North Fork Tieton River #1118

I took the wonder pup on a little jaunt up the N Fk Tieton river last weekend (Sun-Tues), meaning to get a look at McCall basin. We started up the trail at 1 pm on Sunday after the long drive, and took our sweet time doing the 6.5 miles and 2,000 ft of gain to lower McCall basin. We went by Tieton Pass and Lutz Lake, neither of them much to speak of, but we did see lots of big trees and other interesting plants. We found a huge and scenic campsite in the deserted lower meadows, and built a giant bonfire with wood already stacked neatly by the fire pit.

On Monday we explored around a bit, looking for a trail up to the upper basin. After a few dead ends, one leading to a nice waterfall on McCall creek, we found the correct trail and made the short trek to upper McCall basin. It was very cool, a large flood plain with many ""abandoned"" river channels, and above it a large glacial cirque containing McCall glacier and its associated snow fields. We spent the day roaming around, and worked our way up the basin to the biggest waterfall (of several). It was a pretty easy day, more like a short walk than a real hike. We got back to our campsite just 1/2 hour after leaving the high point of our journey.

On Tuesday morning I was filtering some water when Conrad came by to say ""hi"". Nice to meet you, Conrad. He went for a short jaunt to see the upper basin, returned and took off, while the sluggish one barely had time to blink. I finally motivated for the hike out at noon, and Daisy and I had a leisurely stroll out the 6.5 miles in 4 hours.

While there were some mosquitoes here and there on the trip, they were only bad right before I got to the trail head. There were no problems with the roads or trails other than some horse-induced mud holes in the meadows. Pictures can be viewed at www.flickr.com/photos/slugman