<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/54248680166/in/dateposted/" title="Glacier Peak from Maude"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54248680166_f6dd7c3e7b_b.jpg" alt="Glacier Peak from Maude"/></a> - [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/albums/72157699195394672) - 17 miles - 7800ft elevation gain - Area: [[Glacier Peak Wilderness]] From the Phelphs Creek trailhead I hiked a loop of Leroy basin, Maude, Ice Lakes, Carne High Route, Carne Mountain. The road is pretty awful after Little Giant Pass. Many very rocky sections that can kill your tires and deep gullies on the last section that are tricky to navigate. The original creation of the gullies could have been avoided if water was managed better. There is no evidence of work on better drainage, so they're just going to get deeper. I'm not sure what the plan is here. Why have a road open at all if it is this neglected? Maybe it serves as a quota? Anyway, end of rant. I started hiking at 5am to catch the sunrise at elevation in the Leroy basin. The trail up to the Leroy basin was easy to follow with a headlamp, and even beyond the campsites the trail is pretty good until the infamous gully in the basin there. There is a little bit of a bootpath cut in the gully currently, so it is not that hard. After crossing the gully you need to go straight up for a bit first, which was a bit confusing to me. The last section to the gap between Maude and Freezer (where you first see Ice Lakes) I didn't follow the correct route and ended up climbing steeper loose rock to the gap. On Flickr (see link below) I included a screenshot of the GPS track, which shows my route on the way down that worked better. There appears to be a more established trail there. I used microspikes for the loose rock, which helped a little. The route up Maude was mostly straightforward. The section to regain the ridge (see track) is a bit steep loose rock (again microspikes helped). Once back on the ridge itself there is no more loose rock, so it becomes a lot easier. Views from Maude are amazing. Go on a clear day! There is a little snow at the summit right now. I didn't explore Ice Lakes too much due to time constraints. It looks pretty, but really needs more time to enjoy it. To get to the Carne High Route, I traversed just below 7400ft to maintain elevation to the next gap (east of Pt 7425, see GPS). This worked okay but was a bit sketchy and had some loose rock coming down that could be dangerous. I met a party who just did this and they were not too happy about having done this route. Maybe descending further and then climbing back up is wiser. The Carne high route is a little hard to follow until the long traverse to Carne mountain (after descending the gap east of Pt 7108). There is no clear trail and virtually no cairns, so it would be a good idea to study a GPS track to avoid too much trouble with route finding. I enjoyed the sunset in the Carne Basin and then quickly descended to the trailhead. I was back at the car at 7pm. Overall, this clockwise loop worked really well. Climbing Maude while still fresh is a good idea, and the earlier summit compared to counter clockwise makes for better views (sun otherwise behind [[Glacier Peak]]). Also it's nice to not have to walk the flat trail the last hour or so. <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/54248946969/in/album-72157699195394672" title="Area around Butterfly Glacier and Kololo (from Maude)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54248946969_95feb5d70f_b.jpg" alt="Area around Butterfly Glacier and Kololo (from Maude)"/></a>