The ridge dividing the North and Middle Forks of the Teanaway usually offers lots of solitude and good views of the peaks along the county line and the Stuart Range behind them. I set out to walk a clockwise loop along this ridge by going up to the head of Johnson Creek, over to and along this divide, and back down the Johnson-Medra Trail for a total of about ten miles. I ended up turning around midway and retracing my route. Some of these trails are open to ORVs, but I suspected there wouldn't be any mid-week. I was right; I had the whole place to myself. I started at the Johnson-Medra trailhead less than half a mile up the North Fork Teanaway Road from Beverly Campground. I saw two Forest Service warning signs near the trailhead, one on each side of the footbridge over the North Fork Teanaway. The first warned about aggressive mountain goats. I didn't see any. The second sign said: "Medra Creek section of trail (2.7 miles from here) is impassable and not maintained. 7-8-11" The confusing part about this is that, at least according to the Green Trails map, it's 3.7 miles to the top of the ridge and the start of the "Medra Creek section of trail." I presume that the impassable part is actually on the west side of the ridge on the descent into Medra Creek, despite the incorrect info about the dis- tance. In any event, my plan was to continue on up Johnson Creek and return via the Johnson-Medra trail. The trail number and name for my route changed at every trail intersection. I started out walking the Johnson-Medra Trail #1383 from the road up Johnson Creek. It was like a freeway compared to what lay ahead. At 0.7 miles, the Johnson-Medra trail turns right up what I would call the west fork of Johnson Creek. I continued on up the main valley on what became the Jungle Creek Trail #1383.1. Jungle Creek Trail, unlike the Johnson-Medra Trail, receives little use. The first mile was especially overgrown. I felt like I was swimming though a head-high sea of succulent summer vegetation -- ferns, salmon berry, and cows parsnip. One consolation was the ripe huckleberries. After a mile and a half, this trail crosses Johnson Creek and begins to switchback seriously up, gaining about five hundred feet in half a mile. It tops out on an east-west ridge where it intersects Way Creek Trail #1235. As I climbed up the switchbacks, the peaks to the north rose up behind me. First were the peaks along the Kittitas-Chelan county line, from Ingalls Peak on the west all the way to Navaho (peek- ing over the shoulder of Earl Peak, and Miller Peak. Beyond the county line peaks, Mt. Stuart loomed up behind them. Other peaks in the Stuart range soon emerged. Despite the brush, the Jungle Creek Trail had been cleared of blowdown. I could not say the same for the Way Creek Trail. In the one mile I hiked along it to the west, I counted ten blowdowns. Like a typical ORV trail, the Way Creek Trail also has steep up and down pitches. A mile later I reached the ridge dividing the North and Middle Forks of the Teanaway. Here I intersected the Koppen Mountain Trail #1225, which follows the ridge north. This trail is closed to ORVs and I could see why. Koppen Mountain Trail is not for the faint-hearted. I learned this on previous scrambles between its intersection with the Johnson-Medra trail and the summit of Koppen Mountain. Because the ridge line has many exposed rock outcrops, the trail tries to skirt them. Heading north on Koppen Mtn Trail, I came to a spot just south of where Malcolm Mountain extends west from the ridge line, that I didn't like. The trail was traversing around the west side of the ridge across a steep gravel slope. Loose gravel lay atop rock angling downhill. It was like walking on marbles across a sidehill. I might have made it across this without sliding down the hill, but I didn't know whether there were worse spots ahead. Hiking alone, I decided, with little debate, that the wise move for me to make was to turn around. So I did. The return gave me a chance to appreciate the views even more. Be aware that the entire North Fork Teanaway drainage has been hard hit with an insect infestation. Both the Douglas fir and true firs have been devastated. Most of them are dead or dying. Whole hillsides are turning into a sea of snags. Pines and larch are the beneficiaries, but it will be years before these hills are completely forested again. I don't know if it's the same bugs, but in early August the air was full of little half-inch caterpillars suspended on threads, waiting for somebody to come along and give them a ride. They collected on my shirt and I had to stop from time to time to flick them off. Overall, it was a good day -- great scenery all to myself -- even if I didn't complete the loop.

One of the great things about hiking in the Teanaway region is the large number of loop hikes you can do. On a bright sunny Saturday, we hiked the 12 mile loop using the Johnson-Medra, Jungle Creek, Koppen Mountain, and Way Creek trails. This is the ideal time to hike these trails. The snow is mostly gone, just a few patches remaining to cool off your dog. But things are still green and wildflowers are numerous. And the remaining blowdowns will deter motorbike use for now. Most of the these trails are lightly used. The only people we saw were three guys on motorbikes attempting to get to Medra Pass (motorbikes are permitted on these trails). Even though they had a chainsaw, they were ultimately defeated by the huge number of blowdowns on that trail. Some of those massive blowdowns higher up on the trail will require considerable skill to remove. We started at the trailhead near Beverly Campground. The first mile of the Johnson Medra trail is now in good condition due to the efforts of those bikers. At the junction we turned left and headed up Jungle Creek. This trail is becoming increasingly well named as jungle-like growth is swallowing up the trail in places. There were numerous blowdowns, mostly easy to step over. After a pleasant mile of gentle ascent along the valley floor, the trail passes someone's customary campsite, complete with plastic patio chairs, then grows increasingly steep. A switchbacking ascent of 800 feet on generally good trail took us up to the Way Creek trail junction. We then headed west on the Way Creek Trail which traverses a steep slope below Johnson Peak. Very scenic area, great views out toward Mt. Stuart. Two trickling springs can provide water. After reaching the 4800' crest between the North and Middle Forks of the Teanaway, we soon attained the junction with the Koppen Mountain trail and followed that path north. The Koppen Mountain trail has recieved little maintenance in decades and was never built well to begin with. So it has become quite a challenge to follow. But the high rocky ridge that it follows is supremely scenic, and well worth the effort to follow. Heading north from Way Creek, the Koppen Mountain trail was fairly clear to begin with. Oddly there seems to be two distinct versions of the trail that we could follow in places. As we approached Malcolm Mountain, the trail became increasingly unclear. The official mapped route traverses the steep slope east of Malcolm, but we chose to to climb the ridge and descend to the next saddle north. The trail is hard to follow around the next bump north of Malcolm Mountain. We basically made our own way through the forest, looking for the least brushy route. Signs of the trail reappeared on the ridge north of point 5343' and from there to Medra Pass, the path was fairly easy to follow. The hike along the steep rocky ridgeline was spectacular! Good trail reappeared at Medra Pass, and we followed the well-maintained Johnson-Medra Trail down numerous steep and rocky switchbacks to the floor of Johnson Creek's valley. As noted, there are some bad blowdowns on the trail here. The final three miles of our hike was a mellow walk along the creek. The trail is getting a bit overgrown in places. What a great day in the Teanaways! I wonder if the Forest Service would consider sending a trail crew to the Koppen Mountain Trail to fix it up a bit?

We did a vigorous 8 loop hike around Johnson Peak, utilizing the Jungle Creek, Way Creek trails, and a 1.5 mile section of the Jungle Creek road. These uncrowded trails tend to melt out early than some of the more popular paths in the Teanaway River region. Here as everywhere in this area, the scenery is lovely and the weather dry (usually). Glacier lilies and and other wildflowers are just coming out; the show should just get better in the following weeks. The Jungle Creek Trail is in fair condition, with sections of steep narrow tread and a few blowdowns around a mile in. These blowdowns do have the advantage of stopping motorcycles from driving up the trail (they are legal here). Beyond the Johnson Creek junction, extensive, steeply-sloped snowbanks still cover the Way Creek Trail on the north side of Johnson Peak...use caution if the snow is icy. Past the 4800' high point, at the Koppen Mountain Trail junction, the snow situation gets better, with only a few patches of snow to cross. The lower part of the Way Creek trail is snow-free, and in generally good condition, though its tread is narrow and slumped on many places where it traverses steep hillsides. Just a few blowdowns to cross, just enough to discourage wheeled traffic. The final 1000 foot descent to Way Creek trailhead follows a jeep road badly chewed up by fun- loving Memorial Day ATV drivers. The 1.5 mile road walk portion of the loop is surprisingly pleasant. There is little traffic on this dead-end road and one is serenaded by the musical sounds of Jungle Creek most of the way.

We scouted a hike to Medra Pass on the 4th and had such a great time that we returned with a group to do the Malcolm Mountain Loop as described in the ""Best Loop Hikes: Washington"" guidebook. It was even hotter than our last visit, and we welcomed every cooling breeze, however brief. No bugs or blowdown, and the creek crossings were no problem. The Jungle Creek trail is very overgrown in the first half mile. The Koppen Mountain trail -- dotted on the Green Trails map -- is crumbly and steep in spots, so much so that one of our party got spooked and we decided to turn back the way we came.