AFerrenberg and I went up to Blewett Pass to escape the rain. We succeeded in not getting rained on, but it was cloudy, and cold at times with the wind. Most of the area was snow free, which was surprising for late November.
NF road 7240 is snow free, but after crossing Tronsen Creek, the road became awfully muddy. We parked at a nice pullout where a blocked spur road intersects NF road 7240. NF road 7240 continues up to Tronsen Meadow trailhead, but would not recommend driving up here, as it is awfully muddy with some huge water filled potholes and large ruts up near the trailhead.
We started at 10:50am and walked the road up to the huge parking area. Here we took the Tronsen Meadow Trail up to the Liberty-Beehive Road 9712. Tronsen Meadow Trail is a very nice trail, but is super muddy. We slipped a few times, especially on the way down. There is also a few large blowdowns along the way. Once on the Liberty-Beehive Road, we took a right, and at Haney Meadows we took a left and took the Grass Camp Tie Trail up to Haney Hump. This is a nice trail, and had been logged out, maybe even earlier this year, but there is a significant amount of blowdowns across the trail due to it being in an old burn area. So many burnt tree across the trail which slowed our progress on this section.
After our summit stay on Haney Hump, which appears to have some nice views( not today with the clouds), we decided to try and go cross country down towards Mount Lillian South, instead of going back down the Grass Camp Trail to avoid the blowdowns. Even though we would have to go down off trail through a n old burn scar, we thought it was worth it, as it was fairly short. It worked out well, as we weaved in and out of the large blowdowns, and the numerous small trees that have grown in the burn zone. Good to see the all the new growth of trees.
Once down to a small creek we hooked up with the Old Ellensburg Trail for a short bit, before heading straight up through some open grass slopes up to the summit of Mount Lillian South. We didn't stay long, as it became a bit breezy and cold, and we wanted to get down before any inclement weather came in, plus we were running out of daylight to attempt going over to Mount Lillian.
From the summit of Mount Lillian South, we again went cross country down some more open grass slopes avoiding the deadfall areas of the burn zone and caught the Liberty-Beehive Road, which we walked all the way back to the Tronsen Meadow Trail, and back to the car. Weather had got a bit better, so we caught a few glimpses of some sunset colors.
We finished at 4:20pm. 10 miles 3048ft gain
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