McClellan Butte Hike

"Hike"? Why the heck a hike in the middle of winter? We actually set out to do a snowshoe trip at Snoqualmie Pass. But when we arrived at the trailhead for the Commonwealth Basin trail, i.e., the parking lot at The Summit ski area, we found out that I had taken the ski poles out of the car the last time we used it. The rental folks at The Summit would gladly have taken $12 for a set of poles - Hah! Fat chance! We even checked with the very friendly Forest Service people (BTW, they have a nice little station with a cheery woodstove and lots of information) but they needed all the poles they had for their guided snowshoe walks. They did, however, have some suggestions for alternate destinations and we decided to head back toward North Bend and hike up McClellan Butte as far as the snowline.

McClellan Butte, named for the Civil War General who surveyed the area for a railroad route through the Cascades, is about 5200 ft high and about 3700 ft above the new parking lot off Tinkham Road. The trail ascends gradually but continuously in switchbacks, crossing an abandoned road (or roadbed?) to the east of Alice Creek. After another short climb we reached the Milwaukie RR grade, now a bike trail (its length unfortunately interrupted by several tunnels that have been closed to hikers and bikers) and turned west for 0.4 mi to reach the continuation of the McClellan Butte trail. Just before crossing Alice Creek there is a tiny campground with picnic tables, tent pads and a bright orange outhouse for those using the John Wayne Trail. Continuing uphill from the junction, the next landmark is USFS Road 9020 (accessed from the Garcia/Exit 38 frontage road when the gate is open).

By this time we had met the one other person on the trail today, a young man who had made an attempt on the summit but turned back when the snow seemed to be unstable, not to mention steep and slippery in the couloirs. He told us that we wouldn't hit snow until we had climbed another thousand feet and that there was a good viewpoint just above that. We now had a goal.

He wasn't far off, and just about 1300 we carefully negotiated the last icy switchback and stopped for lunch with a view up the valley past the Bandera emergency airstrip to the pass. Temperatures were near freezing but there wasn't much of a wind so we were pretty comfortable with another layer of fleece and a hat (and some hot cider).

The trip down was considerably faster, only slowed somewhat by hip pain (C.J.) and the usual downhill knee pain (G). We took a slightly different route along the abandoned road (bed?) below the RR grade which gave us a chance to see if our boots were really waterproof.

Although the sun had sunk behind the ridge we were descending, the sky was still partly clear and the sunlight on Bandera Mountain was welcome in the dark forest. The "increasing rain" threatened by the forecasters had not materialized. Tomorrow will probably see us back in the "rain, rain and more rain" regimen that seems to be this winter's weather.