[Karen]

Catwoman and I headed out on Friday to hike on the east side. Armed with books, maps we narrowed our selections to Sasse Ridge, Hex Mountain, Jolly Mountain or Waptus Lake. We wanted to see where the snowline was before we started hiking so checked out the Sasse Mountain road first (the one just past the Last Resort - Road 4305). The Cle Elum Ranger District said you couldn't drive to the Sasse Mountain trailheads because they were under snow and the snow level was at about 3,500 feet. But they are wrong. The snowline is more like 4,500 feet in many places from what we could see and we had no problem driving the road. Snow is melting fast. Instead of turning off on Road 118 to the Sasse Mountain trail our curiosity got the better of us and we continued on Road 4305 to see where it lead and found ourselves at a trail neither one of us had heard of or hiked before. Apparently it is an old trail that has been re-opened by the Cle Elum Ranger district (this ranger district is the best all around when it comes to re-opening abandoned trails) and it has a brand new sign. The trail IS open to motorcyles but with snow patches along the higher points of the ridge it's still fine for hiking. Trailhead starts at 2,900 feet and the trail is 3.5 miles long -- it connects to the Sasse Mountain trail at the other end. The trail is steep and rocky in sections but more scenic than we anticipated it would be. Even with crummy weather moving in we were getting views of distant ridges and peaks. All along the ridgeline there are outcroppings that would make great places to stop on a sunny, warm day. This was not a sunny, warm day so we kept moving. At one time we took shelter in the trees and hoped the rain would quit -- it didn't. We probably hiked about half the length of the trail before turning around. A lot of flowers are out or coming out -- balsamroot, luina, wild onions, stonecrop, larkspur, trilliums, glacier lilies, waterleaf and yellow bells. It's a nice hike and the trail is steep enough to "count" as a good work-out. Oh, so far the only place I've seen mention of the trail is in the Cle Elum District Trail Guide -- it doesn't appear to be in any of the standard hiking books. Karen Karen

[Karen]

Catwoman on Friday's hike -- Corral Creek trail. Karen

Catwoman and view from Corral Creek trail

[Karen]

Here's another photo. Karen

Catwoman and pine trees Corral Creek trail