Oregon Hikers

I'm sorry to say, due to continuous vandalism, illegal dumping of garbage and hazardous waste and the illegal cutting down of trees, Wildcat Mt. has been closed permanently. This was a HQ decision from Salem. Access to the Wildcat Mt. Trail is gained either from the Douglas Trail or park near the gate and hike the road to the trailhead.

Just mcintyre ridge or the gravel pit TH as well? Is the only access to Douglas ridge via eagle creek?
Thanks for the info
Dan

No, Douglas has its own TH off of Wildcat Mt. Rd, 50 feet from the green Forest Service gate.

The decision is understandable, but my fear is that the illegal dumpers and tree cutters will simply move their activities to a new FS road and the chances are high they will ruin another recreation area in the process.

Sadly I never made it to Wildcat Mountain. Could you please provide a map of which roads and trails are still open, and which are now closed?

Posting from my phone, so it'll be short.

Check this trip.
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=22906

Douglas trailhead is open and you can go out McIntyre from there too.
This FG page has been recently updated
http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide ... ntain_Hike

So it's still accessible? That's great! What exactly has been closed then? Only the parking area right before the short torn up bit of road leading to the the quarry?

The trailhead towards the north end of McIntyre ridge is the one that's closed.
http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide ... _Trailhead

IMO, I think the FG is a little confusing on this closure.

I never knew there was a trailhead in the middle of McIntyre ridge. I wish I had as I would have liked to do a point to point shuttle hike from there. I thought road 3626 was already closed past road 105 (to the quarry) before this summer. It seemed to me that one was funneled to a single destination (the quarry) following Wildcat Mountain Drive into the MHNF?

I am sorry to say I recall seeing dumping on 105 as well, which is why I jumped to the conclusion that that was the area that had been closed. I just read the thread about the vandalism to Sherrard Point and I am sickened. In this age there must be a way to keep these areas under surveillance and apprehend the culprits on the way out at least. Is no one dealing with this?

That's a whole other discussion. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out the mentality of "locals" and why they destroy so much. I think it's not really locals, because the locals are close enough to care, it's people who are a specific distance from the area that they can get there easily but far enough away that they can ruin things with impunity. It's a mindset, based on a lot of things including education and culture (and maybe some amount of intoxicants).

Working in wildlife biology, I would often seek out the best views to car camp and invariably someone would have been there recently and completely trashed the best place around. I've never understood that part of it.

Anyway, you can still drive up to Douglas Trailhead and hike into Wildcat and McIntyre. You'll see the gate on the old road on the way in.