Hawkins Mountain — Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025

SUM. First time for this hike. Loved it! This is not the 10 mile hike in the WTA trail directions to Hawkins, but the hike described in other reports (e.g.
https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report-2025-05-14.095407137439 and https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report-2024-05-11.174716876228 ).
Not too far from the TH (.4 miles??), rather than continuing on 1392, you take a small unmarked path on the left up the hill. (The path is shown on GAIA, not on my Green Trails map.) With steepness and later snow, we needed the trekking poles.

STATS. Per GAIA, round trip 6.6 miles from parking; elevations min 3259, max 6571. (After leaving 1392, you are on a steep hike.)

PEOPLE. We saw nobody on this crisp lovely Tuesday. No other cars parked.

ROAD. Any vehicle can handle the unpaved road with appropriate caution.

PARKING. As in the WTA directions, you turn right off Cle Elum River Road not long before reaching Camp Creek, and soon reach a branch point (left to 4W305, right to 1392). There's a sign there announcing 1392. It is an easy walk from this branch to the 1392 TH (it is 1/2 mile one way, not one mile as in the WTA description). The walk has nice looks over the Boulder creek watershed. That half mile of road is bad, drivable for almost all cars with caution ... but why bother? We parked at the branch point. 

SNOW. On the way up, by elevation 5000' we were in snow and stayed in it. A little route finding trouble around 5100', with the path buried, but eventually back on track. Our snowprints were convenient bread crumbs on the way down. Some snow on the Boulder Creek/Camp Creek ridge had melted out when we returned.

THE HIKE. What a beautiful day for this hike. On the path cutting up from the Boulder Creek trail, developing terrain and some nice regional views. Eventually you're on the ridge, now looking over the Camp Creek watershed, with the connecting top-of-watershed ridge to the right. So pretty with the snow. With caution on the steep snowy slopes later, up from the fairly horizontal snowed-ridge section, we cut diagonal paths rather than going straight up. Around 6571 elevation, we stopped. Views were glorious. Hawkins would have been even better ... but looking at the snow and steepness covering the scramble to Hawkins, and the 6 pm sunset, we played Dear Prudence and just enjoyed the top of the world from where we were. Back some snow free day for the summit.

FALL COLORS. There's some nice color along the hike, and on some of the hillsides viewed. Truly stunning, though, were the brilliant colors of many trees seen on the drive along the road, from lakeside to trailhead.