. Down to Fish Creek Pass (~7600'). From here, north to West Fork Buttermilk TH in ~7 miles, south to Star Lake in ~0.5 mile.
I like Star Lake the most among the lakes I visited this weekend. It's high at 7173'. A lot of larches all around. Had lunch break here, and cooled off my socks. Then I headed up to Star Peak. After about 20 minutes, I decided to turn back. I need to turn around ~2pm. I need maybe 2-3 hours to go to Star Peak and back. So I relaxed by the lake, read until 2pm, then left. Met a couple coming to camp here. I think I'll camp here next time.
Followed Summit Trail west, crossing the large lovely meadow at the outlet of the lake. The mountain above Star Lake is not Star Peak. Star Peak is just behind it. Summit Trail goes more or less along Fish Creek, dropping down to 6700'. A few burnt trees. The trail I left where the 2 trail runners went stayed higher on the slope. It is not on any map. Summit Trail is well established. Horse droppings. 1 small creek crossing. About 2 miles to the next trail junction under a talus slope.
A nice meadow, Trail Camp on FStopo map, at the junction. Tiny creek still has water. Here, I turned right towards Horseshoe Basin. The trail stays on the west side of the basin all the way to Tuckaway Lake's east shore. The lake doesn't exist on Gaia map. It's high, ~7350'. A good camp option if doing Eagle-Oval loop.
I continued up its NW ridge. A scree field, but not hard to scale. I was hoping to find a passage to Eagle Pass. It looks too sketchy to go down here. Back to Tuckaway, and then followed the trail around Horseshoe Basin's north end, and up the west ridge of Gray. There, connected to a trail downn to Oval Lake trail, and back to camp at 6pm after filling water at the creek. O returned soon after, very happy to have completed her goal.
10/4, Monday. A lazy morning. I read in the tent before packing up. Back at the car just after 1pm. Ate a can of squash. I drove home, ate my 2nd sandwich while driving. O napped. Slow traffic on Hwy97 in Wenatchee before getting on to Hwy2. Filled gas at Cle Elum. I got home ~6pm. O continued driving south.
Methow Valley is truely the best larch destination. Less people (longer drive). Oval and Star Lakes area has no motorcycle, which makes it quieter and nicer than Hoodoo area (Foggy Dew and Crater Lake THs, which I visited before). The road condition is also better.
