Today's escapades had eerie similarities to my trip from last week. Again the weather was much improved over the previous day's unsettled mess. Again I was forced to try my planned trip in reverse. Again I was only able to summit a point that is not on my list. Again I changed my descent to enjoy a nice snowy basin. Again I had a wonderful day! After making my way more than half way down the Salmon La Sac Road I realized that I had forgotten to leave a map or any directions for my intended route with my wife. This was unsettling to me because no one would have any idea where I was or where I was going. This is not a good recipe for a solo hike. I parked just before Scatter Creek even though I was pretty sure I could have driven across without incident. I thought why risk it. I could see the sign for the North Scatter trail, was that my trail? I thought I remembered that there was two different Scatter trailheads. I didn't remember seeing one on the way in. I thought I better go back and look to be sure. My maps don't do this area justice the North Scatter trail is not listed on my maps. I found the South Trailhead and parked. I packed up and was off just after Noon. My goal for the day was to climb Solomon Mt. (aka Fisheagle Peak) but because I hadn't left any directions I thought it better to stay on trail as much as possible. I was sure I could make the Scatter Benchmark without being too far off trail. Patchy snow obscures the trail but there is never too long of a stretch where the trail doesn't show itself. Once I reached more consolidated snow I just kicked stepped my way to the ridgeline and headed east along the easy ridge. I had no trouble making Pt. 6897 and then continued East toward Scatter Two (Pt.6953). I looked down the South side where I could have done a steep traverse to get to the Saddle just to the SW of Scatter Two. I didn't think I wanted to continue on this route solo so I retraced my steps. Looking down on the snowy basin below me I thought I would mix it up and still make a loop out of the day. I was able to drop 700ft quickly on snow and then just dropped some rockslides until I was able to reach forest again. The grade is very pleasing and I had no trouble connecting with the trail at the creek crossing at 5040ft. I dropped pack and had a nice lunch before I made my way back to the car. Approx 12 miles 3600ft of climb 5:45 car to car

Took me 45 minutes to drive 9.5 miles from the turnaround near the end of the pavement to the trailhead. There is a Road Closed sign at 5.4 miles, but I made it in an Outback although there were parts where I was going so slow that I kept one foot on the clutch pedal. The trail has never been in good condition, but with the runoff of the winter scouring out what little soil was left between the rocks and a few blowdowns, it seemed like a lot of work just to get to the junction with the CL Trail. The CL was in pretty good shape but snow patches were becoming prevalent so I turned around at the crossing of the South Fork of Scatter Creek at 5000 feet. The Scatter Creek road crossing looked challenging even though the temperature was only 60 degrees. Apparently the road is even worse past this point.

We had these trails to ourselves. Based on the condtion of the trails -- I don't think too many people head out this way. The trail shows it's origins as a sheep driveway in the way it climbs uphill with nary a switchback, detours to visit a spring and the wide swaths it cuts through the forest in places. The trail is in decent shape however with only two uncut blowdowns and plenty of evidence of blowdown cutting in recent years. Lower down on trail 1328 a number of drain cuts have been made to sluice water off the trail -- which is good 'cause many sections of trail 1226 higher up are clearly streambeds in the spring or during heavy rains. Note the switchbacking trail shown on USGS 7.5 minute maps is pure fantasy -- trail 1328 just parallels the south branch of Scatter Creek to about 4400ft -- where it crosses the stream. At a bit under 4800ft the County Line trail #1226 branches off. The USGS line for #1226 is reasonably accurate. Trail #1226 stays in forest until reaching the ridge at 5800ft. Keep an eye out for rock cairns to follow the trail through this parkland of meadows, rock outcrops and clumps of trees or you could just wander. It's rather pleasant here. The trails climbs out of the parkland to gain the southwest ridge of ""Scatter"" peak -- the last bit is on bare rocks and gains the ridge at 6400ft. Good views of Van Epps pass, Hawkings Mtn from hear. On a less foggy day I suspect there would be good views of Ingalls and Stuart as well. I followed animal trails up the southwest ridge of ""Scatter Summit"" -- but I found only fog and a pile of rocks on the summit -- the actual USGS benchmark eluded me. On the return I descended the southeast ridge a bit and peeked into the North fork Fortune creek valley -- a loop trip that dropped down and then over ""Fish Eagle"" pass and returned via the north branch of Scatter Creek looks feasable. On my return -- the clouds lifted a bit and I got a good view of Mt Dainel from the 5800ft pass before dropping into the trees again.

Two of us headed up the lonely trail with goals of reaching the pass for views, flowers along the way, and maybe a summit at the end. The trail is clearly signed on the east side of the road, 9 miles after the end of pavement. The old trail heads straight up along the creek (not the switchbacks indicated on the USGS maps), but no matter as the hill is not very steep. After climbing some you reach the trail junction with the County Line Trail (marked with a temporary sign from the forest service). Turn left on the fainter trail. Soon you cross the creek, difficult to keep the feet dry in mid July, would be impossible earlier in the season. Right after the path enters intermittent meadows which have totally absorbed the trail. Pay close attention to small red ribbons or blazes on larger trees to keep the path. The small routefinding challange is amply rewarded by outstanding lush flower gardens. The trail never wanders far from the stream. Near the head of the valley the trail crosses over the now much smaller stream and eventually makes its way upwards, becoming vague again just before the pass. The pass itself yields nice views of Stuart, Ingalls, and the north Teanaway east, Daniel and the crest to the west, skirted this day by clouds. We ambled up the ridge to the north a ways then stopped for lunch. Afterwards I continued north to point 7095 along the ridge, dropping down to the west side to avoid excessive exposure and rock. A fine summit follows with a very seldom used register (placed in 2000, it may run out of pages by 2070 at the current rate of use). On fine midsummer Saturday we didn't see a single person on this trail. If you want solitude without having to head out midweek or in the rain, this is a good choice.

This one was a Mountaineer scramble. I always have a good time on trips lead by Jay and Lindy. The name is unofficial. Apparently it is also called Jupiter Peak. It is Point 7095 on the map, located just north of Scatter Creek Pass above the Cle Elum River valley. We met at the trailhead at 8:30 am. It's about 9 miles from the end of pavement. The trail starts out level for a short distance then begins to climb. There are few switchbacks but it is not overly steep either. Just a nice steady climb. There were a few clouds moving in which kept the temperature comfortable at first. Bugs are appearing now. They were not horrible anywhere but present most everywhere. I have a few dozen mosquito bites to show for the day. The lower trail is in pretty good shape. It does not appear to get a great deal of maintenance. We climbed over 5 or six logs. One downed tree obscures the route but it is not hard to pick up again. At about 2 miles the trail splits. There is a yellow paper temporary trail marker on a tree. The County Line trail goes off right. The Scatter Creek trail heads left. In a short distance the trail drops a little to a crossing of Scatter Creek. This was the hardest of many creek crossings on the day. I went from log to rock to several steps in the creek where it was widest and least deep. The rocks were very slick. Some made it across dry and several dunked there boots in deeper water. Getting across is not hard. Getting across with dry feet is. Once on the left side of the creek the terrain changed. Instead of continuous forest we were now in mostly meadows with some forest in between. The meadows are bright green with high grass and with many flowers in bloom. Flowers began early on the trail and never let up. Trillium gave way to columbine and in the meadows we saw lupine, shooting star, elephant head, paintbrush, valerian, columbine, and many more. Nearer the summit phlox carpeted the ground. There were red tape markers entering and exiting the forest and some cairns on boulders in the meadows. Tread varied from minimal to almost none. The route is much more obvious since our 10 pairs of boots went up and down the meadows. The meadows were mostly dry but there are some short muddy sections. The next half a dozen creek crossings were manageable with dry feet. From the higher meadows we could see Fish Eagle Peak several thousand feet directly above us. The valley narrowed as we moved towards the head. It also steepened. The trail is never particularly steep. Some snow patches were in the upper valley but we only crossed a few and they were short. The south and west faces of Fish Eagle were snow free to the top. One final creek crossing to the left side on a log brought us into a higher meadow. The trail continues up to Scatter Creek Pass. Turning left from the trail pointed to an open hillside all the way up to the ridge top. This was our off trail route. Much of the hillside is forested but this open gap provided an easy route up. The grade steepens considerably but the footing is good and there is no difficulty walking right up it. This is were lupine, and phlox provide a carpet through the grass. I saw some yellow paintbrush here as well. By now it was getting very warm. With no shade it was a slow slog up to the ridge top. From the ridge the views really improved. Over the ridge I could see Cashmere Mountain as well as Big Jim across the valley of Icicle Creek. Mt. Stuart loomed very close by. Much of the Cascade crest from Snoqualmie Pass to Mt. Daniel was in view. The route to the summit is on or just below the ridge the last 600'. Two of our group went ahead and I took off next. The only difficulty was finding out which bump was the actual summit. I popped but up to the ridge very near the top and was soon on top. From 7095' the view was really outstanding. Rainier and Adams were southwest. The whole Cascade crest was in view. Sloan Peak peeked out the left side of a nearer peak and Mt. Baker was partly visible to the right. Glacier Peak was very clear. Mt. Stuart was much closer than I expected. Ingalls Peaks were just over Scatter Creek Pass. The basin of Lake Ann was easily seen. Right across from us was Harding Mountain. The Cradle was also close. On previous trips up Bootjack and Highchair Mountains I had great views of Harding and Fish Eagle. Now I had the reverse view of those peaks. I spent a full hour on the summit. It was hot enough I felt less than great. Food and water helped but heading down helped the most. We dropped a little farther below the ridge on the descent. One could do a descending traverse back to the meadow but would have some trees to work through. We returned to the ridge top and descended straight back down to the meadow. The hike out was just a long slog on a hot day. Some breeze and a few clouds made it more manageable. The many flowers also helped keep it interesting. In the last mile I saw a big black bear running through the trees. It was not that close and gone well before I could get my camera out. My water was gone and I was quite glad to reach the cars. For the day we traveled about 12 miles with 3800' gained. It took about 3 1/2 hours up and a little less coming down. The maps are not generally accurate regarding this trail. I have TOPO software and it shows the County Line Trail but not the Scatter Creek Trail. It was taken from USGS maps I believe so that is also a problem. It also has the trailhead in the wrong place and shows non existent switchbacks. The most recent Green Trails does seem to be the most correct. This was a fun hike and my third new summit in an eight day period. I'm sure I'll be back some day. 35 photos have been posted at: http://www.hikingnorthwest.com. Go to ""Trips-2006"" on the left margin.