Pine Marten Claim July, 2002

Route Information

I hadn't been back to the old Lennox Creek trail since the early 70's, when I last hiked up there with my father. Evidentely the area around Dog Mountain had been a hotbed of mining activity throughout the 20th century, so there was a lot of potential exploration to be had. Finally one Sunday in July I had some free time - but no one else did. I decided to make a solo trip up there to look around and see how the trail was.

This was now the start of the Lennox Creek trail, 1.5 miles back

The North Fork road was pretty good, and not too far past the Bare Mountain trailhead, I saw a sign warning of a bridge out. I knew this was coming; now the trail is lengthend by about 1.5 miles due to the bridge washout at Bear Creek. I rolled up to the barricade next to an older Ford truck with a blue tarp stretched over the back. As I got out and banged around, I could tell that I had woke up someone sleeping in the back of the truck. Sure enough, after a while a person emerged from a sleeping bag and lit up a smoke. We engaged in some small talk as he fired up his stove. "Big lake at the end of the road" he stated, and I nodded. "Have you been there?" I asked, and he replied something to the effect of several years ago. "Good fishin' too" he added, as I mentally went over my maps, not seeing any lake. For an instant, I imagined the rest of the conversation along the lines of a Dr. Suess story, with me declaring that "There is no big lake, and the fishing's not good, so stop all this nonsense..." - but I kept quiet. Oh boy I thought, my truck either is going to be really safe here, or I've got a problem. I told him I would be back "soon" and promptly forgot my ice ax in the back of the truck.

At one time, cars parked here. Not a big revenue source now

Nature is taking over the unmaintained road at a remarkable rate. Alders are crowding in and growing in the roadbed, along with grass, moss and flowers. There are a few blowdowns over the road that need climbing, but the road is a good warmup for the trail ahead. The bridge over Lennox Creek is reached in about 10 minutes, with a picturesque view up the creek. Soon a fork in the road is encountered, stay right (straight) for the Lennox trail. In a little over 1/2 hour I was standing at what I thought was the trailhead, the only evidence being a lonely Trail Park Pass sign nestled in the new alders.

As one climbs the hillside, views to Goat Mountain

The Lennox trail starts out rocky, wet, and muddy. I guess this was an ages old route for miners travelling from the Middle Fork Snoqualmie, over to workings in the North Fork. Now this seems strange, but in the late 19th century routes in the mountains were much different. I climbed throught the rocks and mud and some brush, noticing that even though the trail probably doesn't get much attention, there still was a good tread. Sometimes old blazes can be seen on trees, and a few huge cedars dwarf the hiker. Soon views east to snowy Goat Mountain can be seen, as well as back to Bare Mountain to the north.

As I hiked the steep rough trail, I was eying my maps and altimeter for signs of a cutoff route to the Devils Canyon mine. The elevation came and went, with no obvious trail. As best as I could tell, it should be where the regular trail touches a talus field to the east, at about 3200 feet. I wasn't going to try to find it anyway - it would have to wait for a later trip with a companion. I continued up, passing the spring (which is designated on the topo) to drier trail. Now the trail was easier, but snow patches made it hard to follow. I reached solid snow at 4100 feet and had to make a decision. The summit of Dog must be climbed at some point, but with no axe, and all the snow I was leery of continuing. I wasn't too interested in following the contour of the trail. I went back to about the 3800' level and had lunch around some big rocks.

The cabin located at the bottom of the Pine Marten claim

I looked at my maps, and decided to see if I could find the Pine Marten claim. According to the "Mine Book", it was just 100 feet north of the spring noted on the map. Very close. I climbed back down to the trail where the spring started to flow down the trail. With much difficulty, I made my way north of the spring through thick brush on the steep hillside. After a while I was hanging from small trees and managed to peer down the side of the mountain for anything that looked like a claim area. Sure enough, immediatly below me at the bottom of a cliff looked like mining rubble. And further below, I saw the unmistakable square of a corrugated tin roof - a cabin. I wasn't going down this way, so I made my way back to the trail and went down to find a route to it.

The cabin had a rustic desk, table and loft above

I remembered that the cabin was mentioned in the 100 hikes series, but it really isn't noticable while hiking. I decended down to about the 3300' level where 2 logs lay at the end of a switchback. Peering into the trees, I could see the tin roof of the cabin. I plowed through and brush, fell over a few times and in 5 minutes was there. It was a "log cabin" style residence, and while once it was secured with bars and fencing covering the windows, the door now was ripped off allowing entry inside. I looked into the gloomy wet interior and stepped onto the flooring. I immediatly heard a cracking noise and backed off. The thin flooring now was rotted, and is dangerous to walk on. Much rodent droppings decorated the top of the rustic furniture inside.

From what I could tell, this cabin could have been used into the 1950's or 60's. It was well made, and had what looked to be a marine-style diesel oven/stove and separate heater. Some kitchen goods lay scattered about. Everything was wet, as the roof nearest the slope had succumed to the snow over the years and collapsed. I noticed a lock box on the wall and carefully made my way across the floor beams to it. It was empty. At some time in the past, it might have held valuables. There was what looked to be a desk or work area, and a small table with benches. Above was a sleeping loft. At times I heard small noises below the flooring, probably made by something or someone that still called the cabin home.

The Olympic stove and heater nearby looked to be diesel powered

At one time the cabin was secured. The lock box was empty now

This view shows the back of the cabin, and the secured windows

I walked around to the back of the cabin, and admired the view that the miners must have had, down the slope to Lennox Creek. Lower down there seemed to be a garbage dump or junkpile. I traversed east a few steps, and then started up the open forest towards the talus slopes that I saw from above.

This prospect was once highly regarded by someone

I climbed the talus slopes toward the cliffs above, and after a few hundred feet, I could see that some exploratory sort of prospecting had been started. Immediately noticable was a large cave-like opening that may have been enlarged. As I got closer, an aluminum sign warned me away from the area, stating that this was "Private Property" belonging to the Devils Canyon Mining Company. Now it is part of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area.

This short adit was the extent of the development work

Up a few feet further and to the right of the sign, I could see a small adit had been started. A few boards lay around the opening, but nothing else of interest remained. I picked around at the material around the adit, but didn't find much in the way of interesting minerals. I made my way around the area to the east a few more feet, but no evidence of other work was found. It seemed concentrated where I had first happened upon the sign and adit. As I rested near the workings, I wondered what might have happened that halted work here - I finally decided that it must have been financial reasons.

I carefully made my way down the unstable talus to the cabin. Here I wondered where the real access trail was to the cabin. It must come up from another direction besides the trail, because there is no easy way back to the trail. I stumbled back to the trail, taking a hard fall on a slippery log. In a short time, I was back at the 'old' trailhead, even passing a few hikers going up. I realized the potential for this area, and vowed to come back soon.

Update: A few weeks later I returned to the area with Q. The weather was too miserable for our intended bushwhack, so we visited the cabin again. Here are some photos from that trip.

References:

• 100 Hikes in the Alpine Lakes - Mountaineers. Lennox Creek trail information.
• Discovering Washington's Historic Mines - Oso Publishing. Information about the prospects around Dog Mountain, including the Pine Marten claim.
• Tom Davenport's Picture Site shows some photos of his trip on the Lennox Creek trail.