| 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