Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area

We drove out east of Ellensburg to the Whiskey Dick area to see the wildflowers. There are a couple of different trailheads and roads here. We choose a different trailhead from when we hiked here a few years ago. We started along the Pumphouse Road. Once we left the parking area, we did not see another hikers out here. 

As we hiked, we decided to keep going and ended up doing a large loop, about 15 miles with 1,770 ft of overall gain. Our track from today's hike.

 Along the Pumphouse road heading east. Lots of balsamroot in bloom.

 Along portions of the trail we could see the Columbia River to the east.

 The trail drops down between the hills for awhile.

 As we hiked up to the ridge, we saw areas affected by a wildfire.

 Looking back at the closed road we hiked up, Columbia River in the distance.

 lots of lupine in bloom

 We then followed the Whiskey Dick Ridge Road

 Lots of wildflowers on the ridge and

 in the middle of the road.

We found some petrified wood and left it along the trail.























Pano from Whiskey Dick Ridge: east to south to west:

a harmless snake on the road

 so many wildflowers in bloom

We then took the Whiskey Dick Creek Road down off the ridge. This road connects to the trailhead that is further to the west from where we started.









We then followed a less used connecting road back to near our starting point












Some of the many types of wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail today:

Dirty Harry's Balcony and Peak

 Hiked up to Dirty Harry's Balcony and Peak near North Bend today. 7.6 mile round trip hike with 3,326 ft of gain.
Parking is at the Far Side Trailhead.

The trail crosses a flat area for 0.1 mile to the road that leads to the WSP Fire Training Academu.

 a short walk along the road on the bridge that crosses the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River, looking east.

 The trail then continues through the forest for 2 miles gaining about 1,200 ft to the junction with the Ira Spring Connector Trail.

a beautiful tail with many side trails leading off the climbing areas

Lots of lovely moss and interesting boulders

There are several viewpoints along the trail. McClelland Butte to the south

Further up the trail, an open area gave this view to the west and north. Wonder if this is Dirty Harry's Peak on the far right?

At the junction with the Ira Spring Connector Trail, I headed to the right for the short spur to Dirty Harry's Balcony.

View from Dirty Harry's Balcony

Returned to the main trail and went to the left to continue on the Dirty Harry's Peak Trail. From here, it is 1.7 miles with about 2,100 ft of gain. There are several small creeks running over the trail, this was the only one that was not easy to step over. The logs were easy to cross.

another view of McClelland Butte along a section of the trail with a log bench.

This stream appears to be emerging from the side of the hill.

At about 4,000 ft the trail was consistently covered in snow. It was well packed and icy in the morning. I was glad I had brought my micro spikes. From here it's about 1/4-1/2 mile with 600 ft of gain

The top of Dirty Harry's Peak was well forested. I found views by looking between trees, The ridge was snow covered, I didn't want to get too close to the edge looking out. View to the north:

I continue out to the edge of this ridge:

View to the west: this might be Dirty Box Peak

At another break in the trees, view to the south.

Someone told me there is a view of Mt Rainier on a clear day, but I did not see it.

The snow was beginning to soften as I hiked back down the trail. It was still slippery.

 I enjoy trails that appear to be heading off to distant peaks.


















Back down to the road crossing the bridge over the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River, looking west:
















only saw a few wildflowers in bloom today, mostly on the lower section of the trail: