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A Foggy, Wet Day on Elevator Shaft: 25 May 2008 (Sunday)

Posted by CherokeeDriver (2008-05-25)

After I got a look at Jeff and Don's trip report up Elevator Shaft to Cougar Rock and Nesika Lodge -- and that incredibly tantalizing GPS track from Multnomah Falls to the Multnomah Basin -- the route quickly made my short list of hikes to do.

And as it turns out, it was an awfully short list. As I rolled out of bed on Sunday, I realized there wasn't anything in the Gorge I wanted to bag as badly as this one (the threat of rain, thunder, and hail only made it seem even more epic).

Negotiating your way up the Elevator Shaft is abnormally simple.

Head out of the Multnomah Falls Trailhead with all of the friendly tourists until you reach Gorge Trail #400, at the first switchback along the paved trail.
Traverse your way along this little-used route until you come across a scree slide so large you can't possibly miss it.
Put one boot on a rock, and then the other boot on a rock a little bit higher than the first. Repeat as necessary.

The initial part of the Elevator Shaft is pretty cool all by itself, but even though I took along the Field Guide summary, I guess I didn't quite grasp the nature of this obscure Gorge legend. I was more than happy to tackle the tallest scree field I'd ever planted my boots on, but after I reached the trees after about 300 feet, I had to wonder, is that it? I turned around to enjoy the so-so view and resolved myself to a bit of bushwhacking until I could find a trail.

Imagine my delight then when I broke out of that first layer of scrub and saw this:

Oh yeah. Kid, meet candy store.

The upper section of Elevator Shaft goes up, up up -- if not as far as the eye can see, at least high enough to where the top section was partially fogged in with today's weather. I didn't bother to time myself (again, I didn't quite grasp what I was taking on when I knocked the mud off my boots back at the Gorge Trail), but I'm certain it took at least an hour to get all the way to the top (likely a good deal more), somewhere around 1,100 feet. There was plenty of poison-oak along the first half of the climb, making it well-suited for long pants on cool, dry days. I had a cool day today, but not a dry one -- it rained periodically before noon, and the scree was slippery.

The climb itself isn't terribly difficult for anyone with good fitness, because it doesn't go all that quickly -- the fun mental puzzle is how to go about it. If you can find the trail's several switchbacks (at some points pretty obvious), you can stay on them. At other points, it's incredibly tempting to head straight up on the larger, moss covered talus sections, as if it all were several giant staircases. But caution is critical -- no foothold is completely guaranteed, and I found myself checking every step along the way before adding significant weight (I also managed to loose a few rocks and bang a shin once or twice -- your mileage will vary).

The top of the Elevator Shaft is 700 feet lower than the Multnomah Basin ridge (at 1,800 feet), so there's still some work to do after leaving the scree and talus behind. There is a faint trail that works its way up through the forest, but I'm pretty sure I missed the foot of it, so I wound up bushwhacking a few hundred vertical feet until I reached the first ridgecrest, at which point Multnomah Creek could be heard below. Along the way, I found a yellow State Park marker tacked up on a giagantic doug fir:

After reaching this first ridgecrest, I had a pretty good view of the Multnomah Basin ridge above me, although I really wasn't sure if I was going to have to whack my way up there or not. Fortunately, within moments I came across the trail. It's not anything like an actual USFS trail, but it's easy to track and gets the job done (if you like steep stuff, this one's for you). I also enjoyed watching a bank of fog roll in behind me, which silently overtook the slope in a matter of seconds.

Reportedly, a falls overlook is along the trail below here, but, not wanting to squander time, I chose to keep climbing. I reached the basin plateau and followed the trail along the ridgecrest, helped by flags along much of the route. Again, this is hardly a USFS trail -- at times it's pretty clear, at other times you're looking for flags to keep your confidence up.

It also got very quiet up here, the sort of quiet that really gets your attention because you've been hearing nothing but people and then the freeway and trains and barges and then Multnomah Creek for a couple of hours until you find yourself working through this lonely brush, and there isn't a sound, not even your own boots it seems, just a bird call now and then or an insect buzzing past your ears for a few seconds. The calm really took me by surprise, as if I were suddenly miles and miles from anywhere at all.

The fog pushed its way right up along the ridge. I thought I might be getting close to Cougar Rock, but I also wondered if I'd see it today. Instead, I enjoyed getting what photos I could with fabulous light conditions:

Reportedly, there's not much of a defined route to Cougar Rock, and after the "trail" I was on seemed to dead end (not the first time this would happen today), I took a quick compass reading and decided that I must have missed a turn somewhere. After backtracking a bit, I was glad to find the intersection and trail, which my compass confirmed was a better direction to take. (If everything went badly, I was determined to bushwhack due south until I hit a road or the Larch Mountain Trail -- fortunately, it never came to this.)

From here, this section of the trail definitely can be filed under "user maintained" -- at times, it's a pretty clear bit of single track, while at other times it's smothered with overgrowth (soaking wet overgrowth today, as it happens). Fortunately, there are plenty of flags on the route, which, at times, I relied on as much as I have when in snow. There's even a rickety wooden bridge that requires a bit of faith to cross.

Finally, civilization -- after taking a few wrong turns along the way and backtraking to find the correct route, I set foot on an honest-to-goodness double-track road.

I took a side trail from here, wondering if it was the route to Nesika Lodge. Don't you hate people who don't know when it's time to take down their Christmas decorations? Wink

As it turned out, this trail was just a sidetrack along the Multnomah Basin Road, and after returning to the road and continuing east for a short bit, I walked through a modest parking area with a few cars in it. Beyond here, I found a fork in the trail, with a sign to the right for Franklin Ridge. Recalling this from the GPS track, I headed left, and after a short walk downhill I was greeted with a sign for the Trails Club's Nesika Lodge.

Being a holiday weekend, I was pretty sure folks would be at the lodge, which is on private property. I briefly wandered in to snap a few pictures, including one of what appears to be a "Benson Bubbler," similar to those in downtown Portland (significant?).

And with that, I was on my way. The Multnomah Basin Road backtracks for perhaps a mile or so until it comes to an unsigned connector (at a hairpin turn) with the Larch Mt. Trail, after which everything is a simple matter of walking back to Multnomah Falls while listening to the pleasant, permanent thunder of the Multnomah Creek Canyon (which means the upper portion of this hike can be reached without climbing the Elevator Shaft).

I had four viewpoints and landmarks on my list today -- the Multnomah Falls viewpoint above Elevator Shaft, Cougar Rock, Nesika Lodge, and the viewpoint just east of Nesika Lodge. Of these, I actually reached and photograhed one, the Lodge. (I skipped the final viewpoint, not wanting to wander on the Trails Club property, and figuring there wasn't much of a view today anyway.)

Normally after a hike, I'm happy to put it in my personal log and wonder if I'll get around to doing it again sometime next year.

I want to do this one again tomorrow, dang it. (My legs don't, however.)

-Robert Smile

Re: A Foggy, Wet Day on Elevator Shaft: 25 May 2008 (Sunday)

Posted by Splintercat (2008-05-25)

Cool report, Robert! EXCELLENT photos... love the before and after fog view!

Tom

Re: A Foggy, Wet Day on Elevator Shaft: 25 May 2008 (Sunday)

Posted by joerunner (2008-05-26)

I always enjoy your reports and this one did not disapoint. I like that photo showing the before and after of the fog in the trees.

Re: A Foggy, Wet Day on Elevator Shaft: 25 May 2008 (Sunday)

Posted by fettster (2008-05-26)

So Elevator Shaft must be an unofficial nickname huh? Looks pretty challenging especially if it was wet. Nice work navigating the trails, and sounds and looks pretty cool with the fog rolling in.

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