Photos can be accessed at this site, just click on
"Indian Point" on the left hand side
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/weathercrazy82/
9 Miles RT
2,951' Elevation Gain
A nice moderate hike on a beautiful spring day. I managed to get to the TH around 8 a.m.
The gate at the campground was closed, so I walked the half mile up the
hill to the actual TH.
The hike starts in a nice dense forest, but will little
undergrowth. It's pretty to see the
trunks of the trees so stout. The trail
isn�t too steep either, as you make your way 0.6 miles to a fork. Going right would take you down to Herman
Creek, I went left which takes you up to the Herman Creek Horse Camp. At the camp, I veered left on the Gorton
Creek trail which follows a ridge for some time with more deep fir forests as
well as deciduous trees.
At about the 1,400� the trail started switch backing and the
views opened up into the hills of SW Washington. Surpringinly there weren�t too many trees
down over the trail, only 3 that really caused any kind of issues, and they
were rather easily navigated. After
almost 2 miles the trail turned south and crosses a small creek. Thankfully I looked to my left where the
opened trees lead directly to a view of Mt.
St. Helens. After this, the trail again switchbacks up a
ridge quickly to about 2,500� where the east wind was blowing. With the lack of snow lately, and some dry
weather, the trail actually wasn�t too muddy.
Looking north I could see Indian Point below me. There is a little scramble trail which I followed
down to Indian Point itself, about 150 feet lower than the main trail. The scramble trail was very steep and narrow
and I didn�t dare go to the very top of Indian Point because it involved a
short rock climb with steep cliffs (about 2,400�) on either side. The pictures show just how steep and narrow
this area was.
On the return I took the ridge cutoff trail to the Nick
Eaton Ridge trail. My peak elevation was
2,921�, and there was still no snow.
However, looking at surrounding hills, the snow couldn�t have been but a
few hundred feet more in elevation gain.
At the junction, views of Mount Hood could be
seen as I started the steep decent.
Taking the loop this way is less steep on the way up.
There were some flowers starting to bloom, not sure of their
names yet, just little yellow ones and one with a single purple bloom. I don�t have any good pictures of those
because they were on a cliff in the distance.
All in all, a great moderate hike. Total trip time was about 4.5 hours, taking
time for breaks, pictures and lunch.
Tyler
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