First time on this hike on my favorite Washington stratavolcano! Camped at Takhlakh Lake which was nice. NF23 coming down is pothole hell on the paved section after the 21/23 split, but the gravel section is in astoundingly good shape. However the road between Takhlakh and the trailhead (2329) is a bit rough between Takhlakh and Killen Creek, and the spur to the trailhead specifically has some real potential for high-centering.
Snow is going to depend on how far you want to go. Up to the junction with the PCT it was free, and to the high line trail there are some sections. Lot of post holing but maybe that’s the extra weight I’ve put on. However I was eventually stymied by a tough one about 0.4 miles from the Muddy Fork River. This was slightly disappointing, as I was surprised how much of this hike is below tree line. If I hadn’t forgotten spikes it would have been fine I think. Getting past this would put you are a lava flow I’ve always been interested in, as it is a 7 mile flow that the PCT follows for a bit quite a ways below. Guess it’s an excuse to come back and geek out about geology.
Bugs were… manageable but annoying for pretty much the entire hike. It’s all mosquitos right now, and while they aren’t absolutely relentless yet they are persistent. I found mild relief after Foggy Flat but not much.
Apparently there was a bear at Muddy Meadows but a hiker scared it off. Otherwise most of the rest of the wildlife were birds, of which there were plenty. Not many flowers yet.
Hike not too bad though. About 3 hours to my turn around point and 2.5 hours back, with just 2100’ of climb in 6.1 miles on the way up. I did kind of laugh because once you do cross Muddy Fork the trail should climb another 1400’ in 2 miles until it reaches Yakima lands. I imagine it’s a bit tougher once about treeline then.
Want to save a lot of time driving down? Instead of going NF23 and then NF2329, take the left onto NF21 at the split. Turn left onto NF56 at the Adams Fork Campground, and then left onto NF5603 at Orr Creek Sno-Park. From there turn onto NF2329.This eliminates almost 6 miles of driving and a lot of it is paved (also the gravel sections are really smooth).
Comments