06-15-25
Gary
and John were free for a Sunday hike. We kicked around some ideas in
the Teanaway area. I was leaning towards Miller Peak. Gary has a log of
all his hikes that goes back farther than my 43 years. He checked his
log and found his first visit to Miller Peak was in 1975. Hey, that was
exactly 50 years ago, We needed to do Miller. I asked what date he did
it. It was on June 15th. Hey our hike the next day would be on June
15th. I checked the perpetual calendar online. In 1975 it was on a
Sunday. Okay our hike would be on the same day and date 50 years later.
We had to go hike up Miller. I was curious how many time I had been up
Miller. This trip made it 13 times since 1990. I have done the loop
over Iron Bear Peak 7 times, once via bike and hike, twice from Iron
Creek, and this was only the third time up and back on the Miller Peak
Trail. We met at Sunset Way at 7:00 am and John drove east. Overcast
gave way to blue sky east of the crest. We headed up the NF Teanaway
Road then to the end of the Stafford Creek Road. We arrived at about
8:30 am. The small lot was mostly filled already. For a summer morning,
it was cold. We all put on another layer and gloves. It was a cold 46F.
We were on our way at 8:41 am.
I was not expecting much in the way of wildflowers. I thought we might see some up high but spring has been early this year and it was now late for flowers east of the crest. We saw some almost finished columbine immediately. I also saw a rose in bloom. We quickly reached the first creek crossing. We had six total crossings each way. I recalled one a mile plus up that could be difficult. I brought poles especially for that. This is a motorcycle trail and it has loose rocks in places. It was looser that I ever recall. The poles were very helpful coming down. The first crossing was wide. There were just enough rocks to hop and keep dry feet. The wildflower show continued with thimbleberry flowers, vanilla leaf, more columbine, and queen's cup. Next came tiger lilies, starflowers, false Solomon's seal, Indian paintbrush, and forget-me-nots. That was more flowers in bloom than I expected on this trip and we were not even half a mile in. We saw a few trillium plants with huge leaves and flowers already finished.
The second creek crossing was to deep for an easy rock hop so we headed upstream 50' to a log across. John crossed the log and Gary and I rock hopped next to it. It was still cold but began to warm up. One section was wet and muddy. I'm not sure where the water came from. One of the most unexpected findings was a patch of white shooting stars right alongside the trail. We see purple ones a few times most years. White ones are pretty rate. Farther up the valley we saw another patch of them. They were right at their peak. After 1.5 miles we had gained about 600'. The creek crossings were behind us and the serious ascent began. We were still in forest but the open sections grew longer. The trail also became much more torn up. There were trenches and loose rocks where motorcycles spun their tires. There were some good sections too but it became more work much of the rest of the way up. The wildflower show continued with pink penstemon and blue clematis. We saw more clematis than I can recall seeing on one trip. I saw some at Devi's Gulch earlier this year but just a fraction of those seen on this hike.
We also saw some Columbia Lewisia, stonecrop, and arnica. The yellow arnica patches were a precursor to the arrowleaf balsamroot that lay above. My talk about this being a poor wildflower hike was blown out of the water by this point. Much more was still to come. The price of all these flowers was a lot of shutter delay. We were delayed over and over by photo stops. A few hikers passed us by along with two motorcycles. I did 8 miles with 2400' of gain the day before and the rocky trail was starting to slow me down too. The extra layers came off and it was warming faster now. We saw just a few yellow violets then a whole lot of Jacob's ladder. In fact, probably more Jacob's ladder than I have seen on any hike. The first arrowleaf balsamroot appeared at about 4800'. They were well past prime but still blooming. At 5200' the trail came out of the forest at a ridge top. We now had views across to Iron Bear and Jester Peaks. I was on Iron Bear just a few weeks ago. We had a food and water break here.
The ground had a lot of Columbia Lewisia in bloom. We stopped at 10:48 am. We were disappointed to see we had ascended 2000' so far with 1200' still to go. We also had a view to Navaho and Little Navaho Peaks. Another group of hikers arrived and took a break as we started hiking again. Ne now had more open slopes below the rising ridge. Larkspur appeared just before and after our break spot. I have seen it almost every weekend this spring and have had fun taking close up macro photos. The balsamroot display started to improve. It just kept getting thicker and in full bloom as we ascended. We had several small displays of scarlet gilia along here. The bright red flowers are among my favorites. The balsamroot display went from good to crazy good. This year has been very good for balsamroot. Most of it is now well past prime. At more than a mile high, it was right at peak here. It was one of the best displays I have seen. I am sounding redundant now.
We had been seeing shriveled remains of glacier lilies for a while. At one spot we found them still in bloom. We also saw two small patches of snow in the trees. That was it for snow. Our photo taking pace helped younger hikers to catch up and pass us. We reached the final ridge top with a look at the summit at 12:00 noon. In 2020 John and I did the whole Miller Loop and reached the summit in 2:07. We had now been hiking for 3:19 and were still a little short of the top. A whole lot of photo opportunities can do that. So far we had seen most of the desert type flowers I hope to see in the spring in the Teanaway area. Well, all by one of my favorites. The rocky terrain was perfect for bitterroot but we did not see any so far. Now we just had a track straight up the steep rocky open slope to the top. Part way up Gary noticed a bitterroot flower. Then we saw another and another... There were many of them all over the slope. They are tiny but very bright pink in color. We took much more time enjoying and photographing them. I have seen them on three earlier spring hikes but this display was right up there with that on Mission Ridge.
We finally hiked the last short distance to the summit. One guy was on top and more farther along or just below. We arrived at 12:20 pm. We stayed until 1:43 pm. It was all blue sky and sunshine with a gentle cool breeze. It was almost perfect. Gary was on top exactly 50 years after his first visit. Trip reports from the past few weeks talked about a mountain goat on the summit. About half way through our stay it showed up. Just a little of its summer coat was hanging on. The goat was more interested in eating anything green to bother with us. It did pose for the hikers. Two motorcycles arrived and ground their way up a rutted track to the actual summit. I had not seen that before. We had the lingering smell of their exhaust for a while. We could have spent another hour on top but we had a rough trail to descend and a long drive home. We did get a few more photos of the views. From Mt. Rainier to the southwest to the many Teanaway peaks and Mt. Stuart and much of the Stuart Range. There was just enough snow left on the summits to provide a nice contrast.
Our hike down had photo stops but far fewer than coming up. We made it down with dry boots. We all slipped many times but nobody fell down on the loose rocky trail. One by one the young hikers caught up and passed us. We were slower than in years past but made it up and down just fine. We reached the trailhead at 4:36 pm. It was a toasty 82F. We made one stop in Cle Elum for milkshakes and had no traffic problems on the drive home.
This was supposed to be a hike to a prime viewpoint on the 50th anniversary of Gary's first visit. It was that. It was also a fantastic wildflower hike. We really did not expect that. The variety from forest flowers to desert varieties was outstanding. We had great weather and great views and even a rare mountain goat sighting. Throw in a great balsamroot display, white shooting stars and a ton of blooming bitterroot and you have a terrific hike on so many levels. It was a really nice day for our first Teanaway summit of the year.
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Trips - 2025
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I was not expecting much in the way of wildflowers. I thought we might see some up high but spring has been early this year and it was now late for flowers east of the crest. We saw some almost finished columbine immediately. I also saw a rose in bloom. We quickly reached the first creek crossing. We had six total crossings each way. I recalled one a mile plus up that could be difficult. I brought poles especially for that. This is a motorcycle trail and it has loose rocks in places. It was looser that I ever recall. The poles were very helpful coming down. The first crossing was wide. There were just enough rocks to hop and keep dry feet. The wildflower show continued with thimbleberry flowers, vanilla leaf, more columbine, and queen's cup. Next came tiger lilies, starflowers, false Solomon's seal, Indian paintbrush, and forget-me-nots. That was more flowers in bloom than I expected on this trip and we were not even half a mile in. We saw a few trillium plants with huge leaves and flowers already finished.
The second creek crossing was to deep for an easy rock hop so we headed upstream 50' to a log across. John crossed the log and Gary and I rock hopped next to it. It was still cold but began to warm up. One section was wet and muddy. I'm not sure where the water came from. One of the most unexpected findings was a patch of white shooting stars right alongside the trail. We see purple ones a few times most years. White ones are pretty rate. Farther up the valley we saw another patch of them. They were right at their peak. After 1.5 miles we had gained about 600'. The creek crossings were behind us and the serious ascent began. We were still in forest but the open sections grew longer. The trail also became much more torn up. There were trenches and loose rocks where motorcycles spun their tires. There were some good sections too but it became more work much of the rest of the way up. The wildflower show continued with pink penstemon and blue clematis. We saw more clematis than I can recall seeing on one trip. I saw some at Devi's Gulch earlier this year but just a fraction of those seen on this hike.
We also saw some Columbia Lewisia, stonecrop, and arnica. The yellow arnica patches were a precursor to the arrowleaf balsamroot that lay above. My talk about this being a poor wildflower hike was blown out of the water by this point. Much more was still to come. The price of all these flowers was a lot of shutter delay. We were delayed over and over by photo stops. A few hikers passed us by along with two motorcycles. I did 8 miles with 2400' of gain the day before and the rocky trail was starting to slow me down too. The extra layers came off and it was warming faster now. We saw just a few yellow violets then a whole lot of Jacob's ladder. In fact, probably more Jacob's ladder than I have seen on any hike. The first arrowleaf balsamroot appeared at about 4800'. They were well past prime but still blooming. At 5200' the trail came out of the forest at a ridge top. We now had views across to Iron Bear and Jester Peaks. I was on Iron Bear just a few weeks ago. We had a food and water break here.
The ground had a lot of Columbia Lewisia in bloom. We stopped at 10:48 am. We were disappointed to see we had ascended 2000' so far with 1200' still to go. We also had a view to Navaho and Little Navaho Peaks. Another group of hikers arrived and took a break as we started hiking again. Ne now had more open slopes below the rising ridge. Larkspur appeared just before and after our break spot. I have seen it almost every weekend this spring and have had fun taking close up macro photos. The balsamroot display started to improve. It just kept getting thicker and in full bloom as we ascended. We had several small displays of scarlet gilia along here. The bright red flowers are among my favorites. The balsamroot display went from good to crazy good. This year has been very good for balsamroot. Most of it is now well past prime. At more than a mile high, it was right at peak here. It was one of the best displays I have seen. I am sounding redundant now.
We had been seeing shriveled remains of glacier lilies for a while. At one spot we found them still in bloom. We also saw two small patches of snow in the trees. That was it for snow. Our photo taking pace helped younger hikers to catch up and pass us. We reached the final ridge top with a look at the summit at 12:00 noon. In 2020 John and I did the whole Miller Loop and reached the summit in 2:07. We had now been hiking for 3:19 and were still a little short of the top. A whole lot of photo opportunities can do that. So far we had seen most of the desert type flowers I hope to see in the spring in the Teanaway area. Well, all by one of my favorites. The rocky terrain was perfect for bitterroot but we did not see any so far. Now we just had a track straight up the steep rocky open slope to the top. Part way up Gary noticed a bitterroot flower. Then we saw another and another... There were many of them all over the slope. They are tiny but very bright pink in color. We took much more time enjoying and photographing them. I have seen them on three earlier spring hikes but this display was right up there with that on Mission Ridge.
We finally hiked the last short distance to the summit. One guy was on top and more farther along or just below. We arrived at 12:20 pm. We stayed until 1:43 pm. It was all blue sky and sunshine with a gentle cool breeze. It was almost perfect. Gary was on top exactly 50 years after his first visit. Trip reports from the past few weeks talked about a mountain goat on the summit. About half way through our stay it showed up. Just a little of its summer coat was hanging on. The goat was more interested in eating anything green to bother with us. It did pose for the hikers. Two motorcycles arrived and ground their way up a rutted track to the actual summit. I had not seen that before. We had the lingering smell of their exhaust for a while. We could have spent another hour on top but we had a rough trail to descend and a long drive home. We did get a few more photos of the views. From Mt. Rainier to the southwest to the many Teanaway peaks and Mt. Stuart and much of the Stuart Range. There was just enough snow left on the summits to provide a nice contrast.
Our hike down had photo stops but far fewer than coming up. We made it down with dry boots. We all slipped many times but nobody fell down on the loose rocky trail. One by one the young hikers caught up and passed us. We were slower than in years past but made it up and down just fine. We reached the trailhead at 4:36 pm. It was a toasty 82F. We made one stop in Cle Elum for milkshakes and had no traffic problems on the drive home.
This was supposed to be a hike to a prime viewpoint on the 50th anniversary of Gary's first visit. It was that. It was also a fantastic wildflower hike. We really did not expect that. The variety from forest flowers to desert varieties was outstanding. We had great weather and great views and even a rare mountain goat sighting. Throw in a great balsamroot display, white shooting stars and a ton of blooming bitterroot and you have a terrific hike on so many levels. It was a really nice day for our first Teanaway summit of the year.
 Columbine |
 Queen's Cup |
 First Creek Crossing |
 Tiger Lily |
 Starflowers |
 Forget-Me-Nots |
 Peas |
 White Shooting Stars |
 Rose |
 Pink Penstemon |
 Indian Paintbrush |
 Clematis |
 Columbia Lewisia |
 Many Arnica |
 More White Shooting Stars |
 Jacob's Ladder |
 Lupine |
 Penstemon & Clematis |
 Fading Balsamroot |
 First Larkspur |
 Peak Balsamroot |
 Another Larkspur |
 Mt. Rainier |
 Scarlet Gilia |
 Penstemon |
 Teanaway Peaks |
 Balsamroot Slopes |
 Guys & Balsamroot |
 Yellow Up The Slope |
 Glacier Lilies |
 Spring Beauty |
 Summit In Sight |
 Steep Track To Top |
 Bitterroot Time! |
 Bitterroot & Leaves |
 Gary At Work |
 Great Colors! |
 Death Camas |
 View Northwest |
 John Near Summit |
 Gary, Flowers, Summit |
 Earl To Argonaut Peak |
 Navaho, Stuart, Argonaut |
 Mountain Goat |
 Iron Bear Peak |
 Cinquefoil |
 Bitterroot Galore |
 Ridge Penstemon |
 Pale Bitterroot |
 Descending |
 Earl Peak & Balsamroot |
 Mystery Flower |
 Descending Balsamroot |
 Tree Hanging On |
 Clematis & Arnica |
 Stonecrop |
 Vanilla Leaf |
 Last White Shooting Stars |
 Last Tiger Lily |
 Thimbleberry Flower |
Trips - 2025
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