WHILE THIS IS NOT EXACTLY YOSEMITE…

…It's still pretty cool. Today I drove about 60 miles north, back into the Sanpoil Canyon, to hike from the 13 Mile trailhead. I noticed this trailhead while traveling to and from my Kettle Crest hike that I completed last week. The 13 Mile Trail starts on the east side of Highway 21, right at the northern Colville Reservation boundary. The trail actually goes out 16 miles, gradually climbing toward the Kettle Crest, where it "t's" into a forest service road just below the 5,000 FT elevation. I chose to turn around after hiking 4 miles out. While on average you gain elevation, each time you cross a tributary ravine, you lose and then regain elevation. This happened three times during the 4 miles to my turnaround. What that means is, when I returned to the car, it was NOT all downhill! This was a great trail, and I'm sure it doesn't get a lot of use. Despite that, there was still a good trace to follow on the tread of the trail, for the entire distance I traveled.