Upper Mad River Trail, Jimmy Creek — Thursday, Jun. 28, 2001

Central Cascades > Entiat Mountains/Lake Chelan

It was time to explore new lands, and this day took me to the Lake Wenatchee area and out to the Mavarick Saddle trailhead to explore regions up the Mad River. Still no motorized use allowed, so that wasn't an issue. But it's such a beautiful area that I'd hope people keep it in mind for weekday hikes all summer. I met up with a new friend who I was hoping to meet on the trail, and we spent the rest of the day completing the journey together. Great fun. The Mad River Trail is fast for hiking too since there are no roots and rocks. The hike up Jimmy Creek to Cougar Mountain was excellent and peaceful in any season...meadows of shooting star, lunia, bluebells. Ridge at top as you access final stomp up Cougar Mountain is open with views galore, as it is a silver snag dead forest from an old fire. Top notch views were had at the old lookout site atop Cougar Mountain: Glacier Peak, Entiat Mountains, Stuart Range, and all peaks in the Icicle Creek region. Whistling Pig Meadows and Cougar Meadows were beautiful! From there, we headed back down and took the dashed-line trail off of Jimmy Creek, #1420 I believe, and managed to completely get off the trail on the 6348' knob in open meadows. We ended up decending 500 of the 1400 feet offtrail through steep open forest and mild brush. We kept trying to move more NW and sure enough, we regained the trail again for a major triumph, then VERY steep decent back to the Mad River Trail and a fast hour out the 3.2 miles to the trailhead. The only folks seen were a couple heading in as we were coming out. Very lonely and beautiful country back in there!