Once upon a time - back in ’03 - I made a trip to the Teanaway specifically to see if there was any sign of a trail in a certain side drainage feeding in to Johnson Creek. And sure enough as soon as I starting looking I found an old abandoned trail heading up this side valley. At that time I followed old saw cuts, blazes and/or faint tread as far as I was able and then scrambled the rest of the way up to the ridge. Yesterday I finally made a return trip to look in a different location for any sign that this old trail had ever been constructed all the way to the ridge crest.
My sense now is that this old trail most likely was cut out and blazed by hunters who had a base camp in this side valley and that the trail construction never extended all the way to the top of the ridge. On the map below the black line shows my 2003 track and the red shows my 2009 track. Do not be misled by the map. The trail does not go all the way to the ridge - or if it does then I have not found it yet. Getting to the ridge crest is definitely a scramble.
Teanaway_mystery_trail. This old trail ends well before the ridge crest.
This old trail is easy to find. Head up the Johnson Creek trail ~1 mile and watch for the small stream that crosses the trail. Now back up about 20 feet and you will see tread heading west and a large cut log a short way up this trail. Someone did a heap of work since there are many old saw cuts. Before long this trail crosses the creek in its valley and then quickly crosses back to the north side where it remains.
Currently I think the cut out trail ended somewhere before 4,000’. But it is hard to tell since there are plenty of game trails wandering here and there.
Once I got on top of the ridge I soon came to the Koppen Mtn trail and headed north to Medra Pass. Just before the pass I took a break and briefly heard voices. Maybe that was Gus and associates coming back from their hike up Koppen. Odd that I never saw anyone.
What I did see was plenty of storm clouds building. As a result I generally kept moving along and did not take many pics. Back at my car it started to hail/rain/lightening/thunder before I even got my boots off and shirt changed. Then driving back I thought the dam at Cle Elum Lake had given way. There was a massive amount of water pounding on the freeway. Sure glad I was not still slugging down the trail when that hit.
No bugs and no significant snow.
Johnson Creek trail
Odd blaze pattern
Guess where I had lunch
Look out below
Looking back at point 5,343
Hex-Sasse-Jolly ridge in background
Pack with a view
Medra Pass trail
This signage is a bit south of the actual trail junction
Interesting exploration, Joey. Is the scramble to the ridge a bushwhack or is it like the crummy rock and rubble on the Medra side? Glad you made it down before the heavens opened up!
"May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am"
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"May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am"
Is the scramble to the ridge a bushwhack or is it like the crummy rock and rubble on the Medra side?
My '03 route was mostly open woods, steep, with some grass.
This year's route was more in the nature of a rock rib. I was usually able to avoid obvious areas of crummy footing.
I guess I should 'fess up and admit to a rookie mistake. Not once as I scrambled up did I stop, look at my GPS and custom map with a 500 meter UTM grid (which I stayed up late to make) and see exactly where I was. As a result I blew right by a nice game trail around 5,000' that traversed westerly. Had I been paying attention I would have turned left and taken that trail which I suspect would have neatly deposited me on the Koppen Mtn trail just south of point 5,343.
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