Thirteen Mile lookout from the Hwy 21 trailhead was a great two night trip. Bluebird, woodpeckers, grouse, deer, flowers, and a thunder storm or two made for a fun outing. We set up camp about 7 miles in then explored the old lookout site and multiple un named but inviting peaks along the ridge. The trail is not heavily used but is in good shape. We saw several ticks and one green/brown snake. Water was, and will increasingly be, an issue. We carried water about a mile to our camp. The sign at the trailhead said we could expect 3000' of gain. We hiked passed the lookout for a ways before climbing to it and exploring wherever our interest took us. In all, we hiked 24 miles and gained 5700'. If you like wild lonely country this just might be the hike for you.

Almost no snow all the way to Thirteenmile mtn from the highway, but near the top there were a couple snowfields to cross.

After Thirteenmile the snow varies but is consistently about 1/2 ft deep, deeper in places; went ~11 miles from the highway and turned around as I was approaching the bear pot trail junction - harder going in the snow.

I didn't see tics this year but did here last year - evidently the folks who backpacked (who I did see) took care of them.

Although the trailhead kiosk has a description that references a historic name for this trail being "The Trail to Hell" I totally disagree.  It is quite a delightful trail with a moderate elevation profile over many miles with plenty of fresh water sources in springtime. We did a 15 mile backpack (out and back) with a group of boys 12-16 on April 21-22.  We hiked in about 8 miles and then turned around and came back to a sheltered camping spot near a road at the 6.75 mark from the eastern trailhead, thus having a shorter hike out on Sunday.  Amazingly the southern exposure of this trail allowed for a totally snow free hike to our turn around location within sight of Thirteenmile Peak.  

The trail is littered with signs of horses and cattle that use the land for summer grazing I believe.  We saw very little wildlife on the trail and only passed one other day hiker who was headed in, while we were heading out Sunday morning.  As for obstacles there are a handful of portions of trail that have springs of water running down them, mostly from seeps and springs in the hillside.  These should all dry up in the coming weeks.  There are a few sizable trees down across the trail that will require sawing.  All were passable for us with backpacks, but would be difficult for horsemen.

A good number of us found ticks crawling on us and I believe one of the youth find a tick that had embedded itself already.  As for flowers, there are plenty of buttercups out along the trail and some other small flowers. The water is up in the creeks but very passable with logs and rocks to hop on as you cross.  Some of the springtime only waterfalls in the first mile are pouring gallons of water a the moment. I think we could have gone a few more miles before we encountered any real snowfields in the trail.  

Great time to go up 13 Mile before the snakes come out. A little snow here and there and a few trees across the trail, but other than that he 2 miles of the trail I hiked up was in pretty good shape. 

All the other trip reports for this hike seem to be in the spring. We went in on a chilly midweek day in early fall and had the place to ourselves.  No people, no bugs, no rattlers, no snow, and no animals (except birds).  Just lots of coyote scat.  The trail stays in the canyon for the first mile.  Impressive cliffs above us.  Then it switchbacks up and across a talus slope to the top of the rim on the left side of the canyon.  From there on the trail stays high, indeed it keeps climbing.  Shady side canyons followed by high open outlooks.  The second side canyon had a trickle of water. Another hiker described these south-facing hillsides as “Ponderosa parklands” and that’s an apt description. I’ve seen a few bigger ponderosa in other parts of eastern Washington, but these were splendid. Only one blowdown and it was no problem.