I dried out from having to hike wet the last 4 weekends in a row, boo hoo, and decided
to get one done off the bucket list too.
Started from the Herman Creek TH where I met and talked to Jon from the USFS, he was meeting
some PCTA'rs for some trail maintenance this day along the PCT.
Thanks again guys for all that work you do!
Parking lot was filling up at 8:00 am I imagine since it was a free day this weekend for
Veterans Day at Forest Pass locations.
Headed up to Herman Bridge to hike a portion of the PCT. Hadn't noticed a trail sign being swallowed
at the junction before you head down to Herman Bridge -
Love this section of trail that splits off from 406, Herman Creek, and joins up with the PCT.
According to a Green Trails Gorge map I have it is numbered 405E! Whoa, dudes, hold up!
405 is Ruckel Creek trail and the Benson Plateau has a few 405's up there but this little
spur trail isn't anywhere close enough to have a 405 extension. So there must be some
history involved what with trail re alignments and what not when the PCT was routed
through this section after or before the name of the Sky Line Trail was removed from
Herman Creek trail. Just guessing that before the 2000 was extended to Cascade Locks
where it currently splits up to the Benson Plateau, that whole length of trail must have
had a 405 extension.
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the short 405E spur trail -
Bumping along the trail after connecting into the PCT there is a pretty cool slot style
canyon with a waterfall, sorry the picture is kind of crappy, was playing around with
the settings too much this day -
Silly me, I thought this was Dry Creek already and was on the look out for the unsigned
junction of Rudolph Spur
Good thing I had my GPS simulator with me, whoa another mile and half or so to get to Dry Creek. Another odd thing, it seems this part
of the PCT was rerouted as I was off the GPS red lines by at least 600' until I got to Dry Creek.
Bridge at Dry Creek -
Road going up to Dry Creek Falls -
Not having a existing track of Rudolph Spur, and part of the reason I went for this classic hike, I
only had a vague idea of where Rudolph started. Just knew it was somewhere VERY close
to Dry Creek RD and the PCT. Almost went up Dry Creek RD. but decided to go towards
Cascade Locks on the PCT and literally 10' or so from Dry Creek Rd., Rudolph Spur Trail appears!
Sometimes I even manage to fake myself out, checked my GPS and had already hiked
4 miles to this point and for some odd reason I thought the whole day would be about
a 10 mile romp.
Headed up the very nicely maintained Rudolph Spur and would say it is maybe 1 degree
below the Rock Of Ages trail as far as upkeep goes. It is definitely traveled by people
and game to keep it viable as a minor trail. Route finding towards the upper end
wasn't bad at all, I think I sub consciously got off trail and followed a game trail
as a very small short cut and popped out at the first major view point to get some
pictures.
On the way up -
Pretty neat log that has some hand holds notched out as well -
From the viewpoint that marks the end of the steepest part of Rudolph Spur -
No rain but getting up over 3000' it did start to sprinkle some snow and I was on the brink
of feeling cold as I got closer to Benson Plateau.
The Benson being it's normal brooding self -
Something else I thought interesting is Rudolph Spur is very nicely, or not nicely, depending on your
point of view, marked with blazes and yellow painted dots. The yellow dots are very
similar if not indeed exactly the same as the red and yellow dots that line the upper
reaches of Defiance Trail 413! Someone has gone completely ape shit with the pink
flagging up there too.
BTW, here is the extent of the snow on the trails I traveled -
Up to this point I only saw 1 trail runner down on the PCT and 2 guys with no jackets on
that looked to have just come up Ruckel Ridge. They did have gloves on though. I must
have looked strange with my pants, jacket, winter hat and gloves on
Jetted across the rim of the Platter using the Benson Way trail and connected into the
PCT for the return leg of the hike.
Super nice campsite for PCT through hikers towards the very edge of the Platter rim -
Tomlike was a bit shrouded and looks to be pretty snowy up there -
Nick Eaton not so much -
Thought I was doing about a 10 mile hike today and turned out to about 16 miles
and almost 4800' of EG since I went the longer way from Herman Creek TH.
The PH field guide might want to be edited as Rudolph Spur starts right next to Dry Creek Rd.
Even though this trail is abandoned and steep it is still fairly easy to navigate without a
GPS track loaded and there is quite a bit of flagging all along the route.
