It was a little bit of a drive but it was a couple years since I last hiked Longs Pass. I got up at 530 and made a couple sandwiches for the hike, and some oatmeal for breakfast, and left the house at 630 and had a nice early morning drive to Cle Elum. This trail is about 80 miles from home and is at the end of a a 13 mile dirt road which starts at the end of pavement of the Teanaway River Road, which is north of Hwy 97 about 4 miles east of Cle Elum. The first 3 miles of the dirt road was extremely washboarded, but it smoothed out eventually and I got to the trailhead right at 830. There was no room left in the main parking lot so I had to park on the side of the road a little ways down. No big deal. I’m guessing most of the full lot was from people that came up Friday and backpacked in for the night.
Started hiking at 840 and it was pleasant and cool(but warming) with a slight breeze, perfect for hiking. The trailhead starts at elev.4150, is not that steep, until the last quarter mile where it gets a bit steeper(but still not bad), and gains 2100 feet in 2.5 miles to the pass. I got to the top of Longs Pass right at 10am, and there were a couple other hikers resting there. I continued to the right along the ridgeline for another quarter mile(another 200 feet higher) to the highest point where I could find a quiet rest spot, about 6500′. Its rocky up there with very sharp edged rocks so its hard to find a good place to sit. I forgot to take my foam kneeling pad which I use to sit on, so my butt got sore sitting too long.
Man, was it ever nice up there. The nicest part was the 360 degree views, with Mt Stuart immediately in front of me to the east, and Mt Rainier in the distance looking west. Haze was actually pretty low, better than I had expected with all the previous weeks fires. It was quiet up there except for the wind and the voices of people on the trails in the distance. Its remote enough there is absolutely no mechanical noises except for overflying aircraft.
See my short You Tube video of the mountain views from the top.
I sat there enjoying the sun and views until 1145 when I decided it was time to head back down. The temp up there was warming but still extremely pleasant, but as I made my way down, it got warmer and warmer and less breezy. I was glad I didn’t just start up at that time like a lot of others that I came across.
I got back to the trailhead and car at 1245 and was home by 230. Under 6 miles total RT but it is such a nice area its worth going to the Teanaway area at least once every year.