The "other" Eagle Creek 6/30

[greenjello85]

I had a baby free morning so I snuck in a hike before work. I needed something close and shaded so I went with Eagle Creek in the Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness.

So first... The drive: Bobcat's directions in the field guide are spot on. There is one confusing spot at 1.2 miles up Harvey Road. There is a fork in the road. The right fork is nice and appears to be the main road even though it had an open gate and a no access sign. THIS IS NOT YOUR FORK! Stay on the rough crappy road that forks to the left that appears to be a spur road heading into a clear cut. There is no gate on the left fork.


Stay left here

The trailhead is not signed but is fairly obvious with Bobcat's directions. To my suprise, there was another car there.


Trailhead

The trail starts down the middle of the three road forks. It continues down an old road bed that is not terribly exciting. There are enough small wildflowers, butterflies, and water features to keep my attention though.



The trail eventually reaches the canyon bottom and follows within earshot of Eagle Creek for the rest of the trip. This trail doesn't have the big views or waterfalls but the forest is really nice! The trail is good shape with no trees to climb over but there is quite a bit of brush to walk through. The last mile to the Eagle creek crossing is almost all brush. It kind of sucked and my legs are a little scraped up





There are a lot of LARGE oldgrowths down here!




There is a large dead tree that spans 15 feet in the air that is covered with regrowth


This cedar and fir are being joined in a holy union.



And the biggest fir tree I've ever seen. I didn't get a good scale but I think it was very near to 10 feet in diameter. It was MASSIVE.




There's a nice old boardwalk. I love these old features.


Some nice side creeks






Strange things are happening here...


This den was dug in the middle of the trail. How rude.


There was a lot of clover.


And some chemical warfare! I'm not sure exactly how this happened...


Eagle creek itself is nice although much of the trail it is just out of sight


A halo like spiderweb


6 Miles from the TH there are like a dozen of these lillies. It was the only spot I saw them all day.



Trail? No trail here...




There was a ton of salmon berries, especially towards the end of the trail.


Salmon Berry

I was able to make it to the creek crossing. Right on the other side of the creek there was a kind of sketchy looking tent setup. I think it might have been abandoned. Per Bobcat's guide, 15.6 miles in around 5 hours total. It was a great morning!
~Dan

[-Q-]

I still think that trail is haunted or something.
Gives me a spooky feeling every time I hike it.

[greenjello85]

I still think that trail is haunted or something.
Gives me a spooky feeling every time I hike it.

I didn't think it was creepy until I saw a tent 7.7 miles from the TH that seemed very out of place I love the old forests but it is sort of creepy to think that you're walking among living things that might have been alive in the dark ages. My favorite part is that when big old growth trees fall in these areas, they create their own little ecosystems that I just find fascinating!

[AaronPDX]

This trail seems to be getting really popular! I hiked it 6/21 and there were like 6 cars including mine. Never seen that before (of course i've normally hiked it on weekdays).

Great photos, Dan. The 'strange things' you saw are Indian Pipe non-photosynthetic flowering plants that are parasites preying on fungi!

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/oct2002.html

The 'clover' is tasty (in small quantities) Oxalis. And the chemical warfare might be fungal sporefare?

[NW Yeti]

Nice TR and photos! What kind of camera were you using?

[greenjello85]

This trail seems to be getting really popular! I hiked it 6/21 and there were like 6 cars including mine. Never seen that before (of course i've normally hiked it on weekdays).

Great photos, Dan. The 'strange things' you saw are Indian Pipe non-photosynthetic flowering plants that are parasites preying on fungi!

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/oct2002.html

The 'clover' is tasty (in small quantities) Oxalis. And the chemical warfare might be fungal sporefare?

Oh cool, thanks for the info Aaron! The trail is so close to Portland, that I'm surprised it doesn't get more use.

Nice TR and photos! What kind of camera were you using?

Thanks! My phone, Samsung galaxy S5. It does good enough for me but the stabilization and autofocus aren't great. I have to hold very steady or they wind up pretty blurry. I get so many blurry ones that I've started taking two pictures every time I stop just to be safe. I have an old fuji point and shoot that focused much better. The advantage is that I use my phone as a camera and GPS all in one.