Stafford CreekRecent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Mudholes
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Meadows full of flowers. Butterflies so tame they land on your arm. A trail clear and dry with...
Meadows full of flowers. Butterflies so tame they land on your arm. A trail clear and dry with gentle grade and stunning finale. Blue sky and time to enjoy it all. What could be better?
Stafford Creek trail is a beautiful trail. It is an easy, clear, 12 miles round trip to Navaho Pass with 2900 ft. gain in 3 miles. This is a horse trail so the grade is gentle and the tread is wide. There are some rocky portions and one large blowdown about a mile from the trailhead, but otherwise this is a lovely trail. The avalanche is totally cleared. I made the 6 mile trek to the pass in 3 hours and returned in 2.25 hours. This trail, like all the trails in the Teanaways is best started no later than 8:30 am to gain the most altitude in the cool shade. The sun can be brutal and although there are still water courses along the route, it is important to bring plenty of water. To get there, exit I-90 at the Blewett Pass/Leavenworth exit and go to the Teanaway road. Up this road to the end of the pavement, take the right fork and procede on a very washboarded gravel road to the Stafford Creek junction. Right on this junction about 3 rocky, potholed miles over the second bridge to a parking lot with a good outhouse. The trail ascends gradually 4.8 miles to the junction with the Earl Peak trail. Take a right and several generous switchbacks later come to a delightful meadow full of flowers and alpine breezes. Beyond this is a fantastic moonscape of barren slope with alpine vistas. The final 100 yds are surreal until you top the ridge and behold the majesty of the Stuart range. From here it is possible to hike left to the Beverly Turnpike trail or right to the summit of Navaho Peak. Down from here you can hike to Ingalls Creek and out to Leavenworth (hopefully you have somebody to pick you up there). The Teanaways offer a multitude of wonderful hikes and loops for any interest. Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Water on trail | Snow on trail
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This was my first overnight hike since I was 14 years old and my uncle took me. It was...
This was my first overnight hike since I was 14 years old and my uncle took me. It was a pretty fun hike. I went with 3 friends, only one of which had any backpacking experience at all, and his experience isn't very extensive. So it was definitely set up to be an adventure.
The fun started when we decided at the last minute to do a loop, using the Standup Creek Trail to come back from Navajo Peak. We parked at the Standup trail head, and walked the road to Stafford Creek Trail. Along the way, we turned up what we thought was Stafford Creek, but ended up being an old logging road. That was a bummer, because we walked almost a mile up a pretty steep hill. Once we figured out our error, we went back and continued to Stafford Creek. Funny, there are signs at the start of trails! There is a newish switchback that wasn't on the map. You have the option on continuing forward, but it is quickly evident that the trail washed out and you are better off taking the higher route. There were lots of small streams crossing the trail, giving ample opportunity to pump water without having to walk to Stafford Creek, which was always close, but never super easy to get to. There were only a few muddy areas besides the water crossings, and the trail was pretty dry considering all of the snow melt rushing down the hills. We got to a meadow that was completely swampy about 1/2 mile from the Standup Creek Trail junction, and set up camp near the edge of the water. There was a fire pit there that we made use of. On Sunday morning we got up late and tried to make it to the top of Navajo Peak. Short version: we lost the trail around 5500 feet in the snow, and went straight up the side of the hill. Probably a bad idea, it took forever. I felt like I almost died (I'm out of shape). It was almost all in the snow and on rock. I tell you what though, when we got to (almost) the top and found the trail, it was amazing how much nicer that was to walk on. We found the area that we lost the trail, and realized we should have just followed the water a little longer. Lame us. At 4:30 we finally got camp cleaned and packed up, and headed back to the truck. We headed up to Standup Creek Trail, and within 30 minutes lost the trail in the snow. I have marginal navigation skills, made a lame mistake and we got lost. When we admitted it to ourselves that we had no idea how to get back to the trail, we decided we would just head back to Stafford Creek. We knew that was East, so we headed South East and found the trail 2 hours later. Feet wet of course, because we had to cross the creek twice while we were following it out. I definitely learned a lot, and will probably make different choices when a trail gets hard to follow. I hope my next adventure is better, and maybe I'll find some people who know what they are doing a little better than I do. Sorry if my first trip report was lame! :) Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Mudholes
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It was the typical June scenario -- cloudy, cool, and threatening to rain in Seattle so we headed for the...
It was the typical June scenario -- cloudy, cool, and threatening to rain in Seattle so we headed for the Teanaway outside of Cle Elum. We were not disappointed with our decision -- it was sunny and cool as we started out on the Stafford Creek trail. Thanks to a very detailed trail report on the WTA site, we were aware that there had been an avalanche that covered the trail at around the three-mile mark (beyond there the trail leads to Navaho Peak). We decided ahead of time that the snowfield would be our turnaround point for this day hike.
Even though there were no big “WOW” views to be had on this first three miles of the trail, it was full of big delights in the way of butterflies, wild flowers, and the ever-present “music” of Stafford Creek, which was running full and fast. One of the flowers of note was the delicate Calypso orchid – a couple dozen at least, found here and there alongside the trail. There were a few muddy patches along the trail, which on our return trip had attracted dozens (hundreds?) of tiny blue butterflies, obviously getting some nutrient from the mud. As we approached, they became a flurry of blue -- never have we seen so many in one place! All in all, this was a delightful, relatively easy hike on the dry side of the Cascades. There are some ups and some downs but no real steep climbing; the trail is in good shape. The drive to the trailhead is beautiful too, although it is very slow going for the last two to three miles in a standard passenger car -- lots of potholes and large rocks to avoid. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Water on trail | Snow on trail
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The last 2-3 miles of the road (i.e. after turning onto Forest Road 9703 from the North Fork Teanaway Road)...
The last 2-3 miles of the road (i.e. after turning onto Forest Road 9703 from the North Fork Teanaway Road) were rough but drivable, even without a high-clearance vehicle. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived just before noon; had it been full, there would have been enough space to park along the road.
Hiked up the trail about 2.5 miles to around 4,200 ft where the trail crossed the remains of a large avalanche. Looked easy enough to cross, but we decided to turn around there. The trail up to that point was dry and in great condition, just one small blowdown and a few shallow stream crossings. Looked like the trail had been rerouted higher up at one point after a big washout (last year?). Wildflowers were blooming all along the trail, including a lot of False Solomon's Seal, Arnica, Calypso Orchids, and Spring Beauty. Despite all the cars at the trailhead, we encountered less than a dozen parties hiking on the trail. Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/eric.jain/StaffordCreekJune2011 Tracklog: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/93309131 Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Water on trail | Snow on trail
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What a sweet hike! It'll probably be even sweeter after the snow has melted, but I happen to like...
What a sweet hike! It'll probably be even sweeter after the snow has melted, but I happen to like snow. My friends Andrea and Ben picked this hike for the three of us to do. We car-camped on Friday night (there are always tons of available spots along the dusty roads up there), and then started from the Stafford Creek trailhead on Saturday morning. The weather was luxurious: clear skies & lots of sun, and the air was warm but not super hot. It felt ridiculous strapping snowshoes to my pack in that weather, but I was glad later. For the first 3 miles the trail is in great shape and has been nicely rerouted where Stafford Creek had washed away the bank. It was a straightforward, dry forest walk with plenty of wildflower treats: multiple fairy slippers were sighted amongst the more common arnica, waterleaf, trillium, and hints of wilted glacier lilies. The thick ice of an avalanche runout marked the beginning of the crusty snow patches that obscured the trail. The patches were too brief to warrant donning the snowshoes yet, and the wildflower scenery changed to blankets of glacier lilies and spring-beauties, with a few yellow fritillary as well. We were continuously loosing and then stumbling upon the trail again, but we kept moving on the general heading of the Stafford/Standup Creeks trail intersection and found it in good time. At this point, we were 4 miles in and sitting at 5000' elevation near the Stafford Creek crossing. We abandoned our musings of making this a loop hike since the creek was a gushing rapid of snowmelt with little option for crossing, and the climb to the pass by Earl Peak looked long and daunting with its continuous snow cover. Instead we started switchbacking up the trail towards Navaho Pass where the snowpack was increasing as well. The trail has become a mini-river in places thanks to the melt, so well-waterproofed boots were essential. The climb got steep and the snow uninterrupted enough to justify wearing snowshoes. A mile passed slowly and we decided we were done for the day at 5600' elevation. We found a big open clearing where the 4-feet of snow was flat enough to set up our tents on, surrounded by swampy melt runoff. Nearby tree-wells were melted out and dry enough for the three of us to all sit and cook a very enjoyable dinner. A horizontal poll was lashed high between two trees nearby, which made a convenient bear-bag hanger for us. I'm guessing somewhere under all this snow there's an established campsite in this clearing. Temperatures dipped to 10 or 15 fahrenheit overnight, but it was nothing we weren't prepared for. The surrounding mountains looked gorgeous by moonlight. The morning came with some serious heat: 65 degrees out when I woke up, but my tent was in direct sunlight and had turned into a miserable greenhouse. After breakfast and some amazing coffee, we let our camp sit while we snowshoed the last half mile to the pass free of our packs. Sunglasses were essential, and I should have used more sunscreen. After rolling along through snowy clearings under a totally bluebird sky, an orange sign on a dead tree was spottable at a distance and led us up to the saddle where the view was breathtaking. In an instant the entire Stuart range became visible to us for the first time this hike. At 6000', it was a place to linger and take lots of pictures, which we certainly did.
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Meadow along the Stafford Creek Trail. Photo by Janice Van Cleve.
2010, 2011
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