Fourth of July Creek to Icicle Ridge

We drove to Icicle Road by Leavenworth to hike up the Fourth of July Creek to Icicle Ridge Trail today, 11 miles round trip with 4,700 ft gain.  We saw lots of wildflowers like these phacelia and mariposa lilies. We only saw 3 other hikers, along with one buck, a grouse, three lizards, two rattlesnakes, and several squirrels and birds.

The trail is long and steep with some Mountain View in the forest section. Here was Cashmere Mountain.

We were happy to see Tweedy's Lewesia in bloom along the trail.

There was lots of balsamroot and lupine in bloom.

A huge patch of penstemon 

Another view of Cashmere Mountain further up the trail.

paintbrush

The rocky prominence where there was once a lookout, seen through the burn area.

At about 3,800 feet of altitude, we heard a rattle and saw a rattlesnake on the edge of the trail, underneath some shrubs that had overgrown the trail. We had to wait quite a while, before this snake decided to slither away. Less than 10 minutes later, a short distance along the trail, we heard another rattle and saw another rattlesnake disappear into the foliage. We decided the snakes could now also be out both above and below on the trail, so continued on our hike, being careful to look under the foliage by the trail as we hiked.

It wasn't long before there was a rustling in the brush ahead of us. I jumped before I saw this grouse emerge, walk towards us vocalizing as she approached us. I think she was attempting to lead us away from a nest.

Around 6,500 ft we encountered patches of snow like this snow bridge on our way up the trail.

phlox and mountain views

view of our destination as we neared the top of Icicle Ridge

There was consistent snow on the top of Icicle Ridge

We stood on the rocky ridge overlooking the Icicle Road valley below us on the old Lookout site, to enjoy the views. To the south: Dragontail, Colchuck Peak, Mount Stuart , Cashmere Mountain and Mount Daniel to name a few.

zoom of Dragontail, Colchuck Peak and Mount Stuart 

view to the west and north

zoom of a cloudy Glacier Peak to the northwest

On our hike back down, we only saw lizards and not anymore rattlesnakes

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail today: