Salmon Mountain 7/19

[greenjello85]

I hiked the Plaza trail from the Old Baldy Trailhead to Salmon Mountain today. I got a late start, and had to work, so I ran out of time before I made it to the old watchtower location but it was still a nice hike. I followed the Salmon Mountain Trail until it basically disappeared. I still had about 1/3 or 1/2 mile bushwack to the old watchtower site but I was already into my cushion time, so I'll have to leave that for next time I was pleasantly surprised to meet a group of 3 backpackers at the Salmon Mountain Trail intersection! Around 9 miles a bit over 2000 feet EG

Conditions:
FR 4610 (Abbott Road) is pretty rough. Some sections are good but it is often potholed, there are a few sections with sharp protruding rocks, and a couple ruts to maneuver around. There is also a section that is boxed in with alders that may scrape the paint. I took my beat up subaru without thinking twice but passenger cars need to be patient.

The plaza trail is in great shape! There was only one blowdown that was easy to walk around. Its small so I'll bring my saw if I make it up there again. The section between Sheepshead rock and the salmon mountain trail has several springs running across the trail and the accompanying berries/devil's club/etc but they are short.

20160719_094642
The old fireplace

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These were everywhere along the plaza trail. Some were probably a foot in diameter.

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Looking down the South Fork Salmon River Drainage, Salmon Mountain Left, Devil's Peak deep center, and Salmon Butte just to the right

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Huey taking it all in!

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Wildcat Mountain

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South Fork Salmon River Drainage and Devil's Peak

[Chip Down]

I've been generally around that area, but didn't know about the fireplace. What's the story?

Great pic of Huey.

Last time I went hiking on a workday, I arrived just barely on time. Amazing luck. I think I've only called in sick to go hiking once. Totally worth it. Last good hiking day in October before a major storm dumped gobs of snow.

Ah, I miss my old POS Jeep that I could bash up roads like that with no worries.

[greenjello85]

The fireplace is from the old Plaza guard station. It's obvious from the Plaza trail as it's probably 10 feet tall and 10 feet off the trail. I couldn't find any info about the station other than what's available here http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide ... rd_Station

Thanks, we were on top of sheepshead rock so it had to be an extreme close up Tight quarters

Yeah it's always tricky hiking before work but it's the only time I have for solo hikes. I only slept like 4 hours, and I was 15 minutes late for work but it was totally worth it!

[miah66]

Cool hike, never been to any of those trails.

I was looking at the map today and daydreaming about the possibility of a big scary loop trail using the Corral Springs Trail down to Roaring River, across and an ambitious bushwhack up to Shining Lake, to Frazier Turnaround, down to Serene Lake and back on the Grouse Pt trail and return on the Huxley Lake trail. I wonder if it's possible? Any beta?

[greenjello85]

Cool hike, never been to any of those trails.

I was looking at the map today and daydreaming about the possibility of a big scary loop trail using the Corral Springs Trail down to Roaring River, across and an ambitious bushwhack up to Shining Lake, to Frazier Turnaround, down to Serene Lake and back on the Grouse Pt trail and return on the Huxley Lake trail. I wonder if it's possible? Any beta?

https://www.trailadvocate.org/trails/507-2/ for corral springs info. I would guess there was a trail at some point from the corral springs crossing up to Indian Ridge. I think this sounds awesome but absolutely brutal Looks like its about 22 miles per caltopo. I know Pablo has done a ton of off-trail stuff in that area so he might have some info about the feasibility. I think the ridge due west of Indian Ridge looks like the best route up. Maybe head up just west of that creek until around 3000' and head over to the west ridge? The NW ridge looks like it might cliff out near the top. Looks like its about 22 miles per caltopo.

I was doing some research on the west ridge of Salmon Mountain because it looked like I could go up from Salmon Butte TH and I found a report by Pablo from a couple years ago. It looks like it's very accessible so some nice loops can be made by using cutting up from Salmon Butte TH.

[miah66]

I remember reading those pablo reports re: Sheepshead and Salmon Mtn area. Piqued my interest in the area.

My idea is something like this:

http://caltopo.com/m/C0QV

The offtrail bit would be TBD, of course. We should give it a go one of these days.

[pablo]

I remember reading those pablo reports re: Sheepshead and Salmon Mtn area. Piqued my interest in the area.

My idea is something like this:

http://caltopo.com/m/C0QV

The offtrail bit would be TBD, of course. We should give it a go one of these days.

Certainly possible as most of it is on trail - the bushwhack on that ridge up to Indian Ridge out of the Roaring River should not be much trouble, steep - I've not done it. I have gone down from Indian Ridge using the ridge to the west and it was not bad. It would be a long day and this one ends going up hill, ouch.

BTW the trail trace for the 517 from Dry Ridge to the RR on caltiopo is wrong (bogus stuff the FS copied from bad USGS topos). If you do this and want a better map, download the GPX files for each segment from the trailadvocates site and piece them together to get better trail markings.

--Paul

[pablo]

[...]

I was doing some research on the west ridge of Salmon Mountain because it looked like I could go up from Salmon Butte TH and I found a report by Pablo from a couple years ago. It looks like it's very accessible so some nice loops can be made by using cutting up from Salmon Butte TH.

The ridge route up to Salmon Mtn from the Salmon Butte TH is one of my favorites. There is one bit of steepness but the use trail is brushed, flagged and easy to follow. You could visit the lookout site then continue on the Salmon Mtn/Plaza trails to Twin Springs then a short walk on Abbot Rd to the Salmon Butte TH and back. Nice little loop. Some variations if you are ambitious would be to visit Plaza Lake, the plane crash site, and/or follow the abandoned trail to Salmon Lake then (and I've not done this part) bushwhack east (there used to be trail in here) to get to the Salmon Butte Rd and return on Salmon Butte Trail.

Something like this:

BTW:

[...]I followed the Salmon Mountain Trail until it basically disappeared. I still had about 1/3 or 1/2 mile bushwack to the old watchtower site[...]

Going the direction you went it is possible at one point to make a right when you should go left due to a confusing trail branch. The trail going right deadends where the SM trail goes left to pass the local outcrop on the north side. The trail does this maneuver again on the approach to the lookout - the final approach to the lookout is from the east. I brushed this section out last year so the trail should be easy to find and follow - if not I have more work to do.


--Paul

[greenjello85]

BTW the trail trace for the 517 from Dry Ridge to the RR on caltiopo is wrong (bogus stuff the FS copied from bad USGS topos). If you do this and want a better map, download the GPX files for each segment from the trailadvocates site and piece them together to get better trail markings.

Thanks for the tip. Wow the FS wasn't even close on that one. Wrong ridge and nearly a half mile off? That might be a record!

The ridge route up to Salmon Mtn from the Salmon Butte TH is one of my favorites. There is one bit of steepness but the use trail is brushed, flagged and easy to follow. You could visit the lookout site then continue on the Salmon Mtn/Plaza trails to Twin Springs then a short walk on Abbot Rd to the Salmon Butte TH and back. Nice little loop. Some variations if you are ambitious would be to visit Plaza Lake, the plane crash site, and/or follow the abandoned trail to Salmon Lake then (and I've not done this part) bushwhack east (there used to be trail in here) to get to the Salmon Butte Rd and return on Salmon Butte Trail.

Going the direction you went it is possible at one point to make a right when you should go left due to a confusing trail branch. The trail going right deadends where the SM trail goes left to pass the local outcrop on the north side. The trail does this maneuver again on the approach to the lookout - the final approach to the lookout is from the east. I brushed this section out last year so the trail should be easy to find and follow - if not I have more work to do.

Good idea for a loop. I was thinking of heading up the plaza to the bonanza trail and biking down.

I was on top of the ridge when I stopped. I could have bailed north or south to go around the rhodies but since I was out of time, I didn't bother to look for the trail

~Dan

[RobFromRedland]

https://www.trailadvocate.org/trails/507-2/ for corral springs info. I would guess there was a trail at some point from the corral springs crossing up to Indian Ridge. I think this sounds awesome but absolutely brutal Looks like its about 22 miles per caltopo. I know Pablo has done a ton of off-trail stuff in that area so he might have some info about the feasibility. I think the ridge due west of Indian Ridge looks like the best route up. Maybe head up just west of that creek until around 3000' and head over to the west ridge? The NW ridge looks like it might cliff out near the top. Looks like its about 22 miles per caltopo.

Pablo added some great info, but from my research of the elusive 511 trail, it appears as though 1 of 2 things happened to the Corral Springs trail in its history -

1 - The original maps were wrong about where it went down to the RR
2 - Corral Springs was re-routed at some point a bit farther north.

My guess is #2, but since no one (that I know of) has found the 511 where it crossed the RR, we don't know the answer to the above for sure. The old maps show Corral Springs crossing RR and then continuing up the south fork of the RR with a trail junction just up from the RR crossing.

Here is the current trail route overlaid on the 1946 map (it doesn't line up completely accurately, but it is close). You can see the current Corral Springs is much further north and you can also see the 511 going up the RR and also the trail up to the old lookout on Indian Ridge:

A lot of that area is pretty rough bushwhacking - lots of brush and rhodies. Beautiful and wild country, but difficult to traverse.