Indian Creek -Teanaway

The snow is retreating in the Teanaway region, and some lower elevation hikes there are opening up. One of my early season favorites in this area, is Indian Creek, accessed by a logging road that starts off the main Teanaway road, not far from 29 Pines Campground. The road travels through a selectively cut forest, then at the one mile point drops down to the creek and the start of a series of lovely meadows, vividly green with new growth. The recently melted snowpack had saturated the soil, and creeks were running down ravines everwhere, forming pocket meadows that should be a riot of wildflowers in a few weeks.

About two miles from the trailhead gate, and a few hundred yards before a big bridge over the creek, a major sideroad takes off left up the hill. We followed that road ever upward to a ridgetop with a nice regional vista of the surrounding mountains, including the top of Mt. Stuart. We parked ourselves on a 3600' summit and soaked up the sun and views.

This is private lumber company land, and far from pristine. But it's a lot of fun wandering about on the numerous roads in open forest that is a nice change from the drippy westside Cascades. The sunny skies of the Teanaway are balm for the soul.