Old School: Tanner Creek - May 1986

[Splintercat]

Another blast from the past! This time, a hike with my friend David in Spring of 1986 (cue the music -- I'm guessing more Tears for Fears, probably some Genesis... ack!). Still driving the '71 Corona at that point. But Tanner Creek was radically different than today. The trail was sketchy and strictly an up-and-back on the east side of the canyon, maintained by Mazamas and other volunteers, from what I recall. The parking at the trailhead was not built yet -- just parking along the access road to the hatchery diversion dam (plus, in those days, the road up Tanner Canyon was fully open, so most drove to the "upper" trailhead to hike to Tanner Butte).

Some pics along the trail -- yup, wildflowers were still blooming in spring back then!



Further along, views of the landslide appear, and I've put together a comparison between 1986 and 2007 to show the changes (apologies to "Daniel", I'll substitute in my own contemporary photo, shortly). I've marked the matching points, albeit a bit hard to recognize, as the vantage points are somewhat different:



Point F is puzzling -- at first, I thought the giant, flat-topped boulder in the stream had slipped and tilted, but I think it's actually just outside the frame in the second view. I'll get a better "after" photo to confirm. Otherwise, just more moss and small trees gradually pioneering this area, plus the obvious addition of the west side trail (and two bridges that take you there, of course).

A bit further upstream, and this view is across the creek, toward the cave that is now right along the new west side trail -- I've marked both the trail and cave location:



Not much change apparent at Wahclella Falls, except that it was much less trampled back then -- just a fraction of the visitors who go there today made the trip back in the 1980s:



I'd love to see early 1970s photos of this area, since that's just after the landslide occurred. Unfortunately, I was in Kindergarten at the time, so not operating a camera quite yet...

-Tom

[chameleon]

Very cool Tom. It's neat to see all those conifers that have grown on the slide debris, especially. It makes you wonder what it's going to look like 100 years from now!

[Don Nelsen]

Thanks for another great report, Tom! Looking forward to seeing a pic from the same vantage point as the older one.

-don

[Splintercat]

That's sort of put a new spark of interest in these hikes for me, Don -- not that I don't always enjoy the Tanner loop, but I've printed out the old slide pic, and it will be fun to try to figure out where I was standing for the 1986 shot (and whether the view is blocked by trees, now). Looking forward to doing some before/after with other views, too.

Tom

[Splintercat]

Well... I was up there this week, and it turns out that the forest has recovered a LOT since I took that 1986 photo..! Here's a true comparison -- to the extent that the veil of young trees allows..!



I studied the scene for awhile, and the Douglas fir trunk on the left does, indeed, seem to be the same tree. The younger fir next to it has grown since 1986, of course. Glad I didn't wait much longer -- a few more leaves and I wouldn't have found the spot..!

-Tom

[retired jerry]

Interesting that those rocks that aren't that big are still at the same position