06-19-26
Juneteenth
is a holiday in my
business so I asked John Sluder to come along on a hike. Last year I
did a loop around Esmerelda Peak at the end of June and had a terrific
wildflower show. I hoped to have the same a week earlier this year.
John had not done the trip so it would all be new for him. The
temperature would be in the mid 80s in Cle Elum and hopefully much
cooler higher up. We met at the East Sunset trailhead in Issaquah at
6:45 am and headed east. Traffic was pretty light and we reached the
trailhead at DeRoux campground at 8:20 am. Last year's Labor Mountain
fire closed much of the Teanaway area. All trails off Stafford and
Beverly Creek were closed. The entire road has been graveled recently.
The potholes are gone for now. It was in the low 60s and warming fast.
There were a couple cars in the lot already. We packed up and headed
out at 8:27 am. The flower show began almost immediately with common
yarrow. After the bridge over the NF Teanaway River is a big meadow. We
saw some big red Indian paintbrush and shooting stars. I expected to
see shooting stars in multiple places around the loop. Soon after we
saw a salsify, blooming thistles, tall bluebells, thimbleberry flowers,
the start of lots of queen's cups, and columbine. Columbine showed up
in many places.
Soon we saw orange Indian paintbrush, asters, roses, and lupine. One amanita mushroom was seen, too. We were off to a good start. After crossing DeRoux Creek we reached the junction with the trail up to the saddle between Koppen and DeRoux Peaks at 1.3 miles. At that point the heat led me to zip off my pants legs and go to a short sleeve shirt. It was warming very fast. The trail climbs, mostly near DeRoux Creek. It starts in forest and has some wet sections with associated flowers and some rocky slopes with different flowers. We also had a view over to Teanaway and Iron Peaks. We saw some arnica, columbia lewisia, pink penstemon, red penstemon, larkspur, phlox, yellow violets, lomatium, a single trillium, and the first of may cinquefoils. The wildflower show was already well above average. The trail dropped down to the the creek where we would cross. Two hikers were there pumping water. They were heading up to scramble Esmerelda Peak. I gave them some information and we rock hopped across the creek.
On the other side of the creek at .75 miles, meadow began. It was full of more wildflowers. At first we saw a lot of violet violets. We see a lot of yellow violets but seldom see the violet ones. There were lots of them in bloom this day. We saw a lot more shooting stars. The best shooting star show is on the Esmerelda end of the trip but we saw a whole lot along here. I was later able to name one small white flower as field chickweed. One of the best displays of the whole day was a boggy meadow left of the trail. It had a lot of white bog orchids and a whole lot of elephant's head lousewort. The flowers really do look like elephant's heads with a trunk and two big ears. There are a few places I go to see a few of them but this meadow was full of them. I only seem to see bog orchids in bloom every few years. This was a really good display. All the wildflowers meant lots of photos. That and the rising heat meant a very slow pace. We had all day so it did not matter. I stopped for more sunscreen and the scramblers caught up with us. They stopped and we headed on. The trail switchbacks left and takes a long traverse. We saw Koppen Mountain and DeRoux Peak from here. One more switchback and it is straight on to the lake. I pointed out the route to Esmerelda Peaks to the other guys. The trail flattened and we had some more meadows with shooting stars and cinquefoil. We also saw a few glacier lilies still in bloom.
We reached Gallagher Head Lake at 11:21 am. We hiked about 4.2 miles in 2:54. That is a very slow time. We did spent a lot of it taking photos. We found a shady spot near the lake for lunch. A little later we saw a truck driving by the lake. They came over to where we were. It was a family out for a mountain drive. The road near the lake is monumentally bad but they had a very high ground clearance vehicle and did just fine. After we talked for a few minutes they drove to another spot. Although it is on a road and sees some vehicles it is a pretty spectacular spot. Hawkins Mountain is on one side and Esmerelda Peaks on the other. There is grassy meadow and fir trees all around. We were back on our way at 11:40 am. We still had a long way to go. Walking around the lake we talked with a guy in a second vehicle to arrive. He had a big SUV but with much lower ground clearance than the first guy. He was a little concerned about the trip down. I am amazed he made it up. Past the lake the road remains flat with some big puddles in it. Big as in 75' long with an unknown depth. The road was in a trench, hence the puddles, so we went around it. The meadows were more shaded and had some glacier lilies and western anemone flowers.
When the road began to descent it became more interesting. Much of it was a creek. It was very rocky with some bigger rocks too. It was challenging to descend. I can't imagine driving up it. After about a mile of road walking we reached the start of the trail up to Fortune Creek Pass. This trail gains about 900' in 1.1 miles. The start is very steep going straight up before beginning to switchback up the slope. Near the start, John cut out one small log that was blocking the trail. We climbed out of forest and the views really took off. The snowy side of Hawkins was close by. Mt. Daniel and nearby peaks were next. Higher up, we could see Summit, Middle, and Little Big Chiefs. There were some clouds overhead but the views out were very clear. It was hot and a bit humid with no shade as we climbed up to the pass. After leaving the lake we met a hiker on the road doing the loop in the other direction. We met a guy biking 55 miles from Roslyn by Gallagher Head Lake and back. He was not riding the last mile to the lake. Nearing Fortune Creek Pass we met a woman doing the loop. I seldom see anyone on a weekend doing the loop let alone multiple parties on a Friday. We needed a break at the pass. We drank most of our water as John brought a pump to refill. Fortune and Esmerelda Peaks are close by. We started down at 1:30 pm. It was virtually all downhill from here.
Last year I had a great flower show from Fortune Creek Pass to the Esmerelda trailhead. This year was no different. The pass is bare and rocky but soon small creeks crossed the trail. In each spot were meadows up and down the slope. Shooting stars were the most seen flower. There were a whole lot of them. We completely missed the trail to Lake Ann. We did stop soon for more water. It was nice and cold. Heading down, we saw groups off and on coming up. Last year on a weekend I saw only 7 people all day. That was as fluke. This year we saw only two people before the lake and maybe 15-20 all day. That was still pretty good. On the way down there were quite a few logs across the trail. Many were step-overs and the bigger ones had boot paths around them. I hope they can be cut out before too much erosion sets in. In addition to all the shooting stars, we saw a few bog orchids, some red and some yellow Indian paintbrush, more columbine, then some scarlet gilia right alongside the trail. Scarlet gilia is one of my favorites. It usually grows in small patches. The many bright red flowers per plant really stand out on bare brown slopes. Lower down we started seeing common yarrow, cinquefoil, asters, lupine, and bog labrador tea.
Back in forest we had a little shade and more flowers. Much of this route is rocky and my feet were starting to feel it. I brought a pair of stiffer low top hiking shoes and it did help. We did check out a meadow I know of which often has some elephant's head lousewort. It did have a few along with a few white bog orchids. They were a tiny fraction of the ones we saw in the meadow after crossing DeRoux Creek. Towards the bottom I recalled a good display of scarlet gilia last year. If anything it was even better this year. Instead of the usual patches of gilia the entire slope above and below the trail was bright red. I have never seen as many in one place as here the past two years. We spent a lot of time taking photos. There were also some columbia lewisia mixed in. We finally continued down. A little before reaching the Ingalls Pass trail junction, we had the last find of the day. A rocky spot had more of the bright red cliff penstemon we had seen earlier in the day. There was also more columbia lewisia and blooming stonecrop. They were all at their peak. We ambled down the rockier than ever trail to the parking lot, arriving at 3:45 pm.
We still had over 1.5 miles to go. The lot was not full and there were less than a dozen cars parked along the road. A short way down the road we found the start of the trail back to DeRoux. All my loop trip before 2018 required two cars or walking the road. This was the third time I took the trail. It had one big washout where John found a rocky route around it. Otherwise, it was fine. Well, fine until near the end. In 2018 we walked down the trail. Least year I found a big bog of unknown depth. I managed to walk some very small logs while hanging onto small branches to get across. It was just as big this time. We each brought one pole and that helped to get across with dry feet. A few minutes later we completed the loop, arriving at 4:29 pm. There were still 4 or 5 cars there. For the day we hiked about 11.7 miles with 2900' of gain. We had a lot of solitude, especially in the first 60% of the hike. We had a lake, an open pass with great views, and an incredible display of wildflowers near their peak. My first time around the loop was in 1990. I have been back 7 or 8 times in the next 36 years. Most of those trips were in wildflower season. I look forward to my next visit.
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Soon we saw orange Indian paintbrush, asters, roses, and lupine. One amanita mushroom was seen, too. We were off to a good start. After crossing DeRoux Creek we reached the junction with the trail up to the saddle between Koppen and DeRoux Peaks at 1.3 miles. At that point the heat led me to zip off my pants legs and go to a short sleeve shirt. It was warming very fast. The trail climbs, mostly near DeRoux Creek. It starts in forest and has some wet sections with associated flowers and some rocky slopes with different flowers. We also had a view over to Teanaway and Iron Peaks. We saw some arnica, columbia lewisia, pink penstemon, red penstemon, larkspur, phlox, yellow violets, lomatium, a single trillium, and the first of may cinquefoils. The wildflower show was already well above average. The trail dropped down to the the creek where we would cross. Two hikers were there pumping water. They were heading up to scramble Esmerelda Peak. I gave them some information and we rock hopped across the creek.
On the other side of the creek at .75 miles, meadow began. It was full of more wildflowers. At first we saw a lot of violet violets. We see a lot of yellow violets but seldom see the violet ones. There were lots of them in bloom this day. We saw a lot more shooting stars. The best shooting star show is on the Esmerelda end of the trip but we saw a whole lot along here. I was later able to name one small white flower as field chickweed. One of the best displays of the whole day was a boggy meadow left of the trail. It had a lot of white bog orchids and a whole lot of elephant's head lousewort. The flowers really do look like elephant's heads with a trunk and two big ears. There are a few places I go to see a few of them but this meadow was full of them. I only seem to see bog orchids in bloom every few years. This was a really good display. All the wildflowers meant lots of photos. That and the rising heat meant a very slow pace. We had all day so it did not matter. I stopped for more sunscreen and the scramblers caught up with us. They stopped and we headed on. The trail switchbacks left and takes a long traverse. We saw Koppen Mountain and DeRoux Peak from here. One more switchback and it is straight on to the lake. I pointed out the route to Esmerelda Peaks to the other guys. The trail flattened and we had some more meadows with shooting stars and cinquefoil. We also saw a few glacier lilies still in bloom.
We reached Gallagher Head Lake at 11:21 am. We hiked about 4.2 miles in 2:54. That is a very slow time. We did spent a lot of it taking photos. We found a shady spot near the lake for lunch. A little later we saw a truck driving by the lake. They came over to where we were. It was a family out for a mountain drive. The road near the lake is monumentally bad but they had a very high ground clearance vehicle and did just fine. After we talked for a few minutes they drove to another spot. Although it is on a road and sees some vehicles it is a pretty spectacular spot. Hawkins Mountain is on one side and Esmerelda Peaks on the other. There is grassy meadow and fir trees all around. We were back on our way at 11:40 am. We still had a long way to go. Walking around the lake we talked with a guy in a second vehicle to arrive. He had a big SUV but with much lower ground clearance than the first guy. He was a little concerned about the trip down. I am amazed he made it up. Past the lake the road remains flat with some big puddles in it. Big as in 75' long with an unknown depth. The road was in a trench, hence the puddles, so we went around it. The meadows were more shaded and had some glacier lilies and western anemone flowers.
When the road began to descent it became more interesting. Much of it was a creek. It was very rocky with some bigger rocks too. It was challenging to descend. I can't imagine driving up it. After about a mile of road walking we reached the start of the trail up to Fortune Creek Pass. This trail gains about 900' in 1.1 miles. The start is very steep going straight up before beginning to switchback up the slope. Near the start, John cut out one small log that was blocking the trail. We climbed out of forest and the views really took off. The snowy side of Hawkins was close by. Mt. Daniel and nearby peaks were next. Higher up, we could see Summit, Middle, and Little Big Chiefs. There were some clouds overhead but the views out were very clear. It was hot and a bit humid with no shade as we climbed up to the pass. After leaving the lake we met a hiker on the road doing the loop in the other direction. We met a guy biking 55 miles from Roslyn by Gallagher Head Lake and back. He was not riding the last mile to the lake. Nearing Fortune Creek Pass we met a woman doing the loop. I seldom see anyone on a weekend doing the loop let alone multiple parties on a Friday. We needed a break at the pass. We drank most of our water as John brought a pump to refill. Fortune and Esmerelda Peaks are close by. We started down at 1:30 pm. It was virtually all downhill from here.
Last year I had a great flower show from Fortune Creek Pass to the Esmerelda trailhead. This year was no different. The pass is bare and rocky but soon small creeks crossed the trail. In each spot were meadows up and down the slope. Shooting stars were the most seen flower. There were a whole lot of them. We completely missed the trail to Lake Ann. We did stop soon for more water. It was nice and cold. Heading down, we saw groups off and on coming up. Last year on a weekend I saw only 7 people all day. That was as fluke. This year we saw only two people before the lake and maybe 15-20 all day. That was still pretty good. On the way down there were quite a few logs across the trail. Many were step-overs and the bigger ones had boot paths around them. I hope they can be cut out before too much erosion sets in. In addition to all the shooting stars, we saw a few bog orchids, some red and some yellow Indian paintbrush, more columbine, then some scarlet gilia right alongside the trail. Scarlet gilia is one of my favorites. It usually grows in small patches. The many bright red flowers per plant really stand out on bare brown slopes. Lower down we started seeing common yarrow, cinquefoil, asters, lupine, and bog labrador tea.
Back in forest we had a little shade and more flowers. Much of this route is rocky and my feet were starting to feel it. I brought a pair of stiffer low top hiking shoes and it did help. We did check out a meadow I know of which often has some elephant's head lousewort. It did have a few along with a few white bog orchids. They were a tiny fraction of the ones we saw in the meadow after crossing DeRoux Creek. Towards the bottom I recalled a good display of scarlet gilia last year. If anything it was even better this year. Instead of the usual patches of gilia the entire slope above and below the trail was bright red. I have never seen as many in one place as here the past two years. We spent a lot of time taking photos. There were also some columbia lewisia mixed in. We finally continued down. A little before reaching the Ingalls Pass trail junction, we had the last find of the day. A rocky spot had more of the bright red cliff penstemon we had seen earlier in the day. There was also more columbia lewisia and blooming stonecrop. They were all at their peak. We ambled down the rockier than ever trail to the parking lot, arriving at 3:45 pm.
We still had over 1.5 miles to go. The lot was not full and there were less than a dozen cars parked along the road. A short way down the road we found the start of the trail back to DeRoux. All my loop trip before 2018 required two cars or walking the road. This was the third time I took the trail. It had one big washout where John found a rocky route around it. Otherwise, it was fine. Well, fine until near the end. In 2018 we walked down the trail. Least year I found a big bog of unknown depth. I managed to walk some very small logs while hanging onto small branches to get across. It was just as big this time. We each brought one pole and that helped to get across with dry feet. A few minutes later we completed the loop, arriving at 4:29 pm. There were still 4 or 5 cars there. For the day we hiked about 11.7 miles with 2900' of gain. We had a lot of solitude, especially in the first 60% of the hike. We had a lake, an open pass with great views, and an incredible display of wildflowers near their peak. My first time around the loop was in 1990. I have been back 7 or 8 times in the next 36 years. Most of those trips were in wildflower season. I look forward to my next visit.
 Common Yarrow |
 NF Teanaway River |
 First Shooting Stars |
 Red Indian Paintbrush |
 Salsify |
 Thistle |
 Thimbleberry Flowers |
 Queen's Cup |
 Columbine |
 Rose |
 Aster |
 Amanita Mushroom |
 Teanaway & Iron Peaks |
 Tall Blueberries |
 Larkspur |
 Colorful Combination |
 First Columbia Lewisia |
 Pink Phlox |
 Trillium |
 More Shooting Stars |
 Koppen Mountain |
 Purple Penstemon |
 Small Waterfall |
 Violet Violets |
 Field Chickweed |
 Black Eyed Susan |
 Two Elephant's Heads |
 Closer Look |
 Lot's Of Elephant Heads |
 Big White Bog Orchids |
 Koppen & DeRoux Pks |
 Hawkins Mountain |
 Shooting Stars Near Lake |
 Glacier Lily |
 Gallagher Head Lake |
 Lake & Peaks |
 Small Penstemon |
 Western Anemone |
 More Glacier Lilies |
 Spring Beauty |
 A Big Meadow |
 A Frog |
 Road Lake |
 View Top Peaks |
 Crappy Road |
 Colorful Cascade |
 Hawkins In Sight |
 Fortune Pass Trail |
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Trips - 2026
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