Frog Mountain — Sunday, Jul. 10, 2022

Lovely, new trail at Jack’s Pass on the Beckler River Road. The trail starts less than ¼ mile up the road behind the falling-down metal gate. We parked at Jack’s Pass, walked around the metal gate (2^nd road on the right) and headed to the gravel pit.  The trail starts just before a big hole in the ground, and climbs slightly above the hole on the rocky hillside. Took us 2-1/2 hours going up, 2 hours at the top enjoying the views and eating lunch, 2 hours coming back down. Saw not a single human the entire day.

This trail has several zones:

1) old road bed – the first mile or two follows an old road, this section is wide, rocky, and not too steep. Lots of interesting plants, many with white flowers (bunch berry, queen’s cup, strawberry, thimble berry, etc)

2) switchbacks through dark forest – this section switchbacks more steeply (though still not too steep) through tall evergreens with less underbrush

3) switchbacks through open slopes and meadows with a few, shorter trees and shrubs – this section is still not overly steep, but the tread narrows and the plants (especially bracken fern) are trying to reclaim their property rights and obscure the trail, views begin to open up

4) almost there! When you crest a small knob and look ahead, you’ll see a stand of tall evergreens with meadows on each side, there are excellent views both north and south from this little knob, the south facing hillside is covered in beautiful wildflowers and Columbia and Kyes Peaks dominate the view to the  north. BUT don’t stop yet, continue up the trail as it zig-zags up the hillside, weaving between the forest and the meadows

5) the top – there’s a strange, green fiberglass structure with no clue as to its purpose (if you know what it is, please let us know), still a little snow that will soon be gone, and lovely views to the north, but the views to the south are obscured by tall trees, there were lots of birds, bees/wasps, gnats, beetles, and ants enjoying the summit also

 Notes:

* There is no water along this trail, though we did melt/filter some snow at the top, the snow will soon be gone making this trail a very dry trail.

* Bring plenty of water, the open slopes got rather hot even on a relatively cool day.