Wolf Creek Trestle Hike - 2014-03-01

[forestkeeper]

Awesome! Thanks!

[retired jerry]

I backpacked up from the bottom, spent one night. That trailhead seemed safe to park at.

Maybe the trailhead on the other end not so much?

[aircooled]

As Don says, there's treasure everywhere! Thanks for the TR and another good reason to be out on the trail. Or rail!

[flydunes]

I backpacked up from the bottom, spent one night. That trailhead seemed safe to park at.

Maybe the trailhead on the other end not so much?

I've been hiking and mushrooming in the general Cochran/Timber area for quite a few years without any problems. I've never seen the tell-tale sparkle of broken safety glass at any of the trail head areas (or wide spots in the road). That's never a guarantee about the future though. I'm still happy every time I see my intact SUV where I left it when I return.

[flydunes]

So I was fighting a cold today and decided I shouldn't hike, but I wanted to get out of the house. So I drove out to the Belding trailhead.

Salmonberry road is well maintained and wouldn't be a problem at all in a passenger car. The last 2.5 miles on Beaver Slide Road is another story though! Its steep (~19% grade), narrow with few pull outs, and deeply rutted in places. You'd want a 4WD with reasonable ground clearance. My Xterra was fine, but there were a few sections that I had to slow way down and nervously consider before committing to. This would be a bad place to get stuck...

Not too far from the end of the road near the parking area, someone had spray painted on a large rock "F* This Road" with an added smiley face. I understood how they felt. But I hope they didn't give up at that point. They were damn close to the parking lot.

When I arrived at the parking area I was surprised to see three other vehicles already there (two new looking white Jeeps, and one Suzuki enduro type M/C). It was already raining at about 11am when I got there, and the rain was forecast to continue to build later in the day.

Just to the west of the parking area the tracks were completely wiped out for about 30 yards, and the fresh looking slide went pretty high up the steep slope. I didn't see any user trails skirting the slide, but I didn't scout around too much. Immediately to the east was a tunnel (tunnel 29 I assume) with a good foot of standing water in it for about 15-20' back. That was a good thing because I was tempted to hike even with my cold.

So no hiking today, no pics, but I did some productive car scouting of various roads after I left.