Road has some potholes but none are anything close to car-swallowing size. We drove a Prius. Bugs were annoying when we stopped, like at camp, and even with a decent wind they were persistent. Take a bug net if you camp.
Parked at De Roux Creek TH and hiked along the horse trail to Esmerelda TH. I can’t tell if it’s too early or too late for flowers along Esmerelda. Some Paintbrush, a few sections of Scarlet Gila and not much Shooting Star. Streams were all easy to get across.
We camped off the trail to Lake Ann and hiked up to the ridge above the lake. Later, a goat was fairly persistent about hanging around our campsite and digging around. This goat was clearly habituated to humans. You should yell and wave your arms anytime a goat gets too close. And for cryin out loud, pee 200 feet from trails, camps and water sources.
After no overnight goat encounters, we woke up and headed down from Fortune Creek Pass (lots of loose rock here) to the 4WD road up to Gallaher Head Lake (FYI, nearly every guidebook is wrong—it’s GALLAHER). That road is steep!
For night two we set up camp along upper De Roux Creek and saw only one hiker go past. There’s one big tree on this trail and you might have to hop across a creek to get around it if you can’t crawl under it.
Glad to take the extra time and spend 3 days and 2 nights soaking up this beautiful part of Washington.
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