Delancey Ridge

Methow Meandering

Over an early June weekend, I joined Kelsey, Brigette, and Connor for a gear photo shoot. My role was to model some gear while they take pictures and provide local beta for where to do the photoshoot. Since firm(ish) snow was a requirement, we went east to Washington Pass, spending a night at Burgundy Col on Silver Star. While camped up there, we noticed the continuous ridge line across Highway 20 that is Delancey Ridge. It looked like a great ramble, so we decided to check it out the following day.

Sunset from Burgundy Col.

We began up the Driveway Butte trail for a few miles. The wildflowers were great above 4k still.

Wildflowers on the trail.

We stayed left at the junction for Little Drive, and continued a bit past the junction before finding a decent spot to leave the trail and head up towards Delancey Ridge. This section burned back in 2003, but very little vegetation has returned in two decades. Fortunately, this made for relatively easy walking over downed logs. I have never seen a fire that burned so destructively.

Moving through the burn zone of 2003.

It is rare that I do a route with absolutely no beta. After seeing this ridge from Silver Star, I had no internet in Mazama to do any research. But it was all working out quite simply. We even found remnants of an old trail up on the ridge, lost in the decades since this fire.

Avalanche Lillies in the burn zone.
Looking across to the odd flat plateau of Driveway Butte.

There were a few ups and downs on the ridge to the eastern high point of Delancey Ridge, just a hair under 7k ft. Scraggly trees lived on the ridge, with larches off to the north side. The travel was mostly simple, but never too easy. The views of Highway 20 curving up towards Washington Pass were great.

Looking down to Highway 20.
The north side of the Silver Star massif.
One could keep going to the Methow Needles!

We felt light sprinkles as we retraced our steps back down. It was an overcast day with a thin layer of smoke wafting around the peak tops. By the time we returned to our cars, it was hot and humid.

Nice flowers on the Driveway Butte trail.

Our outing on Delancey Ridge was a nice chill ridge line ramble, getting a new perspective on an area where I have spent a lot of time! It is getting me excited for those long summer days.

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