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Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books Bean Creek Basin
Mount Stuart dominates the eastern half of the Alpine Lakes Wil-derness, towering so high above its surrounding peaks that it can be seen from trails throughout the region. Bean Creek is one of those trails affording views of the spectacular rock slabs of Stuart. But there's more to this trail than mountain views. Indeed, there are splendid views of Ingalls Peak and other summits in the Stuart Range. But it's the little things that make Bean Creek special. A plethora of blooming plants--wildflowers of all varieties--grace the valley. And an army of wild critters calls the basin home, from mule deer to deer mice, from gray jays to pileated woodpeckers.
Cross Beverly Creek on the stout bridge near the trailhead and climb creekside on an old, overgrown roadbed. At 0.5 mile turn right at the first trail junction and start up Bean Creek valley. The trail drives upward through the tight valley, lined lightly with trees and carpeted with beargrass, buckwheat, and other blooming plants under the waving branches of the pines and firs. Many of the trees that used to dot the hillsides can be seen rotting in piles at the bottom of the steep valley--dropped by a violent avalanche some years before. The trail continues a steep climb for nearly a mile, crossing the creek to access more cool forest and small forest meadows higher up the valley. The creek can be fast and tough to wade early in the year when melting snows swell the flow. At 2 miles the trail leaves a stand of forest and erupts onto a broad swath of green, speckled with reds, blues, purples, yellows, and whites--that is, a vast grassy meadow filled with the odoriferous heads of blooming wildflowers. At this point the trail forks. Stay left to climb into the flower fields of Bean Creek basin. The trail leads to a wonderful camp along the creek, and then angles up into a garden of color, dotted with alpine firs and stunted pines. As you ascend the 0.5-mile from this last trail junction, you'll find the meadows growing larger and the stands of trees growing smaller, until finally the meadow wins out and takes over all the basin before you. Here, at around 5300 feet, you'll be standing amid flowers that stretch across scores of acres. Above the meadows tower the jagged tops of Earl Peak, Mount Stuart, and Iron Peak. Break out lunch, then enjoy a nap in the sun before heading for home.
Driving Directions:
From Seattle drive east on I-90 to East Cle Elum, exit 85. Cross over the freeway overpass and turn right (northbound) on State Route 970. Cross the Teanaway River bridge, and in another mile turn left onto Teanaway Road. Drive north on Teanaway Road, veering right as it becomes first the North Fork Teanaway Road and then unpaved Forest Road 9737 at 29 Pines Campground. Continue north for just under 4 miles before turning right (east) onto Forest Road 9737-112, signed for Beverly Creek. Drive 1.4 miles to the road end and trail-head. Recent Trip Reports
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Bean Creek Basin, Beverly Turnpike, 1226.1
— Oct 15, 2011
— mcm
Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Mudholes | Snow on trail
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Drove to Beverly Creek TH of the Teanaway River Road. Road in good condition. Lots of hunters campin...
Drove to Beverly Creek TH of the Teanaway River Road. Road in good condition. Lots of hunters camping and on the trails. We had forgotten to bring the usual orange accoutraments that we wear this time of year, but found a red emergency blanket and orange vapor barrier socks, emergency bivy bag, and cotton T-shirt among our supplies and once draped or tied on to pack and worn over fleece, did the trick. Very cold starting off but by afternoon I was hiking uphill in a short sleeved t-shirt (fine as long as I kept moving). Gorgeous day. Saw only three friendly hunters within 2 miles of the TH and no one else all day. Not so much reds and yellows along the path but larches below Earl Pk are almost near peak. Snow varied from none to a dusting to about one foot. We looped up Beverly Creek, along trail 1226.1, cutting south after the Hardscrabble Creek junction and up and over Earl's NE ridge. Soaked up the views from the summit, then dropped off the SSW ridge to pick up Bean Creek trail and back to the cars just as it was getting dark (6:30 ish). 12 miles/4,000+ gain/8.5 hours
Day hike
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This is a great lonely hike to an fantastic view peak in the Teanaway area. I decided to go east to...
This is a great lonely hike to an fantastic view peak in the Teanaway area. I decided to go east to escape the clouds and showers coming in from the west. It ended up being mostly cloudy but with enough sun breaks to take some decent pictures. The road to the Beverly Creek trailhead is a bit rough but no problem at all for the RAV4. Beverly Creek trail is an old dirt road with signs of moderate horse use. Turn right on the signed Bean Creek trail(1391.1) after .5 mi. The Bean Creek trail is in great shape and gets very little horse travel. Nice steady incline for about 2 mi. There is an unmarked fork. I took the right fork which crosses the creek and climbs switchbacks up to a saddle at 6200ft just south of Earl Pk. An obvious path to the left at the pass travels steeply up to the top of Earl Pk. This is definitely the easier but less scenic way up to the top. Great views of the entire upper Teanaway area from the top. Also distant views to Rainier and Adams. Also a birds eye view into Bean Creek Basin. Great view of Mt Stuart even if it's peak never made it out of the clouds. I made a loop by going down the ridge toward Bean peak. This is also steep, a bit less defined and requires some easy scrambling. Views from this ridge are outstanding. A fair number of larches can be seen on the sloops north of the ridge but they haven't started turning gold yet. Go all the way to Bean Peak or close to it before decending into the Bean Creek Basin. I made the mistake of decending too soon and it was a bit too steep and loose. Once you hit the meadows of Bean Creek its trail all the way home.
No bugs. No people. A few wildflowers still. RT about 9 miles and 3400 ft elevation.
Bean Creek Basin
— Aug 20, 2011
— BenJammin
Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Bugs
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Hiked up to Bean Creak Basin yesterday with my wife and 6 year old son. A reasonably short yet chal...
Hiked up to Bean Creak Basin yesterday with my wife and 6 year old son. A reasonably short yet challenging hike for young legs. We spent the night there. Leaving the trail head, there was a sign for an aggressive goat in the area. Apparently, there have been three incidents of the goat chewing backpacks and the like. We didn't see the goat, nor did we see any other large fauna. We did see the incredible flowers, some great weather, just a little mud, no snow whatsoever, and lots of bugs. An earlier report mentioned light bugs. That person must have been moving without any lengthy stops. We stayed in the basin and were greeted (all afternoon) by a host of small flies as well some large horse flies (there are horses in the area, though we didn't see any). While the basin was beautiful and we saw only one other couple all day, the constant fly swatting was tiresome. As the sun set, the mosquitoes came out and the flies disappeared. Mosquitoes swarmed but respected the Deet. My wife chose to put no Deet on her clothing and she has innumerable bites to show for it. We all wore mosquito nets on our heads, which was good because the mosquitoes were there again in the morning. They were swarming in such numbers this morning that we were inspired only to eat, pack up and get out quickly. The flowers were quite beautiful though...Multiple campsites possible though some are rather hidden from view. A creek that appear and disappears, as the flow is weak, but water is certainly available.
Bean Creek Basin
— Aug 19, 2011
— WriteFlier
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
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* Scarlet Gilia
* Paintbrush
* Lupine
* Western Monkshood
* Lupine
* Columbine
* Wood Sorel
...
* Scarlet Gilia
* Paintbrush * Lupine * Western Monkshood * Lupine * Columbine * Wood Sorel Those are just a few of the wildflowers blooming along the Bean Creek Trail on AUGUST 19th!!!!! What a weird year! This early summer trail is at its best now, near the end of August. Cool all the way up to the ridgeline with not a sole spotted on the trail other than the three of us (her, me and the dog). Only bugs were a few black flies and flying ants at the summit. Multi-night backpack
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Overgrown
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Spectacular flowers and views and very little snow. However we did meet a few obstacles.
Day 1: St...
Spectacular flowers and views and very little snow. However we did meet a few obstacles.
Day 1: Started at Esmeralda Basin up over Longs Pass, down the other side about 1/2 way to Ingalls Creek there is are a couple of nice camping spots. Moderately buggy - but the flowers were spectacular. The trail down from Longs Pass is a dotted line on the map. Not at all hard to find - but quite steep (with 20 foot switch backs) on lots of slippery scrabble. The climbers use it all the time. Day 2. Day hike up to Stuart Pass. Beautiful flowers on the way -VERY buggy. We planned to pick up packs on the way back and head down Ingalls Creek to camp. If we had it to do over again we would have brought our gear down to the trail junction before heading up to the pass. Instead we had a pretty steep climb up and back before heading off for a campsite. Camped at Fourth creek. Crossing at Ingalls Creek looked harder and harder as we went down stream. It was doable (took shoes off and waded) at the trail junction. Did not look at ALL friendly at Fourth Creek. Did not attempt. Day 3. Checked out crossing at Hardscrabble Creek "in case" we couldn't cross at Cascade Creek. Looked not doable. High fast water, no logs. Crossed at Cascade Creek with no trouble. 2 perfectly placed logs and a series of boulders made it easy. Without them it would have been impossible. No way to avoid waist high fast water. The Cascade Creek trail was another story. TAKE A GPS OR ALTIMETER. This trail is EXTREMELY hard to follow. If we had read the previous post before we left we might have not chosen this route. Our route was an ascent instead of a descent (previous hiker). Lucked out by finding the trail head. It is obscured by 7 foot brush.... Lots of moving brush, climbing over large logs and then trying desperately to find the trail again. "Blowdowns" now has an entirely new meaning. Some sections everything is blown down and there are no blazes to follow. We ended up scouting over a hundred yards in various directions to find trail on several occassions. Other sections include traverses across steep soft scrabble where there is only the slightest hint of the trail. The three of us often branched out in small scouting missions to determine what might be animal trail vs. human trail... then over and over again we'd find ourselves lost - and gradually re-find the trail. As the other hiker noted the trail totally disappears when you enter the meadow. Totally. So there we were, hiking in meadow flowers up to our shoulders - trying desperately to find some semblance of trail. After many false moves and map consultations we finally decided we were too far north and followed the contour south hoping (praying) we would find the trail. We did - and it was pretty obvious by the time we picked it back up. We only had about 4 more "find the trail" parties after that. We were relieved to reach the top - 4.5 hours after we started (steady hiking) - but according to the map, only 2.9 miles further into our journey. It is slow going. If it doesn't get some trail work or a lot more traffic it will be lost. If you do decide to try it out (we obviously succeeded) it would be nice to bring some red plastic tape to help others find the trail where the blowdowns are so extensive and where erosion and wildness are winning. Maybe then others could keep the trail active through use. Navaho pass is quite spectacular (Maybe we were just really relieved to have finally made it!). Recommend camping in the flat area (obvious campsites with water) about half a mile or so below the pass... there isn't much else if you are headed towards Bean Creek. Day 4. Early morning day hike up to Navaho Peak. Spectacular views! Worth it. Flowers still glorious. Then back down, up trail 1369, then 1391( Bean Creek) toward Beverly Creek trail. Every pass had great views. Lots of meadows, flowers - and this part of the trip had few bugs. Camped at the intersection of the Beverly Creek and Fourth Creek trails. Day 5. Easy hike out to the road (trail 1399). This section was probably the least interesting of all of the pieces. Fewer flowers. Got to the road and within minutes got a ride back up to the car at Esmeralda Basin. Hiking partner counted 15 cars in 15 minutes (a Friday morning around 10:15). The whole trip was a wonderful loop - and except for the Cascade Creek trail- was great hiking. We saw 1 backpacker and 4 hikers the first day, 1 on the third day,1 on the 4th and 3 going in as we were coming out on the last day. Kind of surprising as this was one of the few really snow-free loops at the time. |
 Bean Creek Basin. Photo by Jayboyzee.
2010
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