9-19-15
With
rain coming in I chose to head east for a hike off of Highway 97 near
Blewett Pass. Kim and Gwen joined me. We met at 7:10 am in Bellevue and
headed east. Two stops in Cle Elum and we headed up 97 to a few miles
north of Mineral Springs where we turned off on the Iron Creek Road.
The road was in pretty good shape. We crossed the nearly dry creek and
made it up to the small trailhead parking lot. We were the first car of
the day. Mornings are getting a little cooler but it was still
pleasant. We were on the trail by about 9:30 am. I usually do this hike
in the spring time. Lots of wildflowers and the southern exposure melts
out early. A little snow also keeps the motorcycles away though they
have never been a big problem for me. Usually not many of them.
I hoped we would find a lot of fall leaf color. There was color though not all that much. Some patches of color allowed for a number of colorful photos though most of the way was green or just not leafy. We took a short break at Iron Bear Pass. A cool breeze was blowing. Above the pass the wind was minimal. From the pass the trail makes several long gentle switchbacks. Views over to the valley of Bear Creek showed the forest of light green larch trees. There were no traces of golden needles yet.
In due time we reached the summit of Iron Bear Peak. Our leisurely paced trip had us on the summit at 11:45 am. I was surprised that nobody passed us on the way up. We had total solitude. I was along on this trip as the cameraman as Gwen and Kim had some posing to do. Another group arrived and did not seem to mind our rather unusual photo shoot. A good time was had by all. We had lunch and soon more group arrived. Even on an overcast day in late September I expect to see other folks on the trail.
We continued on for the short hike over to Jester Peak. We intersected the County Line Trail and soon made the easy walk to the summit. The clouds now extended off to the east. There was one consistent sunny spot in the Kittitas Valley. While lots of folks were over on Iron Bear we had total solitude. Rain squalls were seen in several directions. We had a short spit of drizzle but it quickly ended. Though we saw rain much of the afternoon we stayed dry. On the way back we did not stop atop Iron Bear. The route is gentle enough that going down was not much of a problem even for Kim's sore knee.
Several other groups passed us but for the most part we missed most of the hikers while over on Jester. The larch near Jester were still green. We saw only a few small branches that were starting to turn color. Still several weeks to go. This is a pretty easy trail except on hot summer days with the southern exposure. This day the temperature was very pleasant. It was about 4:15 pm when we reached the trailhead. Plenty early for dinner in Cle Elum and a reasonably early time to get home. This is a great spring wildflower hike and not a bad fall larch trip. In September we had neither but we did have a quiet day on the trail and some views amid the clouds. Not a bad way to spend the last weekend of summer.
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Trips - 2015
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I hoped we would find a lot of fall leaf color. There was color though not all that much. Some patches of color allowed for a number of colorful photos though most of the way was green or just not leafy. We took a short break at Iron Bear Pass. A cool breeze was blowing. Above the pass the wind was minimal. From the pass the trail makes several long gentle switchbacks. Views over to the valley of Bear Creek showed the forest of light green larch trees. There were no traces of golden needles yet.
In due time we reached the summit of Iron Bear Peak. Our leisurely paced trip had us on the summit at 11:45 am. I was surprised that nobody passed us on the way up. We had total solitude. I was along on this trip as the cameraman as Gwen and Kim had some posing to do. Another group arrived and did not seem to mind our rather unusual photo shoot. A good time was had by all. We had lunch and soon more group arrived. Even on an overcast day in late September I expect to see other folks on the trail.
We continued on for the short hike over to Jester Peak. We intersected the County Line Trail and soon made the easy walk to the summit. The clouds now extended off to the east. There was one consistent sunny spot in the Kittitas Valley. While lots of folks were over on Iron Bear we had total solitude. Rain squalls were seen in several directions. We had a short spit of drizzle but it quickly ended. Though we saw rain much of the afternoon we stayed dry. On the way back we did not stop atop Iron Bear. The route is gentle enough that going down was not much of a problem even for Kim's sore knee.
Several other groups passed us but for the most part we missed most of the hikers while over on Jester. The larch near Jester were still green. We saw only a few small branches that were starting to turn color. Still several weeks to go. This is a pretty easy trail except on hot summer days with the southern exposure. This day the temperature was very pleasant. It was about 4:15 pm when we reached the trailhead. Plenty early for dinner in Cle Elum and a reasonably early time to get home. This is a great spring wildflower hike and not a bad fall larch trip. In September we had neither but we did have a quiet day on the trail and some views amid the clouds. Not a bad way to spend the last weekend of summer.
 Gwen On Lower Trail |
 Past Prime Balsamroot |
 Fall Color |
 Vibrant Moss |
 Fireweed |
 Larch Forest |
 Better Color |
 Hikers & Fall Color |
 Cloudy Peaks |
 Lewis & Clark |
 Dynamic Duo |
 Gwen's Turn |
 Kim's Turn |
 Lots Of Larch |
 More Leaves |
 Jester Summit Plateau |
 Jester Summit |
 Shaser View |
 Sock Monkeys |
 Short & Wide |
 Golden Larch |
 Green Larch |
 Descending Iron Bear |
 Dalmatian Horse |
 Trail Below |
Trips - 2015
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