I've wanted to do the Swakane Peak hike for a few years now and Saturday looked like a good day to do it with the sun shinning and so little snow for a February day. After you head up Alt-97 from Wenatchee and turn left on Swakane Canyon road the driver is only about 4 miles to small draw in the hill side with a metal gate off to your right. The road is a little bumpy but mainly a few good sized potholes to weave around and I would say that any low clearance car could make the trip. We got to the gate "trailhead" and some folks were shooting right below the trail as people tend to do in this area. I asked them nicely :) if they could stop for a second until we could get around the first corner putting a hillside and safe distance between us. It looks like this is a semi-frequent spot for shooters but that might be the only problem with this hike. Once we started hiking the steep at first, but gradual as you go old road the views opened up and just kept on coming all the way to the peak. The old road is in good shape and does some interesting twists and turns as it winds back over the top of the Columbia and to the top of Swakane Peak which was snow this February day but hellishly windy at the top. You can pan this hike for it being an old road, no water and the informal trailhead but this is open country with few trees so the views get better with every step and I found myself admiring the panoramas every step of the way. No wildflowers yet but on the way down we spotted a heard of at least 20 mule dear about a mile form the top and at first they didn't see use and then about another mile down we just underneath another heard of about 11. The hike was a good workout and we got back to the car right about as the sun was setting. If you're looking for a good workout, this hike is good choice because while mostly gradual road grade to the top, for a better workout, just pick up the pace.

Flickr: http://bit.ly/swakane-peak The morning after going up It Peak, the dogs and I came to check out the views north of Wenatchee. Again, not sure if this peak was officially named, just pulled it off a recent trip report I read. Better views to the south for sure, and not much happening to the north or the east because of the clouds.