Today the pups and I went up to South Cle Elum Ridge East. We visited the west end over two months ago. So it was nice to connect the dots. But I was happy not to go farther east for the sun! We had much better weather in June of last year.
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South Cle Elum Ridge East at a Glance
Access: NF-3350
Round Trip: 6 miles
Elevation Range: 4000′-4320′
Gear: none
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
South Cle Elum Ridge East
A friend had sent me a GPS track back when the snow was still around. The route looked like a 10-mile outing for this part of the ridge. Back then, I wasn’t sure if I wanted the extra road walk. So I thought we would come up here once the road was accessible.
My initial plan was to go up to Peoh Point and called it a day. But the sign before the five-way junction read 2 miles to Peoh Point. Then I realized the distance on the GPS track was way off. So we went up to the four nearest ridge bumps to make the trip worthwhile.
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Cle Elum Point
One car came up to the junction just as we started walking. Then a truck passed us as we made our way to Cle Elum Point. But it came right out a few minutes later. After that, we never saw anyone again. It was only one mile to Cle Elum Point. Before long, we were on the summit.
The views on top weren’t terrible. But the nearby rock feature offered expansive scenery of Yakima River Valley down below. We also saw our next destination, Peoh Point, to the north. It was windy out in the open. So we didn’t stay long before walking again.
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Peoh Point
From Cle Elum Point, it was just another three-quarters of a mile to come here. With a height of 4000′, Peoh Point was the shortest of all four high points. But it had the best views out of all of them. There was also a radio tower that perched above the cliffs. Later we went down to the viewpoint on the east.
Views here were those along the Yakima River Valley. But we could also see the mountains beyond the plains. The clouds had obscured most of the Cascades. Though, I would sometimes catch a glimpse of the Teanaway mountains as well as the Stuart Range.
South Cle Elum Ridge East Peak #2
It was still early. So we killed time by visiting the other two nearby places. From Peoh Point, it was only another mile and a half to reach East Peak #2. Right below the summit was a car and an open tent. But we didn’t see anyone there. The broad grass field up top indicated old logging activities.
The radio tower was the only view on this summit. So we left after a short break. I thought about going over to Taneum Point. But the extra road walk made it seem unappealing. I had also thought about shortcutting the slopes back down to the five-way crossing. But we took the road instead.
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East Peak #1 Plus Outro
It had become warm in the late morning. But we were right back into the shade on the way to East Peak #2. At .25 mile from the junction, we left the road and went onto the east ridge. It was the only part of the trip where we scrambled. Then we reached the summit in half a mile.
Views here were very spotty. I even had to peek through tree branches to see anything. Just past the summit was a clearing. But it was also too woodsy there to see anything decent. So we went back down the ridge and out to the car shortly after.
See more trip photos here.