Trip Report
Cathedral Lakes
This was a 4-day backpacking trip beginning, and ending, at the Thirtymile Trailhead (north of Winthrop). Cathedral Lake, with Amphitheater Mountain as a backdrop, is just amazing.
Donna Rooke
- Sat, Aug 30, 2025 — Tue, Sep 2, 2025
- Cathedral Lakes
- Backpacking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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We started, and ended, at the Thirtymile Trailhead. First, and third, night camp was at the horse camp, at the junction of Horseshoe Creek and Chewuch River. We hiked the Chewuch Trail (510), then headed east on the Boundary Trail (533), to Cathedral Lake. We crossed Cathedral Pass, on the Boundary Trail and headed eastward, to the Wolframite Mountain Tungsten Mine. Uphill from the trail, a short detour takes you to several historic mine buildings. Downhill from the trail, you can see several mining artifacts. At this point, we took the Tungsten Trail (534) to the junction with the Chewuch Trail. This junction is near the horse camp, near Horseshoe Creek. After a night at camp, we headed back to the Thirtymile Trailhead. This loop was 41 miles, 6330 feet ascent, 6395 feet descent, maximum elevation was 7580.
The beginning of trail, on Chewuch River trail, goes through a lot of burned areas.
The scenery doesn't change much until you get near Cathedral Lake. Then the scenery opens up.
Tarn near outflow from Upper Cathedral Lake:
View westward from Cathedral Pass:
We saw several Clark's Nutcrackers in the higher elevation areas.
Cathedral Peak
Much of the tungsten mine operations remain.
On the way to, or from, the Thirtymile trailhead, stop at this roadside memorial to the firefighters who lost their lives in the Thirtymile fire, in 2001.
If you have 6 or 7 days, you could start at the Chewuch Trailhead, take the Windy Creek and Windy Peak trails to the Boundary Trail. You would go by Haig Mt, Teapot Dome, Scheelite Pass, take a detour to Tungsten Lake and Apex Mt, then get to Cathedral Pass and Lake. You could stay at Cathedral Lake an extra night and do a day trip up Amphitheater Mt. Take the Chewuch Trail to the Cathedral Driveway Trail (510.1) to return to the Chewuch Trailhead. This route allows for more time in the higher elevations where you get the most views. It also avoids the Tungsten Trail which is very rocky in the upper sections.
There are a lot of campsites at Upper Cathedral Lake. The horse camp, near Horseshoe Creek, is also large. There are several trails in this area, and multiple trailheads, so it is easy to tailor a trip to meet your needs.