[Randy]

This one started at the Beverly Creek trailhead around 1230 and finished up in Liars Prairie at the end of Jungle Creek Road at 1800. A fellow board member kept me out at a bar a bit late last night, so of course I ended up hitting snooze 57 times before finally getting up around 930. After some last minute packing, general farting around, and sitting in holiday traffic along I-90 I finally made the trailhead at 1220. The weather was pretty decent with no rain and some sun breaks. I eased my way up the trail for a few minutes then took a right up into Bean Creek Basin. No snow up to the basin at 5100' and both creek crossings were fairly straight forward. As I snuck my way up to the SW shoulder of Earl the snow began to make an appearance and by 5500' much of the trail was covered. This made for some nice kickstepping up to the ridge which I gained at roughly 6200'. From here it was an easy walk up the ridge and I finally made the summit at 1400. A quick check of the summit register revealed that snaffles frequent the summit as the small spiral notepad was half eaten with small scraps of paper littering the ground. Still, I noticed that two other parties had signed the register today although I saw no one the entire trip. I retraced my route on the way down and added in several hundred feet of tree glissading to speed the descent. I was back at my truck at 1530 and off to my next objective which was supposed to be a drive up! Teanaway Butte looked like a good second peak for the day on my old-school Green trails as there's a road to within a couple hundred feet of the summit - Teanaway Butte is #94 on the Back Court list. I went down the north fork road and then turned west on the middle fork road for a several miles until coming to Road 230. After a 100 yards there was a gate. WTF!?! A quick check of the Green trails didn't show a gate, but it did show the date "1984". Feaking hell. Jungle Creek Road was my next option so back up the north fork road I went. Past 29 Pines campground and on toward the Way Creek trailhead. Instead of going straight to the trailhead I followed the main road another 3/4 of a mile to a small turn around. A rough 4x4 road went another 300-400 yards so of course I kept driving. It turned out to be a mudfest similar to those they used to have in the Kingdome when I was a kid, but it got me closer to my peak, so whatever. I finally parked in a quagmire at 3700' and headed straight up the hill. The first 350' are in old second growth with lots of deadfall and brambles that really wreaked havoc on my sockless feet and ankles - all I brought with me was the Green Trails, my running shoes and my car keys. At 4050' the way opens up into a meadow-like setting with Lupine and assorted wildflowers everywhere. Quite a sight actually. I headed westerly through the grass and flowers toward the road I had tried to use earlier and finally found it at 4300'. I followed the road to within 200' of the summit and then used a trail the rest of the way to the top at 4769'. I was surprised to find the remains of an old lookout site scatted around when I got there. The views from the top were great and I was able to look across at Earl to the east. I built a small summit cairn and then headed back down to my truck and the mud. A great day even though the Butte proved more elusive that I expected.

[Scrooge]

Sigh. ...... You young athletes make me sick. ....... Two peaks and 5000' in one afternoon, with a drive in between. While I'm still trying to get in shape to make the drive.

[Andrew]