Trip Reports

Bill claims that we are now unofficial members of the Whitebark trail maintenance auxillary after today's effort. We started out at the new Hall Creek trail but did not follow the same path as Whitebark's recent report. Two years ago the start of the trail off the railroad grade was rough and steep. Significant improvements have been made but you just can't take the steep out of the first 1200 feet of gain. There is relatively new signage: (something) viewpoint; Whitebarks bivouac; Hall point; Jays Landing; Change Creek rest stop; and pond trail. Two years ago, Bill and I turned back due to the brush factor near the Jays Landing area. The brush has to be bad for Bill to turn back. Right now, the trail is in pretty decent shape including a new and nice side trail up to Hall Point. Bill and I did do some cutting and clipping at and near Jays Landing onward and any future visitors could do a good deed by also brushing things out here and there. I found out that Bill's saw is sharp, very sharp.

Eventually we connected with a decent road and came to the new Pond Trail sign and followed that to another old road. That road led up to the "bowtie junction" on the Great Wall part of the trail. From here we completed our loop trip down the Great Wall trail back to the junction with the main trail and back to the full parking lot.

We saw nobody until the descent of the Great Wall trail.

This is a great little day hike. The trail is easy to navagate, and the terrain is gentle some minor hills. The lake at the end is beautiful, and there is a great view of the peak above and surrounding mountains.

The parking lot was packed and overflowing when we arrived mid day. We saw a half dozen groups on our way into the lake. The lake was secluded and there were only two groups there for the half hour we stayed. One of them was camping there the other group were day hikers like us.

The hike was mostly forrested. It crossed a couple minor stream and one major one. There were several nice rest spots along the way as well as several small meadows. There were both sun and shade available at the lake.

This is a great hike.

   First off, I hadn't hiked this trail (1106) in over 20 years, and that was coming from Cramer to Dog Lake at the end of 2 1/2-day hike. I had thought distance of the hike was only about 2 miles and change, but it turned out to be nearly 5 miles one way. Needless to say, we were bushed by the time we made it back to Dog Lake today.
   The key word for the hike today was MOSQUITOS!!! Those little bugs tore us up and seemed to thrive on DEET, though it wasn't 100%.
   On the trail, we encountered a lot of mud, snow and overgrowth, sometimes making it difficult to discern where the trail was. We actually found ourselves off of it a couple of times. We only saw about 10 people total during the hike, including a summer group of 4 college kids from Eastern WA who were doing trail maintenance.
   We encountered no wildlife, other than people with unleashed dogs, although we did see deer droppings in many places.
   The footbridge was pretty much gone, so we crossed the river on fallen trees.
   I hope the next time we do this hike, we can enjoy more the beauty surrounding us, without the worry of bugs. Today, we did all we could to avoid the mosquitos and were not able to stop for more than a minute or so without being eaten alive.
   You can access the Trailhead at the Dog Lake campground on HWY 12, about 2 miles East of the White Pass Ski Area.

We decided to try a new way of getting to Iron Bear. This is the fourth way that we know to reach that viewpoint. The others are Iron Creek, Bear Creek and Teanaway Ridge trail. This time we took the County Line trail from Old Blewett summit to the junction with the Teanaway Ridge trail and on to the Iron Bear viewpoint. We had a hard time finding the trailhead. To get there take the Old Blewett highway to the summit. At the summit, go west on a dirt road. Stay left at the first junction. The road goes around the side of the hill and comes to another junction. Again stay left. After a bit there is another junction, go left again. That road is signed #270. A short distance down that road is a road to the right with a sign that says Tr. 1226. That is the start of the County Line trail. We chose to walk the road (.7 mile) as we did not know what it would be like. It is drivable to the actual trailhead if you don't mind a rough road and some narrow brushy spots. The trail crosses an old road farther along. We took the road as we didn't spot the trail on the other side until we returned. It didn't matter as they both went to the same place. This trail is used by motorcycles and there are a couple of quite steep sections. After the steep climbs the trail goes up and down along the ridge top. We gained 2250' in elevation and did about 7 miles.
Last fall we were heading up Shaser Creek road toward the Old Blewett summit and we came across a trail sign. We decided to check it out, but as it was late in the day we didn't go very far. We assumed it was the County Line trail. However, it turns out that we were wrong. We tried to find that trail today and could not locate it, which was a good thing because it was not the right trail anyway. There was no place on the County Line trail that even remotely resembled the trail that we were on last fall. So the location and name of that trail remain a total mystery.

We got to the trail head at 7:30. Already quite a few cars parked and more coming up the road as we got ready to depart. Several washouts on road - but many vechicles getting by them. No snow on the trail up to Mason Lake and to intersection. A bit past the intersection, we ran into snow. It's easy to walk off a switch back at this point, but with a little attention, the trail (numerous switchbacks) can be found. After a few hundred feet of snow, the snow dissappears, and the trail thru the woods is in good condition. One blowdown that is easily get-a-round-able. One get to the meadows, there is not snow at all. The side trail up to defiance is steep, is well travelled, and has a carne (but no sign). Summit delightful! Beargrass and some flowers are out.
Driving out was much more exciting than driving in. People were parked on both sides of the road at some points. The parking extended down for a mile or two. Some low clearance vechilces made it past washouts - but most were parked about 1 mile away from the trail head.
Cheers!

This is hike #45 in Craig Romano's "Day Hiking the Central Cascades" and hike #41 in Ira Spring's "55 Hikes Around Stevens Pass." The trail is in good shape; there are no obstructions. There are a few small patches of snow in the last quarter mile or so before the Lake, but they are no problem. Mosquitos were not bad until I got close to the Lake. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most mosquitos I ever saw, I would say the population of mosquitos at the Lake right now is a 5 or a 6. There are plenty of them, but they are not in swarms and they did respect my insect repellent.

There was a nice variety of wildflowers during the first mile or so on the trail, but almost none after that. The road from Highway 2 to the trailhead is rough; better have a vehicle with good clearance and drive slow.

Visited Pratt Lake via the Pratt Lake/Granite Mtn trailhead. On the way out from Pratt Lake, took the junction down to Island Lake. Snow, blowdowns, and water are present on the trail in spots, but overall are negligible. Have fun, this is a beautiful area.

There are still three washouts on the road up to the trailhead; the last is impassable. Do your best to park facing outbound, not up towards the trailhead, or you may have a very difficult time turning around when you return. We arrived at 7:45 AM and were lucky to park only about 50 yds. below the last washout. Those arriving later were not so lucky, and there's going to be a real mess up there when people try to exit.

The trail is in great shape: dry all the way up, no snow. Views were spectacular--Rainier, Adams, Mason Lake, fields of bear grass and wildflowers galore. A nice breeze picked up mid-morning. A little buggy at the top.

Back down at the trailhead, we met a group departing for Defiance at 1:00 PM, during the hottest part of the day. Start early!

It’s difficult to image a better day for this hike. We enjoyed sunshine and high temperatures in the mid 70’s. The road to the trailhead is excellent as is the trail. There’s less than 10 yards of the trail still under snow and the few logs across the trail are easily skirted or climbed. The biggest detractor is brush that has grown and narrowed the trail to as few as 18 inches in many places. Overall the conditions are great and the view is better than advertised. The trailhead sign claims 4 miles to Colonel Bob. Someone has carved out a longer distance into the sign. For what it’s worth my GPS was closer to 3.4 each way.

We always try to add information in our trip reports for those who hike with kids. For the right family this is a great opportunity to reach a 360 degree view peak and sign a summit register. The slope of the climb and the loose footing across the avalanche chute and a few other places make this a trail that is more challenging than the distance might suggest. On the steepest climbs it is not unusual to have to step up 18 to 24 inches to get to the next step or rock. We made it up and down without incident with our 5 and 8 year old. Their previous biggest hike was Mt. Pilchuck. These are kids that are on the trail at least twice a month and are very enthusiastic hikers. Even so, it took us more than 9 hours from start to finish. Grandpa joined us on this one and he is always good for motivation and fun so even the 9 hours was enjoyable. This summit is achievable for experienced families, but don’t take it on as a lark while visiting Lake Quinault.

Of course this is the first hike of the season where I forgot my camera! So unfortunately I have no pictures to aid in the description of this lovely little 4 mile (roundtrip) hike. So I’ll just do my best to give a summary.

I’ve occasionally heard this hike referred to as Dorothy Lake, but it is in fact Lake Dorothy, on the west side of Stevens Pass just before you hit Skykomish.

Once you drive off the main roads you will drive 9.5 miles on a fairly smooth gravel and dirt road until you hit the trailhead. There are very few ruts in the road and most cars shouldn’t have a problem (there is some water flowing over the road, so if you have a car that is extra prickly this might be a problem – but it’s really just a tiny bit of water).

The trail is very well maintained. We ran into a WTA work party this morning cleaning up a patch of the trail with some debris and mud, but rather than that it was smooth sailing. It’s an easy/moderate hike up with an elevation of 858 feet. There’s a patch where it get’s your heart pumping, but all in all it’s a short hike so nothing too intense for those who hike often. If you’re in great shape it’s on the easy side, if you’re in moderate shape then it’s on the moderate side!

We made it out to the lake and sat and had a snack while looking out over the tranquil clear waters that are trademarks of the alpine lakes throughout the Cascades.

There is no snow on the trail. There is a lot of foliage around the lake you have to sort of meander your way through but easy enough on a clear summer day.

We ran into several folks on our way down who were making their way up to Bear Lake, but due to time restraints we didn’t go that far.

It was a lovely little morning hike, well worth the trip.