Sept 26-28th, 2025 Teanaway Campout and Field Trip Report

Field trip reports

The weekend of Sept. 26-28th was our annual CMS Campout.
This is the 2nd time we’ve camped at the Teanaway Neighborhood Forest Campground and we really like it for group camping. Wide flat areas for pitching multiple dispersed tents, good parking, paved roads to the campground, and vault toilets. I could not camp without my standup tent and queen air mattress, and next year I’m planning to add a heated sleeping bag. Don’t want to rough it too much.  We had a propane stove and propane fire rings for cooking and campfire. This year due to the Labor Mtn Fire closures we couldn’t get up to Red Top for rockhounding, so we did an area called Yellow Hill which is just to the northwest of our camping area a few miles. I’ve been to it twice before but have never taken a group. It’s not a prolific rock collecting site, but there is good material to be found and we did find a few amazing pieces and quite a bit of moderately nice pieces. Fortunately, the smoke wasn’t too bad as a breeze took most of it to the east. Daytime temps were perfect, but the nights were very chilly. Sat night got down to 38 degrees. We only had 4 tents in the bivouac, but 3 people stayed in Cle Elum and a few just came up for the day trips. Beautiful hikes with the trees and shrubs beginning to reveal their fall colors. On Sat. we went up Yellow Hill Trail #1222 which can be found on Google Maps and on Sunday a few of us went up the Teanaway Middle Fork Trail.

Attendees for the weekend were Jeanie L., Noelle B., Becky P., Scott & Lauri M., Michele M & Gerry P., Loren M., Robert M., Phillip & Shaun T., Jarrod D., and me.
Many thanks to Lauri M. and Jeanie L. for sharing their pictures.

Submitted by Roger Danneman CMS Field Trip Guide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated: November 8, 2025 — 8:35 pm

Presidents Message

  • From the Top of the Rock Pile Our annual club picnic went off great. The grass and Arboretum area was not wet or muddy, plus it didn’t rain while we were there. We had the usual club members attend, plus a few new faces. I forgot to count how many people attended, but I estimate around 40. Thank you, Angie and Brian, for shopping for the food and setting everything up. Thumbler’s Tumblers donated a tumbler for our picnic auction and another one for our holiday auction in December. The new double-barreled 15# tumbler sold for $120, approximately one-third the …

Meeting Announcements

  • We are going to show a video of the most unusual and amazing things found in Amber. It isn’t just insects. We are also going to have a recap of how our Gem Show did last month. Show ‘n Tell: An item that has something trapped inside or a picture rock, thunder egg, or geode that looks like it has an insect, animal, or face inside.

  • This meeting will cover the “Geologic History of Washington State.” The meeting will be an interactive program designed to tell the story of the complex geologic history of our state. It works for kids as well as adults, with families working together to assemble the state.   Show ‘n Tell: Favorite rock or mineral from Washington.

  • Glen Ripper is a leading authority on Obsidian. He is a walking encyclopedia which should make this an interesting and educational meeting. Show ‘n Tell: Obsidian – let’s see your colors.

  •   We start the day off with a potluck holiday meal. The club provides roasted turkey and ham. Members fill in with their favorite holiday potluck dish. We follow our meal with the election of officers for the coming year. Our final activity is our club auction. It is a great time to pick up great bargains on rough rocks, polished rocks, slabs, fossils, opal, etc. Our Young Tumblers can use their Rock Bucks to purchase auction items. This meeting is also our semi-annual food drive for the Kent Food Bank. Please remember to bring something. The Food Bank has informed us that they need feminine hygiene products and grape or strawberry jelly. People donate loads of peanut butter but never jelly. They also receive very few donations of feminine hygiene products.

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