06-28-25
I
was solo and looking for another trip east of the Cascades. I have been
moving westward for the past month. From Umtanum Ridge to Ingalls
Creek/Swauk Discovery to Exclamation Point Rock to Iron Bear Peak to
Miller Peak last week. The wildflower show just kept on going. I
decided to move farther west for a trip around the DeRoux Creek -
Esmerelda Basin loop. This is a true loop beginning and ending with
trails just about 100' apart. I have done it seven times including in 2002,
2005, 2014,
and 2018.
My first time around was in 1990. It had been seven years since my last
visit. It was time. I was out the door at 6:19 am heading east. I
arrived at the DeRoux Creek Trailhead to find three cars in the lot. It
was sunny and calm. The forecast had gusts up to 22 mph. That calm was
a plus. I was packed and on the trail at 8:33 am. This is a hike to see
flowers. There are some mountain views but the flower show is the
reason to come. This is a horse trail so it is a bit rocky and dusty.
There are several creek crossings that are difficult in the spring. I
was hoping for easy crossings. I had poles just in case though they
stayed on my pack. I was prepared for the temperature to peak in the
mid 60s. That did not happen. It was 54F at the start which was about
8F warmer than forecast.
The rail drops to a bridge over the NF Teanaway River very quickly. By then I had seen blooming Valerian, columbine, and the only blooming thistle of the day. The wildflower show continued all day with a only a few short interruptions. With all the flowers I was stopping for photos constantly. This might be the only hike I do this year when my moving speed is less than 2 mph. A meadow after the bridge gave me a great view up to East Esmerelda Peak. The next flowers I saw were rose, cow parsnip, thimbleberry, queen's cup, lousewort, asters, and small yellow daisies. I reached the junction with the trail up to the saddle between Koppen and DeRoux Peaks at 1.3 miles. Now the trail began to climb. It was warming rapidly and the forest shade was welcome. An open area near a waterfall in DeRoux Creek had lupine and arnica in bloom. I also saw stonecrop and Columbia Lewisia. I also had my first views up to the summit of Koppen Mountain. Big pink penstemon showed up though I did not see them often on this trip. I had more practice photographing small larkspur flowers. I have enjoyed seeing them this spring.
I started seeing some logs down across the trail. They would stop a horse but not a hiker. One of my few Jacob's ladder sightings were along here. On a bare rock and gravel hillside I found a really nice and fully sunlit stonecrop display. That was the best one I have seen this year. The trail soon dropped to the unbridged crossing of DeRoux Creek. It had a pretty good flow but I was able to rock hop across. The shores were lined with blooming shooting stars. I thought it was a lot of them though I would see much larger displays later. Across the creek the trail hits some nice meadows. I saw purple violets, elephant head lousewort, bistort, asters, phlox, and Indian paintbrush among others. Earlier I had seen some very large yellow violets. The purple ones I see much less often. It one time, the trail headed straight for Gallagher Head Lake. For the past 30+ years it makes long gentle switchbacks to climb the slope. It is longer but less steep and does cross streams that are lined with wildflowers. Each one had a thick display of shooting stars.
Just before reaching the lake there were glacier lilies right at their peak. These were the only ones of the day. I arrived at the lake to see the first people of the day. They drove off-road vehicles up a really awful rocky road with long and deep puddles and running water. I found this out later as I hiked down that road. We said hi and I went a little farther to a bench above the lake for my break. There was a cold breeze blowing. I needed a windshirt as the wind was gusting to about 12 mph. Not as hard as forecast but hard enough. I took a short food and water break. Esmerelda Peaks are right behind the lake. With a little snow on them it made for a very scenic view. Since my last visit there are signs asking people to say off the grass around the lake. Benches were placed where you can view the lake without turning the wit grass to mud. I had covered about 4.2 miles in 2:35. That is very slow. It was just too scenic to rush through. I arrived at 11:09 am and stayed until 11:20. That was probably my longest break of the day.
Now came the "fun" part. I have walked the road down to the trail to Fortune Creek Pas many times. It is rocky and sometimes snow covered on my loop trips. There are a couple fords as well. This may have been the worst hiking condition I have seen. One "puddle/lake" was over 100' long. I could not tell how deep it was. Not bad enough to keep vehicles out. In places the road is a trench 3+ feet below the ground on each side. That made it challenging to climb in and out of the rut. Much of the road had a good current as it was a creek. I brought my high top waterproof hiking boots just in case it was like this. The road is also very steep in places and full of large sharp gravel. All the more fun for hiking it. In hindsight, it was not all that bad. I am amazed that trucks drove right up and down it. The two truck fords were okay as rock hops. My feet stayed dry.
Eventually the fun ended as I reached the hiking trail up to the pass. I descended about 600' in a mile. I did pass one truck coming up. I had to take off my windshirt as the trail to Fortune Pass starts off very steeply. The trail gains 900' in just over a mile. The flower show was very nice along here. There was a bunch of blooming lupine near the start. When the grade lessened it traversed across the open slopes. Larkspur showed up again. I had great views over to Hawkins Mountain and Esmerelda Peaks. Farther to the northwest, I could see Cathedral Peak, the Citadel, and the bottom of Mt. Daniel. The top part was in clouds. There was some wind here but it was helpful in not overheating. Most of the way up I met two women who wondered where this trail went. I suggesting a 900' drop to a torn up wet road was not a good idea. We hiked together up to Fortune Creek Pass. They had come from Whidbey Island and there drive was almost twice as much time as mine. They were the first non-motorized people I had seen all day. We arrived at the pass at 12:47 pm. I had covered 6.3 miles. I was more than half way with most of the elevation gained.
The women took the side trail to a bump above the pass and I headed down. The slope is pretty barren at the pass. The wind was also blowing hard here. A short way down I was back out of the wind. I started seeing more wildflowers soon. I had seen a few shooting stars before the pass and now there were more on the Esmerelda Basin side. There was brightly colored douglasia and phlox at first. Small creeks were lined with shooting stars. Then there were even more. Two mountain bikers passed by going up. I did not see them again. The count was now up to five hikers or bikers. I passed the trail heading to Lake Ann and the flower show was even better. Flowers lined the slope above and below the trail. From a barren pass to an amazing garden in a dozen minutes of hiking. Lousewort were mixed in with the shooting stars and some yellow Thompson's paintbrush added to the colors. My pace turned to ultra low. In the distance I could see the Long's Pass Trail cutting across the bare slope.
In case I was getting tired of all the shooting stars, the slope turned flame red with an impressive display of scarlet gilia. It is one of my favorite flowers. Some of the stalks were weighed down with dozens of flowers. There was enough wind to make it hard to avoid blurry photos. I just waited for a lull in the wind. It was not a bad place to be stuck waiting for a moment of calm. At some point I had to get moving. Columbine soon appeared. As I descended I saw many of the flowers seen at lower elevations along DeRoux Creek. The elephant head I saw in the morning was not quite fully opened. Now I began to see some that were right at peak. They like wet and I had to cross some muddy spots for better views. Most shots were withe my zoom lens to get a good shot. My GPS map showed the old trail. It followed the creek through meadows. The new trail switches back and climbs above the valley floor meadow. It is drier and hence much less muddy. I could clearly see where the trail (an old road) met the new trail.
I saw more scarlet gilia, buckwheat, Indian paintbrush, and penstemon as I descended. At the switchback with the old trail/road I saw a hiker and the count reached five for the day. In my 2018 trip on the same weekend I noted seeing 73 people while we dropped from the pass to the trailhead. This year was much different. Just before reaching the Esmerelda/Ingalls parking lot two backpackers passed my heading up. That brought the total to 7 people over almost 10 miles. That is astonishing for Esmerelda in flower season on a Saturday. Now I just had about 1.7 miles back to my car at DeRoux. I used to walk the road. In 2018 Gary and I found a trail that parallels the road. The road was lined with overflow cars as expected. They must have nearly all gone to Ingalls and Long's Passes. The trail went well most of the way. Last time we saw pink and yellow monkey flowers at a small creek crossing. This time I saw only the pink. Near the end the trail was in thick brush and I found a creek or marsh. It was deep mud and water flowing across the route. There was no obvious way to get around it. I found a skinny log that ended before the 20'+ to cross. I grabbed thin branches and teetered and nearly fell in many times. I am still amazed I made it across with damp feet but I did not dunk my boot above the top. I reached my car at 3:12 pm. I hiked about 11.7 miles with 2900' of gain in 6:39.
I headed out in the morning for a 240 miles round trip drive with possible high winds and cool mid-60s high temperature. I ended up with light winds except at the lake and the pass. It was mid-70s at the end. The wildflower show as expected to be good and it was much better than that. The near total lack of other people was baffling. I expected few on the first part but 60 or should have been on the Esmerelda Trail. Not that I am complaining. Solitude was just not what I should have had. The hard part is going to be looking over about 400 photos to select the ones to add below this report. That is a problem I don't mind dealing with. It was a really nice early summer weekend in the Teanaway Valley.
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larger pictures.
Photo Page 2
Trips - 2025
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The rail drops to a bridge over the NF Teanaway River very quickly. By then I had seen blooming Valerian, columbine, and the only blooming thistle of the day. The wildflower show continued all day with a only a few short interruptions. With all the flowers I was stopping for photos constantly. This might be the only hike I do this year when my moving speed is less than 2 mph. A meadow after the bridge gave me a great view up to East Esmerelda Peak. The next flowers I saw were rose, cow parsnip, thimbleberry, queen's cup, lousewort, asters, and small yellow daisies. I reached the junction with the trail up to the saddle between Koppen and DeRoux Peaks at 1.3 miles. Now the trail began to climb. It was warming rapidly and the forest shade was welcome. An open area near a waterfall in DeRoux Creek had lupine and arnica in bloom. I also saw stonecrop and Columbia Lewisia. I also had my first views up to the summit of Koppen Mountain. Big pink penstemon showed up though I did not see them often on this trip. I had more practice photographing small larkspur flowers. I have enjoyed seeing them this spring.
I started seeing some logs down across the trail. They would stop a horse but not a hiker. One of my few Jacob's ladder sightings were along here. On a bare rock and gravel hillside I found a really nice and fully sunlit stonecrop display. That was the best one I have seen this year. The trail soon dropped to the unbridged crossing of DeRoux Creek. It had a pretty good flow but I was able to rock hop across. The shores were lined with blooming shooting stars. I thought it was a lot of them though I would see much larger displays later. Across the creek the trail hits some nice meadows. I saw purple violets, elephant head lousewort, bistort, asters, phlox, and Indian paintbrush among others. Earlier I had seen some very large yellow violets. The purple ones I see much less often. It one time, the trail headed straight for Gallagher Head Lake. For the past 30+ years it makes long gentle switchbacks to climb the slope. It is longer but less steep and does cross streams that are lined with wildflowers. Each one had a thick display of shooting stars.
Just before reaching the lake there were glacier lilies right at their peak. These were the only ones of the day. I arrived at the lake to see the first people of the day. They drove off-road vehicles up a really awful rocky road with long and deep puddles and running water. I found this out later as I hiked down that road. We said hi and I went a little farther to a bench above the lake for my break. There was a cold breeze blowing. I needed a windshirt as the wind was gusting to about 12 mph. Not as hard as forecast but hard enough. I took a short food and water break. Esmerelda Peaks are right behind the lake. With a little snow on them it made for a very scenic view. Since my last visit there are signs asking people to say off the grass around the lake. Benches were placed where you can view the lake without turning the wit grass to mud. I had covered about 4.2 miles in 2:35. That is very slow. It was just too scenic to rush through. I arrived at 11:09 am and stayed until 11:20. That was probably my longest break of the day.
Now came the "fun" part. I have walked the road down to the trail to Fortune Creek Pas many times. It is rocky and sometimes snow covered on my loop trips. There are a couple fords as well. This may have been the worst hiking condition I have seen. One "puddle/lake" was over 100' long. I could not tell how deep it was. Not bad enough to keep vehicles out. In places the road is a trench 3+ feet below the ground on each side. That made it challenging to climb in and out of the rut. Much of the road had a good current as it was a creek. I brought my high top waterproof hiking boots just in case it was like this. The road is also very steep in places and full of large sharp gravel. All the more fun for hiking it. In hindsight, it was not all that bad. I am amazed that trucks drove right up and down it. The two truck fords were okay as rock hops. My feet stayed dry.
Eventually the fun ended as I reached the hiking trail up to the pass. I descended about 600' in a mile. I did pass one truck coming up. I had to take off my windshirt as the trail to Fortune Pass starts off very steeply. The trail gains 900' in just over a mile. The flower show was very nice along here. There was a bunch of blooming lupine near the start. When the grade lessened it traversed across the open slopes. Larkspur showed up again. I had great views over to Hawkins Mountain and Esmerelda Peaks. Farther to the northwest, I could see Cathedral Peak, the Citadel, and the bottom of Mt. Daniel. The top part was in clouds. There was some wind here but it was helpful in not overheating. Most of the way up I met two women who wondered where this trail went. I suggesting a 900' drop to a torn up wet road was not a good idea. We hiked together up to Fortune Creek Pass. They had come from Whidbey Island and there drive was almost twice as much time as mine. They were the first non-motorized people I had seen all day. We arrived at the pass at 12:47 pm. I had covered 6.3 miles. I was more than half way with most of the elevation gained.
The women took the side trail to a bump above the pass and I headed down. The slope is pretty barren at the pass. The wind was also blowing hard here. A short way down I was back out of the wind. I started seeing more wildflowers soon. I had seen a few shooting stars before the pass and now there were more on the Esmerelda Basin side. There was brightly colored douglasia and phlox at first. Small creeks were lined with shooting stars. Then there were even more. Two mountain bikers passed by going up. I did not see them again. The count was now up to five hikers or bikers. I passed the trail heading to Lake Ann and the flower show was even better. Flowers lined the slope above and below the trail. From a barren pass to an amazing garden in a dozen minutes of hiking. Lousewort were mixed in with the shooting stars and some yellow Thompson's paintbrush added to the colors. My pace turned to ultra low. In the distance I could see the Long's Pass Trail cutting across the bare slope.
In case I was getting tired of all the shooting stars, the slope turned flame red with an impressive display of scarlet gilia. It is one of my favorite flowers. Some of the stalks were weighed down with dozens of flowers. There was enough wind to make it hard to avoid blurry photos. I just waited for a lull in the wind. It was not a bad place to be stuck waiting for a moment of calm. At some point I had to get moving. Columbine soon appeared. As I descended I saw many of the flowers seen at lower elevations along DeRoux Creek. The elephant head I saw in the morning was not quite fully opened. Now I began to see some that were right at peak. They like wet and I had to cross some muddy spots for better views. Most shots were withe my zoom lens to get a good shot. My GPS map showed the old trail. It followed the creek through meadows. The new trail switches back and climbs above the valley floor meadow. It is drier and hence much less muddy. I could clearly see where the trail (an old road) met the new trail.
I saw more scarlet gilia, buckwheat, Indian paintbrush, and penstemon as I descended. At the switchback with the old trail/road I saw a hiker and the count reached five for the day. In my 2018 trip on the same weekend I noted seeing 73 people while we dropped from the pass to the trailhead. This year was much different. Just before reaching the Esmerelda/Ingalls parking lot two backpackers passed my heading up. That brought the total to 7 people over almost 10 miles. That is astonishing for Esmerelda in flower season on a Saturday. Now I just had about 1.7 miles back to my car at DeRoux. I used to walk the road. In 2018 Gary and I found a trail that parallels the road. The road was lined with overflow cars as expected. They must have nearly all gone to Ingalls and Long's Passes. The trail went well most of the way. Last time we saw pink and yellow monkey flowers at a small creek crossing. This time I saw only the pink. Near the end the trail was in thick brush and I found a creek or marsh. It was deep mud and water flowing across the route. There was no obvious way to get around it. I found a skinny log that ended before the 20'+ to cross. I grabbed thin branches and teetered and nearly fell in many times. I am still amazed I made it across with damp feet but I did not dunk my boot above the top. I reached my car at 3:12 pm. I hiked about 11.7 miles with 2900' of gain in 6:39.
I headed out in the morning for a 240 miles round trip drive with possible high winds and cool mid-60s high temperature. I ended up with light winds except at the lake and the pass. It was mid-70s at the end. The wildflower show as expected to be good and it was much better than that. The near total lack of other people was baffling. I expected few on the first part but 60 or should have been on the Esmerelda Trail. Not that I am complaining. Solitude was just not what I should have had. The hard part is going to be looking over about 400 photos to select the ones to add below this report. That is a problem I don't mind dealing with. It was a really nice early summer weekend in the Teanaway Valley.
 Valerian In Bloom |
 NF Teanaway Bridge |
 Thistle |
 Crossing River |
 More Flowers |
 Meadow & Esmerelda Pk |
 Rose |
 Queen's Cup |
 Aster |
 Columbine |
 Purple Penstemon |
 Narrow Trail |
 DeRoux Spur Junction |
 Arnica |
 More Valerian |
 Lupine |
 Columbia Lewisia |
 Cinquefoil |
 View East |
 Pink Penstemon |
 First Larkspur |
 Green Ground Cover |
 Western Anemone |
 Yellow Violet |
 Jacob's Ladder |
 Bluebells |
 Stonecrop |
 Waterfall |
 Beautiful Shooting Star |
 Rock Hop Crossing |
 Violet Violets |
 Multi-Colored |
 Elephant's Head |
 Bistort |
 More Asters |
 Hawkins Mountain |
 White Phlox |
 Red Indian Paintbrush |
 Mountain Flower |
 Cinquefoil? |
 More Columbine |
 Koppen Mountain |
 Terrific Shooting Stars |
 Glacier Lily |
 Shooting Stars Patch |
 Gallagher Head Lake |
 Lake & Meadow |
 Stars By Water |
Photo Page 2
Trips - 2025
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