Nason Ridge — Saturday, Jun. 6, 1998

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - East

Alpine Lookout, USGS Wenatchee Lake. We wanted to get some exercise with ""guaranteed sun"" so we went over Stevens Pass 17 miles and just after the Nason Creek Rest Area, turned left on Butcher Creek R. No. 6910. You follow the main road until it makes a right turn. The guide book says 2.5 miles but from where is not clear. We found it to be about 4.5 miles from highway 2 to the trailhead. The mosquitoes attacked us as we left our vehicles and continued to feed until after we reached the snow and the ridge. The first 1.5 miles goes mostly through a burned area and the snow had melted out. After that, we were on snow and route finding became difficult at times. The guide book dows not take into account significant elevation loss and gain, regain, etc. and the total gain is at least 3000'. It also seemed longer than 10 miles. We left the car in sunny, humid conditions, but the thunderheads and dark clouds covered the sky as we neared the lookout and we did not stay long. As we got back to the car, drops started to fall and going over the pass we were in a cloudburst with traffic slowed to a crawl during the rain. We raced a very large bear for a few seconds on Butcher Creek Road on the way down. There are blowdowns on the trail and new trail is forming around them. When we got home to ""rainy Grays Harbor"" we found that the weather had been warm and sunny all day. Edythe, Connie, Neal, Rick, Robert (Harbor Hikers)