Icy Indian Racetrack and Red Mtn add-on: 11-29-13
Posted: November 29th, 2013, 11:24 pm
My girlfriend Jojo and I planned to do an Observation Peak/Trapper Creek loop but thinking things through a trip up to Red Mountain and the racetrack in Indian Heaven sounded better. On the drive in we were lucky enough to see over 30 elk run across Panther Creek Road and jump over a fence just 30 or 40 feet in front of us:
Arriving at the TH/horse camp we ran into a different type of legend:
Who would leave such a totally awesome cassette tape out in the cold like that? Actually there isn't a cd player in the car or anything so ever since I grabbed the tape from home a few months back the smooth sound of the Bolton has been filling the air waves in my car in remote forest locations from Goat Rocks to Mt Jefferson
Earth shattering hardcore hits like "Soul Provider" and "You Wouldn't Know Love" really get the blood pumping for that patented wilderness experience 
Moving on from the TH and we were slipping across a frozen river of ice that was to be the trail for the next few miles:
There were some beautiful ice formations:
Nearing the junction with the racetrack and the connector trail over to the PCT was like walking into an ice rink:
Upon inspection of the ice it was clear someone had just recently skated all over it, cool! Here is me giving it a try 
The racetrack is a surreal place to visit knowing groups of Yakima, Cascades, Wasco, and Klickitat Indians(as well as others) raced horses post 1730's and forward until Europeans brought disease/conflict and an end to their way of life. The old and beaten path was glistening with a solid sheet of ice and frozen snow up to 12 inches thick in some places:
Here is the connector sign:
And the sign for the continuation of the 171 trail over to Red Mtn:
The trip up to Red Mountain was view less and very windy so a summit stop was short lived. That lookout is sure cool though:
We dropped back down to the racetrack through about a foot or so of snow on the trail near red mtn and the road to the lookout. On the way back from the meadow there was more icy trail to contend with ofcourse:
Back at the creek crossing near the Th there were some more awesome ice formations in the stream bed:
Arriving at the TH/horse camp we ran into a different type of legend:
Who would leave such a totally awesome cassette tape out in the cold like that? Actually there isn't a cd player in the car or anything so ever since I grabbed the tape from home a few months back the smooth sound of the Bolton has been filling the air waves in my car in remote forest locations from Goat Rocks to Mt Jefferson
Earth shattering hardcore hits like "Soul Provider" and "You Wouldn't Know Love" really get the blood pumping for that patented wilderness experience Moving on from the TH and we were slipping across a frozen river of ice that was to be the trail for the next few miles:
There were some beautiful ice formations:
Nearing the junction with the racetrack and the connector trail over to the PCT was like walking into an ice rink:
Upon inspection of the ice it was clear someone had just recently skated all over it, cool! Here is me giving it a try
The racetrack is a surreal place to visit knowing groups of Yakima, Cascades, Wasco, and Klickitat Indians(as well as others) raced horses post 1730's and forward until Europeans brought disease/conflict and an end to their way of life. The old and beaten path was glistening with a solid sheet of ice and frozen snow up to 12 inches thick in some places:
Here is the connector sign:
And the sign for the continuation of the 171 trail over to Red Mtn:
The trip up to Red Mountain was view less and very windy so a summit stop was short lived. That lookout is sure cool though:
We dropped back down to the racetrack through about a foot or so of snow on the trail near red mtn and the road to the lookout. On the way back from the meadow there was more icy trail to contend with ofcourse:
Back at the creek crossing near the Th there were some more awesome ice formations in the stream bed:
