| Ranger Report - A report from your hard working volunteers and crews. |
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
| Hey, let us know what you see out there! Send a couple photos along with your hiking, biking, 4x4in, horseback riding, etc. dventure story. We are always very happy to hear from our trail friends. cleelumtrails@yahooo.com |
Hi Everyone, here's what we are seeing on the ground!
It has been a wild couple of weeks out in the woods, for sure! Two weekends ago, we had thunderheads building over
the Taneum area. Typically, storms east of the Central Cascade Range build, do their thing, and move on quickly. Not
this one! It sat over the Cle Elum area for about an hour, dumping nearly 2 inches of rain in the town. Flash flooding
occurred in several areas. About the same time, we had a couple riders in the upper Taneum who had abandoned their
bikes and were on foot, so our crew members (Wilson and Cromien plus several volunteers) were out searching for
them (they found and helped them get back to safety). It was a wild weekend, to say the least. The Taneum Junction
area got hit by quarter size hail chunks. When I drove in after the storm, it looked like the area had received 3 inches of
snow! There were a lot of riders who were caught in the storm and forced to ride out while the hail pelted them! Fast
forward to this Sunday. Our crew was out in the Manastash clearing trail. The day had been unseasonably cool, but it
was nice work weather. Then it started to snow! I kid you not! No wonder our snow is hanging on for so long in the
higher elevations!
The Manastash trails are slowly becoming snow free. People are running the 4WD trails all the way to Funny Rocks, so
while it remains wet, it is passable. Please watch your tire spin during the wet season. Finesse is the objective. The
single track trails are clear to the snowline, but you can’t get too far up Hereford, so the upper trails have not been logged
out due to snow. Our crews pushed up Taneum Ridge toward Quartz and were stopped shy of Manastash Ridge due to
snow, but we are getting closer each week. You can make Windy Pass via Taneum Ridge and you should be able to
complete the Taneum Ridge to Cle Elum Ridge loop by the weekend. Northridge is open and clear to Little Creek Basin.
Our crews are just beginning to clear the Teanaway trails. We have some local motorcycle guys who consistently clear
Yellow Hill, West Fork, and the Middle Fork. Don’t plan on heading that way yet, though, as you will not be able to make
any loops because of the snow level. We are planning on heading out there this weekend to see how high we can get,
so I’ll post an update.
We did clear the Miller Bear Loop. A lot of people have been hiking and riding the County Line, Miller Peak, and Iron Bear
trails, so watch for traffic! Ranger Johnny Mac did some tread work on the Iron Bear trail, so it looks pretty good EXCEPT
for the big drainage created by the snow melt and water runoff (right down the trail!). Our Maintenance Crews have it on
their schedule. We could not get to Miller Peak as of last week (snow), but you can make the loop (Iron Bear to County
Line to Miller).
From the Non-Motorized Trail Crew: Bean Basin, Standup Creek, Stafford Creek, Beverly Creek, Pete Lake, and Knox
Creek are all clear. Hyas Lake Trail is clear and open. Waptus River Trail is maintained to the 7.5 mile mark, but is
snow free to the lake. Hiker only trails, due to the funding (NOVA) situation, will not be logged out this season.
From our Volunteer Crew (Lori Taylor and crew): On Sunday four of us headed to Table Mountain to ride and clear
some trail. The attached map shows the route we rode. There's also a shot of me cutting a log out of Owl Creek Trail.
Someone had already cleared about half of the trails we rode and some sporatic clearing on others. We did some
clearing on Howard Creek, Nameum Creek, Drop Creek, Owl Creek and Standup Creek (I think it's signed as Nameum
Ridge Trail). Owl Creek, Standup Creek and the northern portion of Nameum Creek (going into Haney Meadows) are
way too wet to allow any use of right now, including non-motorized. We got out into the soft stuff and had a tough time
riding through trying to minimize impact; turning around would have been really ugly. Probably need to give those trails a
couple weeks to dry out.
Tips and Regulations for Wilderness Travelers -
Remember No Campfires are allowed at these lakes.
The wood that is available in these rocky alpine areas needs to return to the soil for the delicate vegetation that does
grow there and not picked clean for campfires. The plants are fragile and have a very short growing season when they
are not covered by snow.
Nothing scars the land as bad as a campfire ring and nobody likes camping in ashes.
Fire rings also tend to attract litter.
Keep the campsites in better condition than you found them.
Protecting these lands is all our responsibility!
Leave No Trace Ethics are especially important at these popular destinations
It has been a wild couple of weeks out in the woods, for sure! Two weekends ago, we had thunderheads building over
the Taneum area. Typically, storms east of the Central Cascade Range build, do their thing, and move on quickly. Not
this one! It sat over the Cle Elum area for about an hour, dumping nearly 2 inches of rain in the town. Flash flooding
occurred in several areas. About the same time, we had a couple riders in the upper Taneum who had abandoned their
bikes and were on foot, so our crew members (Wilson and Cromien plus several volunteers) were out searching for
them (they found and helped them get back to safety). It was a wild weekend, to say the least. The Taneum Junction
area got hit by quarter size hail chunks. When I drove in after the storm, it looked like the area had received 3 inches of
snow! There were a lot of riders who were caught in the storm and forced to ride out while the hail pelted them! Fast
forward to this Sunday. Our crew was out in the Manastash clearing trail. The day had been unseasonably cool, but it
was nice work weather. Then it started to snow! I kid you not! No wonder our snow is hanging on for so long in the
higher elevations!
The Manastash trails are slowly becoming snow free. People are running the 4WD trails all the way to Funny Rocks, so
while it remains wet, it is passable. Please watch your tire spin during the wet season. Finesse is the objective. The
single track trails are clear to the snowline, but you can’t get too far up Hereford, so the upper trails have not been logged
out due to snow. Our crews pushed up Taneum Ridge toward Quartz and were stopped shy of Manastash Ridge due to
snow, but we are getting closer each week. You can make Windy Pass via Taneum Ridge and you should be able to
complete the Taneum Ridge to Cle Elum Ridge loop by the weekend. Northridge is open and clear to Little Creek Basin.
Our crews are just beginning to clear the Teanaway trails. We have some local motorcycle guys who consistently clear
Yellow Hill, West Fork, and the Middle Fork. Don’t plan on heading that way yet, though, as you will not be able to make
any loops because of the snow level. We are planning on heading out there this weekend to see how high we can get,
so I’ll post an update.
We did clear the Miller Bear Loop. A lot of people have been hiking and riding the County Line, Miller Peak, and Iron Bear
trails, so watch for traffic! Ranger Johnny Mac did some tread work on the Iron Bear trail, so it looks pretty good EXCEPT
for the big drainage created by the snow melt and water runoff (right down the trail!). Our Maintenance Crews have it on
their schedule. We could not get to Miller Peak as of last week (snow), but you can make the loop (Iron Bear to County
Line to Miller).
From the Non-Motorized Trail Crew: Bean Basin, Standup Creek, Stafford Creek, Beverly Creek, Pete Lake, and Knox
Creek are all clear. Hyas Lake Trail is clear and open. Waptus River Trail is maintained to the 7.5 mile mark, but is
snow free to the lake. Hiker only trails, due to the funding (NOVA) situation, will not be logged out this season.
From our Volunteer Crew (Lori Taylor and crew): On Sunday four of us headed to Table Mountain to ride and clear
some trail. The attached map shows the route we rode. There's also a shot of me cutting a log out of Owl Creek Trail.
Someone had already cleared about half of the trails we rode and some sporatic clearing on others. We did some
clearing on Howard Creek, Nameum Creek, Drop Creek, Owl Creek and Standup Creek (I think it's signed as Nameum
Ridge Trail). Owl Creek, Standup Creek and the northern portion of Nameum Creek (going into Haney Meadows) are
way too wet to allow any use of right now, including non-motorized. We got out into the soft stuff and had a tough time
riding through trying to minimize impact; turning around would have been really ugly. Probably need to give those trails a
couple weeks to dry out.
Tips and Regulations for Wilderness Travelers -
Remember No Campfires are allowed at these lakes.
The wood that is available in these rocky alpine areas needs to return to the soil for the delicate vegetation that does
grow there and not picked clean for campfires. The plants are fragile and have a very short growing season when they
are not covered by snow.
Nothing scars the land as bad as a campfire ring and nobody likes camping in ashes.
Fire rings also tend to attract litter.
Keep the campsites in better condition than you found them.
Protecting these lands is all our responsibility!
Leave No Trace Ethics are especially important at these popular destinations