DIRECTIONS: 4WD can drive ~0.5 mile further up on a dusty rocky narrow road which is not on any map.
2WD can park at the large pullout by the road.create
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Sasse Mountain Via Howson Creek
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May 10, 2020
The Howson Creek trail doesn't quite exist or de-commissioned. The TH has a pullout for parking. No sign for a trail. There's a rugged road goes up, which we drove on (deviate a bit from the trail on my GPS map) for ~0.5 mile, until it's impassable. A sign says "trail". Maybe ~2500'. We followed the faint dusty trail to Howson Creek. Had to take off our boots and wade over a bit upstream. The water is mid-calf deep, and running fast. The crossing is the same as what's on my GPS map.
The trail we picked up quickly deviated from the trail on my GPS map. Soon after, it disappeared. We cross-country to NFD-128 and hit the road at ~4100' and intermittent snow.
The road is fairly wide, and open. Great view of the Cle Elum River valley and the mountains to the west. Can see Rainier sometimes. At the next road junction, saw snowshoe track, and we followed. Very open terrain, great vista to the northwest. Blazing sun, little shade.
Soon, the snowshoe track deviated from the GPS route I saved on my phone. We followed my map, going along Little Salmon Le Sac Creek uphill, even though we couldn't see any creek, nor track. Then we headed up to the saddle between Sasse Mountain and Not-so-Sasse Peak.
From the saddle, we turned left (east) and up to the Sasse Ridge. Here all trees are burnt. Once at the ridge, it's an easy walk to Sasse MountainLots of burnt trees here obscuring the view.
We saw one hiker today (he's on snowshoe).
View from the road: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oMypCwsJG-c/XrrsjvADvHI/AAAAAAAAPg4/wWnBOpLQ_oERevrLQqDwU1vbpYAd-IOPACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/20200510_103000_NFD128.jpg
View from the top of Sasse Mountain: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T8PQ0m2SFPk/Xro5NWvhWjI/AAAAAAAAPfk/hm7Nhfe2RFUPYuHOjXZJzXg6ooo_cshKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/20200510_123708_SasseMt.jpg
Disclaimer: distance and elevation gain are estimate.