AUGUST 28, 2000 – BEAN CREEK TRAIL #1391.1 Green Trails Mount Stuart I’ve long wanted to check out the Bean Creek Basin in the Teanaways. So off I headed with the fine company of Rich Baldwin and Gary Jackson on a completely perfect day of weather. It was sunny, blue sky, cool breeze in the morning…ahhh. Bees were everywhere at the Beverly Creek trailhead, but seems to leave us alone. We headed up the cool forested portion of the trail into Bean Creek Basin at a good clip, enjoying sharing sites discovered of native plants, cool looking trees, and stories. Obviously, the massive flower show this region produces is well over, but along the creek in the upper basin were still great shows of asters/paintbrush/cow parsnip/scarlet gilia/bluebells. At about 5400’ rather than just go all the way into the basin dead-end, we headed off trail NE up the steep slopes toward the ridge north of Earl Peak. Views were tremendous across the basin below, a great reward for the hard work of climbing. After 900’ it was decided slow roaming around a long lunch was maybe a better use of the time rather than continuing up scree slopes which we encountered. Fabulous discoveries in the rock outcroppings awaited us for fascinating photography opportunities. Macro work, scenics, and amazing clumps of Lewisia gone to “puffball” seed were to be had! The only tough part was that the yellow jackets seemed to get worse the longer we were up there scrambling around 6300’, and just as we were beginning our decent, one nailed poor Rich on the thigh. I hauled out my doctor kit, but since he wouldn’t let me cut his leg off, we headed on back down into the basin. Rich found two or three locations of old bear scat on the slope, particularly near a strange sudden flat area that was like a hanging rock garden area – beautiful area! We worked our way back out the 2000’+ elevation from the basin to the trailhead. I enjoyed having photo ops of the new bridge along where the old one was destroyed…I have images from 3 years ago of the beautiful bridge that used to be there, so the before/after will be a nice addition to my files of the region. The one-mile drive back to the mainline North Fork Teanaway Rd. almost has us stumped at first. Half way out a SUV was parked smack in the road, back door open, and NO ONE in site. Oh cool, we thought…let’s nudge up behind it and PUSH it into the ditch to get out! Alas, a long honk of the horn finally in time brought a woman running from way down the road up to move it the 35’ to a huge pullout (why not use it in the first place). Seems a group was berry picking and seemed surprised we were on the road. Food in Cle Elum and stories all the way back to the lowlands made for an excellent day among friends! Alan L. Bauer 8/28/00

Went up Bean Creek to Bean Peak (brown rocks due north from spot where trail 1391.1 crosses Bean Creek and you head straight into Bean Basin). We aimed for the saddle east of Bean as per the description in ""Teanaway Country"" by Mary Sutliff (out of print), but then had to do a fair amount of highly enjoyable scrambling to get to the summit. An easier route appears to be to head just south of the peak and then scramble straight up to the right. After partaking of some views and lunch, we traversed to the County Line Trail just south of Volcanic Neck, took that lonely trail west to Fourth Creek Trail #1391B, then down to Beverly Creek Trail and out.

The family (Julie, Jordan, Josh and ""Joe dog"")and I decided to head east for the Teanaway. We love this area and wanted to hike a loop trail if possible. We figured we could make our own by heading up through Bean Creek basin, over the ridge and down onto the Beverly Creek trail for the way out. By the time we arrived into the Bean Creek basin, Julie and Josh chose to turn around because the climb up to the ridge was pretty steep and they were pretty tired. Jordan, ""Joe Dog"" and I went for it and reached the ridge in short order. We were rewarded with magnificent views of Mt. Stuart, the Stuart range, Navaho peak, Iron peak, and the Glacier peak. If fact you get a 360 degree view of the entire area which was spectacular. We ridgewalked south from the main peak and finally were able to go down a steep game trail into the Beverly creek basin and catch the main trail out. It was a wonderful trip and offered a little something for everyone. The flowers (shooting stars) in Bean Creek basin were absolutley gorgeous. Only saw one other person on the trail even though the parking lot was pretty full. Love them hills! G-Man

The Memorial Weekend weather forecast was poor so I headed east on Saturday and Sunday to the Wenatchee Range, north of Cle Elum. Drive time from Seattle to the Beverly Turnpike TH was exactly 2 hrs. I went up the Beverly Turnpike along Beverly Creek, hitting consistent snow after about 2 miles at 4,800'. The weather alternated between clear skies, rain squalls, and heavy winds all day. At the 5,200' (after about a mile of solid snow) I turned E and cut cross the top of 4th of July basin and Hardscrabble basin. I spent the night there (aweswome view of the Stuart Range in the late-day sunshine) planning to hit Earl Peak on Sunday morning, but the clouds and snow came in during the night. Hopped over the ridge into the Bean Creek Basin and back to the car on Sunday. Surprisingly good weather considering the forecast; only saw one person (less than a mile from the trailhead), and the Wenatchee Range is scenic and filled with moderate slopes and easy scrambling. Can't wait until it melts out -- the snow line is approx. 4,800' and rising!

A warm drizzle was coming down as I ascended in shorts and a light polypro shirt. There was a little snow on the road, not much on the trail up to the first creek crossing, but then goodly accumulation, especially in the open. Gaiters, heavy snow boots, and ski poles or an ice axe would have been nice. Someone had hiked the trail about a week before, but the most recent tracks, which I followed all the way to the saddle, were of an unknown ungulate. The older snow was packed down enough that I could make reasonable progress, and the warm weather had melted the recent snowfall to the point where I could kick some steps. I did not linger at the saddle, as fierce, steel gray clouds were approaching, borne on strong cold winds blowing in from the Pacific Crest. An elk emerging from the gathering shadows of the creek bottom startled me as I descended after dusk. It made only a slight detour around me, apparently unaware that hunting season was still under way. 2600 feet in 3.5 miles to the saddle SW of Earl Peak. Time--1: 45 up, 1:20 down, too cold for break.