Manastash Journals


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Labor Day 1997
  About 5 miles out of Ellensburg there is a mountain road.  
This road leads to man camping sites, trails, ect.  It is called 
Manastash.  Twenty miles out of Ellensburg there is a trail.  That's 
where my cousin Anne, her dog Sheba, my sister Kira, and I went hiking.
  We set out at 8:30 AM after camping the previous night at Buck 
Meadows and North Fork Manastash Creek.  It was a beautiful trail 
high up with many scenic views.  After hiking two miles we came to a 
peaceful lake called the Lost Lake.  It was so clear and shallow you 
could see the footprints of where people had walked in it before.  It 
was so still, the only thing making ripples in it was Sheba, who 
decided to take a drink.  We hiked another two miles even further into 
the mountains.  Finally we came to a lake called Lake Manastash.  It 
as much higher, deeper and dirtier than the Lost Lake.  There we ate 
a snack and headed back.  We got back to the car by 12:30.  This being
 our first hike in a long while, our feet hurt and we were exhausted, 
but more than ready for a day at the Kittitas County Fair.


Memorial Day Weekend 1998
  As I sat in homeroom on Friday, May 22nd, I thought of all my 
plans for the weekend.  I couldn't wait to get home so that I could 
finish packing really quick and leave with my sister Kira and my 
cousin Anne... It was 3:30 by the time Kira and I got back from school.
Anne was waiting in her car for us to get back.  We hurried to pack 
our stuff and quickly headed over Snoqualmie Pass.  Our arrival in 
E-burg was around 5:30.  We stopped by Anne's house to pick up her 
yellow lab, Sheba.  Then, all 4 of us said goodbye to my Grandma and 
hopped into the car.  Buck Meadows is about 20 miles out of E-burg.  
It was the spot we had camped at the previous year.  All of the 
possible spots in that area were taken - not surprising on Memorial 
Day Weekend.  We did find a spot about 2 miles farther and to the 
left towards Quartz Mountain.  It was next to a small meadow and right
next door was a stream smaller than the one at our planned spot, but 
big enough.  It was cold out, so we quickly set up our tent and all 
our things.  The darker it got, the colder it got.  I grabbed a 
Duralog from the car and put it in the fire pit.  There was 1 problem:
even though Anne had grabbed the matches, she had put them in a 
Tupperware container and forgot the box to strike them on.  Many 
minutes and several broken matches later we decided to get the 
cigarette lighter out of Anne's car and use that.  Kira wanted to try 
to light one of the matches and it lit the first time.  But, because 
of the wind, it went out and we ended up using the cigarette lighter 
for that particular fire.  Also, thanks to Kira, we had found the 
perfect "lighting rock" for our matches.  Before we went to bed, Anne 
got out her map and we planned - well, looked at - the choices we had 
for our hikes.

  5:30 the next morning I woke up because of the cold.  Anne was already 
awake, but still in the tent.  We put our coats on and unzipped the 
tent.  Anne saw them first - 2 of them, about 500 feet from our tent 
in the meadow.  The 2 deer stared at us for a few short moments and 
hen they bounded out into the trees.  Shortly afterwards, Kira woke up
and we ate our breakfast - instant oatmeal cooked on the camping 
stove.  Around 7:00 we packed up everything but the tent (to keep our
spot) and drove to the beginning of the trail.  We got out and 
stretched to get ready.  Sheba hopped out and ran around.  Then Anne 
locked the car and we set off.

  Three miles later (not 2, like the sign says), we reached Lost 
Lake.  We didn't stay and look around, just headed straight for 
Manastash Lake.  A few minutes onto the trail, we encountered snow.  
Yes, snow.  At the worst part, we could hardly tell where the trail 
was and the snow was close to 3 feet deep.  Most of the time the snow 
was only covering half of the trail and it was very evident.  As we go
t closer to Manastash Lake we encountered another problem that forced 
us to go off the trail - trees.  The winter snow had caused many trees
to fall onto the trail and it hadn't been groomed for the summer yet.
We finally got to Manastash Lake.  Sheba seemed happy about it and 
immediately jumped in and lapped up some of the cold, clear water.  
The rest of us skipped that part and headed straight for the food in 
our backpacks.On our way back, we stopped by the Lost Lake and walked 
around. When we finally finished our 10 mile hike, we went back to the 
campsite, staggered into the tent, and took a nap.  Kira, however, 
skipped most of this and got bored.  We only slept for about 45 minutes 
because Sheba, who was outside the tent, decided to start barking.  Since 
there was nothing else to do, all of us (including Sheba) hopped in the 
car and headed towards Quartz Mountain.  We took a few turns and ended up 
trying some new roads.  It was then that we discovered what we now call 
"Hell?s Road" or "The Road To Hell". Right when we turned onto it, we saw 
this huge mud puddle all the way across the road, about 15 feet long and 
the deepest parts were around 6 inches.  Anne stopped, Sheba joined us in 
the front seat, then Anne backed up, and drove really fast through the 
whole thing.  Mud was everywhere.  The car was thoroughly covered by the 
time we got through the next 2 mud puddles, but it only got worse.  No, 
there was no more mud, but in it's place were a considerable amount of 
rocks.  The rocks were everywhere and they weren't exactly smooth.  
The "road" finally ended in a landslide that had totally blocked it 
off.  With drop-off on one side and a small ditch on the other side 
of the one-lane road, it wasn't easy to turn around, but Anne finally 
got the car going in the opposite direction.  On the way back, we went 
through the mud puddles again, almost getting stuck in the big one.  
There were clumps of mud on the rear window and you could hardly see 
through the windshield, much less the side windows.  Back at the 
campsite, we decided we probably should clean up some of our stuff and 
have a snack.

  After the water was heated on the camping stove, the Cup O Noodles 
were brought out and we ate up.  After exploring the area, a truck 
pulling a camping trailer and another truck pulling a trailer with 2 
4-wheelers on the back drove up and asked us if we would mind if they 
would mind if they were our neighbors.  Of course we would mind!  
But, we couldn't say that, right?  Anne explained that the camping 
spot across the road and to the left of us was muddy.  They explained 
it was the only one left.  We gave up and let them stay.  They got 
their 4-wheelers out and drove them all around (which was very 
annoying because of the fact that they're really loud and scared the 
animals away).  Anyway, while they were still driving around, a huge 
motor home came along with noisy kids and a dog.  We were annoyed, not 
that we said anything..to them anyway.

  Well, we survived despite our neighbors and despite the rain we had 
that night.  We noticed the coming clouds and put a tarp up over the 
tent so we didn?t get wet.  The next morning wasn't nearly as cold as 
the first.  We packed up everything and headed back for E-burg.


Memorial Day Weekend 1999
  7th period was a yearbook signing in the gym and I was supposed to 
get out 15 minutes early to get a head start across the pass.  But my
dad didn't come until after school was out.  Kira's friend, Katrina, 
was going to come with us and we were to pick her up at the time my 
dad was at our school.  Oh well, although we didn't get on the road 
till 3:50, we were able to make it across the pass at 70 miles per 
hour and often faster...hehe.  Amber was gonna stay with Grandma, so 
Katrina used her backpack and boots.  We got up there late, so we 
camped at the meadow just beyond Buck Meadows.  There was snow across 
the street at the edge of the meadow and the wind was blowing.  It was 
stinkin cold.  Well, I was hyper (surprise, surprise) and went across 
the meadow to the creek after we had our tents up.  Anne had just 
bought a lightweight (3 lbs.), water-proof, 2-person tent for when we 
go backpacking by ourselves.  Kira and Katrina were to sleep in the 
4-person tent with Sheba and all our bags.  It was starting to get 
dark and we snapped a shot of the sunset.  By them it was beyond 
stinkin cold and we gathered firewood.  I was singing Joyful Joyful at 
the top of my lungs (well, almost the top) and succeeded in getting it 
into Anne's head. (lol)  We ate dinner and made a small fire.  The K's 
went to bed after a short while and us A's put out the fire.  Kira 
wasn't feeling well and was a little scared (traumatized from our 
Umtanum trip, I suppose).  So upon her request, Anne and I sang from 
our tent till she fell asleep.  Us A's stayed up talking till after 
11:00.

  It was 3 or 4 in the morning.  Kira called something out.  Sheba 
wanted out, so I got up and unzipped their tent to let her out.  She 
walked around a bit and I retreated behind a tree.  I let Sheba back 
in and went back to my sleeping bag, quickly realizing that the inside 
of the tent wall was cold and wet.  Then I fell back asleep.  It wasn't 
till 5:50 that I woke up again.  Tired of being in my now-wet sleeping 
bag, in the wet tent, I got up and put my boots on.  I let Sheba out 
for good this time and looked over at a rock where my coat lay.  Oops.  
I went over too it and noticed the frost that lay all over it.  "Oh 
Bertha!" I thought.  Anne got out and started the hot water for 
oatmeal.  We made another of our small fires and attempted to warm up.  
6:30 was about the time we woke the girls up. It took forever because 
it was so cold to heat the water, but we did and quickly ate our 
oatmeal.  Anne said it must have been about 25 degrees.  By the time 
we had packed up and got to the trailhead it was 8:30.  We parked and 
got on our way.  It was sunny and to our surprise we had to strip 
down to our tank tops.  The trail was muddy and snowy.  Eventually, 
we got to a ridge where we lost the trail in 2-3 feet of snow.  Anne 
and I left Kira and Katrina with the whistle and our packs and we went 
to scout out the trail.  We walked along the ridge till we were above 
a rock ledge.  Anne looked down and proclaimed that she had found the 
trail.  The girls were within yelling distance and we yelled to them. 
Anne and I past the rockslide, walked down the ledge to the trail and 
headed back to the girls.  When we had almost reached the lost lake, 
we met a tree that had blocked the trail.  While going over it, Anne 
suddenly cried out in pain.  At first I thought that she had slipped 
through the snow and twisted her ankle, but it turned out that her 
arm had fallen on a snag and had scraped it up.  It was on her watch 
hand, so I inherited her watch for the rest of the trip.

  When we reached Lost Lake, we were delighted to find our campsite 
snow-free.  The Lake, however, had ice floating on it.  Lazily, we 
set up our tents.  This was not appreciated by the K's who had gotten 
a nasty attitude about the cold and the wind and having to stake down 
their OWN tent (we ended up doing it) so it wouldn't blow over.  We 
had Cup-O-Soup for lunch.  Afterwards, the girls settled on the beach 
in their sleeping bags.  By the time me and Anne were ready to explore, 
there were a few people on the lake.  They just kept on coming and 
there ended up being about 15 people plus 3 dogs.  We passed them and 
went on to explore the "bog" on the other end of the Lake.   Anne and 
I came back and played cards in the big tent with Kira and Katrina.  
The K's made dinner (canned Ravioli) and we went to bed early.  Since 
the wind hadn't died down, there was no fire that night.
 
  The next morning,  we slept in till 7:something .  Deciding to let 
the K's sleep in later, us A's went exploring on the trail to Manastash 
Lake.  When we reached a good stopping point (a fallen tree), we went 
back.  The K's were awake and we told them where we'd been (sort of) 
and made oatmeal.  That morning we were late getting out (10:00), but 
we got back to the car a little after 11:00.  We had decided not to 
stay another night and go to Manashtash Lake because the K's didn't 
want to and would have made the trip absolutely miserable.  But anyways, 
we got back to the car and found a ticket on Anne's windshield for 
parking without a permit.  She was un-spiffed.  On the way back, we 
stopped at a small cave and took a picture.  When we were back in town 
we stopped a McDonalds for lunch and dropped off our film at Rite Aid.  
Back in E-burg, Amber and Grandma were just leaving so we let them 
take the Subaru to go into Wenatchee.  They accidentally to the truck 
and Buick keys too, so Anne and I ended up walking the couple miles
back down to Rite Aid to pick up our pictures.  It was the hardest on 
our feet, but we made it out alive. 



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