Wygant Trail + failed Chetwoot Loop + offtrail shenanigans

This forum is used to share your experiences out on the trails.
Post Reply
User avatar
Chip Down
Posts: 3037
Joined: November 8th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Wygant Trail + failed Chetwoot Loop + offtrail shenanigans

Post by Chip Down » April 15th, 2018, 6:03 pm

First Oregon-side-of-the-gorge hike since the fire.

Weather at Cascade Locks at sunrise was damper than I was hoping for, so I scrapped my plans. I've been waiting months, so what's another week? For my Plan B, I parked at Michel Point and followed the paved Wygant Trail south. I've never done that, because I was under the impression it dead ended at the abandoned Chetwoot Trail. When I reached Chetwoot, I could see Wygant Trail continued. I saved that for later, and headed up Chetwoot.

It was good to see the iconic Chetwoot sign which I'd seen in so many pictures. It's still in very good condition. Up I went, to the powerline crossing, where I encountered a warning sign that the trail is impassible. The trail was very clear for a ways, until a small slide zone. There was a very clear bypass trail, but it soon faded. I spent tremendous time wandering around looking for some sign of it. It was damp, and it seemed stupid to bushwhack in search of a trail that doesn't really go much of anywhere. I considered giving up. I stopped and weighed my options. Saw a tick crawling up my left leg, and another on my right, in a race to my waistband. These weren't the first I'd seen since the powerlines. That was enough to sway me towards giving up, so down I went. It was impossible to exactly retrace my steps to where the trail was clear, but I did a pretty decent job of it.

Back at the powerlines, I wondered if I should continue to Wygant Trail and follow it west across Perham Creek. I knew the bridge was out. But looking west, I saw a trail crew walking up the trail out of the canyon, so I knew the creek was crossable. But first I followed the powerline road east, to a close high point, part way to Mitchel Point, and then back down to Wygant, across Perham, and up to the powerline road, now on the west side of the canyon.

I pondered my options. The scenery to the west was great, the undulating road going from viewpoint to viewpoint. Maybe later; I wanted to start by finishing Wygant. It was a somewhat fun trail, with occasional views, and coutless enticing ridges that I wanted to explore on the way down. I almost didn't notice the west end of the Chetwoot Trail. It was a very nice trail, but soon ended at a mini slide. "Fooled me once", I said to Chet, and turned back to Wygant.

After way too many switchbacks, I reached the final ridgecrest, and after a level stretch I climbed the final easy slope to the forested summit, where I was surprised to find a cairn. There was a trail down the other side through mostly open forest. Curious, I followed the ridge down to a series of grassy openings and decent views. I struggled to find a continuation of the trail, but there was nothing. I was shocked when another hiker ambled by. I found a dry branch to sit on and have a snack in the sun as I pondered my options. I figured if I continued down, probably nothing would come of it, and I didn't relish the trudge back up. So I headed back up to the summit and down the other side.

On the way down, I watched for good opportunities to take shortcuts. The first ridge I followed just took me down to the trail again. The second one was a little more fun. The ridge veered east a bit, then got steep and brushy for a while, but I could see a clearing below so I kept at it. I came to a grassy flowery spot where I stopped for a mini break. When I continued, I discovered I had been just twenty feet from the trail! Descending the trail, I immediately realized it was the Chetwoot Trail. What luck! Had I been just slightly east, I would have missed this little segment of the trail, and I would have had an ugly bushwhack down to Wygant Trail.

Followed Chetwoot back to Wygant Trail and kept going down, but scrambled up and down some other fun ridges on my way back to the powerline road.

At the powerlines I had time to work my way west towards Viento. The west wind was picking up, the rain was returning, and I could see it was pretty nasty to the west, so I only expected it to get worse. It was sunny though, so that lifted my spirits a bit, and I continued. The views were great. The road ended, and I had to continue under the powerlines through rubble and brush to a very crisp ridgecrest. At that point I had to decide if I should drop again to continue west, or follow the ridge up to see where it would take me. I decided to take the ridge up, but immediately ran into a trail that dropped west. I followed it down until it turned into a road, and continued west to the next tower and viewpoint. I knew I was pressing my luck on time and weather, and I knew I couldn't make it to the next tower by beer:30, so I sat in the sunny rain (still!) and cracked open a warm one as I enjoyed a rainbow.

Okay, looks like this board software upgrade allows me to just drag pics here. Let's see if this works:
Attachments
0.jpg
ominous
1.jpg
Chetwoot/Wygant junction
2.jpg
one of the nicest stretches of Wygant Trail
3.jpg
Wygant summit cairn
4.jpg
the descent ridge that dumped my onto the west end of Chetwoot
5.jpg
A charming segment of Chetwoot that follows a ledge under a little cliff
6.jpg
just a random viewpoint
7.jpg
that high point would turn out to be my last
8.jpg
turnaround point, 5:00
9.jpg

User avatar
mjirving
Posts: 1185
Joined: July 5th, 2011, 10:40 am

Re: Wygant Trail + failed Chetwoot Loop + offtrail shenanigans

Post by mjirving » April 15th, 2018, 9:26 pm

Nice. I pretty much did that hike last year on this weekend with Mitchell thrown in at the beginning. Pretty much had the same experience on both ends of Chetwoot. I probably pushed too far on it on the west side as it was a tangled mess before I finally turned around. Glad to see you found the clearing after the summit. I almost missed that.

Mike

User avatar
Chip Down
Posts: 3037
Joined: November 8th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Re: Wygant Trail + failed Chetwoot Loop + offtrail shenanigans

Post by Chip Down » April 16th, 2018, 4:19 am

Mike, a Mitchell/Wygant loop would be a great way to spend a day, as neither of them is enough to fill up a day on their own. I thought for sure I'd end up doing Mitchell, but I had too much fun/misery on other diversions., and got back to the Perham crossing with maybe an hour of light left.

I'm glad to hear you had such a miserable failure on Chetwoot west. Not because I want to see you suffer, but because I now know I made the right decision when I turned back at the first sign of difficulties. Thanks for your feedback. I suspect Chetwoot is completely gone now. There might be short extant sections, but I think it's safe to say the trail can't be followed anymore.

User avatar
mjirving
Posts: 1185
Joined: July 5th, 2011, 10:40 am

Re: Wygant Trail + failed Chetwoot Loop + offtrail shenanigans

Post by mjirving » April 16th, 2018, 5:30 am

Indeed. I hear they cleared all the blow downs in Wygant too right? When I did it last year there were about 30 or so, and the all had little axe notches in them to help step over to prevent sliding down the hill on them.

User avatar
Chip Down
Posts: 3037
Joined: November 8th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Re: Wygant Trail + failed Chetwoot Loop + offtrail shenanigans

Post by Chip Down » April 16th, 2018, 9:01 am

Below the powerlines, the trail has seen extensive work. Above the powelines, there are still many trees down, but it's in fine shape. A couple very minor spots where the trail has slid away, nothing scary. Probably about the same as you remember it. In fact, the only slight challenge is the creek crossing. There's a log with intact bark for good traction. I made note that I wanted to recross the creek when it was light and I was sober.

Chazz
Posts: 321
Joined: May 26th, 2013, 12:53 pm

Re: Wygant Trail + failed Chetwoot Loop + offtrail shenanigans

Post by Chazz » April 25th, 2018, 2:12 pm

I convinced a bunch of my co-workers to join me for a trail maintenance day last week and we were able to rehab the Wygant trail from below the powerlines to several hundred feet (trail not elevation) above them. Talking with the crew supervisor, he indicated that TKO would like to have the Wygant completely rehab'ed by June or July by sending wave after wave of volunteers out there.

The other trails will probably be lost to time and entropy unless someone is willing to put in some sweat.

User avatar
candrus
Posts: 11
Joined: December 25th, 2017, 8:55 pm
Location: Hood River

Re: Wygant Trail + failed Chetwoot Loop + offtrail shenanigans

Post by candrus » April 29th, 2018, 12:11 pm

Greetings,

I'm Chip Andrus, the guy from TKO leading the volunteer crews on the Wygant Peak Trail. The area is my backyard and playground so I have a vested interest in this underappreciated trail. In fact, I have mixed feelings about the restoration we are doing because it will just attract more people. But here is the game plan:

The trail from Perham Creek to the top is actually an old CCC trail and built to rather high standards in about 1938. There is an old CCC stone monument where Perham Creek intersects the old Columbia River Highway. I think the trail originally started there and then went upstream to the current trail crossing (about 0.5 miles). As you know, the trail now starts at Mitchell Point parking lot and is a mutt of a route until the Perham Creek crossing -- part old highway and part rudimentary trail sections. It does go by a beautiful wispy waterfall though.

The trail was a miserable slog up to about three years ago because of all the downed logs and encroaching poison oak. A crew got the worst of it cleared out three years ago, just enough to make it usable. Now, we are coming back in and going after the neglected tread, the lost switchbacks, and the rootwad holes. It may not have had any tread restoration since 1980, if ever. And, of course, the poison oak needs pounding back again.

We hope to get all this done by mid-June but I'm being optimistic since the walk to the work area is consuming a good portion of the work day and the hardest work is near the top. I'm leading one or two trips a week and will add more if needed. Want to help out? Go to https://www.trailkeepersoforegon.org/ge ... trailwork/ and sign up. We will make you hurt by the end of the day.

If you do go to the top make sure you hike the extra 1000 feet to the west along a game trail to the big meadow. It is the best part of the route. You can follow another game trail to the south (starts mid-way up the slope in the meadow area) and end up at a saddle with the oldest Douglas-fir tree I've seen in the Columbia Gorge (700 years old?). From there you can drop down into Viento Creek through wonderful old-growth forest along the edge of a bench. And then upstream to the Viento Creek waterfall. I suppose you could loop around down Viento Creek and end up at the campground but I haven't done it yet because it probably isn't much fun when the stream is high.

Hope to run into you out there sometime.

Post Reply