With snow levels remaining high, headed out to the Salmon La Sac area with C to explore the Howson creek drainage, including couple peaks along the way.
Basically followed a similar route to non-snow reports from Kidz won't Hike, razzmatazz, et. al.
TL;DR;
- Due to another "bridge eats trucks" incident, northbound I-90 exit on Bullfrog road is closed, so will have to go via Cle Elum at least one way
- Parking: Pullouts either side of the paved road just past the Cle Elum River CG.
- People: Saw no other souls
- Snow: Route currently snow free ( few very small old patches )
- But this will likely change this week
- Agreeing with prior TRs, the Howson Creek trail is now pretty much non-existent, so apart from Sasse Ridge portion...
- This route is pretty much off trail
- Through endless burn/blowdowns and slippery talus
- While we avoided most of the rain, most views were obscured today
- But burn zones in the mist have their own beauty
Howson Creek to Not-so-Sasse Peak
Apart from the initial logging road, and a couple small sections, the trail appears completely lost (unless the marked route is off). The Jolly fire in 2017 added insult to injury, so while the brush isn't thick it is frequent, there is plenty of burn/blowdown, devils club, and slippery talus, making for a hard ~2500' of off-trail to reach the one bit of nice trail starting around ~5000'
Not so Sasse Peak is a fun quick side jaunt. Access head on from trail below, or easier via E ridge.
SASSE RIDGE & HOWSON PEAK
Being slow I took the Howson Creek "trail" traversing below Sasse. Never found any trail, but at least things were a bit more open. After heading up Sasse Mountain (treed summit), C joined me further along Sasse Ridge.
On at least the portion we visited, the Sasse ridge trail was in good shape, enjoyable, and ( I assume ) with great views.
Howson Peak is a simple bump a few meters off the trail.
Before the trail swings south, followed gentle the ridge heading up to Peak 5159, which had great views down to the lake, and probably way more on a good day.
DESCENT FROM Peak 5159
We had hoped that the forest floor would be better this way, but while it had less spiky things and slippery talus, it was basically 3000' steady decent through blow/burn downs and grabby things. Still not sure how managed without a major face first stumble.
Definitely recommend using a GPS as would be easy to get into a wrong drainage when descending.
SUMMARY
Was a fun day suffering with friends, but would only really recommend this route with snow, or just the Sasse ridgeline portion as part of a longer longer N/S traverse.
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