Old Baldy Mtn., Lake and Route Exploration - Oct 19, 2008

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pablo
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Old Baldy Mtn., Lake and Route Exploration - Oct 19, 2008

Post by pablo » October 19th, 2008, 11:48 pm

Did Old Baldy via the wilderness boundary trail. The route on the attached map should not be used as a guide for getting to Old Baldy as I followed the old route, the maintained trail to Old Baldy has been relocated from this older alignment. The old trail is gone but it was well blazed and there are lots of wilderness boundary signs to follow.

To get to the trailhead, I took the E Surface Rd turnoff from 224 just about 1.5 miles east of Estacada and followed it until the intersection with the SE Squaw Mtn Rd. From there, all very nicely paved all the way to the trailhead - watch for rocks on the road and it does narrow to a one lane road after a while.

The Old Baldy trailhead also provides access to the Eagle Creek Cutoff trail and an ATV avoidance trail to Tumala Mtn.

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Views are limited on the official parts of the route I followed, you can get a couple looks at nearby features here and there but mostly trees block the big views. About 3/4s of a mile beyond Githens Mtn is a nice viewpoint where I snapped the following:

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I made the Old Baldy summit on the maintained trail and there's not much to see but there must have been a great viewpoint at one time as the summit is a little knob that sticks a couple hundred feet above everything else nearby.

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I headed west off Old Baldy, leaving the maintained trail and following blaze and wilderness boundary signs part way down the ridge I planned to take down to Eagle Creek. It was here I got the really big views from a cliffy rock outcropping. On the map the rock outcropping is just before the spot where I left the ridge for Baldy Lake. The views from here are as good as they get, maybe too many nearby clear cuts but I think I could see clear into Portland. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to see the Silver Star range and all the big Volcanoes.

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The cliffy viewpoint went on for a couple hundred feet providing several places for great looks, lots of exposure in places. Here's the first spot I stopped at, wonderful moss covered rock. St Helens, Rainier, Adams on the distant horizon. The Wildcat Mtn Rock pit visible on the near ridge, doesn't look too bad from this distance.

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I took bunches of photos from here and spent way too much time, enough so that I had to scratch such items as Chak-Chak Falls and the 501 connector exploration.

From the viewpoint I took off in the direction of Baldy Lake, unfortunately I did not pick the best spot to descend and I had to bushwhack up hill a bit to get to the lake. Very pretty, shallow, no more the 5-6' deep I think, no fish that I could see, no signs of camping, maybe 1-3 acres. Here's a panorama from near the outlet:

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I returned to the ridge and descended, very nice bushwhack, the only really steep part was along the same bench as Chak-Chak where the steepness was so bad that my 60csx lost its fix, that doesn't happen very often. You can see the GPS-lost-fix section in the attached map as the sharp jog across Baldy Creek just before the crossing of Eagle Creek.

Typical forest floor conditions on the track down the ridge:

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Made it to Eagle Creek and crossed at the same log jam as earlier this summer, flow was so low I didn't bother with the log jam - just rock hopped across. The next 2 photos show today's conditions and the conditions when we all crossed with a bit more water.

Today:

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Earlier this summer:

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I was running a couple hours late so the plan was to exit up the Eagle Creek Cutoff, on the way I stopped to admire the work done by TKO folks- nice job, thanks a heap!

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I made to the end of Eagle Creek trail and crossed the creek again to take the Eagle Creek Cutoff Trail, very steep, many switchbacks, the last thing I needed was an uphill hike to end the day but that's the way it goes sometimes. On the way up I spotted a pinnacle across the way, just below Plaza Trail near Sheepshead rock, I believe. Neat.

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Carried too much gear, wore Stabilicers all day which added a couple of pounds to my boots, I'll never do that again - while they were a big help on slick logs and creek crossings, the weight was too much. Saw one hunter near the wilderness boundary so I wore my flaming red vest all day.

The big view from the spot on the ridge I went down on Old Baldy is a worthy destination and might be nice to have a trail punched through there to at least that viewpoint.

15 miles, ~4200', 9 hours.

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Splintercat
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Re: Old Baldy Mtn., Lake and Route Exploration - Oct 19, 2008

Post by Splintercat » October 20th, 2008, 4:46 pm

Another great report, Paul -- you are the Magellan of the Mount Hood backcountry! Great photos, too. I haven't been up there in several years, but did walk the "old" trail before it was moved to make room for more logging. Did you happen to step out on that rock at the first viewpoint (visible in bottom left of the photo)? I've been curious as to whether the meadow in the cirque down below is visible from there.

Tom's other post on Baldy Lake

LOVE the photos from the Old Baldy shoulder viewpoint, and of course, Baldy Lake -- excellent! If you don't mind, I'd like to use those in TKO stuff that I'm working up, with photo credit, of course. Also, could you take a look at the air photo version of that area that I posted on your other thread and comment on whether you were in the opening that I was speculating on? Also, did you visit the large scree areas downstream from the lake..? Looks like your GPS tracks just above the area...

Cool, Paul! Wonderful report!

Tom :)

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Re: Old Baldy Mtn., Lake and Route Exploration - Oct 19, 2008

Post by Splintercat » October 20th, 2008, 4:49 pm

Whoops... forgot to mention:

1. WOW, that's a dinky Eagle Creek, compared to last June! That, or the "dam" sprung a leak..! :D

2. Cool rock formation - looks like a sill to me, and a good 100-150 high. Nice!

3. Did you actually pass the base of Chak Chak Falls again, and if so, how was it flowing..?

Apologies for the interrogation... enquiring minds want to know!

Tom ;)

pablo
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Re: Old Baldy Mtn., Lake and Route Exploration - Oct 19, 2008

Post by pablo » October 21st, 2008, 7:18 pm

Tom,
Did you happen to step out on that rock at the first viewpoint (visible in bottom left of the photo)? I've been curious as to whether the meadow in the cirque down below is visible from there.
Google imagery shows a lot of green in this area which is no longer there (I wonder how old the Google imagery is, I'm starting to think 10-20 years given what I saw on the ground). Here's a couple of photos, the first is my first attempt at HDR - I need to get with the AEB if I'm going to be doing that stuff.

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Here's just the sand pit - possibly where the meadow used to be.

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Also, could you take a look at the air photo version of that area that I posted on your other thread and comment on whether you were in the opening that I was speculating on? Also, did you visit the large scree areas downstream from the lake..?
Yes, I studied the aerial photo snippet you posted and went down that side of Old Baldy 'cause of it - where you marked 'Viewpoint?' is indeed the Big View location [originally when I posted the report above and this reply I did not think that but in reviewing the times on the photos and the corresponding GPS locations just now, that's right were I was]. The photo is deceptive - what looks like scree in the photo would be better described as boulder fields. The lake was not visible from the Big View. The forest canopy is tall and dense and from the lake I could see no open areas on the adjacent slopes. I wasn't very thorough in my search for openings but I doubt there is anything dramatic. As my approach was from below the lake I could have easily missed something, though.

In the snippet, the next opening down on the ridge also has good views.

Here's a picture taken of the big boulder field just below and to the west of the lake - I'm really near the bottom, this is a zoom - there's vine maple there for boulder scale. I stayed out of the boulder fields as much as possible:

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3. Did you actually pass the base of Chak Chak Falls again, and if so, how was it flowing..?
I sailed by Chak Chak and regretted doing so shortly after.

BTW, On the way to Githens there was a small opening with a view to some big cliffs on east side of Githens Mtn.

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Re: Old Baldy Mtn., Lake and Route Exploration - Oct 19, 2008

Post by fettster » October 23rd, 2008, 7:02 am

pablo wrote: Image
Great shot! Seems like this would be a challenging route in the winter given the elevation of your trailhead. I assume no camping would be possible at the lake anyways because of the dense brush?

pablo
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Re: Old Baldy Mtn., Lake and Route Exploration - Oct 19, 2008

Post by pablo » October 23rd, 2008, 7:27 am

Seems like this would be a challenging route in the winter given the elevation of your trailhead. I assume no camping would be possible at the lake anyways because of the dense brush?
On the trailadvocate.org page for Old Baldy http://www.trailadvocate.org/trails/502 they mention a lower elevation trailhead (502A) so access to this area might come earlier than others at similar elevation.

I did not take photos of the area immediately away from the lake but the brush is only dense around the lake - so where I was, near the outlet, there's ample open areas near the lake shore due to the dense canopy there.

--Paul
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Splintercat
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Re: Old Baldy Mtn., Lake and Route Exploration - Oct 19, 2008

Post by Splintercat » October 25th, 2008, 1:40 pm

Thanks, Paul - that "sand" area is very odd. One theory is that the lip of the cirque breached fairly recently, and the outlet has eroded into the accumulated silt that made up the meadow. Strange!

Also, thanks for capturing Baldy Lake - that is the first photo I've ever seen of that lake. You might have shot the first photo, ever, who knows?

-Tom :)

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