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Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 13th, 2017, 9:27 pm
by Jack
Loowit FallsImage




Thought I’d take a little trip up to Tanner Butte to see how much the snow how melted in the last 3 weeks since I was up there last. The snow drifts were easily 4’ deep, then, so I didn’t expect to see it essentially all melted out. What a surprise.

The start gave me high hopes for blue skies, even though the forecast called for clouds.

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Queen Anne’s Lace

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Oxeye Daisy

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Oregon Sunshine

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The ridge trail at about 3600’

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To beargrass alley where this pretty much summed up what’s left in snow.

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Getting to the summit hardly had enough snow to mention, either.

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No volcanoes views today, but sure could have been worse.

The high points are Mt. Defiance and Chinidere Mt.

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The just passed through beargrass alley sits down below.

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Tanner Lake

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Headed down the south ridge that Don Nelsen mentioned some time ago.

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Looking back up

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Tanner Lake from half way down

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Indian Paintbrush was spread out all over the hillside.

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What little beargrass bloom, I saw, was here.

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Bushwhacked for a short distance to intersect with the Tanner Tr., not far from the Tanner Springs junction. This was the most snow all day and it ended just around the corner.

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Thrush Pond on the Eagle – Tanner Tr.

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Salmonberry

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Big Cedar Springs

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Trail got much worse for wear nearing the creek crossing.

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Didn’t really plan on doing the loop, so I didn’t bring sandals. Decided to make my way downstream to the log that’s crosses part of the creek.

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Looking back

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The trail is in need of some TLC on both sides of the creek.

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But all the blowdown has been cleared from the Whatum Lake junction on in. Thank You trail crews!!!

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Yellow Monkeyflower

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Twister

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Falls

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Tunnel Falls

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Not far to go now

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High Bridge

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Loowit Falls


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It was a fun day on the trail. Approximately 25 miles/ 5200’ gain

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Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 14th, 2017, 2:26 am
by Webfoot
Beautiful pictures, but is this really Queen Anne's Lace?

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Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 14th, 2017, 5:31 am
by Chase
Dude, that's the best photo summary of that hike I've ever seen. Well done.

Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 14th, 2017, 5:37 am
by kepPNW
What Chase said! Very nice TR. Really ratchets that one back up the list again. :)

How deep do you suppose the ford would've been, had you just plowed through?

Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 14th, 2017, 11:14 am
by Jack
Thanks Webfoot. Looking further, I think you’re right, it looks more like cow parsnip. So much for that majestic touch. I’d better stay away from this flower identification.

Thanks Chase and Karl. As you both know, it really is a fun trail, even with a few obstacles.

Karl, I don’t think the creek is any more than 1 ½’ to 2’ deep at the ford. Seems I always manage to stub a toe or two on such crossings, though.

Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 14th, 2017, 1:25 pm
by Katherine
Webfoot wrote:Beautiful pictures, but is this really Queen Anne's Lace?

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I was wondering the same on another Gorge hike this weekend. So I looked up this...

http://www.ravensroots.com/blog/2015/6/ ... hemlock-id

Hard to say. The hairs on the stalk look like Queen Anne's, but its not an edible I'm ever going to be confident about!

Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 14th, 2017, 3:16 pm
by Webfoot
It looked like cow parsnip to me as Jack wrote just above you, but I'm not good with identification in general so I just questioned rather than spewing bad info.

By the way I've eaten wild carrot (Queen Ann's Lace root) before. The fresh root has a strong and pleasant smell of carrot, though those raised on today's "sweet" carrots might not find it quite so familiar. From what I understand poison hemlock smells nothing like this.

But after searching for a source to corroborate or refute this I found a comment on this page saying:
Donna W on August 2, 2016 at 5:13 am

Do not go by smell! This article is misleading. Water Hemlock has a carrot smell and is very poisonous. Do some research on the USDA website. Here is a link with pictures and information.
https://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=9996
And from the linked USDA.gov page:
The toxic substance in water hemlock is cicutoxin, a highly poisonous unsaturated alcohol that has a strong carrot-like odor.
However water hemlock looks quite different from wild carrot based on pictures so I don't think someone familiar with wild carrot would mistake the two. Anyway be safe out there.

p.s. sorry for the derail

Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 14th, 2017, 9:17 pm
by Don Nelsen
Jack,

Great report and excellent photos, too! Thanks for documenting this, one of my favorite hikes.

dn

Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 15th, 2017, 5:49 am
by kepPNW
Jack wrote:Thanks Chase and Karl. As you both know, it really is a fun trail, even with a few obstacles.
Really fun. One of the best loops around!
Jack wrote:Karl, I don’t think the creek is any more than 1 ½’ to 2’ deep at the ford. Seems I always manage to stub a toe or two on such crossings, though.
Wow, so still more than knee deep, huh? Didn't think there was still that much snow up there! Last time I crossed that, it was late-May (obviously not this year), and only just above my ankles. :lol: Thanks for the update!

Re: Tanner Butte – Eagle Creek Loop conditions 6-11-17

Posted: June 15th, 2017, 6:08 am
by drm
kepPNW wrote:Wow, so still more than knee deep, huh? Didn't think there was still that much snow up there! Last time I crossed that, it was late-May (obviously not this year), and only just above my ankles. :lol: Thanks for the update!
I'm not sure if 1 1/2 to 2 feet counts as more than knee deep, but with the snow on Tanner ridge mostly melted, the creek level is going to be dropping pretty fast. When I went up the other way on Eagle Ck the week before, water level did not look at all intimidating for an upper creek ford.