Mount Lillian, Howard Creek & Old Ellensburg — Saturday, Jun. 16, 2007

Central Cascades > Blewett Pass

Direction notes: This is an easy route to find as long as you have the Liberty #210 Green Trails map for this 7 mile loop hike, there are a few intersections etc. Following the description in the 100 Hikes series worked fine, we only found one discrepency and that was the intersection of the Old Ellensburg Trail (last leg of the loop) was further along the Howard Creek Trail than we expected and we thought for a few minutes we had passed it. A sign points towards the eastbound 1373 before you get to your turnoff, which seems backwards from the map. The other discrepency with the book is that the elevation gain is really about 900-1000 feet, not 400 feet as the book states. Still a very moderate hike. anyway, we really enjoyed this loop, which starts at very scenic Haney Meadows (9 miles/25 minutes from Blewett Pass on a sometimes bumpy but fine for 2WD road) and avoided the rain which apparently came down in Seattle all day. Jacob age 4.5 walked part of it and my husband carried him in the backpack the rest of the way. The loop starts up a small road, follows a creek uphill then just after another creek crossing takes off to the right at a Y-intersection. It climbs gently through open forest to a stunning view across Devils Gulch and then over towards Wenatchee and the Columbia River (this is Mount Lillian). Then drops through a very cool series of sandstone and conglomerate pinnacles (the drop is abrupt and loose). Eventually you hit a tiny road, turn left and find the Howard Creek trail, which takes you through old mature forests, along a babbling brook, past a memorial site for someone, then to the right turn and backuphill to Haney Meadows. All the trail intersections were well marked. The flowers were out, lots of varieties. No snow at all. About three lame mosquitoes. We saw only one other hiker (who was having the same moment of confusion about the final trail intersection that we were) and were passed by 2 polite motorcylcists. For most of the hike we felt very alone which was nice and though there were motorcycle tracks the trail and area did not seem ridiculously overrun with motors. The bikers or someone haver also done a good job sawing through blowdowns which owuld have made the last 1/4 of the hike time consuming if they hadn't. It was great to explore this area. If you have skiied the Hogloppet you will recognize parts of the hike near the beginning, and the road in.