There are all sorts of wonderful hikes to take in the Wenatchee Foothills - aka our "backyard." Today's hike, on a beautiful New Year's Eve Day, was one we hadn't done. We have been on parts of it . . . but not the whole Divide.
There are several access points - from #1 Canyon, from Castlerock/Chopper and then from #2 Canyon. Since we live right off of #2 Canyon, we opted for this route which starts a scant two miles from our house. We left a car at the end of the paved portion of #2 Canyon - planning to do a one way of about four miles and probably 2600'.
You start in a rather dismal location - an unauthorized/illegal shooting range (that's why we opted to exit elsewhere, so we wouldn't run into yahoos taking target practice). But we climbed steeply to attain the One-Two Divide in a short distance about 1000' above #2 Canyon Road. We ran into some crusty and slick snow on our way up and donned spikes, which made traction much better. The snow would be spotty and in shady areas actually was a bit deep - but it was pretty solid/consolidated. We kept spikes on the whole time.
From there, it's a lovely up and down jaunt to a high point at 3700'+. One could also use this route for a run up to Horselake Mountain (Twin Peaks) - but that area is closed for Mule Deer winter feeding.
We ended up above the unpaved portion of #2 Canyon Road on one of the bike trails. This whole area will change considerably in the next couple of years as Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance builds out several miles of new bike trails, along with hiking trails.
It was a short road walk back to our car. Didn't see another soul out there (but we did see some idiot tryin to drive up the very, very icy #2 Canyon dirt road - that supposedly is closed)
So fun getting out in the 'hood.
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