10-12-24
Gary
and I had a great larch trip
to Ingalls Lake on Monday. For Saturday it looked to be a second
consecutive sunny weekend in October. We decided to head back to the
Teanaway Valley but to avoid the crazy crowds tht would be at the
Ingalls trailhead. Instead, we chose to go to Navaho Peak with
great views of more distant larch trees and a small grove
above
Navaho Pass to walk through. It is a long drive with short days so we
met again in North Seattle at 6:00 am. This was the first day of
general buck season. This is the busiest hunting day of the year. It
was not likely hunters would be on the Stafford Creek Trail but we
brought orange vests nad hats just in case. We arrived at the trailhead
at 8:00 am. There were five or six cars in the lot. One was a long
track parked sideways taking up about four head in spaces. It
was
the first time in years I found an open spot in the parking lot. It was
33F when we started hiking at 8:08 am. The sky was clear as forecast.
We headed up the trail at a good clip to warm up. There was a little leaf color but no sunshine to light them up. Soon, we could see sunshine on the slope on the opposite side of Stafford Creek. Our first good view was up to Little Navaho Peak. It was far above us. Late we would be looking down on it. There were a few deciduous trees with bright yellow leaves. Our first fall trip to Green Mountain had terrific leaf colors and mountain views. Our second, toIngallls Lake, had great learch colors and some mountain views. This trip had a little of each. We passed under Little Navaho and founrd some sunshine in meadows between the forest trees. Last Monday at Ingalls we saw a blooming scarlet gilia. They normally bloom in May and June. I wondered if we would see any other out of season flowers. We saw only pearly everlasting on the way up. We did not even see any mushrooms. We reached the switchbacks that start the trail climbing the valley wall.
At the top of the switchbacks is a creek. This is where our loop would finish. We stopped for a food and water break. Two other hikers passed by. We were about 3.5 miles into our hike. We continued up the valley. At 4 miles we reached the junction with the Standup Creek Trail. We hiked that trail earlier in the year to the top of Earl Peak. We continued on the Stafford Creek Trail into the long gentle switchbacks. When I started hiking this trail the old trail straight up the slope was still there. The new trail is much longer at a very gentle grade. We reached the meadow to find the grass brown. There were no tents in sight. Several hikers went by while we were taking photos. The trail climbs up into the land where nothing grows. This dirt area has only a little grass. We had views up to Earl Peak. Earl has a few tarns and a lot of larch trees under the summit. The higher we hiked the more larch trees we could see. There is no trail into those larch. In a short time we were at Navaho Pass. We arrived at 11:07 am. We had traveled 5.5 miles. That was almost half of our day's mileage. It was not all of the elevation gain. The pass is at 6000'. The summit of Navaho Peak is at 7223'. On the north side of the pass the slope was full of golden larch trees.
Above the pass is the grove of larch that the trail goes by. We headed up. The trail goes around most of the larch. To get backlit photos where the sun really lights up the trees, we needed to go left into the grove. The ground is mostly granite rocks. The whitish rocks looked great below the larch with blue sky above. We took the time to get some great views and photos here. In 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic I came here to avoid the Ingalls crowds. It is not as large a larch display but it is pretty good. Gary and I met at Navaho Pass in early May 1992. That was my first time going to the summit of Navaho Peak. Back then, there was no trail to the top. The County Line Trail went part way then it was time to just head straight up. Near the top where the grade eases there was a bit of a boot path. Now there is a trail. It was more beaten in than built. It is steep with some loose rock. It is very easy to follow. We grunted up the steep path. Half a dozen people were on the summit when we arrived at 12:23 pm. It was .90 miles with 1220" of gain from Navaho Pass.
The sky was clear and the views were outstanding.Mt. Stuart and the Stuart Range are to the north. Earl Peak is across the valley. Three Brothers is to the East. Mt. Rainier was to the southwest. We could see Mt. Daniel and the glaciers on Chimney Rock and Overcoat Peak. Navaho Peak is a great viewpoint. Below us to the north were lots of golden larch trees. It was warm with almost no wind. We did not start down until 1:31 pm. We stayed for a full 1:08. It was time well spent. Our route was straight down the southeast ridge. Over the past 10+ years a path has been beaten in on the ridge. Part way has trees to go around and lower the slope is mostly open. The views were great. We looked over to Three Brothers and Miller Peak. The north side of the ridge had golden larch trees below. Where the ridge flattened we crossed the County Line Trail on the way over the ridge heading northeast. It is not very distinct. I walked right over it without noticing. Gary did notice and pointed it out.
The ridge walk is a lot of fun. Little Navaho was ahead and below. Near the summit were a bunch of golden larch trees. The ridge continues fairly level and then begins a steep drop to the saddle between Navaho and Little Navaho. I don't like the steep spots with loose rock. It is as scramble not a trail. We did not have any problem with it. At the bottom it was hotter. I seldom look for shade in mid October. This day I did. We had been under the sun for many hours. We had another break at the saddle. From the saddle to the Stafford Creek Trail directly below was 1200' in .70 miles. It is steep. We saw footprints much of the way. It is relentless. Once you get started it starts steep and keeps it up. I was really glad when we reached the trail. From there we just had 3.5 miles with 1500' to lose. The easy grade was appreciated. We passes some good leaf color with some sunshine on it. It had been shady in the morning. Near the bottom of the switchbacks I noticed some color.
Last week we saw a scarlet gilia that was blooming about three months later than usual. I saw another bunch. What? Two weeks in a row? That was really surprising. Two minutes later Gary saw another bunch. Then another and another. We kept looking and ended up with 23 gilia plants in bloom. In 40 years hiking I had never seen one in bloom past August. That was really rare. October? That is crazy. As usual, the trail seemed to go on and on. We were both glad to see the trailhead. We arrived back at the car at 6:02 pm. For the second time in 6 days we made the most of daylight. We spent nearly 10 hours on the trail. One hour was sitting on the summit. Up high the views were terrific and the photo opportunities were constant. For the day we hiked 11.6 miles with 4200' of elevation gain. This was only the fourth 4000' day of the year so far for me. Gary has five.
All in all we had a great hike. A lot of mileage and elevation gain. A second larch hike of the season. The weather was perfect. Cold in the morning but sunny and warm enough most of the day. We had a tiny fraction of the hundreds of hikers up the road at Ingalls Pass and Lake. The second blooming scarlet gilia sighting in a week was incredible for October. The off trail descent on the open ridge was a lot of fun. It was a great day. This was my 19th visit to the summit of Navaho Peak since 1992. After nearby Iron Peak this is one of the most visited summits I see outside of the Issaquah-North Bend area. Today made it clear why I like this place to much.
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Trips - 2024
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We headed up the trail at a good clip to warm up. There was a little leaf color but no sunshine to light them up. Soon, we could see sunshine on the slope on the opposite side of Stafford Creek. Our first good view was up to Little Navaho Peak. It was far above us. Late we would be looking down on it. There were a few deciduous trees with bright yellow leaves. Our first fall trip to Green Mountain had terrific leaf colors and mountain views. Our second, toIngallls Lake, had great learch colors and some mountain views. This trip had a little of each. We passed under Little Navaho and founrd some sunshine in meadows between the forest trees. Last Monday at Ingalls we saw a blooming scarlet gilia. They normally bloom in May and June. I wondered if we would see any other out of season flowers. We saw only pearly everlasting on the way up. We did not even see any mushrooms. We reached the switchbacks that start the trail climbing the valley wall.
At the top of the switchbacks is a creek. This is where our loop would finish. We stopped for a food and water break. Two other hikers passed by. We were about 3.5 miles into our hike. We continued up the valley. At 4 miles we reached the junction with the Standup Creek Trail. We hiked that trail earlier in the year to the top of Earl Peak. We continued on the Stafford Creek Trail into the long gentle switchbacks. When I started hiking this trail the old trail straight up the slope was still there. The new trail is much longer at a very gentle grade. We reached the meadow to find the grass brown. There were no tents in sight. Several hikers went by while we were taking photos. The trail climbs up into the land where nothing grows. This dirt area has only a little grass. We had views up to Earl Peak. Earl has a few tarns and a lot of larch trees under the summit. The higher we hiked the more larch trees we could see. There is no trail into those larch. In a short time we were at Navaho Pass. We arrived at 11:07 am. We had traveled 5.5 miles. That was almost half of our day's mileage. It was not all of the elevation gain. The pass is at 6000'. The summit of Navaho Peak is at 7223'. On the north side of the pass the slope was full of golden larch trees.
Above the pass is the grove of larch that the trail goes by. We headed up. The trail goes around most of the larch. To get backlit photos where the sun really lights up the trees, we needed to go left into the grove. The ground is mostly granite rocks. The whitish rocks looked great below the larch with blue sky above. We took the time to get some great views and photos here. In 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic I came here to avoid the Ingalls crowds. It is not as large a larch display but it is pretty good. Gary and I met at Navaho Pass in early May 1992. That was my first time going to the summit of Navaho Peak. Back then, there was no trail to the top. The County Line Trail went part way then it was time to just head straight up. Near the top where the grade eases there was a bit of a boot path. Now there is a trail. It was more beaten in than built. It is steep with some loose rock. It is very easy to follow. We grunted up the steep path. Half a dozen people were on the summit when we arrived at 12:23 pm. It was .90 miles with 1220" of gain from Navaho Pass.
The sky was clear and the views were outstanding.Mt. Stuart and the Stuart Range are to the north. Earl Peak is across the valley. Three Brothers is to the East. Mt. Rainier was to the southwest. We could see Mt. Daniel and the glaciers on Chimney Rock and Overcoat Peak. Navaho Peak is a great viewpoint. Below us to the north were lots of golden larch trees. It was warm with almost no wind. We did not start down until 1:31 pm. We stayed for a full 1:08. It was time well spent. Our route was straight down the southeast ridge. Over the past 10+ years a path has been beaten in on the ridge. Part way has trees to go around and lower the slope is mostly open. The views were great. We looked over to Three Brothers and Miller Peak. The north side of the ridge had golden larch trees below. Where the ridge flattened we crossed the County Line Trail on the way over the ridge heading northeast. It is not very distinct. I walked right over it without noticing. Gary did notice and pointed it out.
The ridge walk is a lot of fun. Little Navaho was ahead and below. Near the summit were a bunch of golden larch trees. The ridge continues fairly level and then begins a steep drop to the saddle between Navaho and Little Navaho. I don't like the steep spots with loose rock. It is as scramble not a trail. We did not have any problem with it. At the bottom it was hotter. I seldom look for shade in mid October. This day I did. We had been under the sun for many hours. We had another break at the saddle. From the saddle to the Stafford Creek Trail directly below was 1200' in .70 miles. It is steep. We saw footprints much of the way. It is relentless. Once you get started it starts steep and keeps it up. I was really glad when we reached the trail. From there we just had 3.5 miles with 1500' to lose. The easy grade was appreciated. We passes some good leaf color with some sunshine on it. It had been shady in the morning. Near the bottom of the switchbacks I noticed some color.
Last week we saw a scarlet gilia that was blooming about three months later than usual. I saw another bunch. What? Two weeks in a row? That was really surprising. Two minutes later Gary saw another bunch. Then another and another. We kept looking and ended up with 23 gilia plants in bloom. In 40 years hiking I had never seen one in bloom past August. That was really rare. October? That is crazy. As usual, the trail seemed to go on and on. We were both glad to see the trailhead. We arrived back at the car at 6:02 pm. For the second time in 6 days we made the most of daylight. We spent nearly 10 hours on the trail. One hour was sitting on the summit. Up high the views were terrific and the photo opportunities were constant. For the day we hiked 11.6 miles with 4200' of elevation gain. This was only the fourth 4000' day of the year so far for me. Gary has five.
All in all we had a great hike. A lot of mileage and elevation gain. A second larch hike of the season. The weather was perfect. Cold in the morning but sunny and warm enough most of the day. We had a tiny fraction of the hundreds of hikers up the road at Ingalls Pass and Lake. The second blooming scarlet gilia sighting in a week was incredible for October. The off trail descent on the open ridge was a lot of fun. It was a great day. This was my 19th visit to the summit of Navaho Peak since 1992. After nearby Iron Peak this is one of the most visited summits I see outside of the Issaquah-North Bend area. Today made it clear why I like this place to much.
 Red Leaf Color |
 Shaded Leaf Color |
 First Little Navaho View |
 Colorful Grass |
 The Big Meadow |
 Larch Under Earl Peak |
 Moonscape |
 Zoomed Earl Larch |
 Larch At Navaho Pass |
 Larch At Pass |
 Larch Grove We Visited |
 Colorful Larch |
 Getting Closer |
 Earl & Silver Snag |
 Larch & Blue Sky |
 A Bunch Of Larch |
 Rocks, Larch, & Sky |
 Colorful Small Larch |
 Lone Larch Tree |
 Backlit Larch |
 Many Trunks |
 Larch Needles |
 Mt. Stuart Close Up |
 Larch Framed Mt.Stuart |
 Little Navaho & Pass |
 Gary Heading Up |
 Hikers On Summit |
 View To The Northwest |
 Peaks To The West |
 Argonaut Peak |
 Little Annapurna |
 Lemah & Chimney Rock |
 Fortune & Ingalls Peaks |
 Volcanic Neck |
 Lenticular Over Mt Rainier |
 Earl & Larch Again |
 Unzoomed Mt. Rainier |
 Larch Under Summit |
 Larch On Ridge |
 Three Brothers |
 Larch & Three Brothers |
 Open Ridge |
 Gary On The Ridge |
 Little Navaho Again |
 Gary & Navaho Summit |
 Me on the Ridge |
 Gary, Wide Open Ridge |
 Steep Descent |
 Down We Go |
 Black Rock |
 Saddle Is Below |
 Steep "Trail" |
 Grassy Slope |
 Gary At Saddle |
 Heading Straight Down |
 More Steep Descent |
 Scarlet Gilia? |
 More Scarlet Gilia |
 Yellow Leaf Color |
 Gary At Work |
 Shaded Tree |
 Lit Up Leaves |
 Fireweed |
 Mushroom |
Trips - 2024
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