We drove out to Leavenworth to hike up the Fourth of July Creek Trail to Icicle Ridge. This is an 11 mile round trip hike with 4,700 ft of gain. Was glad it was a cool day, made this mostly exposed hike very pleasant. There are lots of wildflowers in bloom. Some snow up on Icicle Ridge, it was well packed down and we did not need to use traction. The lower two creek crossings were not difficult.
We saw lots of wildflowers from the beginning of the hike. The trail climbs steadily up with many switchbacks in and out of the forest.
There were still some balsamroot in bloom.
Here penstemon was mixed in with a flowering bush.
This mother grouse led us up the trail for a bit to draw us away from her chick hiding in the brush.
On the way up, we began to get views of nearby peaks.We saw several clusters of Tweedy's lewesia, they are so beautiful!
View looking across Icicle Creek (far, far below) to the Stuart Range.
Lots of Jacob's Ladder along the trail.And the view further up the trail as we neared the top of Icicle Ridge:
Our destination, up on those boulders where there was once a fire lookout. This is about 1/2 mile after joining the Icicle Ridge Trail.
Large patches of packed down snow on Icicle Ridge.
View to the northwest, including a cloud covered Glacier Peak.Pano looking south to the Sturt Range, including Mt Stuart, Dragontail, Colchuck Peak and Asgard Pass.
some of the wildflowers we saw along the trail today:
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