My friend and I did a loop hiking up the Rattlesnake trail to Indian Corral and then down the Panjab trail finishing with a two mile road walk back to the car parked near the Rattlesnake trail-head. Both the Rattlesnake and Panjab trails are pretty much free of snow up to Indian Corral (a few easily avoidable patches remain). From Indian Corral the Mt. Misery trail is still snow covered both south toward Oregon Butte and northeast toward Diamond Peak. The Rattlesnake trail begins with a fording of Panjab creek, which looked a bit cold Saturday morning. Instead we found the log spanning the Tucannon river mentioned in a previous trip report and worked our way to the trail after a few moments of bushwhacking confusion. The rattlesnake trail quickly gains magnificent views of the surrounding valleys by climbing the spine of a ridge for the first few miles. The cool wind whipping across the ridge felt good, flowers are in abundance, and we saw a group of rocky mountain elk feeding on an adjacent hillside. We spent an hour or two clearing smallish debris but there is still a good deal of blow down along the Rattlesnake trail. Impressive grass widow and glacier lily displays began around Alnus Spring. It's a great time of year to hike in the Blues! The Panjab trail is smooth and clear of blow-down. Many thanks to the WTA crew for their recent work!

Lots of fallen trees.

I hiked from the Panjab trailhead to Indian Corral/Dunlap Spring where I camped overnight. The spring was running and the camp was great. There was garbage to be packed out, left behind by passed campers. Notices: Near the top of the Panjab Trail, the unmapped but marked Dusty Trail passes Dusty Camp and ends at the four-way intersection that continues on to Indian Corral. Consider this trail for a shortcut and to pass the now heavily blocked rest of Panjab Trail - it is covered with many fallen trees which have not yet been cleared. Additionally, the intersection at the end of Panjab Trail is no longer marked with a sign, just a rock cairn. Beware of many unmapped, unmarked "horse trails" in the area.

This loop trip highlights a wide range of landscapes within the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness. I entered via the Panjab TH on Friday afternoon and hiked in as a light rain became a steady downpour. In fact, I was originally going to hike farther along the Mount Misery trail (all the way to Diamond Peak), but by the time I arrived at Indian Corral I was soaked and ready to stop for the day. Since my dinner spot turned into my camp stop, I opted to shorten the loop rather than make up the missing mileage on Saturday. This section was 5.6 miles. Lucky for me, the rain stopped just before dusk and I was able to catch a little sunshine before it was time for bed. In order to shorten the loop, I headed downhill directly out of Indian Corral via the Third Creek trail (but not before catching a glimpse of an elk herd). The Third Creek trail immediately plunges into dense forest. The map indicates that it receives yearly maintenance, but it has not yet been cleared yet this year. It drops approximately 2000' over 12.3 miles, then intersects the Diamond Peak trail and descends along Crooked Creek for another 5.3 miles before reaching the Wenaha River trail. I was ready to camp at that point, but finding a campsite along this route is tricky. Not that they don't exist--there are plenty of them. However, Leave-No-Trace camping practices seem to be the exception rather than the rule here. The likeliest-looking campsite I found had a bear in the middle of it. It was a good bear and ran away, but I decided not to stick around and risk camping near whatever attracted the bear in the first place (nearly all campsites had garbage left behind, unfortunately). Instead, I continued along the Wenaha River trail approximately 2 miles to the intersection with the Hoodoo trail where I was able to find a relatively clean camp with water access, and a great view of the bighorn sheep on the hillside above camp. On Sunday I continued about another mile down the Wenaha River trail until it intersected the Weller Butte trail (where I climbed, and climbed, and climbed). Seriously, I should have allowed for an extra day on this section of trail. The Weller Butte/Smooth Ridge trail is arguably the most scenic trail in the Wenaha-Tucannon. It includes a little of everything as it climbs from approx. 2500' elevation at the river to 6387' at Oregon Butte over the course of 16.7 gorgeous miles. First I was astonished by the view looking down at the river. Then I was astonished at the size of the Ponderosa pine trees. Then I was astonished at the massive juniper trees. Next it was beautiful wildflower meadows and rocky outcroppings. Truly, this trail is fantastic, but again, unethical trail users have left an ugly mark on the landscape at the (frankly, illegal) campsites along the route. There are limited water sources, so those who wish to camp have little choice but to stay in the vicinity of these camps. [The worst: Donkey Camp near Lodgepole Spring--including an illegal structure w/in the Wilderness; I will be contacting the forest service regarding this site.] Utterly exhausted by the climb, I reached Oregon Butte just slightly before the torrential downpour. Fortunately, I had enough time to take pictures of a practically-tame snowshoe hare who was willing to pose for me. Unfortunately, the rain drowned my hopes of getting some pics of the full moon from the lookout. On Monday morning the rain cleared just long enough to allow me to get breakfast and take down the tent. Then I walked out on the Mount Misery trail to the TH, then headed down the Turkey Creek trail to return to the car (7.7 miles). Grand total: just shy of 50 miles for the loop.

Wildflowers, bluebirds, blowdowns, disappearing trails and great views of Eastern Washington’s Blue Mountains: the Panjab Loop Trail offered it all during a recent hike. We followed the directions provided by George Romano in his new book Day Hiking: Eastern Washington, but we went in the opposite direction, starting at the Panjab trailhead. We got an early start since it promised to be a very hot day. Due to a large forest fire in 2005, much of the hike is through burned timber, but the Panjab Trail was nicely shaded. The cooling sound of flowing water accompanied us most of the way up the 2500 feet of elevation gain. The trail is used by both hikers and horseback riders, so it was easy to follow. Near the top, still in the woods, there is an unmarked spur trail going to the left, but we stayed right, following the horseshoe tracks. Near its end, the Panjab Trail opens into a beautiful meadow filled with wildflowers. We also saw numerous Mountain and Western bluebirds. At the four-way intersection, we took the sharp left on to Rattlesnake Trail. It was easy to follow for about a mile, but then we came to a section where four or five small trees had fallen, obscuring the path and its left-hand turnoff into the woods. After searching for several minutes in the nearby shrubbery, we picked up Rattlesnake Trail again, but additional blowdowns and overgrown vegetation left us looking over and over again for the path. If you’re not comfortable with a trail that keeps disappearing, consider turning back at the first set of blowdowns on the meadow’s edge. Despite its challenges, Rattlesnake Trail provided great views in both directions as we walked along a sharp ridge. At the bottom of the trail, you have to cross a stream, but the water barely came over our ankles. In fact, after about 13 miles of hiking, the cold water felt great on our feet and gave us the strength to walk the last 2.5 miles along a dusty gravel road from the Rattlesnake trailhead back to our car at the Panjab trailhead.