PEAK PUTTERS

Lacking adult supervision, I made some loose plans to explore the region between Hwy 410 and I-90. I've traveled the first section of my planned route several times, which is the Bald Mountain / Barber Springs route connecting Hwy 410 to NF-31. The rest of the trip was uncharted Here's a map of the route highlighted in yellow:



As luck would have it, Mr. and Mrs. OG were also available for the weekend and took the opportunity to co-navigate. We launched from the new hot dog stand in West Richland, referred to by some as Costco, around 1600hrs on Thursday afternoon. By the time we reached camp somewhere in the upper elevation section of NF-1701 it was completely dark and slightly breezy. We quickly setup camp, OG made an absolutely baller pizza, and we sacked out for night one:







Friday morning was leisurely around camp as we mowed down some home-baked cinnamon rolls courtesy of Mrs. Moss (not to be confused with Mrs. OG ) and coffee, while the camp mutts did what they do. We rolled North around 0930, hitting the 3100 road, Cow Camp road, Gnat Flat, Miner's Point, Lankin Loop, and Cle Elum Ridge before eventually hitting pavement again in South Cle Elum. A brief stint on I-90 took us to the Northern terminus of Stampede Pass, where we again met gravel and headed South in a rapid gain of elevation. At the peak, we veered East onto Lizard Lake trail and proceeded to WABDR our @$$es off as we plodded along. Almost as if it had been planned all along, we came upon an abandoned trail trestle that I've been wanting to scope out for several years:





Super cool find, and defines the reason I love this type of trip The day was getting long and we had no idea where camp was, so we continued to meander generally South and East, eventually finding a fantastic little spot along the shelf road heading up the hill. The view from camp looking back to the North was not terrible:



Saturday morning was cool and damp, as the campspot was nestled into the hillside and even though we didn't leave camp until after 1000hrs, we never had direct sunlight in camp:





Back in the saddles, we proceeded further up the shelf road and came across some hikers that seemed very out of place. However, after some map research it turns out the trail we were on crossed paths with the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) several times as we made our way across the contour lines. Eventually we topped out with stellar views back to the North of the Stuarts and Enchantments. Sadly I just don't have camera gear that does any of this justice:









As we began the descent down the South side of the hill, still comingling with the PCT / hiking crowd, we rounded the corner and caught our first glimpse of the dirt pile some call Mt. Rainier, glistening in the sun under a fresh coat of early season snow:



From here it was a hop, skip and a jump down to FS-19 where we stopped near Salmon Falls to let the dawgs do what dawgs do, make some late lunch, and air up the tires after almost 120 miles of low range and dirt:





And, if it wasn't previously known or understood, the entire reason for any trip of this nature is to find ice cream:



Turns out we ran into Steve and Dolly at Whistlin Jacks and had a nice time catching up for a bit in the warm afternoon sun. Sadly though it was time to head back to reality, as my adult supervisor was on a flight back to town and I had been given explicit instructions to provide ground transportation