Shellrock PeakRecent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
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The Fun, Fit and Over Fifty club of the Tri-Cities met at the Cash Prairie trailhead to start this hike...
The Fun, Fit and Over Fifty club of the Tri-Cities met at the Cash Prairie trailhead to start this hike on a perfect, clear day. We reached the trailhead by taking the Bethel Ridge Road off Hwy 12. The road is in great condition. There were a few patches of snow still along the trail but the wildflowers are beautiful right now - this trail goes through the southern part of the Wm Douglas wilderness and the flowers are ones familiar to us from the eastern side of Washington - phlox, balsamroot, bitterroot etc. It was like hiking through a rock garden. We ate lunch at Burnt Mountain with views clear beyond Mt. Stuart to the north, Adams and the Goat Rocks to the south, Mt Aix, Bismarck and Mt. Rainier in our faces!
Some turned back after lunch. A number of us went on past the junction with the Shellrock Peak Trail and then turned back for what I recorded as an 8.2 mile round trip hike. Two others took trail 1132 and then bushwacked up Shellrock. The faint trail (old 1141A) that would take you up Shellrock as reported in guidebooks was never found. This trail has a lot of ups and downs and I recorded on my Delorme GPS a climb of 1419 feet for a roundtrip to the top of Burnt (6536 elv) and back to the trailhead even though the trail starts at 6300 feet! For those of us who went past the Shellrock Peak intersection, the total climb for a roundtrip was 2801 and the two who went to the top of Shellrock did a total about 3400 ft. We paid for the downhills on our return.
Ironstone Mountain #1141,Shellrock Peak #1132
— Jun 23, 2007
— Jim Cummins
Day hike
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The road is snow free, and most of the Ironstone Mtn Trail is snow free to the junction with Shellrock...
The road is snow free, and most of the Ironstone Mtn Trail is snow free to the junction with Shellrock Trail. There is a sign that marks the junction of Ironstone/Shellrock Trail, but I found it a little confusing and took cross country route to where the trail showed on my map (USGS. The route up Shellrock Peak is clear of snow. Shellrock Peak is a huge pile of rock, much of which is covered with black lichen. The black color is not the rock, but lichen. The view is great, whith Adams to the SW and Rainier to the NW. Looked like there is plenty of snow in the Goat Rocks (Gilbert/Tieton Peak area). I was the first to sign the peak register this year. I shared the shelter for a few minutes with a friendly rock rabbit (pika). A variety of wildflowers are blooming; lupine, wallflower, bitterroot, line leaved fleabane, yellow violets, woolly sunflower, Thompson's paintbrush, several buckwheat and parsley's, and a number of flowers that I didn't Id. I saw 31 goats, but had to take a 1 mile sidetrip to get a good look. Looks like 3 or 4 people have walked part of the Ironstone Mtn trail so far this year. There were a couple of blow downs, but the trail was good, although almost invisible in some places, which might be difficult for beginners. This is an easy day hike. |
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