Welcome Field Trippers!

The Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI) will host a field trip that covers the western portion of the Swauk Watershed including Teanaway Ridge north of Ellensburg in the Wenatchee Range on Saturday 21 September.

We will meet near the cabin on USFS road 9738 just off US 97 at 11:00am on the 21st.

The trip will include stops at:

1. along Blue Creek to examine Teanaway Formation dikes;
2. the east side of Teanaway Ridge to explore recent landslides;
3. Red Top Mountain atop Teanaway Ridge to examine Teanaway Formation flows, forests, fire, landscape change, and the Red Top fire lookout.

The trip should conclude at about 4pm.

Ellensburg IAFI field trips are free and open to the public. There’s no need to pre-register—just show up! We typically car pool on these trips. We will drive USFS roads 9738 and 9702 from US 97. USFS road 9702 is potholed and rough in places but very passable for passenger cars (as of July 2024). Several of the stops will include short (<0.5 mile hikes) over sometimes steep and uneven terrain. Pets are OK if leashed and well-behaved.

I will make available a pdf of the field trip guide about a week before the trip. I will also provide a limited number of hard copies of the field guide at Stop 1. Lets hope for good weather and smoke-free skies for the trip!

If you have questions, feel free to contact Karl Lillquist at: lillquis@cwu.edu

Hope you can join us!