Angels-larch-bell cr-oneonta-franklin and back

[joerunner]

Spent all day on the trail yesterday in the heat. Actually while folks were suffering in town the stream side trails and snow trekking up near larch was quite nice. Left Angels rest at 6:30 a.m. to Devils rest then back down to the junction with Waukeena and over to Multnomah Creek. There was enough heat already for me to go through about twice as much water as I normally would.

Ran/walked up to larch where the trail disappeared under about 3-4' of snow starting just above 3000'. The view from the Larch lookout was the best I have ever seen. Sorry no pictures this time. Continued down through the parking lot and road, which had been plowed but amazingly know one was up there except a few bikers. Its a bit tricky getting to the lookout from the parking lot because of the slopped snow pile on the path.

About a 1/4 mile down the trail we got onto the Larch loop trail which was covered with an abundance of snow. Relied on the gps to route find our way down to the Bell creek junction. At this point the snow was pretty much gone. Followed the Bell creek trail all the way to Horsetail creek trail. The first part was one of the most amazingly beautiful trail that I have been on. There were hundreds of small streams crossing the trail and old growth trees as far as you could see. As you approach Horsetail trail the trail has been eaten up by the forest. Not too difficult to follow but very littered with trees and limbs. If you get a chance to hike Bell Creek I'd highly recommend it as an out and back starting at larch Mt.

Dropped down to Oneonta and went back up to the Franklin Ridge trail and followed it down to Multnomah Creek then back to Angels Rest along the lower trail to complete the trip. Franklin Ridge was clear of snow and was very nice.

Stats:
31-32 miles
8500' elevation gain
10 hours
Hot

[Paul]

Jeez. You're a BEAST. I'm tired after 12 miles....

[AlexanderSupertramp]

Stats:
31-32 miles
8500' elevation gain
10 hours
Hot

Roughly 5 ga-billion calories burned. Dude, are you Batman? I might get worn out if I coasted down hill on a bike for 32 miles.

[anna in boots]

Okay, I'm only ever hiking with joerunner if he has the flu and I have a rocket pack.

anna in boots
rocket pack sold separately

[Don Nelsen]

Hey Joe,

Not bad - I only got in 29 miles and 7,700 vetical for the weekend and it took me Two days. - Yep, you are an animal - good work!!

So, is the Larch road and parking lot plowed all the way to the top? If so, 'bout time they got that thing open.

dn

[pablo]

Sir, you are an incredible athlete, I salute you. Have you ever considered combining your training regime and getting GPS tracks of all the marked trails you travel into the field guide? My guess is that in a single summer given the distance you cover you could get accurate trail tracks for much of the Gorge.

That Bell Creek section is on my list.

--Paul

[jeffstatt]

Sir, you are an incredible athlete, I salute you. Have you ever considered combining your training regime and getting GPS tracks of all the marked trails you travel into the field guide? My guess is that in a single summer given the distance you cover you could get accurate trail tracks for much of the Gorge.

That Bell Creek section is on my list.

--Paul

Friends of the Columbia River Gorge has wanted to take that project on for some years now. I wonder if they'd donate a GPS to the cause!

[joerunner]

Here is my track.


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/slid ... 4863075682

I hope that link works.

I have gps files on most of my hikes and I'd love to share with the Friends of the Gorge and on the field guide. I just have to figure out how to do it. I'm signed up as a contributor I just haven't had the time to figure out the tech stuff.

Gps map of the whole gorge? Hmmm! Now that sounds like a challenge. I had totally planned on traversing the high gorge trails from defiance to angels this Summer but the snow has pushed off that goal to the point that it might interfere with some race stuff that I have going on.

[joerunner]

Hey Joe,

Not bad - I only got in 29 miles and 7,700 vetical for the weekend and it took me Two days. - Yep, you are an animal - good work!!

So, is the Larch road and parking lot plowed all the way to the top? If so, 'bout time they got that thing open.

dn

Being called an animal by you is a great compliment. The top part is plowed so I assume it is clear all the way down. I was wondering why there were no cars but if it is closed down below then I guess that explains it. It looks like they need to do some work on that path from the parking lot to the viewpoint which is deep in steeply sloped snow and kind of treacherous.

[joerunner]

Sir, you are an incredible athlete, I salute you. Have you ever considered combining your training regime and getting GPS tracks of all the marked trails you travel into the field guide? My guess is that in a single summer given the distance you cover you could get accurate trail tracks for much of the Gorge.

That Bell Creek section is on my list.

--Paul

The beauty of that Bell creek trail took me off guard a bit. At least the Southern part of it did. It is kind of hard to get to it without a long loop or out and back so my guess is it gets very little traffic.

I probably have enough saved tracks to fill up a few holes in the forum guide. I probably should sit down with one of you knowledgable guys to learn how to do it without screwing anything up.