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Beverly Turnpike

Travels with George and Marta Posted on by


Beverly Creek

Teanaway Valley is a hikers paradise. The river runs from Mt. Stuart along the eastern slope of the Cascades near Cle Elum. It also a very unique botanical area due to the serpentine soil in the area. The plants that grow in this area have adapted to the unique soil which have a high percentage of nickel. You will see both typical Cascade plants along with some plants from the Great Basin desert. We have been hiking in this region for over 20 years and try to do at least one hike in the region every year.

This year we decided to do Beverly Turnpike on Sunday (8/3/2008). We had been on the upper regions of this trail when we were training in 2004 but we couldn’t remember exactly when we had last hiked the lower portion of this trail.

To reach the trail head, take I-90 east to the Hwy 97 Wenatchee exit just past Cle Elum. Continue on Hwy 97 until you cross the Teanaway River and turn on Teanaway River Road. This road continues for 13 miles. Just before you reach Beverly Creek, turn off and go about 1 mile in to the trailhead.

It took us about 2 hours to reach the trailhead from Seattle. There were about half dozen cars in the lot. Not bad for a warm August weekend. The trail start to climb. At 1/2 mile it passed the junction with Bean Creek Trail. The Beverly trail continues on climbing with the creek.

The open forest was dotted with summer flowers; Prince’s Pine, etc. It must have been hot since most of the spring flowers such as lupine were dried to a crisp. After about 2 miles, the trail opens up onto the scree area. The area was covered with creamy buckwheat flowers. We stopped for lunch along the creek. It was so relaxing and peaceful to sit and listen to the water. We were alone and had seen no one else.

We decided to go a bit further but eventually called it a day. We didn’t go that far – maybe two miles. But it refreshed us and cleared out minds.


Beverly Creek

Beverly Creek
Field filled with Buckwheat

Beverly Creek
Hmmm… Now what Indian Paintbrush is this? ( Castilleja elmeri )

Beverly Creek
Scarlet Gilia

Beverly Creek
Campanula rotundifolia

Beverly Creek
Natural arrangement

Beverly Creek
Butterflies on the trail

Comments

Beverly Turnpike — 6 Comments

  2. Hey those blue flowers are the ones I saw in Switzerland! I love the Indian Paintbrush flowers. My aunt gave me a blown up photo of some she took and it is hung on a wall in my house. The wildflowers is something I miss being in Hawaii.

  4. I’m really enjoying these posts about your trip. This is a part of the U.S. that I’ve never visited and it’s so interesting to see what it looks like. And your photos are so beautiful!

  5. Yep the blue flowers would be the same family as what you saw in Switzerland, Girasoli. The blue bells are in the Campanula family and they are native wildflowers both in the US and Europe.

    I saw some nice groups in the hills behind Nice in 2000.

    Thanks everyone on your comments. It encourages me to post more. Maybe this weekend.

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