Tidbits on Munra Point, off-trail adventure and a tram

[pablo]

Found these interesting Munra Pt articles in the Oregonian archives, the first is from Sunday, May 26, 1929 on a hike up to Munra Pt with a return via Tanner Creek's canyon and the second on a proposed tram from Bonneville Dam to Munra Pt from Thursday Oct 24,
1947.

Hike:

Tram:

MunraTram.jpg (32.07 KiB) Viewed 4632 times

[payslee]

Marvelous!

And thank goodness for no tram. Where would there even be room for one? And it would certainly have lessened the "feeling of intimate converse" that the 1929 trip report so well describes.

What I found interesting was all the waterfall views the author describes up into Moffet Creek. Their route may not be the one we take now, or maybe the trees have grown up that much in the meantime.... Could explain why there are named falls up there, if they used to be easier to see.

Thanks for posting this.

-payslee

[raven]

When I realized that the boots of the day either were flat leather, relatively good on rock but miserable on mud, wet moss and logs -- or were "nailed" with steel lugs as though with permanent Microspikes, miserable on rock, but relatively good on mud, wet moss and logs -- my admiration for those hikers' efforts zoomed. I rarely remember just how much lugs and improved rubbers on shoe soles have made hiking and climbing easier under mixed conditions.

[Lurch]

That tram would be on par with the potential awesome with the plan to build a road to the top of St Peters Dome

[Splintercat]

Thanks, Paul! There's one more bit on the tram that I'm still trying to locate: the idea was resurrected sometime in the 1970s, though at that time, the tram would have left Cascade Locks, proper, and ended at one of the clifftop viewpoints above the Ruckel Creek Trail -- still haven't found that article, though I'm sure it was covered by the Oregonian. The other tram mentioned in the article is likely the proposal (from about the same time) to build a tramway from Cloud Cap Inn to the summit of Mount Hood...

Tom

[Chase]

Thanks, Pablo. Had not seen that article. I do have some other info on trams:

1926 -- L.L. Tyler and Associates (Cascade Development Co.) obtain a permit to construct a "tramline and cableway" from Cooper Spur to the summit of Mount Hood. Never built.

1951 -- Sky-way Aerial Tram (Bus Tram) in use on Mount Hood near Timberline until 1953.

1964 -- 18 locations were considered for aerial tramway (including to Munra Point and Crown point).

1968 -- Tramway considered by Forest Service to top out on Benson Plateau.

1974 -- Tramway idea shut down by advocacy groups and citizens.

1978 -- Allan Kotin tried to revive the idea of the Cascade Locks (to Munra?) tramway, as well as many other business ideas.

Most of this info comes from:

http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/planning-new-west

and

http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/br ... eat-divide

The latter book is new and features a quote from none other than our own Splinty! Both books are good reads.

Other info comes from The Mount Hood Cultural Center & Museum.


So it seems this idea rears its head every so often. People do love that stuff called money.

[Guy]

Am I a bad person for wishing some of these Trams had been built .....

[retired jerry]

I too wonder if tram would be okay.

It would be really cool if you were unable to walk up there. I can think of a few trams I've done which were pretty cool, like the one opposite Lake Louise or there's one that takes you most of the way up Mount San Gorgonio.

I don't have a problem with human effect in wild areas as long as it's limited and we're not endangering the plants or animals. Having humans going there may actually have positive effect if people go there and become aware of what it's like. Unknown wild areas will be more likely to be logged or mined.

[Don Nelsen]

....I can think of a few trams I've done which were pretty cool, like the one opposite Lake Louise or there's one that takes you most of the way up Mount San Gorgonio....

I think you mean Mt. San Jacinto.

dn

[retired jerry]

San Gorgonio, San Jacinto, whatever...

You must have gone up the San Jacinto tram. Actually a ski lift I believe.

Those mountains North of Los Angeles are amazingly wild for being so close to so many people. I lived down there for 8 years and hiked up there often.