lamberson spur loop hike

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peanut170
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lamberson spur loop hike

Post by peanut170 » June 3rd, 2015, 6:34 pm

Was looking for something new to do on the east side of hood this weekend, and this is what I came up with. About 2 months ago I hiked to elk meadow from the hood river meadows side, but it was snowing and cloudy, so I wanted to actually see the meadow on a good day, so decided to try this loop and started at the Polallie TH.

http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide ... _Loop_Hike


First couple miles were fine with only a couple down trees. After 3 or 4 miles we made it to the first real clearing, where apparently they used as a heli pad during the fire. There was a nice little campsite and fire pit, but not sure why youd go up here to camp. And this is where the trail pretty much ends.
ImageP1010326 by peanut170, on Flickr

The next mile or 2 was up the ridge through the burn area with no trail to follow at all and must have climbed over 100-150 trees. if we weren't already 5 miles in we would have turned around. I don t recommend this trail to anyone, unless youre looking for a rough time. eventually we got up to about 5500 ft and the trees faded out and the views opened up.

ImageP1010334 by peanut170, on Flickr
ImageP1010341 by peanut170, on Flickr

From here we just went up, hoping to get as high as possible and run into the timberline trail at about 7300ft. This is actually a pretty neat area.
ImageP1010348 by peanut170, on Flickr

ImageP1010349 by peanut170, on Flickr

ImageP1010357 by peanut170, on Flickr

We made it up to about 7000ft, bujt the clouds seemed to be moving in, and I knew that thunderstorms were in the forecast, and I didn't wanna be 'that guy' we decided to go cross country over to Lamberson Butte, and hit the Timberline as it met up with Gnarl Ridge, and then down to Elk Meadow. We checked out the Meadow and the flowers were showing nicely. its a good time to go.

ImageP1010370 by peanut170, on Flickr



ImageP1010389 by peanut170, on Flickr

We then decide to climb back up ridge, to go back on the Blugrass ridge trail for some views, instyead of cold spring creek trail. This turned out to be a mistake as once again, there were nearly what seemed like 100 trees. A couple good views but not at all worth the effort.

ImageMt. Hood from elk ridge by peanut170, on Flickr

Couple other pics.

Found the litter box?
ImageP1010317 by peanut170, on Flickr

Not sure what this is....?
ImageP1010354 by peanut170, on Flickr

Total stats were 20.7 miles and 5300ft eg. took about 10 hours. Will never take this route again. Anything worth exploring I would rather get to from a different trail that had less blowdowns. The field guide explanation is pretty spot on. Have fun at your own risk.

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aiwetir
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by aiwetir » June 3rd, 2015, 7:08 pm

peanut170 wrote:First couple miles were fine with only a couple down trees. After 3 or 4 miles we made it to the first real clearing, where apparently they used as a heli pad during the fire. There was a nice little campsite and fire pit, but not sure why youd go up here to camp. And this is where the trail pretty much ends.
I counted over 30 trees down in the first couple of miles back in April. Certainly not bad, but certainly annoying after a while. At least it was on a trail at that point.
- Michael

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BrianEdwards
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by BrianEdwards » June 3rd, 2015, 9:10 pm

The next mile or 2 was up the ridge through the burn area with no trail to follow at all and must have climbed over 100-150 trees. if we weren't already 5 miles in we would have turned around. I don t recommend this trail to anyone, unless youre looking for a rough time.
You ain't kidding about that. My trip on this trail last summer was the same. Anywhere above the firefighter camp (where the trail finally reaches the ridgetop) was literally stepping over a 12" log with every step. Almost like another fire would do it good, and I hate forest fires.
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mattisnotfrench
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by mattisnotfrench » June 3rd, 2015, 9:52 pm

Doesn't maintenance of the Lamberson Spur Trail stop at the helispot? That would explain the downed trees. As far as I know the 2 miles between the helispot and the Timberline Trail are considered to be off-trail.
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kepPNW
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by kepPNW » June 4th, 2015, 5:13 am

This would be such a gnarly loop, "if only." Sure wish those last two miles were maintained. Also unhappy to hear the ridge trail back is just as bad. That's one that I've wanted to do as well. Appreciate the report!
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VanMarmot
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by VanMarmot » June 4th, 2015, 6:29 am

I did a loop very similar to this in 2010 (Lambertson TR) and the section from the helipad to treeline wasn't too covered with fallen trees. Looks like the falling has speeded-up some in the last five years. Too bad, as this would be a good long loop if it was clear.

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bobcat
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by bobcat » June 4th, 2015, 10:03 am

I hiked this loop some time in the early '90s and then again in, I think, 2011 (So you see, some people do hike it more than once!). It was actually easier the second time because the firefighters had cleared the trail to the staging spot. From there, the tread could be found through the fire zone, much of the time anyway, all the way up to a bench on "Lamberson Spur." That was the end of the trail, three miles or so, when it was constructed. Before the fire, I couldn't find much after more than a couple of miles, just bushwhacked up in the woods.

As VanMarmot says, there are probably a few score more trees down since I wrote the Field Guide entry. Combining Lamberson Spur with Bluegrass Ridge is blowdown purgatory of the most excruciating dimensions. If you had continued along Bluegrass, you would have found it exponentially worse than Lamberson!

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acorn woodpecker
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by acorn woodpecker » June 4th, 2015, 1:30 pm

I must have a high tolerance for downed trees, as I did Lamberson Spur October 2014 and had a largely enjoyable experience. Lamberson's burn area isn't much different than other recently burned areas with or without a trail, in my opinion, and sometimes burned areas are easier to descend. From the ridgeline when one tops out above the burn on up to the TT was especially great. The difference is I went to Cooper Spur afterward and descended Pollalie Ridge before diving off trail again to intersect Cooper Spur Rd. A loop involving Lamberson Butte would be more preferable. However, I would do this again going up the ridge I tried to go down in the end and descend Lamberson Spur, but that's just me.

peanut170
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by peanut170 » June 4th, 2015, 3:28 pm

kepPNW wrote:This would be such a gnarly loop, "if only." Sure wish those last two miles were maintained. Also unhappy to hear the ridge trail back is just as bad. That's one that I've wanted to do as well. Appreciate the report!

Yes rather disappointed that that ridge trail was as bad as it was. I thuink that's what kinda did me in, thinking I was done with hopping trees, only to have another 2-3 miles more.
VanMarmot wrote:I did a loop very similar to this in 2010 (Lambertson TR) and the section from the helipad to treeline wasn't too covered with fallen trees. Looks like the falling has speeded-up some in the last five years. Too bad, as this would be a good long loop if it was clear.

Yea would be great. I was hoping for a little more time to explore up at the 7000ft level, but after going a mile or 2 in 2 hours, I felt kind of rushed so that was a bit disappointing.
bobcat wrote:I hiked this loop some time in the early '90s and then again in, I think, 2011 (So you see, some people do hike it more than once!). It was actually easier the second time because the firefighters had cleared the trail to the staging spot. From there, the tread could be found through the fire zone, much of the time anyway, all the way up to a bench on "Lamberson Spur." That was the end of the trail, three miles or so, when it was constructed. Before the fire, I couldn't find much after more than a couple of miles, just bushwhacked up in the woods.

As VanMarmot says, there are probably a few score more trees down since I wrote the Field Guide entry. Combining Lamberson Spur with Bluegrass Ridge is blowdown purgatory of the most excruciating dimensions. If you had continued along Bluegrass, you would have found it exponentially worse than Lamberson!
good job on the description, was pretty much spot on. Thank you!
acorn woodpecker wrote:I must have a high tolerance for downed trees, as I did Lamberson Spur October 2014 and had a largely enjoyable experience. Lamberson's burn area isn't much different than other recently burned areas with or without a trail, in my opinion, and sometimes burned areas are easier to descend. From the ridgeline when one tops out above the burn on up to the TT was especially great. The difference is I went to Cooper Spur afterward and descended Pollalie Ridge before diving off trail again to intersect Cooper Spur Rd. A loop involving Lamberson Butte would be more preferable. However, I would do this again going up the ridge I tried to go down in the end and descend Lamberson Spur, but that's just me.
Think I was more bummed that the bluegrass ridge trail had tons of trees downed also. I expected some tree hopping but when i had an extra 2miles of it at the end opf the hike, it was a little ovber my limit for a happy day.

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-Q-
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Re: lamberson spur loop hike

Post by -Q- » June 4th, 2015, 4:38 pm

bobcat wrote: If you had continued along Bluegrass, you would have found it exponentially worse than Lamberson!
Bluegrass Ridge gets really bad after the cutoff trail down to Elk Meadows huh??

I have hiked the Bluegrass Ridge trail only from the summit of Elk Mountain & the Elk Mountain Vista trail down to the Elk Meadowns cutoff trail.
There was decent blowdown, but nothing too brutal.

The cutoff trail down to Elk Meadows however was awful.
Tons of blowdown.

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