Oregon Hikers

Did a an easy out & back ramble from Herman Ck to Wyeth on the Gorge (400) Trail. This section was completed in the mid-1990s and still in excellent condition. It starts from Herman Camp just to the left of the Gorton Ck trail. Most of it is in trees but there are openings with views up toward Indian Point It crosses some talus slopes which gives you a view out toward the river. In this view the peaks are (from L to R) Augspurger, Wind, and Dog: You cross Grays Ck and shortly there after reach the brand-new bridge over Gorton Ck, just south of Wyeth campground. Highly recomended if you just want a relaxing walk. (10.6 mi, 1700' O/B from Herman Ck trailhead)

Thx for the report,

On my Wyeth to Nick Eaton loop I TR'ed yesterday I returned to Wyeth on this trail. I think I went through around 5:30-6:30PM, what time did you pass through?

Really quite beautiful with several openings for viewpoints and I like the tall cliffs and mossy rock slopes. I'm going to try to work the 400 into more loop hikes.

It sure would be nice if the 400 went from Wyeth to Starvation crossing Shellrock Mtn. I wonder if there are any plans to do that? That may be something worth scouting out.

--Paul

I was on the 400 between 9 and noon so clearly missed you.

The Herman Ck-Wyeth segment of the 400 is a very nice trail for one that's not mentioned very often. It's only in the Afoot & Afield guide, not on the Green map, and shown on the USGS map as "approximate location". It was completed in the '90s and I guess they ran out of steam after that for completing the trail. The Lowe's hiking guide from 1986 gives directions for the 400 trail from its western terminus to Herman Ck but this sort of treatment seems to have fallen out of favor with more recent guides (Falcon, etc.). It would be great if a good trail continued on to Starvation as that would make more loops and more early season long hikes available.

- VM

Speaking of the 400, is its route between Eagle and Herman Creeks consist of the PCT, or is there a walkable road below?

Paul, my impression of the original vision for the 400 trail was to eventually go from Troutdale to Hood River -- to truly be a "Gorge Trail". At the time, I recall a similar concept for connecting all of the high country trails so that you could complete a loop (not sure if this was ever embraced by the USFS). This was back in the day with there was a lot of interest in long trails -- like the Coast Trail, Desert Trail and so on.

Some of these ideas seem to be re-emerging with the Oregon State Parks. I've been working my way through their Statewide Trails Plan for TKO purposes. It's pretty open-ended, but there's a new emphasis on trails that has been absent for awhile.

The other wild card that came in since Trail 400 began in the late 70s was the restoration of the HCRH as a bike/walk route. Initially, there was some thinking that it might replace 400 in sections where 400 hadn't been completed (this would make sense in areas outside USFS boundaries), but it's a totally different experience, so I'm hopeful that the original 400 idea will gain new life. I'm encouraged by the new bridge at Gorton Creek (kudos to Edan and his crew for that).

Someday, I'm hopeful that the HCRC will evolve into a bike + hike trail, with trailheads along the HCRC that include secure bike parking (e.g., so that you can bike to a trailhead from the HCRC parking areas). This is on my long list of TKO "to-do's"....

Tom

drm wrote:Speaking of the 400, is its route between Eagle and Herman Creeks consist of the PCT, or is there a walkable road below?

I believe you'll have to piece together bits of the old Gorge highway (& bike path) and the PCT to get from Eagle to Herman Ck without walking on an actual road.

From one cherubic rodent to another, love your new avatar, VanMarmot! Check out the pic on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmot

anna in boots

anna in boots wrote:From one cherubic rodent to another, love your new avatar, VanMarmot! Check out the pic on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmot

anna in boots

Thanks! It's a Vancouver Island marmot, a now (thanks to habitat loss) edangered subspecies of marmot found only on that Canadian island. I've been contributing to their recovery fund for several years now. The fund has an excellent captive breeding program and is making progress on re-establishing populations in the wild. I wasn't a big supporter of the little furry bandits when they chewed-up my pack (...and my lunch ...and my dinner) but losing them entirely was just too much to take.

- VM