Davis Peak via trail

I parked at the Davis Peak trailhead on road 134, which is a rough road and is very rugged near the end, and hiked up the Davis Peak trail. The trail steadily gains elevation, rarely getting steep or level, it's a nice trail for gaining elevation quickly.

The Davis Peak lookout is east of the summit on the end of a short ridge. Long ago the trees around the lookout were chopped down and they have not grown back, giving the lookout decent views. Only the four-foot rock walls are left of the lookout.

I continued past the lookout on the bootpath that heads west toward the summit. The bootpath ended at a subsummit of Davis Peak, I didn't explore what looked like a challenging scramble to the true summit. My "summit" had good 360 degree views of the Teanaway, Mount Stuart, Jolly Mountain, Goat Mountain (Davis Peak quad), and the Snoqualmie Pass peaks. Except for Goat Mountain (Davis Peak quad) everything was pretty far in the distance.

I bivvyed in the lookout, which provided good protection from the wind. In the morning I was surprised by a little snow flurry while I ate breakfast, my first snow of the summer! It was my day for firsts, on my way down about a half mile of the trailhead I came upon a bear ripping up a tree stump, my first bear of the year.

Date:

2006/07/29 to 2006/07/30

Elevation gain:

3,990 feet

Trip type:

hike

USGS quad:

Davis Peak

In:

Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Cle Elum River Area

Car-to-car:

16 hours 36 minutes