After perusing the WTA web site, I chose the Teanaway region because it was the only one with no complaints of snow or bugs. Well, there was no snow, but I can only conclude that the bugs must be much worse elsewhere; they were certainly bad here. I scoped out a 2-night loop up Beverly, east on County Line, then back from Navaho Pass via Stafford, Startup, and Bean Creek trails. My late (5 PM) start was a blessing because of the heat. I passed the camps at the 4th Creek intersection because of bugs, but they were just as bad where I wound up camping on the ridge by Iron Peak. Great sunset, full moon, and view of Rainier, anyway. The bugs mostly went to bed at sunset, but were up again before dawn. That got me going before the heat of midday, back down to the 4th Creek trail and up to the (poorly marked) County Line trail. After a couple of hot, slippery slogs up and down steep, barren serpentine scree fields, I made Navaho Pass for lunch and a siesta in the shade. The trail is supposed to be faint but I had little trouble finding it, and water was available at several spots. Mud and blowdowns were minimal. Views of the Stuart Range were dramatic. The bugs were even worse at Navaho, so in late afternoon I pushed on down the Stafford and up over the the SE flank of Earl Peak into the Standup valley. Unlike the parched moonscape at Navaho, the climb up from Stafford Creek was lush and damp like the west side. The trail was freshly maintained (thanks!). I dropped down from the ridge to camp by the creek with a view of valley lights (and bugs). A short way east of the creek the trail reaches a dry creek bed, and if you are very observant, you will see the words ""go up"" penciled on a stump. If you do go up, you may find a good trail taking you high above treeline over the ridge, down to Bean Creek, and home. If you conclude, as I did, that you needn't ""go up"" to cross because the creek is dry, you will find a trail that goes for a while and fades in and out. You could try bushwacking up to see whether the trail really did ""go up,"" but if you went no higher than I did (400-500''), you would not find it. From such a position, you might look at the map and scout the logical place for the trail to cross over the ridge and find it at treeline below you. If you went down there, you would find the same off-and-on trail you had left behind and might be encouraged. Finally, if you kept following this faint trace, it would take you slowly and painfully straight down through the brush of the unnamed creek valley to the south of Bean Creek, finally reaching the Beverly Creek road. You would know that you (and I) were not the first to make this blunder. But you might get a reward--you might find the brand-new Ultralite Thermarest that was pried silently off my pack by some malicious piece of brush. Go before the snow flies--but wait until September, after the bugs die down!

Gary and I hiked into the Bean Creek Basin on Saturday, August 7. Accompanied by light showers we headed up into flower fields, passing evidence of this winter's avalanche damage. The Beverly Creek crossing has been improved with a new bridge, but above it are many broken alpine firs and aspens snapped in mid-stem by the force of the avalanches. Several nice campsites in the basin were unoccupied when we went by them up to the ridge top.

Thick black clouds took the place of the usual Stuart Range view as I drove by Cle Elum. The North Fork Teanaway road was not dusty, a rare occurence in August. Although a few sprinkles fell on the drive in, the skies had cleared by the time I reached the trailhead. The humidity was relatively high for this normally dry region. The trail is in good shape, showing no ill effects of the climax avalanche which came down the gully just upstream from the first Bean Creek crossing. Both crossings of the creek were fairly easy, and the first one had several logs in the stream (good for hikers, bad for horses). From the saddle, I followed a steep but obvious way trail to the top of Earl Peak. The rain had cleared out most of the usual summertime haze, and the Stuarts were their usual awesome selves. The County Line Trail could be seen heading down into the basin north of Earl, but then disappeared until Navaho Pass. Numbers: 3.5-4 miles and 3400 feet of gain to 7036-foot Earl Peak. 2:15 up, 1:30 down, and some sore legs the next day.

Hoping for the weather to improve, Colleen and I left our vehicle at about 2pm Saturday with intentions of camping in the basin. The trail is passable, but need of some maintenance. There are many blowdowns, a few already complete with beaten down paths around them. It was obvious that this was a tough winter, many trees were snapped along the lower sections of trail due to heavy snow and an avalanche that is still melting out on the lower reaches of Bean Creek. We were the only people camped in the basin that evening, and awoke to a georgeous morning! The basin is just melting out, and is very wet, with numerous small patches of snow remaining. Flowers were many. We decided to head for the summit of Earl Peak, which is easily reached from just about any route you choose. Views were spectacular! Bugs weren't too bad! Miracles do happen. Thank you Teanaway!

About 6 cars at the trailhead at 3:00 on a beautiful Saturday. Only about a half mile of the trail was snowfree before hitting massive snow cover totally covering Bean Creek. The snow has caused several avalanches that have knocked many trees over throughout the route. We walked across the creek on snow then over mixed snow and open trail all the way up to the headwater basin. Here, most everything was still snow covered. We climbed up to the eastern ridge crest on snow and loose, wet rock to get the nice Stuart and Enchantment views on one side and Rainier and Adams to the other. It was an easy glissade down, but care is needed to make sure no broken legs occur. It doesn't look like the snow will melt out of this area till at least mid-July.