1 night backpacking trip
Day 1: Beverly Turnpike TH -> to saddle bet Volcanic Neck/Devil's Head & Bean Peak -> campsite ~6.6mi (extra mileage because of backtracking to find a campsite)
-Unpaved road to trailhead is in decent condition, any sedan can make it if you go slow. No toilet at trailhead.
-Overall, trail in good condition other than at least a dozen manageable blowdowns that are easy to step over or stoop under. Seems like the unmanageable ones have been removed. Still some lingering wildflowers to admire. Snacked on tasty ripening berries in the 4000s' range. Surprisingly, bugs not that terrible, only bothering me once I dipped down into Fourth Creek basin a bit to scope out the camping situation, and then at dawn/dusk while camping. Really not crowded at all, which was a nice bonus. Only saw less than 5 people on each day.
-Camping situation: lots of campsites at the intersection of Beverly Turnpike trail and Fourth Creek trail, near brisk-running Beverly Creek. A few dry campsites after ascending the saddle to the intersection of Fourth Creek trail & Hardscrabble Creek trail. As mentioned above, I dropped into Fourth Creek basin a bit to look for any convenient campsites on the other side of the saddle, but the bugs worsened and I aborted that mission pretty quickly. Ended up hiking along Hardscrabble Creek trail to the saddle between Bean Peak & Volcanic Neck/Devil's Head. About 0.4mi along Hardscrabble Creek trail, from the saddle intersection of Fourth Creek & Hardscrabble, I spotted some campsites off-trail by some running water. Unfortunately I did see a fire ring, which I don't think is legit at this elevation ~5500'. This fulfilled all my criteria for camping with water access, partial views of the Stuart range, and I ended up camping here.
-Saddle bet Bean Peak & Volcanic Neck/Devil's Head was worth it for the broad views of Mt Stuart & Stuart range. Did not attempt to summit the adjacent peaks, since my scrambling experience is limited. Trekking poles would be nice to have for the steep crumbly gravel path below the saddle, but not absolutely necessary.
Day 2: camp -> Iron peak -> Turnpike Pass -> back to Beverly Turnpike TH ~8mi
-Got up early, made it up to Iron Peak by 8:30a, enjoyed the view of Rainier. No scrambling required for Iron peak, just traversing some steep loose gravel sections that I was glad to have trekking poles for.
-Descended and took a side trip to Turnpike Pass, which lacked views due to copious trees. Did see some people on Iron peak while I was returning to the trailhead.
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