Oregon Hikers

[email protected] wrote: ↑

August 11th, 2018, 4:03 pm

Just did Cripple Creek to Serene Lake and while it may not statistically be the steepest...geesh! Thankfully someone has logged out the trail that the Forest Service seems to have abandoned, but the trail tread has quite a side slope. Combined with the elevation gain it made for a heckuva hike. Poles definitely help.

The rare Oregon oak meadow openings and old-growth Doug fir make it all worth it though. Hopefully someday can be added to the Roaring River Wilderness--it already feels like Wilderness to me.

If it does get added to the wilderness, any maintenance it does get by volunteers will almost certainly vanish. Or be limited to brushing only.

I guess tread slope is most definitely a personal thing. I've always thought cripple creek was a very well maintained trail - for an essentially abandoned trail. But then again, I hike a lot of barely passable trails, so maybe it is just a matter of perspective. That trail is a great way to get into the high country early - before the roads are passable.

I recently went up the Goat Lake trail in the Olympics. It climbs 3000 ft up from the Dungeness River to a lovely alpine lake in just over 2 miles. It felt steeper than Starvation or Rudolph Spur, or maybe it was the heat and my advancing age. The nice thing about this one-it was steepest in the lower forested section, then eased off to normal steep as you entered the alpine basin, then a nice gradual approach to the lip of the lake.

Here is a view of the Goat Lake basin from Buckhorn Mtn, the climb is straight up the middle:
Here is the reward, I had a lovely swim(Buckhorn on horizon):
And I got a little bonus on the way: