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Did a day hike to the summit of Earl Peak w/my 4-year-old.
A few things worth noting:
1. I un...
Did a day hike to the summit of Earl Peak w/my 4-year-old.
A few things worth noting: 1. I underestimated the size of this mountain. It's a pretty serious endeavor in terms of effort. Not for kids. I had to carry mine on the shoulders the entire way up and it was really hard. 2. Although navigation from the pass to the summit is not difficult, the tread is very dry and somewhat loose and we frequently slipped on the steeper sections coming down. A bit dicey. 3. The trail seems to disappear between the intersection with Bean Creek Basin and the switchbacks up to the pass. The reason for this is apparent when coming back down - the established tread to Earl Peak breaks off from the Bean Creek trail *before* reaching the Bean Creek Basin intersection - it's not drawn this way on the GT map. On the way up it's easy to walk right past the turnoff without realizing what it is. http://www.flickr.com/jasonracey 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. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Snow on trail
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There were only 4 vehicles at the TH when I arrived at 8:30 am on a mild, beautiful Saturday morning...
There were only 4 vehicles at the TH when I arrived at 8:30 am on a mild, beautiful Saturday morning. I thought the parking lot would be full on a July 4 weekend. Although it was only 53 F when I started, as forecast the day warmed up and felt like a hot summer day by the time I reached the ridge tops. The lower crossing of Bean Creek is tricky, but if you have good balance you can walk across the logs (maybe it is more accurate to say tree branches) and rocks. There are a variety of shrubs and flowers blooming below this crossing. Green Trails Maps™ (Mt. Stuart) show the lower mile or so of trail on the wrong side of the creek below the first trail crossing. At about the 2 mile mark the trail crosses the creek again, but was too high to cross at that point. There are a number of trees in the creek and on the hillside at this point that were hit by an avalanche. I walked upstream where there are several places to cross. I didn’t want to take the trail up the hill to Earl Peak so walk the walk upstream before crossing the creek was a more direct route to the upper end of Bean Creek Basin and to my destination. The reason I planned to take that route was that I expected the trail to be covered with snow, and because the views from the ridge walk are more rewarding than the climb through the trees. I hiked to the upper end of the Basin next up to the top of the ridge east of Bean Peak, and then followed the ridge southeast to the top of Earl Peak.
After spending some time at the Earl Peak summit I hiked down the steep ridge in a southerly direction until I hit snow somewhere near the trail. I should have returned on the same route because, as I expected, most of the trail from the top of the ridge down to Bean Creek is covered with snow. I am referring to the trail (1391.1) that intersects Standup Trail #1369. I hiked down the tail several years ago when there was much less snow, and didn’t enjoy falling into several holes and walking calf deep or deeper in soft snow, so I decided to walk down the hill just west of the trail. I don’t know if that was a better route than walking on the snow, but it got me back down to Bean Creek and the trail. Although I avoided most of the snow, I managed to fall through not far from Bean Creek after I hit the trail. I fell head over heels and slide a short distance in the wet slush. I got up, looked around, and brushed myself off. I didn’t hear anyone burst into laughter, other than me, so fortunately no one was there to watch. At the point I was getting a tired and careless. The north facing slopes above about 5,200 ft are almost 100 percent snow covered as far as I could see. The snow depth just north of the ridge top (about 6-7000 ft) that I walked between Bean Peak and Earl Peak was at least 4 – 5 feet. There was no snow on top of the ridge or on the south slope, with the exception of a few patches just west of Earl Peak. For those who are not interested in cross country routes or hiking over snow on steep slopes, it might be 3 weeks before the route to Earl Peak via Beverly Creek is mostly snow free. I should point out that the official trail does not go to Earl Peak, but a path is visible through the rock and gravel from where the trail crossing over the top of the ridge. This is a beautiful area even if you don’t stroll up to Earl Peak or to the ridge between Bean and Earl Peaks, but if you don’t you will miss out on fantastic views. From the ridge, gaze northwest and north at Mt Stuart and most of the prominent peaks in the Enchantment Lakes area. West you will see the heart of the Alpine Lake Wilderness, and south looms the Teanaway Valley, Mt Rainier and Mt Adams. With snow covering most of the high Cascade Range the snow covered peaks are a site worth seeing on a clear day. If you enjoy wildflowers, you will want to hike to the ridge top and see a few of the relatively rare plants the grown only in the Wenatchee Mountains and only on the highest ridges. They are just starting to bloom on the south slopes. There are many attractive snags on and around Early Peak. A partial list of wildflowers and shrubs in bloom include arrowleaf balsamroot, red columbine, western spring beauty, Drummond’s anemone, vanilla leaf, serviceberry, alpine spring beauty, Wenatchee desert parsley, Jacob’s ladder, delphinium, tall silvercrown, snow douglasia, shooting star, goosefoot violet, Fendler’s waterleaf, elderberry, glacier lily and many more that I don’t recall right now or that I can’t identify. I returned to the parking lot about 4 pm and found 10 vehicles. I saw two people all day. They camped Friday night below Bean Creek Basin and were gone in the afternoon so everyone else must have hiked the Beverly Turnpike Trail. Saturday was a great day to hike. That was my first strenuous hike of the season so I am nursing sore muscles today. Even though this is a relatively short 7 plus mile hike, it is strenuous due to the elevation gain (about 3000 ft) and off trail route.
Standup Creek, Stafford Creek, Earl Peak, Navaho Pass, Navaho Peak
— Jun 04, 2011
— Cascade Liberation Organization
Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Snow on trail
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The trick to the Standup - Earl - Stafford - Navaho loop is to do it in early season, before it gets...
The trick to the Standup - Earl - Stafford - Navaho loop is to do it in early season, before it gets crowded, when there's still snow.
Teanaway Road has been graded. Stafford Creek Road has a short rocky/slow section to Standup Creek. Standup Creek Road is open, recently cleared, OK for a low-clearance car. 2011 is an unusually heavy snowpack year. Snow began approx. 4000'. I used the snowshoes but did much of the trip without them. This area is prettier with some snow on it, lots of bird and flower activity, so early June is the best time, when there's still enough snow to keep it uncrowded. Standup Creek #1369 is my preferred route to Earl Peak, longer but more solitude than Beverly or Stafford. I saw nobody, no other cars at trailhead, but there were well over a dozen people on the summit who'd come up Beverly Creek. Only a couple blowdowns. Standup does have at least 6 stream crossings -- the 80cm ice axe was handy -- you can cross them feet-dry if you have good gaitors; I shipped some water on 3 of them. No need to carry water until high up in the basin (see spring marked on map; not sure how late it flows). I avoided the final stream crossing to avoid postholing the sunny South slopes; curved NE to the Standup/Stafford pass to keep on firm, shaded snow. Ascended SE ridge of Earl Pk. You can either follow the ridge or glissade the basin and traverse cross-country to Stafford Pass. Be very careful with your feet here when it's not snow-covered. This soil is fragile. Don't wear a new path. I did this stretch without snowshoes, but it's still all snow. Some idiots built a campfire ring at Stafford Pass, 6000', right on the tent sites. Another idiot built a fire at Navaho summit, 7000'. Please don't do this. A fire is the worst impact you can make, especially at these altitudes. Feel free to destroy fire rings and remove fire traces at this altitude; you don't want to encourage such behavior. Bivouacked on Navaho summit. Descended SE ridge, hiked up "Little Navaho" (the 6500' peaklet S. of the 6000' pass). Descended W from the 6000' pass to pick up Stafford Creek #1359 at about 4800'. Snow stopped about 4000'. Some blowdown, no big deal. The road hike back to Standup trailhead was pleasant, lots of birds & flowers and little traffic. No bugs yet. Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
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It looked to be a washed out weekend. Rain on Saturday followed by heavy rain and snow on Sunday. I ...
It looked to be a washed out weekend. Rain on Saturday followed by heavy rain and snow on Sunday. I had to be back in town early on Saturday. What to do? Janet wanted to go scramble a mountain. She had double knee replacement surgery only 6 1/2 months earlier and had been slowly building back up. How about 7 miles with 3300' of gain with the last 1/2 mile and 800' of gain off trail up the ridge? Earl Peak it was. Since I had to be back early and it is a 230 mile round trip drive it meant another early morning alarm. 4:45 am early. We met in Bellevue at 5:50 am and headed east in the dark. One quick stop in Cle Elum and we reached the trailhead at 7:45. We were on the trail just before 8:00.
There was a horse trailer and half a dozen trucks at the Beverly Creek trailhead. This was the second week of the main deer hunting season. I was prepared with a whole lot of orange clothing. All along the Teanaway River valley we saw golden leaves. Much more than I expected. The trail also was lined with golden leaves much of the way. We quickly reached Bean Creek and took a right turn on the trail to Bean Creek Basin. The creek crossing was easy as the water is still low. This trip is back end loaded for elevation gain. The trail is very gently graded all the way to the saddle on the ridge of Earl Peak. While most of our drive was under a layer of clouds it miraculously cleared up in the Teanaway valley. It was cold but blue sky shone overhead. The trail climbs the ridge of Earl then descends to meet the Standup Creek trail. Most folks on the trail head up to Bean Creek Basin on a non official boot path. Year ago I spent half an hour searching for the real trail as it disappeared after the second crossing of Bean Creek. That is no longer a problem as the route is well maintained and easy to follow. In fact the first part of the climb to the ridge has had very recent work widening the narrow tread. The ascent is easy as the trail makes many long gentle switchbacks. Mostly it is in forest though there are a number of open views out to Bean, Mary, and Judi Peaks and down to the basin. Janet noticed pair of lone bluebell type flowers still in full bloom. It seems they don't know that it's late October. Our steady pace with lots of photo stops brought us to the saddle at 10:04. Just a little over 2 hours to hike 3.1 miles with 2450' of gain. I noticed the burnt trees and suddenly recalled that a horse had died at this place during the summer. An attempt at cremation led to a small forest fire. Thankfully the horse is no longer there. Now we were ready for the fun part, Janet's first scramble and first summit in nearly a year. The ridge route has no exposure. It is just a steep hike up grass, loose scree, and some boulders. Not that hard unless you had double knee replacement surgery recently. We took it slow and Janet did just fine. Part way up clouds came screaming in. One minute I could see the Cascade Crest many miles away and then I could not see Bean Creek Basin right below us. We were still comfortably warm but visibility went to practically zero. The summit above drifted in and out of sight as we climbed higher. Soon there was no more mountain to climb as we reached the 7036' summit. The old brass Mountaineer summit register was no longer there. No signing in this day. The wind was still light as we bundled up. It was just about 11:00 am when we summited. Views were non existent but we did not care. We had a great hike up with blue sky and views most of the way and real lonesome feeling white out on the top. We heard one gun shot but otherwise no signs of anyone else. By 11:20 we were ready to head down. This was a tougher test for Janet as the loose rock makes it easy to slip and fall. Half way back to the saddle it began to snow. Big flakes blown horizontally right at us. A short fun early taste of the winter that is coming. We each took a short movie to catch the snowfall. The snow stopped as quickly as it had begun. That was it for precipitation and rain gear was never needed. We made it back to the saddle with no slips or falls. As we dropped off the ridge the thick clouds parted as quickly as they had formed. Back in the basin the sky turned mostly blue and the sun came back out. The wind had picked up on our descent from the summit and fingers had felt frozen. The sun quickly warmed us up again. We reached the trail head at 2:15, right on pace for getting me back to Seattle on time. Just after we reached the car a group of hunters also came back. We saw nobody on the trail and just these folks at the end of the day. Not bad solitude for a pretty popular trail. On the drive back to Seattle we ran into a lot of rain. Our early morning start proved to be great timing. We missed all the hard rain to come. Going into a popular hunting area on day forecast to be very rainy kept away the hikers and delivered up solitude and great weather to us. Earl is one of my favorite summits. Many of my visits are on snow. It was nice to visit at a time it was snow free. Janet had a chance to push her recovery a little and I had another great day in the mountains. 20 photos have been posted at: http://www.hikingnorthwest.com. Go to "Trips-2010" on the left margin. |
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