Labyrinth to Catherine Creek to Coyote Wall , 21-Apr-2013
Posted: April 23rd, 2013, 5:07 pm
Sunday was supposed to be a fabulous day over on the east side. Neither Jim (Crusak) nor I had ever been to Coyote Wall, so we thought that'd be a good way to finally hike with each other a bit, after having hiked the same Double Dog Day together but separate. After pouring over trip reports here, and anything else was out on the 'net, we decided to do a nice little loop vibramhead had only recently posted to gpsfly. We'd heard, of course, of lots of trail work out there and thought that track not only looked interesting but also offered a lot of variety.
The basic idea was to meet at 8:30 (Lazy Sunday!) at the Coyote Wall trailhead, hike up through the Labyrinth, over to the Catherine Creek trailhead, northwest up the drainage before swinging back west across some broad meadows, then descending back down along Coyote Wall for the grand finale. So, in a nutshell, going counter-clockwise, (approximately) doing vibramhead's loop in reverse. Both of us felt this was an excellent choice, given how stunning that finale turned out to be!
Starting out with the finish. Along the rim of Coyote Wall, the balsamroot was pretty prime!
The day actually started out far more cloudy than forecast. We had only occasional sunbursts break through, during much of the morning. The Labyrinth was an intriguing place, and certainly worth being part of any agenda in this area!
Momentary sunbreak as we enter the Labyrinth - a series of rocky promontories the trail wends through.
The turkey buzzards were having a great time, surfing the persistent westerlies.
Up close.
Lots of scrub oak. (It wasn't really this dark, but sometimes the camera just "gets all artsy" on ya.)
We passed a little cave, that seemed pretty deep. Neither of us felt much like finding out exactly how deep.
Jim's pretty good at taking self-portraits, but rarely posts them. (This is what happens when I get "voted" to do the TR!)
The lupine is just starting to kick into gear. The reddish three-leafed stuff, too!
Lots and lots of that desert parsley stuff every here and there.
Then, there's what seems to be everybody's favorite... Just starting to 'splode all over!
If you blink, you'll miss the little larkspurs popping up at the lower levels.
The high point on the trail over to Catherine Creek is only a bit over 800'. Of course, you give that all up, before climbing again.
Tried the B&W mode on the camera, but honestly don't see any difference between this and just converting to grayscale after download?
We passed within 100' or so of some vision quest pits, which were out in this boulder field. I was highly intrigued by the rock wall!
Where little boulders come from.
We held commanding views of the Columbia much of the day.
Descending to the Catherine Creek trailhead, we saw lots of very colorful little weeds in all directions. Most of these, I haven't a clue. A few, I'll try to label...
It'd just be gratuitous to label this one, right?
Loved the "burst" pattern of this little lupine bush!
No idea.
Not even very colorful, come to think of it.
Go Vikings! (It's okay, there's always next year.)
Frillier than desert parsley?
"What are shooting stars, Alex?"
Group shot!
There were about 6-8 cars at our trailhead when we started. Catherine Creek, with its porta-potties, was crowded already!
The "trail" northwest from Catherine Creek was actually a road. It got a good bit steeper (~17.5%) and less gravelly as we went.
The forest changed from oak to Doug fir, and we saw these reddish pink things.
No idea. Some sort of dandelion from hell?
Cresting at around 1400', we were back in the scrub oak again.
There were several largish groups of (6-10) folks picnicking across this meadow. Maybe we could've come straight up it, instead?
Another day.
Not too terrible of a pick-a-nick spot. A little breezy, and some light mist today, though. Probably more flowers in a week or three?
Totally Killer View of Mt Hood!
Crossing back along the top of this area, we did encounter a number of mountain bikers. But, to a one, they were all exceptionally polite. Could be that was only because we'd stepped out of their way? I dunno. But there ya go.
It does get hard staying off private property at the NW quadrant of this loop. In fact, I think we didn't quite succeed. Not that we didn't try! One trail we followed wasn't signed. Until we got to the other end. Damn.
If you follow our track, go sharp left here instead of sharp right! At least the folks seem to have a sense of good fun about them.
We had to turn around, from the way we had been going, to see these signs. Not cool.
The upper track follows unmaintained jeep trails through the forest. This was in the ditch.
We finally emerged at the top of Coyote Wall. The wind was howling, again. It was almost as fierce as on Slacker Butte, but more swirly and subject to change.
We took shelter behind this deadfall to enjoy a little lunch. Note killer view of Hood, had we been looking the other way!
Time to break out the StickPic. Hopefully, another movie may come of this. For now, just this lunch shot.
The last few miles down the edge of Coyote Wall was just a stunning grand finale for this hike! No need to narrate much here. Just soak in the balsamroot! (As long as you go in the next week or two.)
Crazy bike trail along the lip.
Memorial to a crazy biker. (One must presume.)
Blowin' in the wind!
Poles advised. The wind will knock you over here if you're offguard.
Consider what the wind has done to this tree!
Very cool syncline on the Oregon side, highlighted wonderfully at this sun angle.
Looking back up the wall. Standing too close, when a good swirl hits... oh boy!
Jim stepped right over this guy. He was none too happy, but it did get him to move out of the trail and onto this nice hot rock.
The turnout onto Courtney Road, for the trailhead (below), is actually very well signed.
Really turning into a darn nice day, as we wind down to the finish of our loop!
Rimrock's cool. In a deserty-sorta way.
The old highway, back to the trailhead. Closed for good cause, clearly.
Altogether, this (highly recommended) loop and it's little deviations, were about 13 miles and 3600ish feet of EG.
Right-click, "View Image", for full-sized map.
http://gpsfly.org/gps_map.php?gps_id=2330&w=645&h=440
Another great (dry!) day in the desert!
The basic idea was to meet at 8:30 (Lazy Sunday!) at the Coyote Wall trailhead, hike up through the Labyrinth, over to the Catherine Creek trailhead, northwest up the drainage before swinging back west across some broad meadows, then descending back down along Coyote Wall for the grand finale. So, in a nutshell, going counter-clockwise, (approximately) doing vibramhead's loop in reverse. Both of us felt this was an excellent choice, given how stunning that finale turned out to be!
Starting out with the finish. Along the rim of Coyote Wall, the balsamroot was pretty prime!
The day actually started out far more cloudy than forecast. We had only occasional sunbursts break through, during much of the morning. The Labyrinth was an intriguing place, and certainly worth being part of any agenda in this area!
Momentary sunbreak as we enter the Labyrinth - a series of rocky promontories the trail wends through.
The turkey buzzards were having a great time, surfing the persistent westerlies.
Up close.
Lots of scrub oak. (It wasn't really this dark, but sometimes the camera just "gets all artsy" on ya.)
We passed a little cave, that seemed pretty deep. Neither of us felt much like finding out exactly how deep.
Jim's pretty good at taking self-portraits, but rarely posts them. (This is what happens when I get "voted" to do the TR!)
The lupine is just starting to kick into gear. The reddish three-leafed stuff, too!
Lots and lots of that desert parsley stuff every here and there.
Then, there's what seems to be everybody's favorite... Just starting to 'splode all over!
If you blink, you'll miss the little larkspurs popping up at the lower levels.
The high point on the trail over to Catherine Creek is only a bit over 800'. Of course, you give that all up, before climbing again.
Tried the B&W mode on the camera, but honestly don't see any difference between this and just converting to grayscale after download?
We passed within 100' or so of some vision quest pits, which were out in this boulder field. I was highly intrigued by the rock wall!
Where little boulders come from.
We held commanding views of the Columbia much of the day.
Descending to the Catherine Creek trailhead, we saw lots of very colorful little weeds in all directions. Most of these, I haven't a clue. A few, I'll try to label...
It'd just be gratuitous to label this one, right?
Loved the "burst" pattern of this little lupine bush!
No idea.
Not even very colorful, come to think of it.
Go Vikings! (It's okay, there's always next year.)
Frillier than desert parsley?
"What are shooting stars, Alex?"
Group shot!
There were about 6-8 cars at our trailhead when we started. Catherine Creek, with its porta-potties, was crowded already!
The "trail" northwest from Catherine Creek was actually a road. It got a good bit steeper (~17.5%) and less gravelly as we went.
The forest changed from oak to Doug fir, and we saw these reddish pink things.
No idea. Some sort of dandelion from hell?
Cresting at around 1400', we were back in the scrub oak again.
There were several largish groups of (6-10) folks picnicking across this meadow. Maybe we could've come straight up it, instead?
Another day.
Not too terrible of a pick-a-nick spot. A little breezy, and some light mist today, though. Probably more flowers in a week or three?
Totally Killer View of Mt Hood!
Crossing back along the top of this area, we did encounter a number of mountain bikers. But, to a one, they were all exceptionally polite. Could be that was only because we'd stepped out of their way? I dunno. But there ya go.
It does get hard staying off private property at the NW quadrant of this loop. In fact, I think we didn't quite succeed. Not that we didn't try! One trail we followed wasn't signed. Until we got to the other end. Damn.
If you follow our track, go sharp left here instead of sharp right! At least the folks seem to have a sense of good fun about them.
We had to turn around, from the way we had been going, to see these signs. Not cool.
The upper track follows unmaintained jeep trails through the forest. This was in the ditch.
We finally emerged at the top of Coyote Wall. The wind was howling, again. It was almost as fierce as on Slacker Butte, but more swirly and subject to change.
We took shelter behind this deadfall to enjoy a little lunch. Note killer view of Hood, had we been looking the other way!
Time to break out the StickPic. Hopefully, another movie may come of this. For now, just this lunch shot.
The last few miles down the edge of Coyote Wall was just a stunning grand finale for this hike! No need to narrate much here. Just soak in the balsamroot! (As long as you go in the next week or two.)
Crazy bike trail along the lip.
Memorial to a crazy biker. (One must presume.)
Blowin' in the wind!
Poles advised. The wind will knock you over here if you're offguard.
Consider what the wind has done to this tree!
Very cool syncline on the Oregon side, highlighted wonderfully at this sun angle.
Looking back up the wall. Standing too close, when a good swirl hits... oh boy!
Jim stepped right over this guy. He was none too happy, but it did get him to move out of the trail and onto this nice hot rock.
The turnout onto Courtney Road, for the trailhead (below), is actually very well signed.
Really turning into a darn nice day, as we wind down to the finish of our loop!
Rimrock's cool. In a deserty-sorta way.
The old highway, back to the trailhead. Closed for good cause, clearly.
Altogether, this (highly recommended) loop and it's little deviations, were about 13 miles and 3600ish feet of EG.
Right-click, "View Image", for full-sized map.
http://gpsfly.org/gps_map.php?gps_id=2330&w=645&h=440
Another great (dry!) day in the desert!