[Karen]

How hot did it get yesterday on the east side? Anyone know? We made the mistake of heading up the Fifes Ridge trail off Highway 410. The trail starts from a trailhead a little east of the Crow Lake Way trailhead. Crow Lake Way would have been a better choice, despite the heat. Having hiked the Crow Lake Way trail before, I knew the views were worthy but we wanted to go some place we hadn't been .... First off, the write-up in the "100 Hikes" (South Cascades & Olympics) has a major typographical error regarding elevation gain to the first viewpoint. We knew about that before we started but there were other things that didn't add up either. The book says is about 1100 feet gain to the viewpoint but it's about twice that, actually. That part was OK, we were expecting that. But we could find no sign of the abandoned trail he describes that heads to campsites along Hall Creek and we are pretty good at sniffing out old trails. The book also describes a rocky, bare knoll where there is supposed to be a good view. Well, this is true -- sort of. You have to hike through few trees to see Fife's Peaks and it is a good view. We just didn't realize that it would be one of the only views we enjoyed on this trail. We continued along the ridge-trail and were disappointed with our findings. We probably hiked about a mile past what MIGHT have been the rocky knoll Manning refers to but there was only one more view of Fifes Peaks. This stretch of the trail is mostly forested and with only occasional glimpses of interesting rocks/cliffs through the trees. The heat made this a pretty miserable hike too -- the first "hot" hike of the year for us. My buddy stopped before I did as I pressed on a bit, reaching a small stream which I cannot give a name to for certain. I was worried about my buddy so turned around to see how he was doing (neither one of us were doing very well in the heat and despite guzzling gallons of water were both feeling dehydrated). This hike was annoying me for several reasons -- if it hadn't been so bloody hot I could have hiked beyond the stream because it LOOKED like the country began to open up again. But it still wasn't a total dud. As far as scenery goes, the prettiest stretch of the trail for me was where it follows along Wash Creek. There are some lovely, mossy sections with small waterfalls and all along the lower portion of the trail are Calpyso orchids. It was hard not to trample them, there were so many. So, if you're looking for views, don't start from the Fifes Peak trailhead. If you want a strenuous workout on a hot day, this will suffice. I figure (with the altimeter) we gained about 2,500 feet with ups and downs but the ups were brutal, especially after a gentle beginning. 8-10 miles, our best estimate. We met a family on the trail who said they often came into this area via a road used by mountain bikers. Then this morning, I got out all my maps and found there is another access to the Ridge Trail from Indian Flat campground, a 1.5 mile trail that climbs up to the Fifes trail. Can't report on that one or on the mountain bike approach but the family said the way they came in (from the road) was very scenic with meadows, views, and rocky outcroppings almost from the get-go. They made no mention of the Indian Flat Approach (Trail No. 955). Another nice trip in this region is the scramble of West Fifes Peak via the Crow Lake Way trail. Haven't done that in a few years but probably scrambled the peak about three times. The last time we were up there we shared the summit with mountain goats. Karen Oh, by the way Highway 410 is one-lane at one point east of Chinook Pass. It looks like part of the road has dropped away. Does anyone know when that happened?

[ActionBetty]

tri cities got in the upper 90's yesterday.. too hot to do anything but lay around by the AC.

[Eric]

Funny, I took a [blurry] pic when I was there of that exact same piece of mossy area with the log on the left and the little moss covered log below it to the right and little patterns of squiggly lines formed where the water is flowing down the rocks: http://www.pbase.com/ericnoel/image/34173768 Yeah, I would assume that that is a simple typo and that the intended elevation gain is 2100 rather than 1100. The trailhead is about 3300 and the end point described is at 5400. Can't say I really looked for the sidetrail when I was there last year although I don't remember looking for it at all. Wish I remembered or had written it down as I usually try to note sidetrails in my trip reports for myself. Calling it a rocky knoll is a bit generous on Manning's part. It's basically just a rocky area that is tree free maybe 500 feet square or so just off a little bit S/SE of the trail right at I think the second little mini-high point during that section where the trail is flatter. You get small views up to the spires of Fife's peak but you can't even really see much other than that. The trees open out above 6000 feet but even then is is more glimpse of stuff type views rather than a sweeping vista. I bet if you went out to that point 6386 or whatever you would get a nice panorama. I agree with your overall assessment, nice forested section but it was short on vistas. Not a bad hike or anything but I wouldn't consider it one that I would recommend at all to someone else. I think the ridge probably melts out pretty early with modest tree cover and Southern exposure and being on the drier side of the crest there. So you could do this fairly early I think with fairly little snow but then the problem is that it is such a long drive going all the way around until the passes open. It looks to me like the access from the East that you mention starts at over 5000 feet and from that side it would be really a different hike, more of a rolling open ridge walk instead of a forested uphill hike.

[Slugman]

Karen, your "mistake" was updating your "100 Hikes ...." books. The 1998 edition says 5,400 ft (first viewpoint) minus 3,300 (trailhead) equals 1,100 ft gain. Not very good math, is it? The very next hike in the book, Mesatchee creek, says 5,850 (American ridge) minus 3,600 (trailhead) is 1,350, more failing math skills. But the 1985 edition is spot on for both hikes. It doesn't specifically say the elevation to the viewpoint, but it does say 3,000 ft gain to the ridge, with the viewpoint not too far before that at 5,400 ft, leaving the reader to do the math and come up with 2,100 ft gain from the 3,300 ft trailhead. The Mesatchee hike is the same deal. It gives the trailhead elevation of 3,600, with American ridge at 5,850, once again leaving it to us to do the subtraction and come up with the right answer. I now see exactly how the mistakes occurred: in the older versions, only the full distance of the hikes is listed in the hike headings. In the newer versions, the intermediate areas are the source of the numbers in the headings. When they changed the headings between editions, they screwed up the new elevation gain totals. It shows that it pays to read the whole hike description (as you did ) and not rely on their addition and subtraction skills. I noticed this anomaly about a week ago, and was going to post about it in Trail Talk, but an error on my part prevented me. I used the new book at home where I noticed the mistakes, but brought the older version with me to Summit lake last weekend for my hike there, and when I went to re-read the hikes involved while car camping, I noticed that they were correct. I thought I was halucinating or something, and so never posted about the errors. Only now having both books side by side is the mystery solved.

[wildernessed]

It was 98 degres in Wenatchee, Central Washington. I don't know how hot it was on the east side.

[Karen]

Eric, I took a look at your Fifes photos -- you took a photo of the same lumpy tree that I did, at least it looks like the same tree. Great minds think alike! Or see alike? Slugman, I tore the house apart looking for my older copy of "100 Hikes" but it seems to have vanished. At least it must be a relief to know that you weren't hallucinating while comparing the two guidebooks. Still ferreting out information on the trail I looked through my copy of "Trailblazer Guide to 75 Hikes in Central Washington" by Ron Graham, published in 1995 (published by Graham's Guides, Yakima, Washington), and found a write-up of the other approach to Fife's Ridge via the West Quartz Creek Trail. From highway 410 turn onto Little Naches Road (Road 19). That would be a right turn if coming from Yakima. Then turn left on Road 1902 and then take Road 1920 to the West Quartz Creek trail near a junction with Road 828 (doesn't specify number of miles between the roads). The maps he uses are GT Old Scab Mt and Bumping Lake. It is described as 11 miles round trip with gain of 1,500 feet. It sounds like a more scenic walk so at some point I hope to return, hopefully in June. This is a nifty book to have -- I've hiked some of the other trails Graham describes, some of which don't appear in the "100 Hikes" series. Karen

[Slugman]

[Dean]

Nice report Karen. I've never been on Fife's ridge, I need to correct that oversight since I spent a week each year at Camp Fife when my son was in the Boy Scouts and I was his scoutmaster. Now I need to find out who Fife was? Anyone know?

[Slugman]

Barney from Mayberry?

[termite]

[Dean]

Dang, Slugman, but of course, why didn't I think of that

[Snowshoe Hare]

Sounds like you weren't driving a Universal Studios Tour shuttle then. Wow the real thing! I took the tour around 1970. The sound stage stuff wasn't very memorable- think we saw the Dragnet set (yipee) and some famous movie star's dressing room (yeah sure). Didn't they film McHale's Navy there? Seem to remember the PT boat. Liked seeing the Psycho mansion. Leave it to Beaver's neighborhood. The whole tour had at least a semblance of a look at a working studio- don't think that applies there anymore- more of a bigtime theme park now. The lovely community of Fife must have a connection with that Fife's Ridge guy. Maybe he played the instrument in the famous Revolutionary War painting.

[Joe]

I noticed the trail to the campsites on Falls creek during my hike last summer. At the saddle around 5200, the trail briefly levels off, then starts up to the viewpoint, there are some remnants of the trail. Last year there were a lot of blowdowns covering this area obscuring the trail. I walked about 50 feet along the trail, but got tired of navigating the jumble of fallen trees.