N. Fork Entiat BP-2, DH-3

Leader: Steve Ghan steven.ghan@gmail.com
$40 transportation fee for riders
Basecamp backpacking limits the miles carrying your pack to a campsite far from the noise and
litter of a campground, but provides short day-trip access to high-country destinations. On this
four-day trip, we’ll camp three nights at the edge of a small meadow at elevation 5200 feet on
the North Fork Entiat River (at the bottom of the map), an easy 6 miles from and 1300 feet
above the trailhead. This is not wilderness, so mountain bikes might be encountered.

The first day trip from camp climbs 1800 ft rather steeply in two miles to Fern Lake, nestled in a
granite cirque at elevation 6500 feet; you’ll have plenty of time to explore the basin, refresh
yourself in the lake, and lounge on its sandy western beach.
The second day trip follows the Entiat trail up the valley floor for a mile and a half before
climbing again rather steeply for half a mile to a junction at 6600 feet on the slopes of 8600 ft
Cardinal Peak. The right fork traverses Cardinal for miles, offering two routes down to the N.
Fork Entiat trail (a possible loop for a future trip). We’ll take the left fork, sampling several
lovely basins populated with larches. We’ll explore as far as we have energy for; it’s about 4
miles from camp to 7500 ft Saska Pass.

On day four, we’ll pack up and walk six miles back to the trailhead and drive home in four
hours.