[yew]

This hike is on the Sullivan Lake Ranger District, Colville National Forest. It starts at Pass Creek Pass which is very roughly about 20 miles from Metaline Falls, WA and soon enters the Salmo-Priest Wilderness Area. This is the Selkirk Mountains in the northeastern corner of Washington close to the Idaho and Canadian borders. We chose this area mostly because it was one of the only mountain areas in all of Washington or northern Oregon in which the weatherman said it was not supposed to rain for the next few days. It was an 8 hour drive from Bellingham. Metaline Falls is a bit more lush and green than I expected. I expected the higher elevations in the mountains to be green but I thought the valleys would be dry, open ponderosa pine forests. The forests here seem to be in a similar climate as the Oregon Cascades in the south end of the Willamette National Forest east of Eugene, OR. Or the Washington North Cascades around Ross Lake but without noble fir and silver fir tree species. There are a lot of blowdowns on the 9 miles from Pass Creek Pass to Thunder Mtn especially in the burns.

Colville National Forest north of Metaline Falls, WA

The high, granitic peaks to the east and north of Sandpoint, ID look nice. Gotta’ get over there someday.

Colville National Forest north of Metaline Falls, WA

There were a lot of wildflowers.

Mt Baker Wilderness, Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest

I particularly liked the yellow columbines. A bee was chowing on penstemons below Round Top

Colville National Forest north of Metaline Falls, WA

We hiked cross-country to the top of Mankato Mtn. and had lunch. Great views.

Colville National Forest north of Metaline Falls, WA

We camped on the east side of Thunder Mtn at 2 small tent pads with a nearby spring. Below camp it was rocky and a little open with views toward Upper Priest Lake in Idaho.

After dinner, we hiked the old trail to the top of Thunder Mtn.. There's old fire lookout refuse and a USFS firefighter helispot on top. A game trail path leads to a rock outcrop on the north side of Thunder with good views over to Crowell Ridge and Gypsy Peak and to the southwest to Metaline Falls.

Colville National Forest north of Metaline Falls, WA

Colville National Forest north of Metaline Falls, WA

Encountered 2 groups of people on Sunday. The first were backpackers from Spokane who we spoke with for a bit. The guy said he saw a grizzly bear on Crowell Ridge last year so now carries pepper spray. The second group was dayhikers. The area is wild or remote but not outstandingly so. There are logging roads and old clearcuts nearby on the south end of the trail. We saw a lot of car campers, RVs, pickups on FR 22 along Sullivan Creek. I don’t think this area is any more wild or remote than some of the North Cascades, i.e. the Pasayten or Glacier Peak and not as wild and remote as central Idaho, southeast Oregon or Nevada. The area does have woodland caribou and wolves. It'd be really something else to see them! On the way out, a dude who looked about 19 years old with the physique of a football player, was riding a dirtbike up the trail about ½ mile in from the Pass Creek Pass trailhead. I informed him he was not supposed to have that thing on a Wilderness trail and that there’s a sign at the trailhead that says so. He said he did not see the sign (they never do). He quickly shut the engine off, flipped the bike around and coasted out. He wouldn’t have got far with all the blowdowns. He rejoined 2 other people on dirtbikes at Park Creek Pass. After the overnight hike, we drove up FR 2220 to the end to scout out the Gypsy Meadows trailhead, Salmo Lookout and the trailhead for Tr#506 and Tr# 535. The last 1 mile of FR 2220 adjacent to the Wilderness boundary has been converted to a trail.

It is flat and wide and has views of Salmo Lookout

and into Canada (you can see the border swath)

so it'd make a good short mellow walk for the less rigorous. Sunday night we hiked the short historic Mill Pond Trail near Sullivan Lake. It’s great. I recommend it, especially if you’re into history. Back around 1900, Enoch Carr found some limestone and thought it’d make for a good cement factory. They built a flume down from Sullivan Lake to Metaline to power the cement factory. The flume finally went kaput in 1956. One of the old cabins is still standing. There are some artifacts laying around. A better explanation is here. There are interpretive signs at points of interest. Mill Pond is pretty. On the drive back over North Cascades Hwy, we hiked the flat 1-mile, paved path to Rainy Lake out of Rainy Pass. It was a lot nicer than I expected. The North Cascades looked mighty grand.

[Quark]

I have visited Mill Pond site. I recall that on holidays (May Day, 4th of July) the popular thing to do was to "walk the flume," sorta like a parade. THey'd get all dressed in their finery and walk on top of the flume (it was covered; sorta like a long box, rather than open). I think the town of Metaline Falls was in on it, but that'd be a long walk, wouldn't it? Must've just been the Mill Pond community. Or is that another flume I'm thinking about? Did I dream this?

[wamtngal]

I've read a few trail descriptions up in the Metaline Falls area and have been curious about the area...I would have thought it would have that Pasayten remoteness about it, but it appears that it doesn't. Thanks for your TR!

[yew]

wamountaingal: Although the Salmo-Priest area is not as remote as the middle of the Pasayten and isn't quite the Picket Range or Enchantments in terms of scenery, it's definitely still worth the long drive. It has a nice charm to it. And unusual (for WA) wildlife like The Griz, woodland caribou and wolves. And there's solitude. And finally, it's just different, not the Cascades, a new place to explore. RDEshadow: Thanks for posting those TRs. I used your's and Trailjunky's TRs when researching this area. I may have a north Idaho Selkirks question for you in the future. Quark: You're probably talking about the same flume. It's a water flume, not the usual log flume. It's maybe 5 miles from the Mill Pond site to Metaline Falls (?). They used to walk it in the old days.

[trailjunky]

Dont know how i missed this TR, great trip in an area i have been wanting to visit for a long time. Thanks YB!

[Alpendave]

It is unfortunate that the area has so many logging roads. Still, in some aspects it is more remote than much of the Cascades. While there are a handful of small towns nearby, there are no major population centers (save Spokane) that can compare with the vast metropolis that stretches from Portland to Bellingham. Even on a weekend, you can realistacally have an entire trail to yourself. Good luck finding parking if you leave after 5 a.m. on a beautiful Saturday morning in the western Cascades. A couple summer ago really drove it home for me when I did a return trip to Heather Meadows and Artist Point. While the scenery was spectacular, the experience was nothing even remotely close to remote due to literally hundreds of people at the parking lot and trail. While Artist Point is an extreme example (like Paradise on Rainier) it is still typical of what you have to deal with on the other side of the state (and the Olympics are my favorite range). The last 10 years or so of growth in the area have really robbed the area of its particular charm that only those who have spent 20+ (or even more for the real old timers) years of their lives there could know.

[mossy mom]

Here is my trip report for Hall Mountain . I was surprised to see sage brush up so high. I would like to explore that area some more.