North Fork 25 Mile Creek

My brother was in town after working in Spokane and we wanted to get out for a hike in the area. On his last visit a year ago, we had ventured deep into the surrounding mountains and ran into more snow than expected. With the poor snow year, that wasn't likely to happen again, however I wanted to spend a little less time driving and opted for North Fork of Twenty Five Mile Creek. I had my dog Summit with me, and figured with the hot temps, hiking along a creek would help him cool down.

We arrived at the trailhead, and there were no other cars there. Given it was a weekday and the trailhead is a ways outside of Chelan, I wasn't too surprised. We saw a couple of motorbikes coming down the forest service road at the start of our hike, but otherwise we didn't encounter anyone while on the trail.

Walking up the road to the trail

We walked up the road, and began hiking on the trail. I had thought there was a bit more shade on the hike. While there is an occasional tree or two providing a little break from the sun, there aren't any real sustained shady sections. There are quite a few burnt trees along the way, so I suspect prior to whatever forest fire hit the area, there may have been more shade. Fortunately my puppy was able to wait for us under trees and bushes when he got a little ahead, and he seemed to be doing well in the heat.

Wildflowers and burnt trees

There were a decent amount of wildflowers still out, with fireweed really starting to show. We ran into the occasional lupine still in bloom, and saw a little bit of indian paintbrush starting to flower. Farther into the hike I spotted the dried out tweedy lewisia - I had seen some in bloom for the first time a number of years ago on this trail - but it was too late in the season now. Before long we were at the small waterfall, and we descended down the rocks to snap some photos and let my dog get into the water to cool off and hydrate.

My brother in front of waterfall

The trail climbs steeply after the waterfall. Not for very long, it's probably only a couple hundred feet if that, but it's steep and without switchbacks. With the loose dirt on the trail, coming back down proved most difficult, but we were able to navigate it without falling down. The trail leveled out and continued along next to the creek, and my dog found an occasional spot to quickly descend into the water.

Trail ahead of us

At a little over 2.5 miles from the start of the hike, we reached the junction with the Lone Peak trail. We opted to head back down to the creek for a break, snacking on some food and hydrating, and discussed whether to keep hiking. My dog was doing well in the heat, helped by the occasional dip in the creek, and we decided to keep on hiking.

Junction with Lone Peak trail

The trail continued following the creek for roughly three quarters of a mile before crossing the creek. This was the farthest point I had been on the trail, and the last time I was here, the creek had a lot more volume and crossing would have required getting wet. This time we were able to make it across on some rocks and we started to ascend up a new drainage. This section of the trail was nice, passing through some open forest. At around 3.5 miles I decided we should probably head back.

Turnaround point

We descended back to the creek crossing, made our way across and started hiking back along the trail. It was very dusty on the trail, with clouds of dust rising whenever my dog would speed on by. But other than that, the trail was in good shade, with not a single blowdown encountered.

Heading back

Soon we were back at the car, and ready to head home and jump in the lake to get all the dust off of us. It's a nice hike, and I want to explore further up the trail. It would be fun to take it up to Devil's Backbone and then down Pot Peak for a loop, but I think that's a lot more mileage than I can do in a day, so it would probably have to be an overnight trip. One of these days...