Old Roaring River Trail???
Posted: August 13th, 2012, 11:31 am
Hello everyone,
I posted a thread of this trail last year but I didn't get a lot of feedback. But I hiked this trail Sunday before going up the Dry Ridge Trail.
I kinda believe this is the old Roaring River Trail that was built back in the early 1900's by Alton Everest and his crew. It parallels the river pretty much as far as I got.
A lot of nice views though. There's plenty of old growth douglas fir stands and with the Roaring River on your left, you have the prehistoric river route to your right. This old river route is actually lightly and heavily covered in Pacific NW jungle brush and for a good 1/2 mile, it is depressed by about 5 feet from the actual elevation of the present trail system.
There is a lot of evidence of 20th century trail work. A large blowover that must be a good 40 to 50 yrs old has an axed out area on top with some axed out steps. And further up the trail, you can see where past blow overs were sawed to make the trail accessible.
Trail is very overgrown in, I say, 95% of its entirety.
Here is an old campsite. And by the looks of the surrounding ground vegetation, there hasn't been a tent here in a while, nor was there any evidence of any human activity in quite a long time.
Then after about 3/4 of a mile, there were just too many blowovers to crawl over.
Here's a nice swimming hole or fishing spot.
I have been told by hikers on this thread, that the old trail built by the FS in the early 1900's, must have been the Dry Ridge Trail. But with the large number of switchbacks and the steepness of Dry Ridge, I can't fathom the men of that era building that kind of trail. And although Dry Ridge is a good circuit training trail, it is pretty boring with not very many sights to look at. A trail built along side the river would have gave ample water for the mule teams and pack horses as well as for the FS and CCC Labor Force of that day. And also, I haven't seen any agency do trail work, or build trails for that matter, just as an access trail for fishermen.
Any wisdom or answers are greatly appreciated. The Roaring River Tr is located next to the Roaring River Campground. Then travel east at the Dry Ridge TH. When the trail makes a sharp right, then upward trek, stay at the bottom and continue on the unmarked trail that parallels the river.
GPS Coordinates 45* 09.59 N 122* 06.69 W
Elevation 394'
USGS Map Grid 5 and 4 with above bearings
I posted a thread of this trail last year but I didn't get a lot of feedback. But I hiked this trail Sunday before going up the Dry Ridge Trail.
I kinda believe this is the old Roaring River Trail that was built back in the early 1900's by Alton Everest and his crew. It parallels the river pretty much as far as I got.
A lot of nice views though. There's plenty of old growth douglas fir stands and with the Roaring River on your left, you have the prehistoric river route to your right. This old river route is actually lightly and heavily covered in Pacific NW jungle brush and for a good 1/2 mile, it is depressed by about 5 feet from the actual elevation of the present trail system.
There is a lot of evidence of 20th century trail work. A large blowover that must be a good 40 to 50 yrs old has an axed out area on top with some axed out steps. And further up the trail, you can see where past blow overs were sawed to make the trail accessible.
Trail is very overgrown in, I say, 95% of its entirety.
Here is an old campsite. And by the looks of the surrounding ground vegetation, there hasn't been a tent here in a while, nor was there any evidence of any human activity in quite a long time.
Then after about 3/4 of a mile, there were just too many blowovers to crawl over.
Here's a nice swimming hole or fishing spot.
I have been told by hikers on this thread, that the old trail built by the FS in the early 1900's, must have been the Dry Ridge Trail. But with the large number of switchbacks and the steepness of Dry Ridge, I can't fathom the men of that era building that kind of trail. And although Dry Ridge is a good circuit training trail, it is pretty boring with not very many sights to look at. A trail built along side the river would have gave ample water for the mule teams and pack horses as well as for the FS and CCC Labor Force of that day. And also, I haven't seen any agency do trail work, or build trails for that matter, just as an access trail for fishermen.
Any wisdom or answers are greatly appreciated. The Roaring River Tr is located next to the Roaring River Campground. Then travel east at the Dry Ridge TH. When the trail makes a sharp right, then upward trek, stay at the bottom and continue on the unmarked trail that parallels the river.
GPS Coordinates 45* 09.59 N 122* 06.69 W
Elevation 394'
USGS Map Grid 5 and 4 with above bearings