[MangyMarmot]

I was looking for a reasonably mellow hike for this past Monday. French Cabin Mountain came to mind. I had been in the Olympics on Saturday and found only a dusting of snow at 6000 ft which had all melted by the afternoon. I figured with French Cabin being lower than that, and two more days of nice weather to melt any snow, this was going to be a trail walk. Looking at the snow at the side of the road as I drove by Cle Elum Lake, it became obvious that my prediction of the conditions was clearly wrong. By the time I got up to the French Cabin Creek valley, the road was compact snow and ice. I turned off on road 4308-115, and much to my surprise it went right into the creek. I got out and scouted the ford. It looked about a foot deep. The van can handle that. I jumped back in and drove in. As I approached the center of the ford, I was surprised to notice a rather large wave being formed by the front of my car. The ford was obviously deeper than it looked. Nothing to do about it now, I kept my foot on the gas and somehow made it to the other side with the car still running. I don't think I even made it a mile up the road before all the previous car tracks ended below a steeper section of road. I didn't want to mess with the chains so I parked the van there and headed out on foot. The trailhead was about a mile up the road.

Clouds over Lake Cle Elum

Stuart peeking out of the clouds

The trail ended up having 3-4 inches of snow pretty much the whole way. It was easy to follow, but slick in places. First stop was North Peak.I went up the East ridge and down the South ridge to meet up with the trail again. The North peak has decent views between the trees. South Peak is just down the trail followed by French Kiss. Then the trail traverses around West Peak, the highest peak on French Cabin Mountain. It's a class 2 scramble from the trail, but slick with the snow cover. West Peak has the nicest views of the whole trip. You can see the Stuart Range, and all the high Alpine Lakes peaks from Daniel to Lemah and a few peaks around the Snoqualmie Pass area. After a lunch break, I went back down to the trail and headed for the car, not really looking forward to the ford.

Stuart

Daniel, Hinman and Bears Breast

Lemah, Chmney Rock and Summit Chef

West Peak

Lake Cle Elum

In the end, there was not much to do about it. I had to cross the creek to get out of there. I scouted the ford again, but it didn't look like any line was any better than any other. In the end, I just went for it and made it out the other side.

[puzzlr]

Interesting plan coming in from 4308-115. When we bagged West, South and North we did it in a loop from the main 4308 road and had to bushwhack down from the North Peak to complete the loop. We noticed the trail continuing and I've wondered about it. Thanks for filling in some holes.

[Sky Hiker]

Did you find the cabin?

[Nancyann]

That’s such a nice area! A few years ago one of my friends and I went up those roads in her Toyota Forerunner in the summer and barely made it. I cannot imagine doing it in compact snow and ice in a van.

[Fletcher]

Nice one Dave, the van ford sounds kind of harrowing!