Little Pend Oreille

Little Pend Oreille

Hiking up Mill Butte

Eric, Katie and Lily

May 27-30, 2022

Friday night we left after rush hour and made it to Vantage where we found good car camping with all the climbers. Saturday we drove up into the northeast corner of washington, an area we had not yet explored. We started out birding at Starvation Lake, then drove to Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge. We hiked up Mill Butte, then found a good campsite near Bayley Lake and had a nice campfire.

On Cliff Ridge

Sunday we birded by the lake in the morning, then decided to go for a hike. We drove up logging roads as high was we could, then parked and headed up Cliff Ridge. Katie and Lily hung out at the truck while did a short bushwhack from highpoint of the road to the abandoned FS 200 spur. It looks like it must be occasionally maintained by hunters, since some logs have been cut out. But it’s not driveabe currently.

I soon made it up to the summit, which was an open meadow full of wildflowers. There were remnants of an old lookout tower on top, and I had great views to Calispell Peak and the 49 North ski resort to the south. It looked like it still had plenty of snow.

Birding at Big Meadow Lake

I returned back to the truck, then we drove around birding some more in the refuge. That evening we drove farther north to Big Meadow Lake campground in Collville National Forest. The lake is up at 3400ft and I think the area just recently melted out from the winter snow. We found a nice campsite and had another good fire. Katie even learned how to ax out some blowdowns for firewood. We hiked around the lake and got in some more birding.

It rained all night, then let up Monday morning. After it let up we drove up the road a bit and as high as we could get on Huckleberry Mountain. The road got progressively rougher, and at times was just barely wide enough for the truck on the side of the steep slopes. Blowdowns had been recently cleared, but only the width of a 4 wheeler, so I still had to do a bit of axing and rock rolling. I was very happy not to encounter any other vehicles there. By 5200ft we encountered patchy snow, and I made it through a few drifts. I then ran out ahead to scout, and the snow got deeper. I had a snow shovel so we could have dug our way through, but it seemed likely it would just keep getting worse. I think it’s important to know when to stop on roads like this, since continuing on foot will often be faster than getting a truck unstuck.

The start of snow on Huckleberry Mountain

Katie got and and helped me turn around on the narrow section. Then we continued up on foot. We followed recent atv tracks through the drifts, then hiked a half mile farther through deeper drifts. Finally just below the summit the tracks ended in a very deep drift. We left the road there and scrambled the last bit to the summit.

Unfortunately we weere stuck in a cloud, but we could occasionally glimpse surrounding peaks. We headed back down to the truck, and then inched slowly down the road. Fortunately again we didn’t have to pass anyone, and we soon made it back to the lake.

That afternoon we took the scenic drive back along highway 20 through Republic and Tonasket, stopped for ice cream in Winthrop, and drove back over Washington Pass.

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