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Owl Point from Vista Ridge - 2007 Trail Projects!

Posted by Splintercat (2007-06-14)

If you were visiting the Portland Hikers website last summer, you might remember a thread that I posted on the long-abandoned northern section of the Vista Ridge Trail. I originally posted it as the "Red Hill Hike", since it was the Lowe's 1986 description of the trip to Red Hill that got me interested in the area.

But after exploring the old trail and surrounding country last summer, I found several spectacular viewpoints that are not only easier to get to than Red Hill, but will also help protect the fragile cinder summit of Red Hill from too many boots. So the Porland Hikers Field Guide description is for Owl Point from Vista Ridge. It's just two miles to this view from Owl Point (taken last Fall):

For 2007, I've planned several maintenance trips to make this easy trail... easy! The tread length is perfect for families, and it opens at least six week before the Timberline Trail - where most Vista Ridge hikers go. It just needs some TLC to be an easy hike again!

So yesterday, my father-in-law joined me for a first run at the many logs that block the first half of the trail. We made terrific progress - cleared 58 logs that were across the trail, opening up roughly the first 0.4 miles north of the junction with the route to the Timberline Trail. We'll be making a second run to complete another 0.3 miles of log clearing soon, but this first batch of downfalls was the greatest obstacle to hikers. It's completely clear, now. We cut out three of the four "tangles" (where 5-8 logs and lots if small stuff had fallen across in a huge pile), and the remaining tangle is reasonably negotiable for hikers.

The next phase will be a couple of "clipper hikes" that Jeff Statt and I will be leading this summer -- this phase will focus on the mid-section of the hike, where the trail is mostly clear of logs, but has lots of huckleberry and mountain ash encroaching on the trail. With a group of 6-8 volunteers, this is a one-day effort, with the reward being photogenic, late afternoon visit to Owl Point and The Rockpile - two gorgeous viewpoints of Mount Hood. More about that later, on this thread - stay tuned!

Here are some photos of me and Al yesterday, working on the blowdown section - starting with the dubious trail crew at the empty parking area:

Here's Al working on one of the early "lone" logs that had blocked the original trail long enough to allow for a detour to form, before the trail fell out of use:

A bit further, we hit one of the "tangles", a nice pile of blowdowns completely covering the trail - the path actually goes under all of the downfall in this photo:

...and here's an "after" shot of that same section, cleared:

Here's Al working on another section of closely-spaced downfall that were a bit less of a tangle, but still an impressive pile - the trail continues under the logs in the background:

...and that same section "after" being cleared - an easier walk:

The intrepid crew takes a break - not sure what the caption should read on this one, but I'm clearly doing a product endorsement (yes, that's Mountain Dew), and Al might have had too much pepper on that sandwich:

We had a lot of fun, and were really tired after this outing -- but are looking forward to going up and clearing the last few logs in the blowdown area. In the meantime, if you decide to hike the trail on your own, don't be shy about taking along clippers (or a lopper) and doing some snipping along the way. The route will soon be clear enough for kids to make the trek, but for now is probably still and adults (or teenagers) trip until we get a few more logs out of the way. I'll post updates here when it's reasonably "family friendly" and at that point, it would be a great way to teach kids a bit of trail stewardship by giving them a pair of clippers!

More details to follow...

Tom

Re: Owl Point from Vista Ridge - 2007 Trail Projects!

Posted by chubby fm (2007-06-14)

Bravo Tom and Al!

I look forward to bringing Evan on that hike.

Re: Owl Point from Vista Ridge - 2007 Trail Projects!

Posted by OneSpeed (2007-06-14)

You guys rock.

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