North Scatter Creek

Hike a steep trail up to a high pass in the Wenatchee mountains above the upper Cle Elum River. 

Immediately after the road crosses Scatter Creek, look for the sign for North Scatter Creek on the right side. Set out by walking past some campsites and find the start of the hiking trail, marked by a sign for hikers only. The trail begins with a gentle grade as it passes through bunches of wildflowers like lupine and columbine.

In one-third of a mile the trail begins to climb steeply along Scatter Creek for the next half mile before the trail turns due north to continue its steep climb up through dry forest. At 4900 feet, 1.5 miles in, the trail passes a steep shoulder that offers views up Scatter Creek to Scatter Peaks, out to Hawkins Mountain, and down the Cle Elum Valley toward Goat Peak. On the other side look down to the marshy Tucquala Lake and start to get views of the glacial hulk of Mount Daniel.

After the trail's steepest half mile, the trail then thankfully levels out and veers northeast as it crosses through a forested basin, passing a lush meadow of many little pink shooting star flowers. The trail may become faint as it crosses through some meadows, but is easy to find again on the other side.

The steep climbing will resume once more as the trail climbs up along creek gullies and past some more open rocky areas underneath the reddish Tucquala Peak above. At nearly 3 miles from the forest road, the trail reaches the large 6200' pass.

From here, the trail crosses into Chelan county and does continue down the east side to drop into Meadow Creek Valley, where backpackers can continue on toward Jack Creek or French Creek beyond. But day hikers instead can hike north up from the pass up steep grass and rock slopes toward Tucquala Peak to gain better views that will soon include the giant triangular Mount Stuart rising above Solomon Mountain, with Ingalls Peaks also in the distance.

Extending Your Hike

Those with scrambling skills can continue north from the pass off trail up solid grippy reddish rock, involving class 2-3 scrambling, up to the 6821-foot summit of Tucquala Peak. From the top the views are very extensive, featuring Mount Stuart and Ingalls Peak rising behind Scatter Peaks, The Cradle towering over French Creek Valley, along the ridge north past Paddy-Go-Easy peaks to Granite Mountain, and the great glacial mountain range to the west from Mount Daniel and Cathedral Rock south past Summit Chief, Chimney Rock and Lemah Mountain.