I did a four day pack trip in the Beverly creek - Stafford creek area with my pack goats starting Thursday July 22.  Part of the reason for my trip was that 4 pack goats had been lost in the area and I was hoping to see them and help reunite them with their owner.  Unfortunately, I did not see the lost goats, but hopefully someone else does. 

The goats were lost near where the Fourth Creek trail crosses the saddle from Beverly creek to Fourth creek.  They could still be somewhere in that area or could have moved some distance away.

We started by going up Beverly creek trail to the Turnpike creek saddle.  This trail has been logged out and is in pretty good shape.  We also went up the Iron Peak trail to the saddle and a little way up the ridge toward Iron Peak.  This trail was also logged out and pretty good.

The next day I went back down Beverly creek to the Fourth Creek trail junction and up to the saddle.  This trail had a few step-over logs and is a bit rougher.  There is a nice meadow a short distance down the Fourth creek trail, which I visited, then returned to the saddle and the signed junction with the County Line trail.

It’s my understanding that this section of the County Line trail from Fourth Creek to Navaho Pass – Stafford creek trial is unmaintained.  Anyway, the section from the Fourth Creek junction to the Volcanic Neck saddle is pretty good trail, it has a few blowdowns, but they were no problem.

Saturday, I continued from just west of Volcanic neck saddle, up over the saddle, down the east side and toward the Navaho Pass area.  This section of trail is less used, but generally easy to follow.  There were a few spots where the trail was not obvious and took some care/alertness to find it and stay on it.  There were around a dozen trees down across this section, but no difficulties. 

When the Country Line trail approaches the saddle to the Stafford Creek area, it switchbacks up a fairly steep scree slope, gaining about 400 ft.  The tread going up this slope is fairly narrow.  There is a large wash down the scree slope that the trail switchbacks to a couple of times.  It looks like the wash may have cut off a couple of the switchbacks, resulting a short sections going pretty much straight up.  Anyway, I found it doable.  Coming down this section may make some people nervous.

From this saddle we headed down across the open slope to connect to the Stafford Creek trail a couple hundred yards below (south) of Navaho pass.

We went down the Stafford Creek trail to the junction with the Standup Creek trail.  The Stafford Creek trail is well used. On this Saturday afternoon there were several groups camped around the meadow at about 5,700 ft. elevation.

We went up the Standup trail to a little below the ridgeline crossing into the Standup Creek drainage.  Sunday, we continued west on the Standup trail to the junction with the trail to Bean creek.  This section of trail from Stafford Creek to Standup creek is in pretty good shape.

From the junction, we continued up the Bean Creek trail to the ridgeline with the Bean Creek drainage, down into the Bean Creek drainage to the junction of  the trail which goes up to Bean Creek basin.  This section of trail from Standup creek to Bean creek is in pretty good shape, with a couple down trees which were no problem.

We continued down Bean Creek trail to the Beverly Creek trail junction and back to the trailhead.

There were still nice wildflowers in some of the meadows and some  wildflowers that were adapted to the dry open slopes.

Some of the smaller streams have dried up, but the larger streams were still flowing nicely, so water was not a problem.

There were a few biting flies and mosquitoes in places, but overall, they were not bad.  I did use insect repellant several times. 

Overall, a nice loop, with nice views of the Stuart range from a couple of places.

Completed a counterclockwise loop starting at the Beverly Turnpike trailhead, up Bean Creek, over to Stafford Creek via Standup Creek, up to Navaho Pass, along the County Line trail over Wrong Turn Peak (Pt 6658) to the Hard Scrabble trail (with side trip up to Bean Peak), and after a short bit on the Fourth Creek trail, back to the start on the Beverly Turnpike trail.

Access. The N Fork Teanaway Rd was in good condition, but washboarded. The short spur trail to the trailhead had some dips that would require a lot of care with a low-clearance car, plus there was a generous helping of pointy rocks on the road. There were ~20 cars in the parking lot (and pullouts) on Sunday at 10am, with space for another 10 or so.

Conditions. No significant obstacles on the trails. Signs of recent stock use almost along the entire route, with the exception of the County Line trail. The County Line trail didn't appear to be very maintained, but had seen enough recent use to make it not too hard to follow (incl frequent cairns). The scree slopes on either end of the Hardscrabble Creek basin weren't too bad, thanks to a bit of recent moisture. The climber's trail up to Bean Peak didn't require much scrambling; when in doubt, climber's right seemed the better option.

Water. The streams were all running, but none enough to risk wet feet when crossing.

Flora & Fauna. Minimal berries or fall colors, apart from a few small larches. No bugs.

Crowds. Encountered 3 parties along Bean Creek, 2 on the way up towards Earl Peak, none on the Standup Creek trail, 8 on the Stafford Creek trail, 3 on the County Line trail, and none on the Hardscrabble, Bean Peak and Beverly Turnpike trails.

I had hoped to route a 25-30 mile path through the Teanaway by all means necessary, figuring it would provide a premium bang for my buck on a summer weekend. So on Saturday morning I logged off Caltopo, got picked up by my cousin, and drove out to Bean Creek to start this grand “Tour Du Teanaway”. 

Bean Creek to Navaho Pass

We started up bean creek, which was equal parts steep and humbling… but mercifully short, thankfully, as after 30 minutes or so of wheezing and cursing we met the intersection to Earl Peak/Standup Creek. From there, we zig-zagged up and over a shoulder and then down into Standup Basin. My inclination to cut across the basin off-trail nearly boiled over, but I did the right thing and continued down to Standup Creek and (sigh) back up to another pass that looked out over Navaho Basin. This section had some mosquitoes and climbs, but was otherwise pleasant. There is great camping on the ridge here.

Predictably, Navaho basin was a popular destination for overnighters and was looking mighty lush and welcoming when we rolled up. The geology and colors of Navaho Basin are something else, and I always appreciate time spent here. From there, it was up through a rocky moonscape to Navaho Pass, where we turned left on the Old County Line Trail and ate a quick and comically unhealthy lunch in the shade.

Old County Line Trail/Hardscrabble

Continuing westward, we ran into some navigation issues in trying to find where the OCLT cuts into Hardscrabble basin and did have to go overland for a hundred yards or so before we were back on track. Per my Forest Service maps, it seems the best routes are up over the peak or down below, taking a side trail from the upper basin. 

Regardless, the drop into Hardscrabble was not ideal. It is a series of short, very steep switchbacks cut into a hill that seems to be composed of extremely fine scree; it might even be ash. Doable, for sure, but not particularly fun. Once in the basin, the trail is without doubt “lost,” and has clearly seen little maintenance (which is a bit of a shame because it is A. stunning and B. a perfect way of connecting many disjointed trails throughout the area.) We were able to make our way through it fine, albeit slowly and with the help of many small cairns distributed throughout the overgrown footpath. Getting back out of Hardscrabble on the north side of Bean Peak was an especially difficult chore, as it is a short but nearly vertical climb through another nasty scree field. 

Fourth Creek Basin to Turnpike

Fourth Creek basin on the other hand, was gentle and gorgeous. We grabbed water here, took in some meadows, and kept scooting. From here, we hopped down into Beverley Basin, which was pleasant, but lacked the 360-degree views we experienced most everywhere else in the Teanaway. We were starting to feel quite exhausted, and decided to end the day by hopping down into Turnpike Basin to eat dinner and set-up camp. 

Turnpike Basin to Ingalls Creek

This proved, I think, to be a good choice, but the drop into Turnpike was steep and made my joints ache. Would NOT want to have climbed this at the end of the day to say the least. The bottom of Turnpike was flat and leisurely, so making the final push to Ingalls Creek wasn’t too bad and there were surprisingly few mozzies to fend off. My phone registered 17.3 miles and several Empire State Buildings worth of climbing. 

Ingalls Creek to Lake Ingalls

On day two, we woke up at the base of Mt. Stuart (holy cow, by the way), and marched up Ingalls Creek Trail to Ingalls Lake. Though it was the longest sustained climb of the trip, it was not particularly challenging, was well-maintained and wound through some pristine meadows. I had a pep in my step through this whole section, which certainly peaked as we popped up over to see Ingalls Lake for the first time. I’m not going to go into Ingalls Lake much, but needless to say it is great and I’m happy I live relatively close to it. We did have a really hard time finding the eastern route around it--so bad in fact that I gave up and went around the western side of the lake. 

Ingalls Way to the Esmeralda Trailhead and HOME

Finally, we hiked out via Ingalls Way back down to the Esmeralda Trailhead, which was quick and well-trodden. We were able to get a ride from a couple and their dog back to Bean Creek. This wasn’t part of the original plan (which was to take the Iron Pass Trail up and over to Beverly, but the heat was punishing so we stuck out our thumbs.) Overall, this was a very interesting and diverse route through a very special region of the state… but it is strenuous and likely not everyone’s idea of a relaxing weekend getaway. 

Snuck in a quick overnight up Stafford creek, camped at Navaho Pass area, tagged Navaho Peak and Earl Peak, and exited via Standup creek. The hike up Stafford was pleasant as usual, we beat the holiday traffic and only saw a handful of day hikers headed out. The camp area near the meadow wasn’t too crowded. However, If you’re going to camp in this area please practice LNT. We found three smoldering camp fires that were allowed to burn down overnight but were not put out. This is NOT COOL. I’m not sure everyone understands how ridiculously dry eastern Washington is, but you can’t just leave fires over here. If you’re not willing to put your fire out cold just don’t light it. We hauled about 20 liters of water for one of the fires. Also, meadows are sensitive areas, please don’t walk through them! Loose gravel soils are also sensitive, please don’t wander off trail to go around people. I get that we want to socially distance but don’t stomp on the plants to do it! A final note, take your gross dog poop bags with you, we found two just chilling at our campsite. Ok off my soap box for a second. 

Navaho peak was great as usual, we had it all to ourselves for about a half an hour. We did run into an obnoxious drone at the pass flying over the wilderness area. Know your drone rules, wilderness is off limits!

The next day we dropped back down and climbed over the saddle to standup creek and went up Earl Peak. We saw a little snow on the saddle between Stafford and standup but nothing we couldn’t easily cross. The trail up Earl is pretty loose and eroded and I was wishing I had stashed my overnight pack, but the views were great. 

Standup creek was the most adventurous part of the trip. Lots of blow downs to navigate, but nothing too bad. Found some ripe strawberries along the roadside at the bottom. 

I apologize for the slightly preachy trip report, but I’m really protective of my home turf hiking areas. These amazing places are seeing a lot more traffic this year and we really need to be gentle with them.