Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Craig Romano/The Mountaineers Books Chiwaukum Creek
Featured In:
Day Hiking: Central Cascades,
by Craig Romano.
A portion of all book sales from the links above benefits WTA and helps protect and maintain our trails. From the trailhead kiosk, begin your walk by heading for a gated road that traverses private property. Hikers and horseback riders are allowed to walk this road to reach the actual trailhead. Hugging the creek in deep timber and passing just a couple of structures, the road walk is actually quite pleasant. At 1.25 miles reach true trail (elev. 2000 ft), and after another 0.25 mile enter the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Traveling at first on a bench above the chattering (and in spring, roaring) Chiwaukum Creek, the trail soon comes down to creek level, where the water has tried to level the trail! Then it's back to higher ground. In spring and early summer the trail is lined with blooming calypso orchids, groundsel, trilliums, paintbrush, and the fun-to-say ballhead waterleaf. Look too for Tweedy's lewisia, a showy, somewhat rare blossom. At 2.5 miles pass a nice creekside campsite (perfectly suitable for lunchtime napping as well) in a grove of western white pines. Farther upriver the trail meanders through pleasant flats of ponderosa pines, occasionally passing by a gargantuan specimen. At 4.5 miles enter a forested area lacking old-growth giants, rife instead with cherry and aspen, species indicative of disturbance. Part of a private inholding (legacy of the railroad grants), the ancient pine forest here was "disturbed" by chain saws in the 1980s. Public outcry and protests from guidebook pioneers Harvey Manning and Ira Spring couldn't stop it. The parcel was eventually added to the Alpine Wilderness, but with substantially less board footage. Reenter mature forest and, with the creek crashing beneath a formidable wall of rock, begin a short and steep climb of about 400 feet in 0.5 mile. Round a small knoll, and then descend slightly under a cool canopy of cedars to a precarious log crossing of Chiwaukum Creek (elev. 3300 ft). Here, 6 miles from your vehicle, is a good place to call it quits. Enjoy the creek chatter and the quiet of the surrounding wilderness.
Driving Directions:
From Everett head east on US 2 for 85 miles to Coles Corner. Continue east on US 2 for 4.8 miles, turning right on Chiwaukum Creek Road (the turnoff is 0.75 mile before Tumwater Campground between mileposts 89 and 90). (From Leavenworth follow US 2 west for 10 miles to the turnoff.) Follow Chiwaukum Creek Road for 0.2 mile to the trailhead (elev. 1850 ft). Privy available. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Blowdowns | Bridge out | Overgrown | Washouts
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I started at the Chiwaukum Creek Trailhead parking lot just off of HWY 2. The first mile is a road...
I started at the Chiwaukum Creek Trailhead parking lot just off of HWY 2. The first mile is a road easement that goes along the river, then the trail starts. This is a nice trail for 6 miles, with rolling ups and downs. It climbs a little more towards the end, where it crosses the river on a foot log and meets the intersection of 1571 & 1591. Today I chose to follow north fork (see my other trail report on the south fork last weekend). In around 2 miles there is a creek ford with no suitable log crossing. My dog was not thrilled with it as it was more than knee deep and fairly swift. Just on the other side is the intersection with the Glacier Creek trail 1573. We followed this faint but discernable trail along the creek. Soon we came to the first of 3 slide areas where the trail has been obliterated. After some difficult climbing up, under and through, we managed to reconnect with the trail on the other side. Do not cross the creek, even though it looks like the trail may go that way. The other slide areas were also difficult, and we found ourselves walking on mud and rocks and branches on top of several feet of snow that had slid down the hill. Somewhere under there is the trail, but no sense in making any repairs until everything melts and settles. Finally at about 1.8 miles we reached a meadow with a nice view of the basin above, with waterfalls coming down the face. There isn’t a trail across the meadow, however, on the other side after some more bush-whacking we reached a second meadow, even more spectacular with all the fall colors. From there to continue to the basin (no trail) required some serious hands and knees crawling and a hand saw if you are carrying a pack, so we turned around. Back at the intersection we followed 1591 towards Chiwaukum Lake. Immediately we were faced with a sketchy log crossing of the north fork then started a steep switch-backed assent up 1500’. Then the trail rolls gently down to the lake where there are some really nice campsites both above and along the shore. We took some pictures and headed back. From the intersection with the McCue Ridge trail (1574) which is on the far side of the lake, it was 10 miles back to the car, but mostly downhill.
Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Overgrown | Snow on trail
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The parking lot is just off of Hwy 2. The trail follows a road (actually someone’s gated driveway) for a...
The parking lot is just off of Hwy 2. The trail follows a road (actually someone’s gated driveway) for a mile before you reach the trail sign. There are other side roads, but stay on the one that follows the river. In another half mile you reach the Alpine Lakes Wilderness sign. This trail climbs gradually along the river for 6 miles in the trees. There are a couple very nice picnic or camp sites along the river. But only a couple, as most times you are in the trees above the river. You won’t get any sunshine in this valley, expect it to be cold. Near the end of this section there is a horse ford and foot log to cross the river. Then you come to the intersection of 1571 & 1591 to Chiwaukum Lake. (Look for my later report on 1591, which includes a deep creek ford) Following 1571 left for another 6 miles, the trail moves into the valley and goes through a couple lovely groves of aspen, now golden yellow. The views of Cape Horn and the surrounding mountains open up. The trail continues to climb gradually into this spectacular valley, until you reach the base of a waterfall. Here on the north-facing slope, the snow started to get deep as I climbed the switchbacks to the saddle. There is an intersection at the top. I tried to go right and continue to Ladies Pass, however I started post-holing above my knee and decided it would take me the rest of the day to get there. So I went back the other direction and ended up a beautiful lake. Based on the map, I am guessing it was Lake Flora. This trail offshoot ends here at the lake as far as I could tell in the snow. I turned around and headed back down. This is a great day trail run, and very runnable trail. At least maybe when there isn’t so much snow.
Chiwaukum Creek
— Jul 23, 2011
— MKraus
Day hike
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Chiwaukum Creek was roaring still, and the shade along the trail was a welcome relief. Many of the early wildflowers...
Chiwaukum Creek was roaring still, and the shade along the trail was a welcome relief. Many of the early wildflowers are now past prime, but still quite beautiful. Trail is in very good condition with only one small wet area that was not an issue. We did see three rattlesnakes along the trail. Although they were right on the trail, we managed to circumvent them without incident. Noticed several observations by others of rattlesnakes on the TH board and from comments from the few hikers we met that day.
Chiwaukum Creek
— Jun 30, 2011
— austineats
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
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An early departure gave us the creek all to ourselves. It also made for wet brush which made for wet...
An early departure gave us the creek all to ourselves. It also made for wet brush which made for wet hikers. The trail is in great condition with few wet areas. We turned around at ~5 miles. The creek is roaring and the whole scene quite tranquil.
Chiwaukum Creek
— Jun 25, 2011
— Guidebook
Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Overgrown | Water on trail
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Hiked up and spent the night at Timothy Meadows, passing countless wildflowers along the way! Saw queen's cup, stream...
Hiked up and spent the night at Timothy Meadows, passing countless wildflowers along the way! Saw queen's cup, stream violets, bullhead waterleaf, paintbrush, fields of lupine, sweetpea, false solomon seal, false lily of the valley, trillium, bluebells, one red columbine, and others I didn't recognize in bloom. The meadow was dry with lots of strawberries and chocolate lilies in bloom.
Trail was mostly in good shape to the log crossing with a few overgrown areas. Past that it was *really* overgrown with muddy patches and some areas of water running on the trail. The "creek" erupted into a massive waterfall along the final climb up to the meadow - it was a stunning sight! With no riders in sight, we spent the night at the horse camp and enjoyed the great views of snow-capped peaks up valley. Saw some fresh bear scat in the meadow area, but did not see the bear. On the way down heard reports that the bridge was out along the north fork. |
Chiwaukum Creek Trail. Photo by Perry.
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