Wygant, Chetwoot, Mitchell Pt and Beyond - Nov 30, 2008

[pablo]

The plan was to investigate a possible trail heading south from Mitchell Point connecting to the maze of roads and ATV trails that would give access to approaches from the south to Wygant Hill and Viento Ridge. A trail there would allow adventure hikers loop opportunities between Mitchell Point, Wygant Hill, and Viento Ridge. The trail connecting Mitchell Point and the roads to the south is marked on a couple different USGS topos I have, the oldest being from 1957 - it's not marked on any MHNF map as it is outside the MHNF boundary. The trail shows up in NG TOPO! heading south from the powerline road above Mitchell Point and wanders around a bit before connecting to a ridge line road.

The route was to go up Mitchell Point, find the trail south, then depending on time descend on either Wygant Hill or Viento Ridge. The ridge leading to Wygant Hill is a nice cross country ridge traverse to the Wygant Hill trail while Viento Ridge is a nice x-country traverse all the way down. I've done both and did a TR here.

I departed the Mitchell Point trailhead around 8:30AM and immediately altered the plan as Mitchell Point, which should have been visible from the parking lot, was completely socked in. To climb all the way up there and get nothing but fog sort of defeats the purpose of going to the big viewpoint.

Mitchell point is up there somewhere beyond that big pine tree.



I figured the clouds would lift later in the day so I set about to do the thing in reverse, up Wygant then back down Mitchell Point with mostly clear skies. So I headed off to Wygant Hill. Not long I ran into a sign pointing to a viewpoint. Sullivan calls the viewpoint overgrown, can't argue that but with no leaves on the trees there was something to look at and the twisty oaks with lichens on the branches were pretty.

Here's the sign.



Here's the view.



Here's the other end of the sign, the Perham Creek Bridge - very wet and slick.



I continued on the Wygant trail to another viewpoint, this one unobstructed with fine views albeit low elevation up and down the river.

The post in the foreground says COLUMBIA R as if we didn't already know. Drano Lake on the right.



I admired the view up and down river.



It was here I got my treat for the day, out of the corner of my eye I sensed some movement, seeing something big I started taking pictures.



This was the best one, happened so fast it was gone before I could get my mega-zoom out.



I saw a couple more during the day - pretty exciting although I'm pretty sure bald eagles are common sights in the Gorge.

From this viewpoint I charged up Wygant Hill proper to do the loop but ran into the western end of the Chetwoot Trail. Now Sullivan refers to the Chetwoot trail as abandoned and I'd already done Wygant Hill so I made another alteration to the plan and headed up the Chetwoot trail and the Perham Creek crossing. The trail is really in good shape, I don't know why Sullivan would label it abandoned as it clearly gets used - maybe he means abandoned by the State of Oregon. There is one spot of trouble just after crossing Perham Creek on the east side; there is a small washout that could be difficult for some to manage, but someone has thoughtfully pounded a couple pieces of rebar into the trail to hang on to when negotiating this section. Not bad, really.

Here's a section of the Chetwoot Trail on the approach to Perham Creek from the western end.



The return on Chetwoot to Wygant Trail crosses the powerline right of way - watch out for the slight jog in the trail at this point as the trail does not pick up immediately after crossing the powerline road - have to go east 50-100 feet to catch the trail going north on the other side. There is flagging marking both ends.

I made it back to the Mitchell Point trailhead and by then the clouds had lifted and I could see the Pt from the parking lot. So up the hill I went. The trail climbs steeply up talus slopes to the powerline road (same powerline as mentioned above) then goes north up the spine of Mitchell Point. Some serious exposure and I'm not sure exactly where Sullivan thinks you should stop - probably a few feet back from the little path that goes out to the point where the next step would put you into the parking lot. I went as far as I could. The views were great as expected.



A look at the tippy-top.



From here I returned to the powerline road to start my search for the trail heading south. I did not have to look very hard, the trail is there and has been taken over by the ATV crowd. I followed it south for a mile or so just to make sure it went where I thought it would and yes, the trail eventually aligned itself with the trail shown on the USGS TOPO maps. Well used with some litter and ATV damage but useful.

Here's what it looks like for the most part:



I backtracked down the hill and headed for home. There are two "points" at Mitchell Point, the one way up there and the one next door to the parking lot. There is a side trail branching off from the main trail giving access to the backside of lower rock outcropping.

Here's the backside of the lower point. Easily negotiated with the anticipated exposure at the top.



Views from the lower Mitchell Point.

Towards Hood River.



Downstream.



Looking back on Mitchel Point from the lower point.



I played tourist at the Mitchell Point Marker:



There's mention of a flume on the Washington side used to transport unfinished boards - I pulled out the mega-zoom for a closer look, pretty neat, not long for this world.



Great day, after seeing the eagle I could have left for home and considered the hike a success. There are lots of low elevation hiking opportunities in this area, the powerline road seems to have a mix of roads and trails along its length which might be interesting.

Call it 10 miles and 3000' feet. Here's a map of my travels, looks like spaghetti. The red trail GPS track is the part I did today, the track marked with green is the section of the connector trail I did not travel on this day but I'm sure it eventually connects to the roads to the south.

[jeffstatt]

Great Eagle shot. Common or not, it is breaktaking to see a bald eagle in flight! I had driven by that lumber on the hillside on the Washington side countless times while passing by on route 14 with little guess as to what is was. Do you know anymore of the history of that flume? It's one more "boring story" I can tell my kids the next time we are in the Gorge.

The view from the top of Mitchell Pt is a nice one, isn't it? Great bang for the buck. Your photos capture the scene quite nicely!

A little story about the Mitchell Pt trailhead parking lot. A year before we moved to Portland, my brother and I took a whirlwind four-day car tour of the Pacific Northwest. My first introduction to this part of the country. We we're in the Redwoods on a Wednesday and needed to catch a flight out of Portland at noon the next day. We wanted to get a quick view of the Gorge early Thursday morning before the flight, so we drive all day up the coast on RT101 and got to Portland around midnight then continued on down I84 to that Mitchell trailhead. We arrived around 2AM and slept in the car (which we did almost every night on the trip). It was pitch black and I had no sense of the size or proximity to the river (or to the railroad track, which we discovered about an hour later!).

The next morning I awoke to that scene. It was a cool, breezy 55 degree morning at daybreak and I'll never forget it. I don't remember if that signage was there back then, but I do remember climbing up to that viewpoint just as the sun started coming up. (Incidently it was about an hour later sitting under Ponytail Falls that it was decided. I proclaimed to my brother that within a year that me, my wife and three boys would be living out here. And I was right - give or take a few weeks.)

It's for that reason I have a bit of a soft-spot for Mitchell Point - and I always love seeing new trip reports from that area.

[anna in boots]

Great read and nice illustrations, pablo. I feel like I just went on a National Geographic tour called "Mitchell Point and Beyond."

I intend to bag Mitchell one of these days but I'm biding my time for a low traffic day with few hikers. New Year's Eve/Day sounds plausible.

anna in boots

[pablo]

Great Eagle shot. Common or not, it is breaktaking to see a bald eagle in flight! I had driven by that lumber on the hillside on the Washington side countless times while passing by on route 14 with little guess as to what is was. Do you know anymore of the history of that flume? It's one more "boring story" I can tell my kids the next time we are in the Gorge.

The text on the display reads:

"Remnants of the Broughton Flume are visible on the hillside across the river. This wooden water trough, built in the early 1920s, carried rough-cut timber nine miles downhill from Willard to the Broughton Mill for more than 60 years."

There's more stuff on the Google like the elevation loss from start to finish was 1000' and White River was used for the water source. Used in a couple of TV shows and 'Sometimes a Great Notion' (I'd need more evidence on the last one).

For boring the kids, here's another one that could use a historical photo - on the way up the hill is a small sign leading off to a concrete water thingy. The sign sez:

"Water source for motel, gas station, and home"

So maybe before the freeway went through there was a bunch of other stuff at this location (in addition to the tunnels).

If that doesn't put them to sleep, Sullivan says at the end of a paved path in the direction of the Mitchell Pt trail is an outhouse. But the outhouse is now located just next to the parking lot. At the end of the paved path there is now a picnic bench, bon appetit.

--Paul

[meana39]

I had driven by that lumber on the hillside on the Washington side countless times while passing by on route 14 with little guess as to what is was. Do you know anymore of the history of that flume? It's one more "boring story" I can tell my kids the next time we are in the Gorge.

For more on the lumber flume....I btw I remember the Lassie show mentioned!

From: http://www.skamania.org/urban-areas.cfm

"Willard was home to Broughton Lumber Flume, a nine-mile long, 1000-foot drop, wooden lumber slide. For decades, the Broughton Lumber Company timbered in the mountains, sending their logs to the riverside mill. The mill has been closed for several years and the old flume is slowly rotting away but can still be seen from Highway 14. The 1967 TV episode of Lassie made the flume famous as the popular collie floated down the chute to the Broughton Lumber Mill."

[Splintercat]

Great report, Paul! Way back when I worked at Scout camps as a teenager, I got to know Roy Broughton, who was a Scoutmaster from the White Salmon area, and part of the Broughton family. Very nice, low-key guy. The mill was still working back then (late 70s), and I believe it finally shut down in the 1980s. The mill site is also a point of controversy, now that it has been proposed as a destination resort/vacation home complex. Not sure if the Broughton family is involved in that, or some later buyer of the mill property.

I love the idea of a loop involving the old road network - have you explored these roads on previous trips? I'm wondering about the roads shown in magenta on your map, especially in the Perham Creek headwaters. It looks like just a short gap exists between the trail to the summit of Wygant Peak and the nearest road... interesting!

Also, if you have time -- Jamie and I have written up three hikes covering these trails in the Field Guide, and all three could benefit from another set of editor's eyes. I'm referring to the Wygant, Chetwoot and Mitchell Point trails. I'm hoping to bring some TKO help to the Wygant and Chetwoot routes, soon, to beat back the poison oak a bit. I've also got a tiny TKO project in mind for a short, abandoned trail that drops from the saddle between Mitchell and Little Mitchell down to the parking area, creating a little loop -- or more direct route to Little Mitchell.

I'm not worried about these routes being abandoned, though. The long-term plans call for restoring this section of the Historic Highway as a bike/hike trail (and the ODOT planners are even thinking about restoring the section around Mitchell Point, where the legendary tunnel with windows once existed), and it's likely that more people using a restored highway here would equal better signage and maintenance of the adjacent trails. Lots of room for optimism!

Tom

[pablo]

I love the idea of a loop involving the old road network - have you explored these roads on previous trips? I'm wondering about the roads shown in magenta on your map, especially in the Perham Creek headwaters. It looks like just a short gap exists between the trail to the summit of Wygant Peak and the nearest road... interesting!

I traveled a small portion of these roads and ATV trails on the Viento Ridge and Wygant loop I did last year (see the link to it in the TR above). This trip I was eying that piece of road you mention as it would give access to the south side of Wygant Hill and a logical path to the hanging meadow you mention as a bushwhack in your Field Guide entry on Wygant Hill. There is a photo in the TR I mention above from that spot on the side of Wygant and it really is worth visiting.

Also, if you have time -- Jamie and I have written up three hikes covering these trails in the Field Guide, and all three could benefit from another set of editor's eyes. I'm referring to the Wygant, Chetwoot and Mitchell Point trails. I'm hoping to bring some TKO help to the Wygant and Chetwoot routes, soon, to beat back the poison oak a bit. I've also got a tiny TKO project in mind for a short, abandoned trail that drops from the saddle between Mitchell and Little Mitchell down to the parking area, creating a little loop -- or more direct route to Little Mitchell.

I will take a look at the field guide entries - a first glance tells me they look pretty good. I thought there might be a short cut off Little Mitchell from the saddle but from the parking lot I didn't see an obvious route around the steepness there.

--Paul

[Splintercat]

That's quite possible, Paul - I turned back when the poison oak started to get tall! This is one that I hope to scout mid-winter, when the leaves (and ticks) have gone dormant.

BTW, here's a link that mentions the HCRH projects envisioned for the Mitchell Point area:

Friends of the HCRH map

Friends of the HCRH Needs Assessment

Love your photo of the south meadow on Wygant Peak - would you mind if I added it to the Field Guide description?

-Tom

[pablo]

That's quite possible, Paul - I turned back when the poison oak started to get tall! This is one that I hope to scout mid-winter, when the leaves (and ticks) have gone dormant.

BTW, here's a link that mentions the HCRH projects envisioned for the Mitchell Point area:

Friends of the HCRH map

Friends of the HCRH Needs Assessment

Love your photo of the south meadow on Wygant Peak - would you mind if I added it to the Field Guide description?

-Tom

Tom,

Help yourself to whatever photos you need. Those are really well written and documented field guide entries - much better than any guide book descriptions I've read.

That's quite a vision for the HCRH and a hefty price tag - were I king for a day they'd have the money to do it.

--Paul

[Splintercat]

Keep your fingers crossed, Paul - lots of talk in DC of "economic stimulus" taking the form of a modern WPA/CCC for projects like the old highway restoration!

Thanks for the Field Guide review and the green light on the photo - very nice scene up there!

Tom