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Volcanic Neck (6,600ft) and Bean Peak (6,743ft)

Volcanic Neck is a peculiar feature high on the ridge joining Bean Peak and Devils Head in the Teanaway region of the east-central Cascades.  It's peculiar because  it is unlike most of features in the area.  As a 300ft pillar of rock standing above its surroundings, it looks formiddable from a distance.  Jenny has been wanting to try some more technical scrambles and this, rated as a T5 in 75 Scrambles in Washington, it tops the rating system for scrambling.  Much to her terror, I suggested we do this peak, along with a quick double header over to Bean Peak.  So having had Monday off from work thanks to some other plans that fell through, we decided this would be the day.  The forecast was good but not perfect.  We knew we could expect cooler temperatures than the 90-100 degrees we had the previous week in Seattle and we knew it would be mostly sunny, but the forecast also included a wind advisory, steady 20-30 with gusts to 50.  Sheesh...

We packed up the Jeep with some basic day scrambling gear and headed out to Teanaway.  The leaden clouds as we approached Snoqualmie Pass foretold something different from the Mostly Sunny forecast but sure enough, a few miles from our turnoff at Cle Elum, the clouds broke to their expected state.  Since this was Jenny's first time in the Teanaway region, I made sure she got to see all the neat things about this area like the open pasture grazing and the beautiful waters of the Teanaway River.  As we motored up North Fork Teanaway River Road, brief glimpses of the Stuart Range hinted at the alpine landscape we were approaching.  At the Beverly Creek Trailhead, we were delighted to see only two other cars there.  Since I knew this was a vast area, we stood a good chance of seeing nobody else on our hike.  Unfortunately, permits

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