It's helpful to hear about trails that you don't want to hike, in addition to the wonderful ones. The hike up to and beyond Tieton Pass is as uninspiring as any I've ever done, so I'll save you a wasted day. We are great fans of the Goat Rocks Wilderness, so hiking in from the north was an exciting opportunity. Our previous hikes had been from Snowgrass, Goat Ridge and Cispus and each of them was gorgeous. So Saturday morning we drove down past Clear Lake (just past White Pass) to the trailhead, and prepared to see this beautiful area from a new angle. My single biggest complaint is that the trail is entirely in the trees. We went up past Tieton Pass, where the trail intersects the PCT (in fact we chatted up a group of Thru-Hikers on their way to Canada), and hiked on another couple of miles. In our total of about 6 miles we rarely saw anything but trees. The high soaring ridges and the glaciated peaks were always just outside our vision, although occassionally we got tantalizing glimpses. My second complaint was the ankle-deep dust that serves as a trail, pounded into flour by the frequent horse traffic. We were very lucky that it had rained the previous night, so the dust was somewhat controlled, but even on the hike out it rose into an incessant cloud. I can imaging that a hot day would be misserable. This trail is useful as access to a few specific areas, but we would never consider it for a day hike. Now we know better, and so do you !

This is a nice walk with a gentle climb, about 1500 feet over 5 miles through big forest country up to Tieton Pass and a junction with the PCT. Snow is gone or minimal up to the last 1/2 mile or more but in that portion of the trail is still substantial. From the occaisonal openings in the forest, great views of Tieton Peak, the Devil's Horns and Bear Creek Mountain to the east and south.

This report is for the North Fork Tieton, May 26, 2002. My hiking party and I started from the trailhead at the end of road 1207, and quickly ran into many downed trees covering the trail. At close to 3 miles in, the snow on the ground became heavy and difficult to walk in. We turned around at the incline to Tieton Pass because of the snow and because the trail was hard to follow. Simply put, this trail (and, it appears, others near it, such as 1128 on the Green Trails map for the area) is in need of maintenance. * Further note -- for those using the Pacific Northwest Hiking book for directions to this trail, please note this mistake -- replace ""east"" with ""west"" regarding orientation to Clear Lake.