Hiked the Jungle Creek (Trail #1383.1), Way Creek (Trail #1235) loop near 29 Pines.  Someone has done some cutting of the fallen trees over the Jungle Creek trail and that was appreciated.  Jungle creek is no longer the bushwack it once was.

When we hit the Way Creek trail, the north side of Johnson peak was pretty much covered in snow.  You need to know where your going here.  No maintenance done on the Way Creek trail since the Jolly Mountain Fire, so there were lots of fallen trees over the trail, especially on the west side of Johnson Peak.

It was a dismal stark day traveling through the remains of the fire.  I picked up a couple of wood ticks along the way.

We actually had originally planned an Ingalls Lake hike but it was jam packed at 830 AM, and was snowing at the trailhead, not having quite enough layers for my daughter after she peed through her diaper and got her first outfit wet on the drive over we opted out. My backup plan was to drive to where it was still sunny and hike up towards the larches we could see from the road. Johnson Medra to the Jungle Creek cutoff was in great shape, lots of fall colors and the larches are starting to turn. As we continued up the climb we stopped in a nice grove of larches for lunch maybe a mile or two out but definitely one of the easiest larch access hikes I have done. The signs of old wildfire are still abundant here and there especially towards the sides of the Johnson Medra but the forest is recovering nicely and the ridge walking up by Way Creek was open and scenic with views towards Stuart. If you are unsure about Lake Ingalls and walking an extra couple miles to the trailhead I would say this is a worthy backup. Maybe not as pretty but we saw two motorcycles and that was it no other hikers all day.

kidzwonthike and I successfully got up to Malcolm Mountain using the most direct route: via Jungle Creek Trail, Way Creek Trail, and Koppen Mountain Trail. We started this hike early to avoid high temps later in the day and were mostly successful (it was a bit toasty on the way down).

This trail (excepting the Malcolm Mountain section I guess; it's optional) is an excellent alternative to Iron Bear Trail for the slightly more adventurous who are seeking awesome views of wildflowers and mountains.

Jungle Creek Trail

... in short, lives up to the name because of the overgrowth in the first section.

There were a handful of small stream crossings, a few logs to hop over/around (not that many by a [partial] burn zone's standards to be honest), and some really dusty trail with loose gravel. Not too bad, but I would probably pick a different day later on in the season, maybe, as the dustiness/small scree proved to be a challenge to get up/down.

The day was starting to warm up a bit, this section of the trail was pretty exposed after the first portion, but wasn't unbearable.

This section is your best source of water, currently.

Way Creek Trail

Goes through a bit more of a burn zone. More sun exposure, but there were a lot of pretty green shrubs around the lingering matchstick forest.

Once we got past the Jungle Creek/Way Creek junction, we dipped into the forest which was a wonderful respite from the rising temps.

This section involves some ups and downs, including some longer downs and slightly steeper ups. The trail profile was similar to Koppen Mountain Trail.

There are some blowdowns over the trail, but it's fairly easy to hop over them.

This part of the trail is where the views of the Stuart Range and Teanaway started to open up.

There was a trickling stream here, but it would have been hard to filter from.

Koppen Mountain Trail

This section honestly needs a lot of trail maintenance love: there's a lot of sluffing (which makes for slightly more difficult sidehilling), loose dirt/scree, there are blowdowns, and the path was a bit hard to follow in areas with social boot paths and game trails.

It will likely be a bit easier to follow now with fresh boot prints for a spell, but it would be nice if proper maintenance was done to this section.

The views of the Stuart Range and Teanaway were excellent along this section; quite frankly I think they were better than the views from Johnson Mountain, and in some ways better than from DeRoux/Koppen.

No water sources here.

Malcolm Mountain

It's a bit of a bushwhack along here, but nothing really terrible. The social bootpath follows the ridge, for the most part, or skirts along it.

There are a couple established campsites along the way, likely made by hunters. It's kind of interesting seeing what gear was present and how the campsites were organized.

The final push up to the summit was steep, but kidzwonthike and I were able to switchback/follow a game trail to the summit.

There isn't a summit register, but there's a memorial placard of some kind (which is pretty cool).

Some of the bugs were annoying here (flies), but others were just trying to chill (butterflies, bees).

Some water sources here.

Getting Back Down...

It was pretty much the same as the way in, but in reverse. The one item of note is that because of the exposure and rise in temps, it was a bit unpleasant in the sun exposed sections, but not completely unbearable because we wore appropriate summer attire.

Trekking poles were an absolute must given current trail conditions (pretty dusty, lots of loose gravel in sections).

Lots of encounters with flies, but also tons of encounters with beautiful butterflies as well trying to get a drink from the pools of water around the forest floor. It was wonderful to see 💚.

Wildflowers

• Dandylion (I think?)
• Lupine
• Paintbrush
• Pentsemon
• Scarlet Gilia

Attire

• REI Sahara pants
• T-shirt
• Trail runners
• Well-supported quarter-crew socks (I really didn't feel a need for full hiking socks)

Gear

• Navigation tools
• Trekking poles

10 Essentials Used

• Salty snacks (trail mix++)
• Sunscreen... and lots of it...
• Water: I went through a bit less than 4L (I packed around 5L, just in case)

The road no longer reaches the trailhead so the first 1.25 Mike of this trail is straight up.  Once you reach the actual trailhead you are in a burned out region and the trail is not well maintained.  We didn’t bring enough water so we turned back.  Hoping to try again.  Views are wonderful but thanks to the fire u are in full sun much of the time.

Headed out on two night trip for memorial day weekend in the Teanaway area, trying to avoid camping at high elevations as the low temps were still in the 20s for Saturday in some areas on the eastern slopes. Luckily the weather turned out to be excellent and we had no trouble with crowded camps where we were (they were empty) but probably due to the trail conditions.

Our loop was as follows:

Johnson-Medra Trail #1383 TH to Middle Fork Teanaway Trail #1393 to Way Creek Trail #1235. Turned left when we met Jungle Creek Road and then onto what said it was a continuation of trail #1235 up to Koppen Mountain Trail #1225. We turned right for 1 mile and then left onto Jungle Creek Trail #1383.1, which met trail #1383 0.7 miles from our start/end point.

Approx. trail distance 17.6 miles.

Approx. net Gain/Loss: 4200

If you read no further, know that Middle Fork Teanaway trail #1393 has many river fords that are extremely dangerous and likely not passable for another month or two.

We left #1383 TH around 10AM Saturday, trail was manageable most of the way up and snow free until we hit the ridge. Tons of trillium flowers in bloom along the way and a couple orchids (calypso bulbosa). Once at the ridge, snow patches persisted and became deeper as we ascended. We began to lose the trail so we made the safest path up the large snow patches, ending up slightly south of the actual intersection with the Koppen Mountain trail. It is in full sun but I can't imagine this snow will be gone any time soon. We did not have traction and did ok, but if you are concerned, bring it. More issues came on the way down. While signed, the trail is not visible from the intersection due to snow, so we had to guess until we finally found the continuation of #1383 almost a quarter mile down the other side. This side had patchier snow that made it hard to follow the trail but manageable. Snow patches remained all the way down to a gully around 4400 feet (approx. 1 mi) where the trail makes a sharp turn toward Medra Creek. We decided to descend the next bit on the opposite side of the creek that ran down this gully, as the side the trail is supposed to be on was below a lot of large melting snow patches on a very steep slope. Once Medra creek was within sight below, the trail was mostly dry and easy to follow. There were a number of downed trees, but nothing dangerous or difficult do get over/under/around.

Arrived at an empty camp perched above the Middle Fork Teanaway River around 4:30 PM. If you come from #1383 like us, you have to take a right up Trail 1393 about 100 yds or so until you see a small path to the left that leads to the camp.

The second day was where the real fun began. We should have searched for trail reports of the Middle Fork Teanaway trail. This 4.4 mile section alone includes 6 or 7 fords just of the Middle Fork Teanaway river, most of which we were not comfortable doing with packs and the dog. So we never forded the river. We did make it to our destination, the camp near intersection of 1393 and Way Creek (1235), but it was both harrowing and dangerous so we would not recommend. We were able to use logs to cross, spend over half the time on the trail and bushwacking to skip fords when necessary. One small creek near the camp at the Jolly Creek Trail #1355 intersection was difficult to cross but again, there was a log available. In our last section of bushwacking, we had to cross another creek that was very overgrown, but not fall risk there, just difficult to get to the creek itself. At this point we saw a black bear uphill across the creek about 100 feet from us, but it noticed me and immediately headed up creek away from where we were headed, luckily. After that we made sure to sing our favorite "hey bear" songs as we followed it's sketchy path back to the main trail and home free to our second night's camp. Started this day at 9:30 AM, arrived at camp around 5 PM with lots more scrapes and bruises, as well as being just mentally and physically exhausted from way finding and log crossings.

Luckily day three was much more reasonable. The Way Creek trail #1235 is a steady climb up to Jungle Creek Road. Lots of paintbrush along this section. The road/trail from there up to Koppen Mtn Trail is much more steep for the first mile. The ridge is a lovely wide meadow full of wildflowers and despite lots of burned trees there were still shady spots to rest. After that mile the trail meanders through burned forest across the southwestern aspects of the ridge there until you hit the Koppen Mountain Trail #1225. No issues or snow, just very exposed with no shade in this 1.4 mile section, if it's hot out. When we took a right at the next intersection we were faced with more patchy snow but this area was nowhere near as bad as day 1 and no issues following the trail. Once meeting the Jungle Creek Trail there was no snow on the trail and it was a straightforward hike back down to trail #1383 except for a few downed trees to navigate.

Over all, not a terrible trip but we came out much more exhausted than we had expected based on the mileage and gain, just due to the trail conditions and our choice to break trail through the brush instead of turn around. You live and learn I suppose.