Re: BPA Powerline/Viento Ridge July 11, 2010
Posted: June 22nd, 2016, 8:13 pm
This seems to be the only TR on this route, so rather than starting a new topic, I think it makes sense to piggyback onto Pablo's.
I too was inspired to try this when I saw that powerline trail as I looked east from Starvation. So enticing!
Left starvation TH at dawn, headed east on paved trail to Viento. Was grateful for Pablo's posted explorations, which informed me of a trail heading up to the powerlines. There was flagging, but not like Pablo's pic. Mine was white, with "forestry" in black letters.
The trail was in good shape and easy to follow. A well defined ridgecrest was to my right/west, which made me wonder if that would be a more fun/challenging route than this trail. Spotted a pair of waterfalls to my left/east. Went and investigated. No outlet creek; the water just seeps into the ground. Considered going up/south from here, but it looked a little brushy above, so I returned to the trail. Hit the powerlines and followed the trail east. I was expecting a T junction, but that was foolish of me; clearly there's no powerline road/trail through Starvation Canyon towards Starvation Ridge. The eastbound trail was in surprisingly bad shape. It looks so crisp when viewed from the west, but up close it's all brushy and faint. Is it possible I missed the trail and was following some faint earlier version? Should I have been parallel but higher? Never crossed a creek under the powerlines, which means it was smart to not follow that creek up from the cascades. Unlikely there was a cool spring; more likely it just seeped out of the ground under the brush. Getting high enough to enjoy the views, especially all the clouds up in the ridgecrests. Hoped it would be foggy when I got up there (it wasn't, they all burned off soon).
I was grateful to finally reach Viento ridge, and turned up, following a nice rocky/cliffy ridge. Not entirely sure it was the right spot, so after a while I went east to make sure there wasn't something over there, and then continued up. It was a bit brushy at first, but it soon cleared into easy travel with no significant blowdown. Lots of litter and minor brush, sometimes kneedeep oregon grape and whatnot, but no big deal. Reached a curious spot where the ridgecrest broadened and flattened, and there was a wall of, what, vine maple I think. Weird. Easy to get around to the west, and then back on ridgecrest like before. Followed a gametrail to the west just because, but was getting too far off route, so regained the crest. Found Pablo's rock/tree arch. It's lost a little since his pic, but mostly intact.
Right around 3000 ft (per gps) hit a high point, and then descended into a broad saddle. This marked the start of routefinding challenges. The ridge got indistinct. I knew if I got too far east, I could miss the road that would take me west to Starvation. But I could see from the map that I'd have to be way off course for that to happen. As long as I was going up and generally south, I should be fine, so continued on, veering slightly west just to be sure. It's extremely unusual for me to trust map and compass, leaving no just-in-case flagging. But it was early, and I had hours to recover if anything went wrong, so I just blindly continued through the relatively featureless forest, trusting I would hit the road. Never really had that eureka moment when I stepped onto road; instead, I spotted an area that seemed strangely devoid of trees, and wondered if it could be the road, so trudged uphill a few yards, and there it was. I came really close to making the mistake of hiking parallel to the road. And maybe I actually did a little, I don't know. No matter, it was a pleasant offtrail jaunt, I was having fun. On the road, I started to make good time. Almost immediately hit a junction that wasn't expected. Chose the right (north/west), knowing it couldn't possibly take me off route (although a deadend was a possibility). Reached a 4-way junction, and again I picked north/west, up, until I reached an area that looked familiar from my explorations when I was doing Starvation Ridge. Sure enough, that's where I was. Like Pablo, I didn't really see much of a trail east of Starvation, just a minor connector from road to Starvation. I followed it just to confirm, but then came back and continued up the road to its end, where I trusted map and compass to take me to Starvation. Funny, it was like 20 ft away.
Up to the plateau and a dip to Warren Lake. Was going to fill up my water bottles at Warren Creek, but found no lake outlet. Seasonal? Lunched at the rocky shore above the lake. Wrung out my socks and set them in the sun to dry a bit (lots of dew on the powerline road and up the ridge). Countless people passed by. It was maybe 10am, and I was at, what, maybe 3700 ft, so didn't expect so much traffic. A bit chilly, but generally very nice weather. Not cool enough to motivate me to pull my second shirt out of the pack.
Went in search of the Warren Rock Garden. Thought it might be tricky to find, but no, very close to lake. Fantastic place, cool rocks and great views. This is where I should have lunched. And the Mitchell Point Trail should go through here (an insignificant detour). But I was glad it didn't, as I saw nobody else in the 30-60 minutes I was here. Scrambled around on some of the challenges, and went north to see if I could spot Pablo's route from the old logging road that runs east of Defiance trail (more on that in a later TR). Heading back to the lake, I found a trail, followed it southish, discovered it runs into Mitchel Point trail near the lake. D'oh!
More pics in a few minutes.
I too was inspired to try this when I saw that powerline trail as I looked east from Starvation. So enticing!
Left starvation TH at dawn, headed east on paved trail to Viento. Was grateful for Pablo's posted explorations, which informed me of a trail heading up to the powerlines. There was flagging, but not like Pablo's pic. Mine was white, with "forestry" in black letters.
The trail was in good shape and easy to follow. A well defined ridgecrest was to my right/west, which made me wonder if that would be a more fun/challenging route than this trail. Spotted a pair of waterfalls to my left/east. Went and investigated. No outlet creek; the water just seeps into the ground. Considered going up/south from here, but it looked a little brushy above, so I returned to the trail. Hit the powerlines and followed the trail east. I was expecting a T junction, but that was foolish of me; clearly there's no powerline road/trail through Starvation Canyon towards Starvation Ridge. The eastbound trail was in surprisingly bad shape. It looks so crisp when viewed from the west, but up close it's all brushy and faint. Is it possible I missed the trail and was following some faint earlier version? Should I have been parallel but higher? Never crossed a creek under the powerlines, which means it was smart to not follow that creek up from the cascades. Unlikely there was a cool spring; more likely it just seeped out of the ground under the brush. Getting high enough to enjoy the views, especially all the clouds up in the ridgecrests. Hoped it would be foggy when I got up there (it wasn't, they all burned off soon).
I was grateful to finally reach Viento ridge, and turned up, following a nice rocky/cliffy ridge. Not entirely sure it was the right spot, so after a while I went east to make sure there wasn't something over there, and then continued up. It was a bit brushy at first, but it soon cleared into easy travel with no significant blowdown. Lots of litter and minor brush, sometimes kneedeep oregon grape and whatnot, but no big deal. Reached a curious spot where the ridgecrest broadened and flattened, and there was a wall of, what, vine maple I think. Weird. Easy to get around to the west, and then back on ridgecrest like before. Followed a gametrail to the west just because, but was getting too far off route, so regained the crest. Found Pablo's rock/tree arch. It's lost a little since his pic, but mostly intact.
Right around 3000 ft (per gps) hit a high point, and then descended into a broad saddle. This marked the start of routefinding challenges. The ridge got indistinct. I knew if I got too far east, I could miss the road that would take me west to Starvation. But I could see from the map that I'd have to be way off course for that to happen. As long as I was going up and generally south, I should be fine, so continued on, veering slightly west just to be sure. It's extremely unusual for me to trust map and compass, leaving no just-in-case flagging. But it was early, and I had hours to recover if anything went wrong, so I just blindly continued through the relatively featureless forest, trusting I would hit the road. Never really had that eureka moment when I stepped onto road; instead, I spotted an area that seemed strangely devoid of trees, and wondered if it could be the road, so trudged uphill a few yards, and there it was. I came really close to making the mistake of hiking parallel to the road. And maybe I actually did a little, I don't know. No matter, it was a pleasant offtrail jaunt, I was having fun. On the road, I started to make good time. Almost immediately hit a junction that wasn't expected. Chose the right (north/west), knowing it couldn't possibly take me off route (although a deadend was a possibility). Reached a 4-way junction, and again I picked north/west, up, until I reached an area that looked familiar from my explorations when I was doing Starvation Ridge. Sure enough, that's where I was. Like Pablo, I didn't really see much of a trail east of Starvation, just a minor connector from road to Starvation. I followed it just to confirm, but then came back and continued up the road to its end, where I trusted map and compass to take me to Starvation. Funny, it was like 20 ft away.
Up to the plateau and a dip to Warren Lake. Was going to fill up my water bottles at Warren Creek, but found no lake outlet. Seasonal? Lunched at the rocky shore above the lake. Wrung out my socks and set them in the sun to dry a bit (lots of dew on the powerline road and up the ridge). Countless people passed by. It was maybe 10am, and I was at, what, maybe 3700 ft, so didn't expect so much traffic. A bit chilly, but generally very nice weather. Not cool enough to motivate me to pull my second shirt out of the pack.
Went in search of the Warren Rock Garden. Thought it might be tricky to find, but no, very close to lake. Fantastic place, cool rocks and great views. This is where I should have lunched. And the Mitchell Point Trail should go through here (an insignificant detour). But I was glad it didn't, as I saw nobody else in the 30-60 minutes I was here. Scrambled around on some of the challenges, and went north to see if I could spot Pablo's route from the old logging road that runs east of Defiance trail (more on that in a later TR). Heading back to the lake, I found a trail, followed it southish, discovered it runs into Mitchel Point trail near the lake. D'oh!
More pics in a few minutes.