Thirteenmile — Saturday, May. 26, 2012

Eastern Washington > Okanogan Highlands/Kettle River Range

What a fun ramble! We spent the day hiking from the Thirteenmile trailhead, continuing about a mile or so past the 2054 road crossing before turning around. So many different wildflowers blooming: balsamroot, lots of larkspur (I think), and more. My favorite of the day was something I couldn't identify: very low growing in rocky areas with onion-like pale green leaves and cute round lavender flowers, like chive flowers or pink clover. Lots of nice places to linger for the views or head just above the trail for even bigger views. Fun to see the old "Center Stock Driveway" signs. The trail was in good condition - it looked recently logged out. There is a wetter area maybe 2-3 miles in that had some drainage issues but the mud had dried out when we went through. Like another recent trip reporter, we encountered a fair number of mosquitoes for the first mile or so near the creek but as things opened up more the breeze kept them at bay. We passed maybe three other parties the entire day. Only wildlife sightings were a deer and some raptors. This was my first hike in the Kettle Range - it was most definitely worth the trip and I can't wait to come back.