I hiked to the Coney Creek crossing. The alder tree that someone made a bridge with is now gone. Plan on fording to go further. There is 6"" of snow at the creek, none at the trailhead. Last weeks heavy rain has the river full of brilliant white rapids,lots of water running down the trail. There is a new pile of really big rocks at the beginning to keep the 4 wheelers out. This trail, an old road, accesses many old mines. You rarely see other people. It is a favorite for snowshoes. Beautiful any day of the year. Thanks again to those who improve the trails they walk on.

Dave Knibb - a good friend and I explored a mine in the WF Miller drainage on June 15. The 4-bys had carved the route around the jersey barrier well before then. I commented to my friend that that barrier was a joke, and that some clowns will drive this road no matter what. We marveled at how bad the road is getting, with a LOT of water running down it in numerous places. Much later in the day we were on our way out, and I was flabbergasted to see that someone had already driven clear to Coney Creek, AND had climbed over avalanche debris and shoved a 40""-thick tree bole out of the way to do it.

West Fork Miller River ""Road"" 6410 Greentrails: Skykomish The West Fork Miller River is a robust white water stream. This time of year it is quite scenic. Access into the West Fork valley is an old mining road this is now impassable to all motor vehicles except the most stupid. The Forest Service has tried to block motorized entry with a Jersey barrier, but some macho four wheel driver has found a way around it. His tracks appear to be from last year. Much of this road is completely washed out. The first mile is like a stony stream bed. This would be a good candidate for a relocated foot trail. Three mile up the valley we were able to ford the stream that crosses the old road just before Coney Creek, but decided not to risk crossing Coney Creek itself. The water was too high and the old log across it is broken at one end. Another log downstream was too slick. The West Fork was excluded from the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in 1976 because of the old road. It really isn't a road anymore, and the valley now meets all the criteria for Wilderness. We met only one other couple on the 4th of July weekend. Lots of wildflowers. Bear and deer sign.

This trip up the West Fork road was a 2-day trip; our goal was to explore the Aces Up mines and artifacts at the very end of the road. The beginning of the road now has some jersey barriers, which officially close the road to 4-wheelers. Unfortunately, a 'new' road has been created which bypasses the barriers. The West Fork road is in great shape, and all the greenery is starting to leaf out. The latest set of tire tracks seemed about 2 or 3 weeks old, periodically they could be seen as we made our way up the valley. The first problem encountered was Coney Creek, at a little over 2.5 miles. We were there at around noon, and the snowmelt from the basin created a roaring torrent across the road. A small alder had been felled across the creek, but we were going to have none of it. The thought of using it as a foot log might even leave the Flying Wallenda family with their knees shaking. We waded across barefoot and used the tree as a handrail. Much to our disgust, the tire tracks also appeared on the opposite side. A few hundred yards further, a bigger torrent was easily crossed on a large footlog, the remains of an old bridge. It is interesting to note that this creek is not shown on the topo. We were again amazed that the tire tracks from the gadget-mobile also continued after this crossing. The road from here is good, until the Cleopatra Camp area is reached, which consists of some relics in the bushes, and the remains of an old 4-wheel drive truck probably from the late 30's, on the left side of the road. Here, another creek crossing is a moderate problem in the afternoon. The road, still good, continues over more small creeks, and past a nice smooth slab in the West Fork, where a rudimentary campsite exists. After a few more minutes, the Aces Up mine dump from adit #2 is visible immediately up the hillside a few hundred feet. Directly ahead, the road ends at the site of the Aces Up mining camp. Here the 4-wheeler tire tracks ended, and as expected, the endless shotgun shell remains, .45 and .22 casing were littered around the area. Here we set up camp, with the roaring West Fork right beside us. It had taken us about 2.5 hours or so to hike to the end of the road (4.2 miles) with full packs. This camping area, while somewhat lacking in aesthetics, is in a great location. Just above the site of the Aces Up camp is the lowest mine entrance, adit #3. We did not enter this, as it was somewhat caved and flooded. It is easy to follow the old trails past relics to adit #2 (which is visible from the road). Adit #1 can be found by following flags up through the woods diagonally from the lower adit. The highest adit (#0 ') is a few feet above #1. All the mines were located to follow the vein up the hillside, which can be seen in each tunnel.

Getting there: Drive up the Miller River Road and park at the abandoned beginning of the West Fork Miller Road ~1,300’. The Trail: I’ve been thinking about a trip into this area for some time and have been wanting to climb Lennox Mtn. for some time. I figured I would attempt a first route on this large broad peak by first going over point 5,326 (aka Easter Peak)in the process. After checking out the maps it looked like the east ridge of this latter peak would make a nice route into the area. So I began up the W. Fork road for ~.25 mile (at ~1,600’) and began heading up the broad gentle East Ridge that intersects point 5,326’s NE ridge up high. The going is in beautiful older forest and I reached heavy wet snow beginning at 3,000’, I stayed on the ridge until ~3,400’ when I decided to contour to the north always staying less than a couple hundred feet from the top of the ridge until meeting up with the NE ridge, the snow was incredibly heavy making for slow progress. Once reaching the ridge that connects with Mt. Cleveland, a gentle ridge leads to the summit. At times the ridge was adorned with some relatively large cornices, so I did the last bit going up its east face. The entire thing was done with snowshoes except the last hundred feet or so. I enjoyed the views for a few minutes before descending to my pack and taking a short break before contemplating going over to Lennox, which I was starting to wonder if I had the energy to do, based on the conditions…. So after a lunch break I decided to go for it and began traversing point 5,326’s northern slopes and never had to drop below 4,700’ where I hit the Easter-Lennox saddle at ~4,880’. Again I began heading west (this entire trip is pretty much due West!) contouring easy slopes to the saddle east of Lennox at 5,320’. The snow finally hardened up a bit and I actually made quick work of the final 550’! This ridge is so gentle I was able to due the whole thing in snowshoes without an ice axe. This is truly one of the more beautiful areas in the Alpine Lakes. The lighting was absolutely stunning on the hummocky slopes below the summit and I could see the Money Creek Road far below. Coney Lake to the east just sort of amalgamated into the landscape and was seemingly non-existent in the “dunes” of white. The views from this peak are particularly incredible and I recommend only doing it on a clear day! I spent about half an hour on the summit before beginning my descent SE heading on a bearing of about 120 degrees continually contouring and dropping aiming for point 5275’s south ridge. The going was over very nice terrain and at ~2,500 feet I hit the remains of the old mining road that goes into the Coney Creek Basin. The old road is flagged and easy to follow (most of the brush hasn’t leafed out yet which also helps!) and made for quick progress down. Lots of old mining remains and a few old mine shafts adorn the road along with sporadic views of the amazing sheer granite cliffs that line the north side of the West Fork road. I started around 11:30 and arrived back at my car around 8:30 excited about the prospects of an overnighter on the ensuing days with Mitch and Co… Take care folks, Pilar

FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2000 – WEST FORK MILLER RIVER Green Trails Skykomish The weather for the past week has been so very warm compared to usual April springs, so I headed off to find a hike, which would provide me a roar of snowmelt water. The choice to head up the old FS road 6410 up the West Fork Miller River was an excellent decision! The Miller River Road is clear to the trailhead area, a small pullout right where the sign is signaling the upcoming one-lane bridge over the West Fork Miller River. The hike up the first ½ mile of the “road” is essentially boulders and a nice creek 4-8’ wide coming down it, and it made for a pleasant start to a fun hike. Never was it too hard to walk up the road through it, as it was never more than a foot deep. Once through this area the path levels out some and the companion of the West Fork Miller River becomes virtually constant. Wow. It was of course benefiting from the warm week’s snowmelt, but how special a river this was. Around the 1800’ level we encountered pretty constant snow, and it was not the most fun since areas of the “road” are basically a path of 6-46” boulders – your next step in the soft snow is either solid or a 4’ deep dangerous fall between rocks. There was also a neat avalanche runout to the river that had to be climbed up and over, about 12-15' high pile of snow 30' wide, and solid as a rock. What power it must have been, imagining what it was like when that came down last winter. After about three miles we decided on a pleasant bushwhack to the river for lunch and an hour of photography. Across from this stop point on the other side of the river was a spectacular area of virgin forest on rivers edge, mostly Western Hemlock, and with the green of the water, the rapids, the huge trees, and snow on the ground, it was a spectacular sight. The hike back out was relaxing since I could use my same footsteps in the snow with more confidence than the hike in. I stopped about ½ mile from the trailhead to photograph a beautiful small waterfall coming over a huge outcropping of rock that also had remnants of beams from one of the mines of the early 20th century, also covered with moss as the waterfall cascaded over them. That blew me through a quick roll of slides! Amazing enough, someone has this spring driven up the road about one mile, having to cut through downed trees and get stuck in snow. All I can say is they had to put in a LOT more hours work for their one-mile drive than I did for a 5-6 mile hike! I will be coming back to this same trip in about 3-4 weeks to enjoy a full trip up 4-5 miles to the wilderness boundary without the snow, as it is a very unique and pleasant area offering a very remote experience. Alan L. Bauer 4/20/00