Thirteenmile — Sunday, May. 27, 2007

Eastern Washington > Okanogan Highlands/Kettle River Range

I hiked a small portion of this trail a few years ago, but did not explore the area as in-depth as I had wished. I discovered this area simply by noting the name of a trailhead off the Sanpoil River road on the way back from a Kettle Crest trip and researching it when I got home. This is tops on my list of favorite places in Washington. Because I wanted to do some off-trail exploration, I did not want to go alone, so I asked my very capable friend Jim Kuresman to join me. Thursday night, we spent at the 10 Mile campground in Colville NF off the Sanpoil River Road south of Republic (SR 21). Friday morning we hit the 13 Mile trailhead a few miles south of the campground (interestingly enough, it’s 3 miles beyond 10 Mile campground). This trail was once a stock driveway, and old Forest Service signs are still posted on the trees along the trail reading “Center Stock Driveway.” Very neat to see. The trail begins at 2020’ and runs close to 13 Mile creek. Soon it ascends high above the creek, and there are plenty of opportunities to peer over the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Sanpoil area and look down to the roiling rapids and waterfalls below. How long into summer and how fast this creek roils and toils I don’t know, for this is dry country. But for about another month, I think the weather would be reasonable. For now, it’s hot, yet a cool breeze constantly blows, and jackets are welcomed after sundown. This trail rolls along the rounded mountains through acres and acres of green bunchgrass dotted with charred logs and snags from various and sundry lightning strikes and spot fires this area evidently endures, given the numbers of charred logs and snags that we saw throughout our days here. But this is not a wasteland of charred logs – there are plenty of green trees – larches, firs, White Pine (the needles of the pines are up to 6 inches long, making a typical bunch of needles a foot wide!). The charred remains are simply an interesting sidenote to a landscape full of life. Easy exploration off trail found us upon a rocky outcrop overlook where we took a nice long nap in the warm sun after gazing at the mountains of the Kettle Crest and Sherman Pass. Saturday was our off trail exploration day that began with a bootbeat path to Cougar Mountain a few miles beyond our camp. I had read about Cougar Mountain in Ron Stricklands book, Hiking the Pacific Northwest Trail. The east side of Cougar ridge looks deep into a canyon and across this is 13 Mile Mountain, a very appealing summit, but we had already spied an awesome-looking ridgewalk beyond Cougar Mountain, and if we could figure a way across the valley, we would end up at our napping spot from the day before, and then retrace our steps back to camp – a great little loop. The ridges are open and glorious, the valleys thick and dark with trees, downfall, prickly rose bushes, yet interspersed with large patches of sunny bunchgrass. Along with love of exploration and diligence, Jim’s expertise at bushwhacking, our loop enchanted us with fairy tale views and myriads of flowers. It wasn’t exactly easy, but so enjoyable. We were delighted by the vast numbers of rock rose and Hooker’s Onion in bloom, the variety of flowers, the terrain, and the route-finding, which was more involved than we initially thought (read: cliffs where the map shows mere steep hillside). Currently blooming are desert parsley, larkspur, ballhead waterleaf, billions of strawberry plants, lupine, paintbrush, more Hooker’s Onion than you can ever imagine seeing, death camas all over the place, and rock rose galore – Jim was intrigued by the white rock rose, some blooming from the same strand as a pink rock rose! We spied a Columbia clematis in bloom, and hundreds of clematis vines not yet in bloom. This is an amazingly delicate and beautiful flower. I was excited to see the hills cloaked in Old Man’s Whiskers, a wonderful pink flower I had only seen in bloom one other time, years ago. And there’s no prettier site than a half-acre of brilliant white woodland stars gracefully dancing in the breeze – they looked like shooting stars in the shady hillocks. Rain Saturday night kicked out even more blooms – we spied a beautiful yellow salsify and lots of scarlet gilia that weren’t in bloom the day before. Thanks to Jim for helping me explore this wonderful area and for being a kind, patient friend to my whims of exploration and teaching me many little tricks in navigating off trail.