-
Junior Point /
Shady Pass
This road crosses the high,
pretty much unbroken ridge line of the Chelan
Mountains. This range looks almost like a big
plateau. But there are distinct summits here.
The east side is drier and also more fire
ravaged, giving the area an open feeling with
great views. The west side is deep Cascade
forest. Here orientation and views resemble
the situation of a bug crawling around in a
thick shag carpet.
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1.(1160ft,mile00.0)START-END
NORTH: jct S Lakeshore Rd - Shady Pass
Rd, just west of Twenty Five Mile Creek
State Park on Lake Chelan
2.(2000ft,mile02.6)profile stays right
at jct with Slide Ridge Rd
3.(6540ft,mile14.5)TOP: turnoff to
Junior Point is on left
4.(5730ft,mile17.1)intermediate low
point
5.(6100ft,mile19.0)Shady Pass: turnoff
to Big Hill on right
6.(2470ft,mile27.3)profile turns left
onto Entlat River Rd
7.(1320ft,mile44.9)START-END WEST: jct
Wa19 Entlat River Rd - Wa287 Mud Creek
Rd
|
Approaches
From East. FR59 puts and
end to the vacation meanders of South Lakeshore
Road, on Lake Chelan. It climbs steeply above
the lake, twisting and turning like a real
mountain pass road. The pavement ends at the
juntion with Slide
Ridge Road. Shady Pass Road steeply ramps
itself up the south facing slope. The views of
Lake Chelan keep getting better. In the morning
they are flatly lit from the front, and there is
not much shade. But it did make me look forward
to some possible shade on the pass. But the
pass, at this point, is still very far away.
After a last great view of the
lake, the road traverses and meanders towards
the ridge on its north side. Meanwhile an
apocalyptic looking match stick forest has taken
over every slope, mountain and ridge line in
sight. But in my opinion it still looks more
appealing than a clear cut pattern, which you
see so often in northwestern forests. After
reaching an intermediate high point the road
ahead can be seen stringing along, hopping over
to the next peak, i regluar arcs like a
telephone line. To the north a high ridgeline in
the North Cascades becomes visible for the first
time. Lake Chelan makes another appearance, deep
below, behind a curtain of matchstick forest.
It's reasonable to expect the next
traverse to be the top. After all no higher
points are visible along the ridge, at least not
until you get to it. But it's getting closer.
And the best views are from shortly before the
top. The highest point along the road is signed
as Junior Point. There is a campground here and
a rest room inside a yurt.

From West. (described
downwards) Progress from here on becomes
dramatically faster, even if Shady Pass is not
reached yet. A long traverse, with just enough
drop to make Shady Pass a separate summit
connects Junior Point to the pass. Right about
here the matchstick forest ends and a deep,
endlessly green tree groundcover takes over.
There is no view from Shady Pass, but there is a
sign, and the road goes over slightly higher
points before and after the pass. A spur road
from here goes to the north, and I imagine it
has still better views of the North Cascades,
than I had from the traverse between Junior
Point and Shady Pass. The descent on this side
is deeply graveled and it was steep enough to
wear out my disc brake pads, and overheat the
brake fluid. Wish I had regular brake pads.
Shady Pass road merges onto paved Entlat River
Road. From here great time can be made, without
worrying about the destroyed brake pads.
Dayride
PARTIALLY PAVED / UNPAVED
( < FR8410
Slide Ridge s(u) | Salt Creek
Summit > )
Junior Point s(u) , Shady Pass , FR53 Mud
Creek s(u) , Wa972 Winesap -
Lake Chelan : lower part of FR59
Shady Pass Road > up FR59 > Junior Point
s(u) > Shady Pass > down Entiat River Road
> Brief > up FR53 Mud Creek > FR53 Mud
Cree s(u) > Wa971 north > Wa971 Winesap -
Lake Chelan s(u) > Lake Chelan State Park
> South Lakeshore Road north > back to
starting point: 75.6miles with 8390ft of
climbing in 7:56hrs (VDO MC1.0 m5:13.9.14).
Notes: another hot September day in
Washington. But the pictures already do have
that warm fall light.