07/10/03:
Did some chores in Cle Elum and then continued on to the other side of town and WA-970 and then followed Teanaway Road 23 miles to the end. Here, huge granite walls tower above the parking area for 3 trailheads. I then backtracked to find a camping spot for the night and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
07/11/03 Hiking the Boulder/De Roux Trail(8 miles round trip to Gallagher Head Lake):
50's at 3800 feet at 7:20 at the trailhead. I had misread the trail description and thought it was 8 miles one way so wanted to get an early start. I also wanted to get out while it was still cool. Yesterday was hot and I heard 101 forecast for the nearby valleys. Not my kind of weather.
1/4 mile brought me to a newly built bridge over a small creek and at 3/4 miles I found another one. Must be some of those Northwest Forest Pass fees being put to work. At one mile I came to the Middle Fork Teanaway Creek Trail and then the trail swung upwards and gained 800 feet in the next mile. The creek followed the trail, just out of sight and down a steep ravine. I could here water tumbling over rocks most of the way.
Finally the trail and the creek came level with each other just past two smaller, but nice, waterfalls The trail crossed the creek a short ways past, crossed an open, level area and then began a series of easy switchbacks for the remaining mile or so. I came to an unmarked fork at the top of the switchbacks and took the right turn which led to Gallagher Head Lake at 5600 feet. The left fork headed up towards Gallagher Head itself, a granite promontory several hundred feet above.
The lake is about 2 acres or so but very shallow. 500+ foot peaks tower above the lake on the north and east shores making for some pretty pictures. Swarms of mosquitoes wouldn't allow me to relax and enjoy the sights so I had to move on. I started up the trail towards Gallagher Head but it turned into a jeep road. The heat was just steaming up off the dusty road and I got out of there.
07/12/03 Hiking Esmerelda Basin Trail(about 8 miles round trip):
40's, 8am, 4300 feet at the trailhead at the end of FR-9737. The trail starts off steeply up past the waterfalls but levels off after 100 yards or so. Ingalls Way Trail branches off to the right at 1/4 mile. Huge granite walls rise up 1000-2000 feet across valley to the left. As the trail settled into fairly easy switchbacks, views of these walls changed and new peaks and ridges appeared. Some of winter's snow remained adding a different perspective to the views.
Red, yellow, white and purple flowers sprouted along on open hillsides. County Line Trail came in from the right at 5800 feet and I reached the top of Esmerelda Basin Trail 15 minutes and 200 feet later. And what a surprise. I didn't know anything about this trail at the beginning, just that with 1700 feet of elevation it seemed to be within my range. So, I was quite pleased with the peaks and ridges and walls along the way.
As I got to the high point of the trail I could look out for miles and miles. Deep valleys backed by 3 different mountain ranges. The far range included Mount Baker, another volcano covered with glaciers and several other peaks still topped with snow. A really excellent view.
TopoUSA told me the trail dropped down 800 feet from this point. I had intended to go down, rest up and then come right back up again to complete a 2500 foot climb. I could see a road down there and couldn't convince myself I wanted to go down there. Instead, I went up County Line Trail for 1/4 mile or so to see if I could sneak in a few more views on this hike. This trail went up a steep incline for a 100 yards or so and then leveled off. I was hoping to find a pass past a large bluff but all I found was a ring of ridges and turned back. All in all, an excellent hike.