Use this forum to report and discuss trails in need of maintenance. This will help organizations like TKO and agencies like the Forest Service get the most recent on-the-ground trail conditions.
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Don Nelsen
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by Don Nelsen » November 10th, 2013, 6:51 pm
retired jerry wrote:is it 2 miles to the Larch Mountain Trail?
Yes. The distance stated on the sign from Lemmon's Viewpoint to the Larch Mountain Trail junction, the junction with the Angel's Rest Trail and the junction with the Vista Point Trail is accurate to within a tenth of a mile. However - the distance to the junction to the trail up to Devil's rest is a little less than 1.1 miles by my mapset - so, once again......
dn
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly
"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller
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Eric Peterson
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by Eric Peterson » November 10th, 2013, 6:59 pm
Should be the trail numbers, not the trail names? 441 - 2 Miles
But that is pretty old school USFS just using the trail numbers I think . . .
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Guy
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by Guy » November 10th, 2013, 7:37 pm
Unbelievably Stupid! No wonder people get lost & into trouble.
I'd be willing to bet that the Forest Service Employee in charge of getting those mileage distances has never hiked past the Multnomah Falls Ice Cream Stand.
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retired jerry
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by retired jerry » November 10th, 2013, 8:01 pm
You'de think after they screwed up on the other sign and people wrote in "trail" they could have got this sign correct
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VanMarmot
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by VanMarmot » November 11th, 2013, 8:08 am
airoff wrote:retired jerry wrote:is it 2 miles to the Larch Mountain Trail?
Yeah, thereabouts. The distances are to other junctions, but you'd only know that if you already knew it. There is a similar sign just east of the springs, but people long ago wrote in the word "trail". You'd think they'd have learned from that.
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Hmmm, writing in "trail" was probably seen more as defacing government property than keeping some flip-flop clad tourist from heading to Larch with a Red Bull and half a cream Danish!
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drm
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by drm » November 11th, 2013, 8:17 am
So what has anybody done about this besides writing on some signs? Earlier this year, after the FS changed how to access the trail to Soda Peaks Lake, they had a totally confused message on the website about it. I called them about it and the website message, while not perfect, was changed an improved within a couple of weeks. Sure, that's just the website, but it also was just one phone call.
So rather than just complaining here, I think that Oregon Trailkeepers should send a letter. Maybe get some other organization to sign on.
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justpeachy
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by justpeachy » November 11th, 2013, 1:41 pm
I've seen these types of signs in other places and they are incredibly misleading! I've gotten to the point where I don't trust Forest Service signage. I rely on maps, field guide entries, hiking books, and other sources when navigating the trails.
I can't figure out what the Forest Service is thinking when it comes to signage. They either abandon signage completely, put up inaccurate signs, or waste a lot of time and energy on
taking down helpful signs.
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Double Tree
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by Double Tree » November 11th, 2013, 7:30 pm
"I'd be willing to bet that the Forest Service Employee in charge of getting those mileage distances has never hiked past the Multnomah Falls Ice Cream Stand."
I know of one employee that made it past the ice cream stand. About a year ago I was taking a break at the Wahkeena/Devil's Rest junction, when a Forest Service employee walked up. He read the signs and asked *me* which way to Wahkeena. No map with him, and apparently he didn't understand the two signs that pointed to "Wahkeena" two different directions....
I noticed a couple weeks ago, that there is a laminated map stapled to one of the sign posts now.
Kelly
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BigBear
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by BigBear » November 13th, 2013, 3:05 pm
Actually, my favorite USFS blunder in MHNF is along the PCT between Wapinita Pass. You hike southbound toward Timothy Lake and come to a road crossing and the mileage reads something like "Timothy Lake 4" and you think, alright, I'm making good time. You continue south and at the next road crossing the sign reads "Timothy Lake 5" and you wonder if you went the wrong way.
My second favorite is the "Columbia River" sign a couple of miles in on the Wygant Trail. Thank goodness they labeled that geographic feature 'cause I always wondered what that body of water was next to I-84
