Most national forest trails in PNW finally opened as of Friday 5/22, after 2-month COVID-19 closure. I worried about the crowds on trails during this long weekend, opted to check out some lesser known trails. My other objective is to look for Lewisia Rediviva and Lewisia Tweedy - my favorite wild flowers.
5/23, Saturday, sunny. I knew of
Tronsen Ridge as a flower destination. It's better done as a one way hike with 2 cars.
First, we drove (almost all the way) to
Tronsen Meadow TH (~4300'), as shown in this photo: full of mud pools. Found a pullout ~200m short of the TH, and parked next to a Russian couple. The bad road is only ~1/2-3/4 mile long. Only 10 minutes onto the trail, found 3 flowering Tweedy plants. The flowers are smaller than I remembered. Later saw more, but not yet in bloom. Need to come back in 2 weeks. The trail is open to motor-cycle starting mid June, so it's a bit rutted. Steep at times. Dusty. Some burnt trees (by 2012 Table Mountain Fire). Saw Wax Current, Trillium (mostly purple colored). Saw 2 hikers coming down.
In 1.6 miles, it's the junction with Tronson Ridge trail. We continued passed it to NF-9712, and turned right (S) to check out Ken Wilcox Horse Camp (~5600'). Met a couple who drove here. It's 8 some windy miles from Blewett Pass via NF-9716. It's quite flat here, lower than the ridge. We then walked back. Small Naneum Creek flows parallel to the road, quite a lot of Marsh Marigold blooming, and some Shooting Stars.
After crossing the creek, we headed to
Mount Lillian. Green grass under burnt trees. Quickly it gets boring in the woods. The trail is mostly flat. No view. Small patches of hard snow. In about a mile, reached a nice rocky butte (~6000'), where we had lunch.
Can see Mount Lillian ~1/4 mile south, but looks very wooded. Probably no view. A couple with overnight backpacks came down that way, and sat here for lunch too. Saw Snow Douglasia and Lyall Rockcress here. The east side of this ridge looks like some landslide. View is quite good, north to Stuart Range, east to Columbia River.
On the way back, we took the trail instead of the road. Much nicer. Walked on a slope of sagebrush and a nice meadow of glacier lily.
Returned to the junction with Tronsen Meadow Trail and hiked down to the car, looking over Stuart Range through the trees.
Total, met 4 hikers, 4 drivers, ~8 cars.
Drover to the north TH of Tronsen Ridge (~4200'), and took FS-7224. This 3 mile road requires high clearance, bushy, narrow. Sometimes with steep drop-off, and great view. Many lilac colored penstemon on the rocks along the road. 6 cars at the TH.
Saw total ~10 hikers here. Trail is gentle, less rutty here, not burnt. More open.
More balsomroot and lupines. Found Tweedy at only two places. Saw Rainier sometimes. We hiked in about 1-2 miles, and when it gets too wooded, we turned around.
Camped by Tronsen Creek. Had sauteed mushroom with asparagus, spiced noodle with tomato and broccolini for dinner, instead of freeze dried food.
Got chilly later into the night, but not too cold. Maybe ~40F. Not enough sky to see many stars. Highway noise never stopped.
5/24, Sunday. Partly sunny. 77°F in Wenatchee, but feels much warmer:(
First stop is
Peshastin Pinnacles State Park. It reminds me of Smithrock, just smaller and less dramatic. Still a fun place with a great view of the Stuart Range.
The parking lot was closed. Together with 2 other cars, we parked in the orchard next door. Very dry and sandy, exposed. 3 picnic tables in the shade next to the parking lot. Trails well maintained. A good variety of flowers.
We drove to
Wenatchee Confluence State Park, occupying both sides of the Wenatchee River as it enters Columbia. Campground is closed, but everything else is open. Grass newly cut in the large lawn with few shade. A kiddie pool. Many rose bushes in flower along the river, so were Russian Olive, giving off not-too-pleasant fragrance. At noon, it felt hot. We went into the town, and bought a case of cold beer.
Drove up
Burch Mountain Rd, passing the new housing development in Wenatchee. The road soon turns to "primitive". At least this bad road is wide, allowing traffic of both direction. Quite a few ATVs and young people.
As we gained elevation, the scrubby desert slope gave away to tall trees. True oasis. Cooler, breezier. Some tree branches even covered with moss. Parked at the Burch Mountain TH, and walked to Eagle Rock. Green grass under the trees, dotted with flowers. Many Balsamroot and Lomatium nudicaule. I'm very happy to see many Bitterroot. Also found Geum Triflorum, Larkspur, Phacilia. Once on Eagle Rock, great view of the Stuart Range, Wenatchee River entering Columbia, and the city of Wenatchee below. Yes, also the cell towers on the next hill. No hikers, only target shooters and ATV riders.
My next destination is
Keystone Ridge near Entiat. It's supposed to have a dense population of both Lewisias, as well as white larkspur (endemic to Wenatchee Mountains). Oh, and rattlesnakes. Mills Canyon Rd is really bad, windy and narrow. We gave up ~3 miles in. Didn't see any boot path up the slope, all along seems fairly steep. Probably should just walk up the road at the creek crossing. Mills Canyon Road is interesting, in the sense that it's very lush, in this hot and dry locale. Quite a lots of flowers along the road too, including a lot of Scarlet Gilia.From reading the trip reports, seem there's another boot track from Hwy-97, to enable one way hike. But I didn't see anything obvious. I did see 4 goats on a cliff, brown color. I may try this again early in the day, when it's not so hot.
Having been baked in the sun all day, we decided to hike
Ingalls Creek for some cool shade. We were not alone. There were at least 2 dozen cars at TH at this late hour (after 5pm already). Big iris right by the outhouse. A camp site right there, vacant.
The rushing creek is refreshing. Ate a light meal by the water before heading onto the trail. Saw another tent site a few minutes into the trail, vacant. However, later campsites were all taken.
We walked about 3 miles in. A surprising amount of flowers lined the well maintained trail. Both wet/west side flowers like Service Berry, Solomon's Seal, Vanilla Leaf, and dry/east side flowers like delicate Mariposa Lily, Prairie Star, Death Camas, tall Fernleaf Lomatium. Tons of Arnica, Paintbrush from yellow to crimson with all shades of orange in between. Found one plant of
Rock Clematis with 3 flowers. Saw quite many hikers, and biker, and a note warning about rattlesnake. I may have heard one on the way out.
Drove home before the rain on Monday. Spent the Memorial Day ID-ing flowers and sorting photos. I'm very pleased with all the flowers we saw in the two days, and not too much crowd. Total about 10 miles + ~2000' on Saturday, 8 miles + 800' on Sunday.
8/29, Monday.
Driving from Bishop to Sabrina Lake is straighforward. Hwy 168 all the way to the end.
South Lake branches off earlier, and then North Lake. Stay on the course to Lake Sabrina and boat launch.
We found a pullover without a "No Overnight Park" sign.
Ate as much as we can, readjusted food, put everything either in our packs or in the bear bin. Marked each container with name and exit date. Afterwards, we marched on the trail. ~10:40am.
Lake Sabrina is a reservoir. Saw visitors on the dam. The lake is quite large. The trail goes for awhile along its SE shore, ~an hour, slowly gaining elevation. Entered John Muir Wilderness boundary ~10 minutes from TH.
This is Monday. We met a few hikers coming out. Not busy at all. Not many cars on the road either, so I was a bit worried. Inquired about catching rides between South and North Lake THs with 2 ladies who hike here frequently. They said that we shouldn't have any problem.
The trail is straightforward, only ~3 miles, 1400' gain.
Pitched my tent in shade at Blue Lake, the first of the many lakes in Sabrina Basin.
It's large and pretty.
CB pitched his tent next to a viewpoint. Soon, he got some neighbors.
We took our day packs, headed to Midnight Lake.
On the way, detoured to Emerald Lakes first. Grassy shores, quite pretty.
Continued, passed Dingleberry Lake. Ignored the first turn to Topsy-Turvy Lake, and the 2nd turn to Moonlight Lake.
We reached Midnight Lake ~4:20pm. It's more bleak.
My favorite stretch is at the creek crossing just north of the turn to Topsy-Turvy.
Good campsites there.
Almost at 7pm (should have left earlier), I hiked to Donkey Lake alone.
It's ~1 mile south of our camp. A pleasant hike, now that the temperature had cooled down.
Back ~8:20 in the dark, startled the girls, because I didn't turn on the headlamp.
Starry night. I could see most of the time without the headlamp.
Warmer than yesterday, even though we were camping at ~10400'.
