05-17-26
John
Sluder joined me for a long
day and a lot of miles as we set out for a day of hiking and wildflower
photography. Two years ago John, Gary, and I did just the Ingalls Creek
trail on this same weekend. Last year on the same weekend, Gary and I
did a slightly shorter Ingalls hike and added a loop around the Swauk
Discovery Trail. I did not realize this would be the third consecutive
year we did Ingalls Creek on May 17th or 18th until after we chose this
destination. I have had several wildflower hikes east of the Cascades
this spring but this would be John's first. We met in Issaquah at the
East Sunset Trailhead at 6:15 am. It was my turn to drive. Traffic was
not bad at that hour and we stopped in Cle Elum for gas. It was clear
but cold east of the mountains. We had unusual snow the day before and
near the trailhead was reporting 33F at 5:00 am. We drove over Blewett
Pass seeing the burned trees from last year's big Labor Mountain fire.
Much of the NF Teanaway will be closed part or all of this year. It was
in the mid 30s north of the pass but when we reached the trailhead at
8:00 am it was up to 42F. There were only about half a dozen cars in
the lot. A trip report from the day before showed wildflowers were near
peak. I was surprised but pleased. The sky was clear as we packed up
and started out at 8:07 am. I first took the obligatory shot of the
ibises in a big dense patch. There were also some arrowleaf balsamroot
in bloom.
In the first few minutes we saw prairie stars, peas, silver crowns, and larkspur. Needless to say, our pace was very slow. In addition to the irises, we came upon a lilac bush. Mariposa lilies started early and continued for quite a while. Lupine were also blooming. We saw lots of Indian paintbrush. Most were orange or red with some bright yellow ones too. We hiked pretty fast between photo stops but photo stops were continuous. The river starts right at trail level and the route goes high above and back to river level many times. That means there is uphill on the way back. Sometimes the river was in sight and sometimes not. Oops, I mean Ingalls Creek. In springtime the creek is loud with lots of white water and looks like a river. In places the trail is lined with lots of bright blue lupine. After traversing a steep hillside the trail drops to a meadow where we had more wildflowers. While the trail is largely in forest, I had forgotten how much sunlight shines through. That gave us a variety of lighting for photos.
We passed an empty camp along the river. With so few cars in the lot, it was unlikely we would see many backpackers. The poor weather the day before also must have kept many away. It was cold at first but warmed up quickly. The first mile had very thick flowers and they continued all day though at a lesser level. There is a boulder field just off the trail that has always had some ice at the bottom of the rocks and cold air blowing out. This was the first time there was none. We also saw a huge patch of glacier lilies here in 2024. This day there were none anywhere on our route. About 3 miles in we passed a campsite with a person in sight. That was the first person seen all day. A little farther we passed a big group coming out. I did not count but I would guess about 10 backpackers. They stayed overnight at Falls Creek Camp at 5.5 miles in. At about 3 miles we started seeing trillium Some were white and many were from pink to dark purple. We always see a lot of them at every state of blooming. The trip report the day before mentioned a lot of lots down and than only one was a problem. There were more than a dozen and maybe closer to 20 logs down across the trail. Most were easy to get over but one was very large. Stepping up onto another log made it not too hard to get over. A couple logs were freshly cut.
We generally stop at a spot along the creek at the 5 mile mark. An easy climb down the back puts you right near creek level. This day we decided to keep moving. As the flower show waned a bit we made up for all the photo stops earlier. The spot on the river now has a couple logs in it. The creek level must have been much higher to deposit the logs there. So far we had found two spots with calypso orchids. They are bright pink but very tiny. They grow where there is no ground cover. We checked out those spots in finding the ones we did spot. They are very hard to auto-focus and we had long stops to get a good photo. Such is the fun of finding them. I also found one more patch on the way back. Though they are only an inch or two tall we get close enough to make them seem big in photos. When we reached Falls Creek Camp, the GPS showed almost exactly 5.5 miles. In 2024 we went all the way to the Cascade Creek Trail. That seldom hiked trail climbs up to very popular Navaho Pass. That made for a long day without a second hike. This time we continued on for about another half mile to a special spot I discovered on my first time on the trail. As the halfway spot this day it would make a good lunch spot.
We found the spot to go off trail and found the spot. It was almost exactly 6 miles up the trail. This spot has some mossy slabs with lots of stonecrop. It also has some shooting stars in the spring. On the previous two visits we found a broomrape flower. They are tiny and very colorful. I have only seen them half a dozen times and several were here. We easily found the shooting stars and also some Columbia Lewisia. There was also some arrowleaf balsamroot in bloom. At many places along the trail we also saw Hooker's balsamroot. It has just one flower per stem and smaller leaves. We arrived at 11:34 am. The spot was in sunshine and it was warm but not too hot. The slope across the creek is where the Labor Mountain fire descended. It did not appear to reach the creek at any point. Most of the burned trees were in the first couple miles. At mile 6, we had a green slope across the way with lots of light green larch trees in sight. I was really pleased that we had seen calypso orchids and now shooting stars. Columbia Lewisia, and two broomrapes.
We packed up and started back at 12:38 pm. We still had 6 miles to hike back and hopefully we would be feeling good enough to tackle another 2.7 miles on the Swauk Discovery Trail. We make much better time coming back. We still took photo stops but far fewer. We brought hiking poles since there are quite a few small creeks to cross. As it turned out they were not needed. We managed to rock hoop across all of them with dry feet. On the way out we saw the one camper, the big group, and one more hiker heading back. As expected we saw more people going back. More but still not a lot. It was by far the fewest people we have seen on this same May weekend the past three years. By the last few miles it was getting very warm. It was just the thing for those uphill sections. We arrived back at the parking lot at 3:02 pm. We hiked back 6 miles in 2:24. With more photos, that was not a bad time. We took 3:27 hiking in. It was 68F at the parking lot and about 5 degrees warmer than the forecast high. There were only six other cars in the lot. The wildflower show was really good and not a lot of people were there early or late. We quickly were on our way up to Blewett Pass.
The road to the trailhead leaves right from the top of the pass. We arrived at that lot at about 3:30 pm. There were 4 or five cars in the lot. It was a much cooler 58F at 4250'. I suggested doing the loop counterclockwise as I did it last year. The loop has about 430' of elevation gain. It begins with some steep ups and downs. We were not exactly fresh after 12 miles of hiking and a half hour car ride. There are a few wildflowers I hoped to find there. Last year we saw a few Tweedy Lewisia. Others reported seeing bitterroot in bloom but we did not see any. The trail starts in forest and has few blooming flowers. It heads south and makes a turn to the east. This is where forest gives way to some views. The more open sloped also had balsamroot in bloom as well as clumps of penstemon and death camas. We took a food and water break on a bench and then continued. The trail turns to the north and the slope gets a bit rockier. Here we found some small bitterroot blooming right off the side of the trail. That was a nice surprise. A little farther along I noticed a lone Tweedy Lewisia blooming above the trail. At least we found one of them. The trail continues north passing through some meadows.
The trail traverses below a bald point then switches back and climbs out of forest. The next switchback goes right below the top on open slopes and we found some blooming clematis. We also had views out to Mt. Stuart and the Stuart Range. I did not recognize them at first as they did not seem to be in the right place. Just before the top we found several more blooming Tweedy Lewisia. We met two women here who were just heading down the way we came up. They asked about Tweedys and we point them out. They were very happy. It was windy on top and I had to put on a windshirt. It was so much different than the hot Ingalls Creek parking lot just a little earlier. We took a short bread on top and then headed down. We were more than three quarters of the way around the loop. The trail drops off the summit and enters forest. It appears to be about a month earlier here. We saw a couple blooming glacier lilies and the only spring beauty of the day. The trip back to the parking lot was quick and we reached the end of the trail at 4:55 pm. We took 1:25 to hike the 2.7 mile loop.
For the day, we hiked 14.7 miles with about 2400' of elevation gain. That is not a lot of gain over that many miles so the trail never seemed steep. It is a lot of miles to hike. It is a bit harder when you kneed down and stand up again about 100 times. Now I just had about a two hour drive home. The traffic was not bad and that helped. I was home at about 7:15 pm. It was a long day from waking up at 4:35 am to arriving home 14:40 later. It was also a really nice hike. The crowds never appeared. The weather was really good and the wildflower show was excellent. I had two good wildflower hikes the past two weeks but this trip had so much more variety. From trillium to Tweedy Lewisia and so many more flowers in bloom. This will remain a real favorite trip for the third weekend in May.
Click on thumbnails to get
larger pictures.
Trips - 2026
Home
In the first few minutes we saw prairie stars, peas, silver crowns, and larkspur. Needless to say, our pace was very slow. In addition to the irises, we came upon a lilac bush. Mariposa lilies started early and continued for quite a while. Lupine were also blooming. We saw lots of Indian paintbrush. Most were orange or red with some bright yellow ones too. We hiked pretty fast between photo stops but photo stops were continuous. The river starts right at trail level and the route goes high above and back to river level many times. That means there is uphill on the way back. Sometimes the river was in sight and sometimes not. Oops, I mean Ingalls Creek. In springtime the creek is loud with lots of white water and looks like a river. In places the trail is lined with lots of bright blue lupine. After traversing a steep hillside the trail drops to a meadow where we had more wildflowers. While the trail is largely in forest, I had forgotten how much sunlight shines through. That gave us a variety of lighting for photos.
We passed an empty camp along the river. With so few cars in the lot, it was unlikely we would see many backpackers. The poor weather the day before also must have kept many away. It was cold at first but warmed up quickly. The first mile had very thick flowers and they continued all day though at a lesser level. There is a boulder field just off the trail that has always had some ice at the bottom of the rocks and cold air blowing out. This was the first time there was none. We also saw a huge patch of glacier lilies here in 2024. This day there were none anywhere on our route. About 3 miles in we passed a campsite with a person in sight. That was the first person seen all day. A little farther we passed a big group coming out. I did not count but I would guess about 10 backpackers. They stayed overnight at Falls Creek Camp at 5.5 miles in. At about 3 miles we started seeing trillium Some were white and many were from pink to dark purple. We always see a lot of them at every state of blooming. The trip report the day before mentioned a lot of lots down and than only one was a problem. There were more than a dozen and maybe closer to 20 logs down across the trail. Most were easy to get over but one was very large. Stepping up onto another log made it not too hard to get over. A couple logs were freshly cut.
We generally stop at a spot along the creek at the 5 mile mark. An easy climb down the back puts you right near creek level. This day we decided to keep moving. As the flower show waned a bit we made up for all the photo stops earlier. The spot on the river now has a couple logs in it. The creek level must have been much higher to deposit the logs there. So far we had found two spots with calypso orchids. They are bright pink but very tiny. They grow where there is no ground cover. We checked out those spots in finding the ones we did spot. They are very hard to auto-focus and we had long stops to get a good photo. Such is the fun of finding them. I also found one more patch on the way back. Though they are only an inch or two tall we get close enough to make them seem big in photos. When we reached Falls Creek Camp, the GPS showed almost exactly 5.5 miles. In 2024 we went all the way to the Cascade Creek Trail. That seldom hiked trail climbs up to very popular Navaho Pass. That made for a long day without a second hike. This time we continued on for about another half mile to a special spot I discovered on my first time on the trail. As the halfway spot this day it would make a good lunch spot.
We found the spot to go off trail and found the spot. It was almost exactly 6 miles up the trail. This spot has some mossy slabs with lots of stonecrop. It also has some shooting stars in the spring. On the previous two visits we found a broomrape flower. They are tiny and very colorful. I have only seen them half a dozen times and several were here. We easily found the shooting stars and also some Columbia Lewisia. There was also some arrowleaf balsamroot in bloom. At many places along the trail we also saw Hooker's balsamroot. It has just one flower per stem and smaller leaves. We arrived at 11:34 am. The spot was in sunshine and it was warm but not too hot. The slope across the creek is where the Labor Mountain fire descended. It did not appear to reach the creek at any point. Most of the burned trees were in the first couple miles. At mile 6, we had a green slope across the way with lots of light green larch trees in sight. I was really pleased that we had seen calypso orchids and now shooting stars. Columbia Lewisia, and two broomrapes.
We packed up and started back at 12:38 pm. We still had 6 miles to hike back and hopefully we would be feeling good enough to tackle another 2.7 miles on the Swauk Discovery Trail. We make much better time coming back. We still took photo stops but far fewer. We brought hiking poles since there are quite a few small creeks to cross. As it turned out they were not needed. We managed to rock hoop across all of them with dry feet. On the way out we saw the one camper, the big group, and one more hiker heading back. As expected we saw more people going back. More but still not a lot. It was by far the fewest people we have seen on this same May weekend the past three years. By the last few miles it was getting very warm. It was just the thing for those uphill sections. We arrived back at the parking lot at 3:02 pm. We hiked back 6 miles in 2:24. With more photos, that was not a bad time. We took 3:27 hiking in. It was 68F at the parking lot and about 5 degrees warmer than the forecast high. There were only six other cars in the lot. The wildflower show was really good and not a lot of people were there early or late. We quickly were on our way up to Blewett Pass.
The road to the trailhead leaves right from the top of the pass. We arrived at that lot at about 3:30 pm. There were 4 or five cars in the lot. It was a much cooler 58F at 4250'. I suggested doing the loop counterclockwise as I did it last year. The loop has about 430' of elevation gain. It begins with some steep ups and downs. We were not exactly fresh after 12 miles of hiking and a half hour car ride. There are a few wildflowers I hoped to find there. Last year we saw a few Tweedy Lewisia. Others reported seeing bitterroot in bloom but we did not see any. The trail starts in forest and has few blooming flowers. It heads south and makes a turn to the east. This is where forest gives way to some views. The more open sloped also had balsamroot in bloom as well as clumps of penstemon and death camas. We took a food and water break on a bench and then continued. The trail turns to the north and the slope gets a bit rockier. Here we found some small bitterroot blooming right off the side of the trail. That was a nice surprise. A little farther along I noticed a lone Tweedy Lewisia blooming above the trail. At least we found one of them. The trail continues north passing through some meadows.
The trail traverses below a bald point then switches back and climbs out of forest. The next switchback goes right below the top on open slopes and we found some blooming clematis. We also had views out to Mt. Stuart and the Stuart Range. I did not recognize them at first as they did not seem to be in the right place. Just before the top we found several more blooming Tweedy Lewisia. We met two women here who were just heading down the way we came up. They asked about Tweedys and we point them out. They were very happy. It was windy on top and I had to put on a windshirt. It was so much different than the hot Ingalls Creek parking lot just a little earlier. We took a short bread on top and then headed down. We were more than three quarters of the way around the loop. The trail drops off the summit and enters forest. It appears to be about a month earlier here. We saw a couple blooming glacier lilies and the only spring beauty of the day. The trip back to the parking lot was quick and we reached the end of the trail at 4:55 pm. We took 1:25 to hike the 2.7 mile loop.
For the day, we hiked 14.7 miles with about 2400' of elevation gain. That is not a lot of gain over that many miles so the trail never seemed steep. It is a lot of miles to hike. It is a bit harder when you kneed down and stand up again about 100 times. Now I just had about a two hour drive home. The traffic was not bad and that helped. I was home at about 7:15 pm. It was a long day from waking up at 4:35 am to arriving home 14:40 later. It was also a really nice hike. The crowds never appeared. The weather was really good and the wildflower show was excellent. I had two good wildflower hikes the past two weeks but this trip had so much more variety. From trillium to Tweedy Lewisia and so many more flowers in bloom. This will remain a real favorite trip for the third weekend in May.
 Prairie Stars |
 Silver Crown |
 Colorful Larkspur |
 Peas |
 Paintbrush & Lupine |
 Yellow Paintbrush |
 Purple Lupine |
 Lot Of Lupine |
 Mariposa Lily |
 Small Penstemon |
 Twin Mariposa Lilies |
 Rose |
 John On Trail |
 Nice Colors |
 Salsify |
 Larkspur Close Up |
 Big Pink Penstemon |
 Lupine Patch |
 Red Indian Paintbrush |
 Ingalls Creek |
 Common Yarrow |
 Trail Through Lupine |
 More Penstemon |
 Clematis |
 Death Camas |
 White Trillium |
 Old Red Trillium |
 First Calypso Orchid |
 Pink Trillium |
 Hooker's Fairybells |
 Colorful Calypso Orchid |
 Small White Flower |
 Yellow Violet |
 Bluebells |
 Bright Red Trillium |
 Along The Creek |
 Ballhead Waterleaf |
 Arnica |
 Arrowleaf Balsamroot |
 Serviceberry |
 Strawberry |
 First Shooting Star |
 Another Shooting Star |
 Red Stonecrop |
 Stonecrop Forest |
 Columbia Lewisia |
 First Broomrape |
 Second Broomrape |
 Down The Throat |
 Another Larkspur |
 Phlox |
 Three Brothers Mountain |
 Red & White Trillium |
 Small Falls |
 John & Big Down Log |
 Fungus On Trail |
 Trail Alongside Creek |
 Thimbleberry Flower |
 Discovery Trail Balsamroot |
 First Bitterroot |
 Close Up Look |
 White Bitterroot |
 A Tweedy Lewisia |
 Mt. Rainier |
 Clematis Clump |
 Stuart Range |
 Nice Tweedy Lewisia |
 Another Tweedy |
 Glacier Lily |
 Spring Beauties |
 Final Forest |
 Tall Pine Tree |
Trips - 2026
Home