We’ve lived in Chewelah Wa. A couple of months now. It’s a small town at the base of 49 Degrees North ski resort. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at Chewy town, besides being so close to great ski terrain. The town itself is a little upbeat; there’s a brewery, a wine shop, a gallery, a farmer’s market. One thing absolutely entices me every day, this view outside our window. We’ve all seen the mountain back-drop cruising down Hwy 395.
They call it Quartz mt. I can honestly say that I have tried to figure out how to access the trail before. The access is somewhere along Mud lake rd. I will give you directions if you message me as this is a local secret trail. It’s actually created by boy-scout groups! Super cool. The mileage here at the trail marker is somewhat subjective, mostly because of the elevation gain.
Elevation gain on this trail is through the roof! We did the boy scout camp to the peak. It was 1.5 miles and over 1100 feet in elevation! Too the scout camp was a little under a mile with 800 feet elevation gain. There’s also an off shoot trail to the other infamous rocks off Quartz mt. But we were a little exhausted, and the trail was yet again very steep!
Floyd and I stopped atop the amazing ridgeline I see outside my window. I had packed a super yummy salad, and snacks. About the fifth bite into our delectable lunch, I jumped out of my skin and freaked. There was a tick in the salad. Upon further investigation, there were ticks crawling all over us. I can honestly say I ran screaming “we have to get out of here”. Then decided to plop down in a clearing to finish lunch.
I really feel like once your away from the tree’s, your clear of the nasty ticks. SOO NOT TRUE! Here we were eating our lunch and then yet again covered in ticks! EWWW! We ended up killing a little less than 20 of those buggers. The rest of our hike was kind of fast paced run. Never mind the mosquitoes, that were also crazily trying to suck our blood.
After our great adventure, we were both happy to hurry home. Showering in lavender and tea tree oil to help resolve our bug willy’s.. The rest of our clothes are in the dryer. While I loved the views and the challenge, I hate nasty ticks. I think the country artist Brad Paisley says love best. I’ll check you for ticks!
alongthewaywithjacque 