Got out to Oregon Butte, my third southeast standing WA fire lookout today (the other two being Big Butte and Clearwater).

The drive may be long, but the trail is definitely worth it: the views are excellent along the ridge and at the lookout itself on a clear day. There are a variety of wildflowers blooming—Spanish bluebells, orange paintbrush, avalanche lilies, balsamroot, a wild variety of parsley I forgot the name of, and a wild clover (I think?) which I’ve never seen before (ejain noted that this is “big head clover”).

The trail is a bit tricky to navigate now due to the snow and a blowdown blocking a switchback, but all in all it’s not that hard to track. Just be sure to get a map/GPS device first and follow the trail to your heart’s content.

One of the best days I’ve had in a bit and the great start to a weekend down in southeast Washington. Timing it just right to catch the sunset made for awesome views of moody clouds shuffling across the sky as yellow deepened to orange, then retired to purple and blue. Sadly, no views of Pahto and the Eaglecap Wilderness today due to weather (dust storms) and nearby wildfires in OR (Joshua Canyon Fire) 😕. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to come back and visit Mt Misery sometime.

Other thoughts

• This trail/area seems to be really popular with stock owners: there’s a lot of novel stuff across the trail and at the trailhead that I haven’t seen in other areas in WA (water diversion troughs, stock troughs, etc).
• There are plenty of established and dispersed campsites along the way, as well as a first-come-first-serve campsite at the trailhead, so I wouldn’t be worried about having to make a single day to and from the area.

Conditions:

Mt Misery trail to Oregon Butte - about 50% snow covered

Smooth Ridge - Tread in good condition to Weller Butte. 34 blowdown from McBain sp. to Lodgepole sp. 16 blowdown from Lodgepole sp. to Weller Butte. The previously horrifying camp near Lodgepole is soooo much cleaner. Many thanks to those who have packed out trash!

Yearling Ridge - 12 blowdown near McBain. Clear, though sometimes faint tread beyond. There is an abandoned site with structures and 2-4 cubic yards of trash about a mile out on the trail.

Road to Teepee TH - Near Godman the road to Teepee was blocked by snow so we walked it Friday afternoon. On the way back Monday it was pretty much melted out and should be completly snow free in a couple days.

<3 the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness!

Winter has had a very strange start in the Inland Northwest, but our small hardy group decided to make the most of the weird conditions by attempting a January backpack trip into the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness. In a normal winter I don't think this trip would be possible, but due to recent warm weather & overall lack of snowfall we were able to pull this one off.

The road access to the upper Tucannon & Panjab area was closed off for most of 2020 due to a major road washout, the evidence of which is still highly visible along the way in. We encountered zero snow on our way to the trailhead.

We arrived mid-morning on Saturday and hiked in via Panjab Trail. The TH area had patchy ice but no snow, giving way to some snow in the early miles and by around the 3 mile mark we decided to put on snowshoes. The trail was easy to follow until around the 4 mile mark, at which point we ran into consolidated/icy snow that created very difficult conditions. It was basically impossible to kick steps into the frozen surface, so we abandoned the trail and picked the easiest route up for the final 500' of elevation gain. It was bad enough that we decided we would not attempt to exit via the same route, as a fall in the area of the ice would have been very serious.

Once at the top we had difficulty locating the spring at Dusty Camp so decided to continue to Indian Corral and Dunlap Spring. We camped at the edge of the open meadows at Indian Corral and were able to locate and access Dunlap Spring for drinking water. All of Saturday was sunny, calm and gorgeous.

On Sunday morning we awoke to fierce winds and icy/wet snow. The snow quit mid-morning but the sun never came out and the winds continued all day. We decided to attempt to hike to Oregon Butte, as it has been a longtime goal to try to get there in winter. Route finding was moderately difficult as the trail was generally not visible, but the snow averaged only a foot or two deep and was very consolidated. We didn't get to enjoy the panoramic views from Oregon Butte, as it was shrouded in clouds and fog, but it was still wonderful to be able to reach it in January. The last names on the Lookout register were dated from the end of October.

On Monday we packed up and exited via Rattlesnake Trail. This trail is spectacular. I don't know that hiking it in winter would be possible in a normal snow year, but this year isn't normal and we ended up not even needing snowshoes for the last couple miles of the descent. We were bracing ourselves for a cold creek crossing at the end (we'd thought about going in this way on Saturday, but didn't want to start the trek with cold feet). After we reached the crossing and explored upstream a bit, we discovered a log-jam where we were able to cross safely. Probably not recommended if the water was higher or faster, but right now the water level is fairly low. Then we just had to finish it up with a 2 mile road walk back to the starting TH at Panjab.

When you get a window you take the window. Knowing rain and snow was coming in the days ahead you put a call into “a blue mountain old timer” to get the 411 on the road conditions (often very muddy this time of year which can cause some super sketch traveling) I was given the green light. Roads were good enough and I would be able to navigate the current mud/ice conditions in my lifted 4Runner with mountain tires.

A pretty windy day at the trailhead. Two other trucks were in the TH parking lot (spike elk hunters). I wore the brightest orange I could for safety and we hit the trail. Three miles each way. The trail splits a little under a mile in and you can take either trail as they both reconnect later down the trail. We took the ridge trail (upper) on the way out and the north facing slope trail (lower) on the way back. The guard station was locked up for the winter and we ran into a hunter glassing up there. Sat on the bench that surrounds the structure to have a snack and hung out for about 30ish minutes before we made our way down. Once we got back down to where we could pick the ridge or north facing slope trail we opted for the more northern trail. Found ourselves walking in massive amounts of mud during that section (good times).

The road out had thawed quite a bit and was more muddy (especially since all of the elk campers along the road also headed out). Pretty big muddy ruts had been made even bigger with all of the traffic. It definitely made driving more challenging since this road has many steep drops off the side and is very narrow. We made it back up to Kendall Skyline without real issue since I’m comfortable driving in really crappy road conditions (we did have some slipping here or there but I was able to navigate).

We definitely hit the window. Rain/snow is forecast for the next two days and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere on Forest Road 4608 with the current conditions. Spring may be the next opportunity in all likelihood.

Great hike from the Teepee Trailhead to Oregon Butte Lookout. The ranger at the lookout is very friendly and helpful. Note coordinates do not take you all the way to Teepee Trailhead. There is an additional 1/2 hour of driving on Forest Service Road 4608. Road dead ends at the trailhead.