We headed to the mountains to escape a hot weekend in Leavenworth! Hiking up the French Creek trail is easy and shady. The first 1.5 miles along Icicle Creek are flat and a perfect introduction to back country camping for young families with open flat sites next to a wide water fall. French Creek trail immediately above the junction is FULL of ripe huckleberries. YUM! Trail up to Klonaqua lakes is STEEP, but once you get there the views are glorious. We camped at the dam on Lower Klonaqua with a strong breeze to keep the mosquitoes at bay, otherwise they would have been difficult. Upper Klonaqua had several groups stay Friday with more coming in Saturday. We headed up Snowall Creek with 2 easy creek fords. I didn't get my shorts wet, so maybe 2.5 feet deep across French creek and less than knee deep across Snowall creek. Gorgeous meadows FULL of flowers in prime bloom in the upper half of Snowall valley with increasing views of rugged mountain tops opening up. Stay left and look for cairns when the plants take over the trail going up and you'll recover it along the edge of the woods. There were a couple patches of snow at the pass, but it's off trail and melting quickly. The lake was warm enough to actually swim a bit before going numb. We appreciated the cool after our 3000' climb in hot sun. We camped back up at the pass above Cradle lake hoping for breeze to keep the bugs at bay again, but no luck that night so it was early to bed for us. We wanted to take Bootjack Mountain trail #1565 back to the trail head. It is mentioned in guide books as difficult to find, but we're well experienced and still lost the trail after crossing Pablo Creek. We climbed the old burn (STUNNING flowers!) to the ridge end where USGS, Green Trails and Gaia all agreed we were on trail, but there was no trail to be found there nor anywhere looking into the Ben Creek drainage. After 2 hours of searching we headed back to take Meadow Creek trail #1559 and Jack Creek trail #1558 down the the trail head. Both of these trails are nicely shaded in the woods, but lacking views and very churned up by horse traffic with 4-6 inches of dust where it's dry and up to 1 foot! deep mud at creek crossings with horses leaving post holes up to 3 feet deep in places. We encountered 2 groups with a total of 15 horses each out for an over night - meaning the equivalent of 30 horses passing through in 36 hour span. One of these groups was taking a couple glamping at Cradle lake with 5 mounted horses and 4 loaded pack mules. No horse camping at Cradle lake means this train has to go up and back twice so 2 people can be deposited at the lake for a night. Granted the Backcountry Horsemen have cleared all the downed trees, but the heavy traffic has thrashed the tread. Meadow Creek trail has 2 fords that are less than knee deep before making Jack Creek trail. I just may have sat down mid ford for an extended cool washing of trail dust and mud... ;)
Trip Report
French Creek, Klonaqua Lakes, Snowall Cradle Lake & Bootjack Mountain — Friday, Jul. 17, 2020
Central Cascades > Leavenworth Area
Type of Hike
Multi-night backpackTrail Conditions
Trail difficult/impossible to navigate:.
Road
Road suitable for all vehiclesBugs
Bugs were terribleSnow
Snow free
Comments
highcountryrider on French Creek, Klonaqua Lakes, Snowall Cradle Lake, Bootjack Mountain
Hi there. This is from one of your “glampers “. On July 19, three separate Backcountry Horsemen crews of 2, 2, and 3 , ages ranging from 50-75, were supported by pack stock on Meadow Creek, Trout Lake, and Cradle Lake Trails. You must have seen the pack string that dropped off 2 crew members and gear, before splitting off to go to Cradle Lake. 2 of us senior ladies did heavy brushing and much needed tread work. Additionally, there were some cowboys that had camped at the lake in previous days and were kicked out by one wonderful gutsy wilderness ranger. We did our best to clean up after these people. We would not have been able to do this work without the support of stock bringing in our tools. The Trout Lake crew consisted of 3 gentlemen over 70 years old who hiked in but had their tools dropped off by a packer. They were able to brush and repair tread on a 3/4 mile traverse of very narrow tread. The third group on Meadow Creek consisted of an extremely talented 75 year old working with his son. They made major repairs on a section of trail that has a stream running down it in spring. It is now a work of art. Most of this work was done in the blazing hot sun and dealing with hordes of mosquitoes.
This Backcountry Horseman crew has been working on the trails in this area since 2017, when we first cleared over 200 trees off the main trails. I forgot to mention, most of us live 5 hours away. The following year the Backcountry horsemen of Washington held a state wide work party consisting of around 100 people working together from BCH, WTA, and the FS. All these people worked together to get the trails opened up that weren’t cleared for years and fell into disrepair. Approximately 30 head of stock were used to carry in planks for bridges and full kitchen gear for backcountry WTA work sites. Last year our crew of 7 continued work to improve the trails surrounding the Black Pine Horse Camp. We have also taken over much of the trail clearing. Last fall, pack stock took in 70 bridge planks weighing 90 lbs. 2 per animal, to a bridge 5 miles up the Icicle to repair a rotting bridge. It was also BCH crew members that replaced these boards.
I’m sure glad I was glamping because if I had been any more leisurely I would have been very bored.
I give most of my vacation time to repairing these trails, in hopes that future generations, both riders and hikers, can use them for years to come.
Posted by:
highcountryrider on Jul 24, 2020 05:37 PM
netcoyote on French Creek, Klonaqua Lakes, Snowall Cradle Lake, Bootjack Mountain
I was also one of the seven "glamping" members of the trail work party in this area. Our three person crew had our gear packed in to the Trout Lake area while another two person crew worked the Cradle Lake area and a third crew of two worked trails in the Meadow Creek area. This crew and many others have been working over four years to restore trails around the Black Pine camp area. We finally opened up the French Creek, Meadow Creek, and Jack Creek trails last year by removing hundreds of downed logs and cut tons of brush from hidden trails...and all with the help of horses and mules that packed in gear and tools by Backcountry Horsemen as well as private and commercial packing groups.
I would like to correct the notion that these work groups are "glamping" expeditions as we all are experienced hikers and climbers with lightweight minimalist gear and rely on pack animals to carry the heavy tools; saws, pick mattocks, shovels, rock bars, etc. to enable our work. Not much glamour in using crosscut saws to cut heavy logs, swinging picks and shovels to establish washed out trails, cutting back brush, and building bridges and puncheons to remedy erosion problems all in the hot sun, rain, or cold while fighting flies and mosquitoes.
The mere fact that people can now have access to the high country around Jack, BlackJack, Sixtysix Hundred, and French Ridge area is due to the work of these work parties over the last four years. Each of us do this work for our own reasons. Personally, I do it because I want to enable others to enjoy the trails that I traveled for so many years in the past. For me, it's "pay-back" time.
My suggestion for anyone who is uncomfortable with sharing trails with equestrian traffic would be to search forest service or Green Trail maps for "hiker only" trails.
A better point would be to extend an open offer to anyone interested in keeping trails open to all, would be to join one of our work parties. There is always more work than what we are able to accomplish and a lot of personal satisfaction in getting the work done in an area that we love. We welcome all ages and skill levels...and personalities!
Posted by:
zzBill on Jul 25, 2020 11:16 AM
netcoyote on French Creek, Klonaqua Lakes, Snowall Cradle Lake, Bootjack Mountain
I believe I was one of the “Glampers” mentioned by the hiker report that was deposited at Cradle Lake via stock. For this hikers information, the Cradle lake tread and brush hasn’t been worked for years. Another person and myself worked 3-12 hour days Reestablishing stuffing tread that would have been gone in a very few more years. This area is 6200ft in elevation as the person writing the article knows. It is difficult hiking with back packing gear let alone tools consisting of pick mattock, bent shovels, silky saws loppers, and rock bars. The trail from Cradle Lake to the Black Jack Ridge Junction now has a fighting chance of last for years to come. We could not have done this work with out stock support. I would suggest that this hiker and family go out and do a 3 days of logging and tread work deep in the wilderness while they are back packing.
We log and clear trails without stock up to five miles from the trail head in the spring. These hikers would be welcomed to join us to save these trails.
Trail Work On,
Barb Talbot
Posted by:
zzBill on Jul 25, 2020 01:15 PM
DnL on French Creek, Klonaqua Lakes, Snowall Cradle Lake, Bootjack Mountain
Ok I stand corrected on the one word “glamping”. Thank you for your work on trail. The trail conditions still remain thanks to your horse traffic! ... and yes, we give back through volunteer trail maintenance with WTA every year for the last 20 years. Maybe that’s why we know poor tread when we see it... and we’re in the same age bracket! Hahaha! Tread lightly my friends! 😁
Posted by:
DnL on Jul 25, 2020 06:26 PM