Hotel accommodations can be made in the town of Leavenworth - a unique Bavarian type resort town just hours from the trail head. The trek begins at Trinity parking lot. Conveniently, Trinity WA. can be located via Google Maps so I will not provide driving directions.
Day 1: Travel to Trinity – begin hike heading toward Buck Pass. There is a very nice campsite just before the trail really begins the steep ascent to Buck Pass.
Day 2: We Continued up to Buck Pass and arrived before lunch time and made camp. We spent the afternoon day packing over to Triad Lake. This is a spectacular day trip all above tree line with amazing views of glaciers, tarns, cirques and Glacier Peak itself. This is a must side trip. Don't skip it!
Day 3: Descend Buck Pass. This was a glorious day up and down through dense forest and over lunar landscaped passes, flower domes and blue berries to your heart’s content. Finally, the trail descends to Minor's creek, once again fairly early allowing for an exploration of the mine shafts on the north slope. We skipped this and opted to relax by the creek in the sunny afternoon.
Day 4: This is probably the toughest day - but fantastic! The trail ascends rapidly from Minor's Creek and achieves Suiattle Pass then quickly descends and re-ascends to Cloud Pass. Vistas from Cloud pass are breathtaking. Glorious views of Lyman Lake and Layman Glacier. The stunning Cascades unfold before your eyes. From Cloud Pass the trail descends to lower Lyman Lake. We continued on and pushed up toward Layman Glacier. On the flat section about a 1/4 mile from the toe of Lyman Glacier sits the best campsite I have ever stayed at - hands down! Stay here! We arrived in the early afternoon and took a hike up to Lyman toe where we explored the shallow ice caves. The views from this campsite are phenomenal. Glaciers, towering peaks and braded streams all around, make for an idyllic setting. A small cluster of battered pins offer some wind break and bear bag hangs. Stunning. Stay here a second day if time permits!
Day 5: From camp the trail continues to the toe of Lyman Glacier and ends. From here you ascend the shingled slopes for about a mile making your own trail and finally achieve the top of Spider Gap. We had hoped to glacade down Spider Glacier but it was not to be. The glacier is gone with nothing left but snow fields. Never the less, we semi-skied semi-walked down the cirque basin of the former Spider Glacier to the bottom of the snow fields. At the bottom, a trail appears, rising from the huge sprawling Spider Meadow thousands of feet below. We followed the trail down, down, down to the base of the valley floor. There are lots of campsites spread around the valley. There area is only a half a day shot from Trinity, so it is not uncommon to see others camping in the valley.
Day 6: We had intended on making one last push east up to West Tibe Lake. There is supposed to be a fantastic camp near the lake. Unfortunately, forest fires were raging in the areas east of Spider Meadow and rangers had advised us before we set out from Leavenworth not to venture east of Spider Meadow. So – home we went, back to trinity and completing the loop.
