Carson Canyon Road, Teanaway Community Forest - Illahee Road, Teanaway Community Forest - Big Sandy & Teanaway Community Forest - Split Rock — Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

Our group of seven senior hikers headed over to the Teanaway Community Forest for a hike up to Split Rock, another sandstone rock formation. In the past we had hiked to Cheese Rock, the Four Pillers, Bible Rock, Mammoth Rock and Exclamation Point Rock. Split Rock would be a new one for us.

We parked at the end of the paved section of the West Fork Teanaway Road near the DNR gate on the Carlson Canyon Road. We hiked up this road, crossed over the bridge at the West Fork Teanaway River and headed up hill. When we got to the first side road on the right, the Illahee Road, we hiked up it. When you look back down the road you have a view over to the large sandstone rock near Cheese Rock. When the road reaches the top of the ridge line we had a nice view to the north of the Wenatchee Mountains, plus snow covered Mt. Stuart and the Stuart Range. This road goes through open areas and a Pine tree forest. After some ups and downs on the road we arrived at the trail junction for the signed "Lower Big Sandy Trail". The DNR has installed new signs for this trail attached to trees at each end of the trail.

We hiked up the Lower Big Sandy Trail for about 0.3 miles and arrived at Split Rock. This sandstone formation is neat to see and has a big split down the middle, plus a smaller one on one side. There is another sandstone rock formation to see nearby. After some photo taking and a few in our group trying to see if they could squeeze through the crack in this rock, we continued our hike. A little downhill from Split Rock on the right side of the trail we found a large, 3-foot-tall ant nest for western thatching ants. Further along the trail goes back up hill, then side hills the slope. In an open area above the trail, we spotted three deer checking us out. They watched us for about a minute, then ran off. The trail stays below the ridge line before going uphill. Along the way we saw a new DNR 3-foot-wide trail that had been constructed and crossed over the trail we were hiking. Up on the ridge top we found a good place for lunch with a mountain view. While eating two mountain bike riders came by, the only other people we saw all day.

After lunch we continued our hike, now going downhill. Part of the way we were high above the scenic West Fork Teanaway River. We came to another trail junction down near the river. After crossing a small creek, the trail came back out on to the Carlson Canyon Road by the bridge over the river to complete the loop part of our hike. Then it was a short walk on the road back to the parking area.

Our loop hike was 4.4 miles with a 500' gain. Going clockwise like we did is the way to go, as it is better going downhill on the trail section. Along the trail the DNR had installed several flexible guideposts, but nothing on them yet.

The DNR has built a new large gravel parking lot near the end of the paved section of the West Teanaway Road and is now gated off. This parking lot has two restroom buildings. The one we used was unlocked.

We all had a good time exploring a new trail for us and seeing the Split Rock formation. Nick on the Rocks from his PBS show says the sandstone in the Teanaway is 56 million years old. Even after hiking for 73 years, I can still hike a "new" trail.

Keep on hikin', George