Polallie Ridge via Tired Creek

Date: 2007/11/23 to 2007/11/24
Trip type: snowshoe
Elevation gain: approx. 2,855 feet (approx 870 meters)
Car-to-car time: 23 hours 45 minutes
USGS Quad: Polallie Ridge
In Area: Cle Elum River Area

Trip Report

I drove up Road 45 toward Cooper Lake, the road was covered in snow and had been taken over by snowmobilers. I was conspicuous in my Subaru among all the snowmobiles and trucks with trailers. I turned off onto road 4616 and parked where trail 1311 crosses the road.

I had planned to take trail 1323 past Cooper Lake, but Road 4615 looked easier to follow so I just hiked up the road. Tired Creek woke me up after plodding on the road for an hour, the creek was icy, larger than I expected, and had no bridge. I found a decent crossing upstream from the road.

I hit the Tired Creek Trail immediately after crossing the creek. The trail was snow-covered but easy to follow. There were a few peek-a-boo views on the way up, but it was mostly hiking through woods. The views got great shortly before the lookout site.

I set up camp at the Polallie Ridge lookout site, point 5482 on the north end of the ridge. What a great place to camp, from my bivy spot I had a rare, sweeping view of Three Queens, Four Brothers, Chikamin Peak, Lemah Mountain, Chimney Rock, Summit Chief, Bears Breast, Mount Hinman, Mount Daniel, and many Teanaway peaks in the distance with Mount Stuart rising above them.

In the morning I snowshoed to the northern-most of Polallie Ridge's two summits. A pleasant ridge walk, but the views at the lookout site were the best.

Travel Times

Car-to-car time: 23 hours 45 minutes
Ascending time: 3 hours 42 minutes
Descending time: 2 hours 40 minutes

1 hour 12 minutes ascending from Intersection of Road 4616 and trail 1311 (3,425') to Intersection of Road 4616 and trail 1317 (3,895')
2 hours 1 minute ascending from Intersection of Road 4616 and trail 1317 (3,895') to Polallie Ridge lookout site
29 minutes ascending from Polallie Ridge lookout site (5,370') to Summit of Polallie Ridge (5,405')
33 minutes descending from Summit of Polallie Ridge (5,405') to Polallie Ridge lookout site (5,350')
1 hour 14 minutes descending from Polallie Ridge lookout site (5,350') to Intersection of Road 4616 and trail 1317 (3,025')
53 minutes descending from Intersection of Road 4616 and trail 1317 (3,025') to Intersection of Road 4616 and trail 1311