Herman Creek Ridge; a PCT shortcut to Benson Plateau

[Chip Down]

Southbound PCT hikers arrive at Benson Plateau on a route that constantly flirts with the ridge west of Herman Creek. The trail occasionally runs on ridgecrest, and it hits a ridgecrest viewpoint or two, but mostly the PCT is routed on endless boring forested switchbacks. The map shows the trail first encounters the ridge from the west at about 1300', immediately crosses to the east side, bypasses some rugged terrain, then gains ridgecrest at about 2900', where it pretty much stays all the way to Benson. But that doesn't faithfully represent the situation; even above 2900' the trail seems determined to avoid the crest.

My goal, as you can guess, was to meet the ridge at 1300' and follow it all the way to Benson. I knew I'd encounter PCT in spots, including a charming section where the trail is routed along a level stretch of ridgecrest, but the trail was rarely spotted from my route (when it was spotted, it always offered the comfort and reassurance of a quick easy descent). Ultimately, I was hoping to find the Benson Way trail junction at 3750', a sensible place to call it quits. Out of an excess of obsession, I also hoped to follow the ridge below 1300', down to Herman Creek, but I never had the time/energy for that.

I encountered minimal brush and blowdown, some fantastic topography and views in the neighborhood of 1700' to 2500', more snow than expected, great clowdshows mixed with blue sky, light intermittent showers and a few bursts of heavy rain, almost no wind, a double rainbow, a flower-dappled meadowy ridge at maybe around 1500-1600', a little easy scrambling, mild/moderate exposure, some nice game trails, and the first mosquito of the season.

The highlight of the hike was hitting a distressing section around 1800' where the ridge suddenly fades into boring ugly forested slope offering no clue of where to go, but persisting and spotting a fantastic bouldery spur off to my west, and discovering it was the eastern edge of a fantastic narrow gully that's a salient point both on the map and when viewed from the PCT below. I propose calling it the The Lock, because of its proximity to Cascade Locks, and because it's a narrow vertical-walled conveyance that can take you to a higher place on your journey (but use extreme caution if you're tempted to do that; you're a sitting duck if there's rockfall).

[Chip Down]

and the manmade stuff:

[pablo]

Thx for the post. I used that ridge a time or 2 when I didn't feel like doing those long switchbacks. I've always felt the pre-PCT alignment was closer to the ridge than it is now and I've even convinced myself that I've seen abandoned tread in there. In their 1969 100 Oregon Hiking Trails the Lowes have a map showing the alignment and it differs from the present day. Could be mapping errors but the segment coming out of Herman Creek is considerably different from the route at present - kind of hard to miss that huge switchback coming out of Herman Creek and they are generally pretty meticulous map makers. Also in 1969 I'm not sure the segment of the PCT to Cascade Locks existed. At that time, and as show on the map, the PCT ended at the Gorge work center - I suppose from there you took a taxi across the BOTG then on to Dog to pick up the continuation of the WA segment. Anyway, here is a snippet of the Lowes' map.

The gullies look interesting, I let you provide the beta on the 'Lock'.

--Paul

[Chip Down]

I used that ridge a time or 2

Of course. I'm fully aware that anywhere I go, you've been there before me.

I've always felt the pre-PCT alignment was closer to the ridge than it is now and I've even convinced myself that I've seen abandoned tread in there.

Aha! I knew there was something I forgot to mention. There was a section where I was keeping an eye on two things: The crest, and what appeared to be an old alignment. There was a bench that was too long and straight and persistent to be natural. I was convinced it was manmade. Just barely below ridgecrest, which puzzled me, because I wondered why somebody would construct a trail twenty feet off ridgecrest instead of utilizing the route that Nature provided.