I had made several trips up the Rock Creek Rd (CG2000, going north from Stevenson, WA) earlier this spring, and had noticed new trail work at the old Sedum Ridge Trail head. I knew that this trail had been historically unmaintained, (in fact it was so unmaintained, that it took me a long time to even find the old trail head). To get a feel for the shape this trail had fallen to, read Bobcat's notes in the Trail Guide section. So, I was really curious how far this work extended. This last Saturday (5/5) I got the chance to find out.
I drove up the Rock Creek Road to the parking pull out on the river side of the road. There is a new, unmarked trail head about 150 feet back down the road, just past the creek. This new section looks like it was leveled out with a huge rototiller, because there was all kinds of debris embedded in the dirt. (This was certainly not the work of a WTA team!) In about 75 yards, it connects to the original trail.
The old trail is really very clean. Lots of little things growing in it, but nothing that really interferes with progress.
I soon encountered the first of the 2 wild critters I saw on the trail, at this point, I wasn't sure which one of us was moving slower------
Oh, the actual route for the first 3/4 mile has very little in common with the line on the map! Even after that it frequently is not all that close. After about 1 mile, you see the first of many huge snags, undoubtedly the remnants of the Yacolt Burn. These monsters made me feel like I should be extra quiet & reverent as I passed by.
The first 2 miles climb at almost 700 feet per mile, then it drops into a small saddle and the climb continues at a more human rate.
Much of the route is on the back of a shallow ridge, which makes for very pretty scenery.
It was through here that I started to see lots of colorful purple flowers, turned out to be Western Anenomes. They seemed to have 2 families, short, roundish pedals with similar leaves, or long skinny pedals with similar leaves.
At around 3 miles, as you traverse a west facing slope, you start crossing a series of gullies. 3 of these have the neatest old log bridges.
A couple of gullies have some damage from water rushing down the gully, but there is nothing that will stop anybody. It was in here that I encountered my second wild critter of the day. This one seemed to say:”Out of my way, Bub, or I'll eat you too!”
At about 4 miles, I had to do a double take! Here was an old sign, out in the middle of nowhere! Turns out it is at the boundary of Washington State & Federal lands. But why?! Who thought it was necessary to haul this wood up this trail (or was it down from the old FR41), so that a few people could see it? Take a moment to read this sign...... this had to have been done by a committee!
After what seems like forever, the trail intersects the PCT. I turned right, walked about 1/4 mile to a user trail that heads up to the false summit of 3260-South (that would imply that there is a 3260-North nearby, and in fact there is, abut 5 miles NE).
The lower area of the mossy slope was covered with avalanche lilies.
I hadn't realized it, but among the botanists, there does not seem to be a definitive agreement about which bloom is an avalanche lily, and which is a glacier lily. There were terms used like “general consensus is”, “also known as”, etc.
As I got higher, the flowers changed to the cute little Western Spring Beauties:
