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

  • Digging It!  September is here, and it looks like a wonderful month so far for getting together and getting out in the field. First, thank you to everyone who helped make our August picnic and club auction such a success. The delicious food, generous donations, volunteer help and spirited bidding made it a great afternoon, and the auction raised $750 for the club. We return to our regular meeting schedule on Thursday, September 10, at 7:00 p.m. at the American Legion Hall in Kent. Our program is all about YOU: Show, Tell & Transform, where you get to briefly present …

Meeting Announcements

  • This program is all about YOU. Bring a rock, mineral, fossil, or other field find that you would like to turn into something. It might become a cabochon, carving, display specimen, jewelry piece, slab, polished piece, or something entirely different. Bring your item and share: Where and how you found or acquired it What interests you about the material What you’re considering making from it Any questions or challenges you would like help thinking through Then we’ll open the conversation to our knowledgeable and curious club members. Together, we can discuss the material, possible designs, cutting or finishing approaches, and other ideas that might help you take the piece from field find to finished project. You do not need to have a complete plan or any special expertise. That’s part of the fun. Bring the piece itself if possible, along with any sketches, inspiration photos, or examples that might help explain your idea.

  • Noelle Barnes will present Using Gaia for Rockhounding, an overview of the features and tricks associated with the app Gaia and how you can use it for GPS, saving waypoints, navigation, photo tagging, trail recording and more. Show and Tell: Bring the rock(s) that have the best “story” – and tell everyone how you found them and where!

  • Club board member Paul Ahnberg will talk to us about the impact of wildfires on our lives – from protecting your home to staying safe while out rockhounding – and what we can do today to help mitigate our risk. Paul will combine his knowledge gained from learning at both the WSU Green School (Master Gardener) and WSU Climate Steward programs. Show and Tell: Bring something you found, from a place that you know has since been impacted by floods or wildfires – or was impacted shortly before you arrived. Tell your story!

  • December’s date and time is coming soon. We will update this page as soon as we know more.

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