Cutthroat Loop

It was time for a quick off-leash hike with my puppy Summit, and we headed over to the Chelan Gorge. The arrowleaf balsamroot was starting to show around my house, and I was curious to see how the display was around the Gorge. The start of the hike along Reach 1 trail had no wildflowers in bloom - I guess I can't really recall seeing many wildflowers along this stretch.

As we proceeded down Reach 1 towards the Chelan River, we could start to see some arrowleaf balsamroot, and once on the Eagle Trail, there was a good amount of wildflowers. It's still not at peak, but I think it's only a couple of weeks away at this elevation.

Arrowleaf balsamroot overlooking the Chelan River

Farther along the trail, I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of Lupin in bloom. I hadn't seen any in bloom around my house, and this was the only occurrence during this hike. I feel like Lupin is usually coming in around the tail end of the Arrowleaf balsamroot season. Curious to see if this season is different.

Lupin already in bloom

I had my puppy off-leash, as he is good about staying close to me when hiking. However, he still has a tendency to get overly excited around other people and jump on them, so as a couple people came jogging up the trail towards us, I had to put him on the leash and restrain him. Hopefully in the coming months he settles down and we can teach him not to jump on people.

We followed the trail down past the Aspen groove, where the leaves were just starting to come in. There were a good number of other wildflowers coming into bloom, including Phlox, Milkvetch and a couple of more I couldn't identify, because I didn't take a photo and can't really remember what they look like. Note to self, take a good quality photo of the flower so I can figure out what it is after the hike...

Phlox

Upon reaching the first intersection with the Cutthroat Loop, we took off on the loop, hiking it in a clockwise direction. Once the trail parallels the riverbank, I found a spot to get down to the water's edge for my dog to grab a drink. It was a little steeper and deeper than expected, and he fell into the river while trying to get water. He was scrambling to get back up onto the bank, so I gave him a hand, and we moved a little farther down where there was a better spot for him to drink.

Chelan River

We completed the loop, and started our way back on the Eagle Trail, stopping to take some more photos of wildflowers and the Chelan River. The river was lower than is typical in the spring, likely due to our horrible winter and low snowpack. They have to fill up the lake and aren't releasing as much water into the river.

Another photo of Arrowleaf balsamroot

Although the day remained cloudy, it was good to get the dog out for some exercise and I'm excited for the wildflower season to kick off!

While in Chelan with a little free time, I decided to hike Coyote Loop in the Chelan Gorge and then follow an unofficial trail into the Gorge I had spied on an earlier hike. There were a handful of cars at the trailhead, more than I have typically seen, although I haven't been hiking around the Gorge a lot of the past year.

Even though it was late summer, there were a couple of types of plants in bloom, with the most prevalent being the wild buckwheat. It's amazing how plants adapt to their environment, and can survive and flower with next to no rain for months.

Wild buckwheat along the Eagle trail

I reached the Cutthroat loop fairly quickly, maintaining a steady hike in the reasonable morning temperatures, which were in the mid 70's, albeit climbing steadily as the sun progressed up the sky. I opted to pass by the first junction with Cutthroat Loop and catch the next junction father down the Eagle trail. A short hike along Cutthroat Loop and I was in the general vicinity of where I saw the unofficial trail and was able to quickly locate the trail.

Start of the unoffical trail

The trail was easy to follow as it meandered along the riverbank. A short while later I passed by an old abandoned car sitting in the grass. This whole area must have been a dump at some point, as I have seen a lot of old machinery, cars and other assorted junk near the trails. Anyways, the rusted car looked cool sitting in the grass, and I stopped for a couple of quick photos.

Rusted car

Just past the car was an old bullet strewn danger sign. It was hard to make out exactly what was printed on it, with some of the verbiage lost to time, but the gist of it was don't go any further as there is a risk of flood. I couldn't help myself and proceeded past the sign, but the trail quickly fizzled out as it went into a steeper section of the gorge.

Chelan River

With not much to see past the sign, I turned around and retraced my steps back to the car. Nothing to write home about, but it's a somewhat interesting trail.

After forgetting my backpack with water and food the last time and only doing the Eagle trail, my son and I were better prepared and ready to tackle Cutthroat loop. There were a couple of cars at the Chelan Butte trailhead, but no hikers in sight as we set out along the Reach One trail.

Even this late in the season, there were still some wildflowers along the hike, with salsify/goatsbeard flowers having gone to seed and resembling giant dandelions. Farther along the trail I saw charming centuary, yarrow and fleabane.

Salsify wildflower along Reach One trail

The Chelan River had substantially less water than the last time we were here It was still pretty, but seemed to lacking the light blue glacial feed color we had seen in May. We reached the junction with the Eagle Trail without encountering anyone, and proceeded on our way. It was pretty hot out, but fortunately we had our water this time!

Chelan River

Charming centuary wildflower along Eagle Trail

Cruising along the Eagle trail, we admired the wildflowers and as we neared the Cutthroat Loop, we saw a couple of deer standing on a slope above the Chelan River. They warily watched us as we hiked by, but went back to eating their shrubs once they determined we weren't a threat.

Deer above the Chelan River

We reached the junction with Cutthroat Loop, and after a quick water and food break we went along our way. If it had been up to my son, we would have turned around at this point! But he agreed to continue with the plan of doing the loop - I couldn't live with two failed attempts at this hike.

Start of the Cutthroat Loop

As we followed the cutthroat loop north towards the river, it became fairly rocky once along the banks for the Chelan River. In general, the trail seemed a little less maintained than the Eagle Trail, but it was still a nice hike. Farther along the loop we found a fallen log to rest on and grab some water. It would have been nice to get some shade, but we didn't see any good shade spots nearby.

Rocky section of cutthroat loop

Chelan River

After our break, we finished the loop, passing by some rusted out metal along the way. This whole area must have been a dump at some point in the not too distant past, as the Reach One trail has a lot of old metal and glass strewn along the hillside. There wasn't quite as much old refuse on the loop, but it was still visible.

Old refuse along cutthroat loop

We made good time back along the Eagle trail, stopping once more for a quick water break. Along the Reach One trail we passed by our first and only other group during the hike.

Yarrow wildflowers

Fleabane wildflowers

The loop itself isn't anything spectacular, but all in all its a nice hike and worth doing. Now I just need to convince my son to hike a little farther so we can tick off the Coyote Loop. But that will probably have to wait until the fall and cooler temperatures.