[ragman and rodman]

Just beyond 29 Pines Campground we turned left on Jungle Creek Road (aka FS-9701) and drove 2.4 miles to the trailhead for Jungle Creek Trail #1383.1... I recommend a high clearance vehicle if you intend to drive all 2.4 miles to the trailhead. This area was burned by last year's Jolly Mountain Fire... and the combination of fire and lack of trail maintenance over the years has created a challenging two mile hike up to the 4500 foot saddle where the trail junctions with the Way Creek Trail. Leaving the saddle we headed cross-country and traversed along the south side of Johnson, gradually working our way up to a little saddle at ~4870 feet... where we crossed over to the north side of Johnson and found 200 feet of Class 2/3 elevation gain up to Johnson's east ridge... which we followed on over to the summit (5220'). Leaving the summit we followed Johnson's west ridge down to where it junctions with the Way Creek Trail and Koppen Mountain Trail... then more or less tried to follow a snow-covered Way Creek Trail back over to the 4500 foot saddle... closing the loop portion of our hike/scramble... leaving a two mile hike back to the car. The south side of Johnson is snow-free... while the north side might not melt out for another couple weeks. Note that you can also do this trip via the Johnson Medra Trail that starts a short distance beyond Beverly Campground... hiking Johnson Medra Trail for .6 miles... then up the Jungle Creek Trail for 2.1 miles to the 4500 foot saddle that junctions with the Way Creek Trail. Mosquitoes were active... but apparently they were of the non-biting variety. Our trip was 6.7 miles, gaining 2461 feet of elevation. Photos, trailhead directions and downloadable GPS track of our trip to Johnson Mountain. ----------------------------------------------------- Conditions: North Fork Teanaway Road (aka FS-9737)... snow free for 7.5 miles... Camp Wahoo is at mile 8... the Iron Peak Trailhead is at mile 8.6... end of road is at mile 9.6... the river is roaring. Beverly/Bean Trailhead... snow-free to the trailhead... Beverly Creek is roaring... and I would assume that Bean Creek is also roaring. --

[puzzlr]

I like the before/after shot of the trail sign.

[RichP]

Nice to see the Teanaway opening up.