"Hanging out with a herd of elk"
3/27/17
Miles: 5.3
Time: 2 hr, 35 min
Avg MPH: 2.4
Elev Min: 40'
Elev Max: 1,200'
Total Vertical: 1,600'
Elev Change: 1,160'
Temp Low: 45
Temp High: 50
Other hikers: 8
Longest time without seeing a hiker: 2:00
Wildlife: Elk, Mouse, Deer
Opening Shot:
This sign don't lie! This is what I was met with at the spacious and free trailhead parking area. The trail today matched and probably surpassed the trail mud from my hike yesterday at Drift Creek Falls. It is to be expected after the wet spring and the added 1/2" of rain from yesterday.
The trail is pretty nicely created actually with some wood chips and wood walkways, but the massive amounts of rain have overtaken those measures. Here is some typical lower trail that looked quite magical.
There were a lot of mud and roots up the reasonably steep first mile and a half until breaking out into the grasslands which were beautiful and with much better trail quality as you would guess. I had my umbrella in full effect again for this hike, but the rains abated at the grasslands which was perfect timing.
I came over a rise in the hill to see a herd of about 50 elk. I couldn't believe my eyes! It was a pretty cool site to see as they were all laying down just waking up for the day I guess. On the left of this picture you can see "Three Rocks" which is also the name of the road to access the trailhead.
This shows the Salmon River to the left of my viewpoint. the trailhead has a boat launch that goes into the river down in that wide point.
Lincoln City can just begin to be seen in the distance and the herd of elk is starting to make their way around the protected grassland area.
After passing the elk, the trail switchbacked up steeply to the top with some views to the ocean side of the trail.
I saw an interesting rainbow coming from a cloud also bursting with rain in a small section of ocean.
At the top of Cascade Head, Lincoln City came more into view and the Three Rocks can be seen as well.
Here is the marker for the summit which is on a great, flat grassy area perfect for a picnic. This was the nicest condition of the entire trail.
On the way down you can see the trail switchbacks descend. I tried to go hike a social trail over to that other point, but it was fenced off by barbed wire and is an environmentally sensitive area that they are trying to protect.
This was taken from the barbed wire fence and as close as I could get to the elk.
Here is a GoogleEarth picture with my GPS track overlaid on it to give you a better perspective of the trail. I met two other parties coming up as I was going down, so I pretty much had the trail to myself for the morning which was nice.
Below is a link to my GPS track as well as a topo map shot with my track and the elevation profile of my hike. It was a great hike and it would be even better in the summer with less mud along the way!
GPS track:
http://gpsfly.org/a/6972
-Mike (aka GoalTech)
www.GoalTechHikes.com
@GoalTechHikes (instagram)
Pretty disheartening. Great views though!