Background: in 2006 and again a few years later, storms and floods — and maybe even a jökulhlaup — damaged and eventually obliterated the Timberline Trail across the Eliot Branch (a.k.a. Eliot Creek). People started using an unofficial crossing a bit upstream from the previous trail, but it included ropes, was on the sketchy side, and made a lot of people nervous. I scouted out some possible creek-free "high routes" on Eliot Glacier itself, and also wrote up detailed instructions on negotiating the ropes and the washout.
Late last year, they finally built the long-awaited new Timberline Trail crossing, downstream from the previous crossing(s). They promise this one won't be as prone to future destruction because it's closer to bedrock. So, I went up last week to check things out.
First, an updated map:
(The fat blue line is the Timberline Trail. The purple lines are the boot paths up the west and east moraines. Turquoise is the washout crossing, a.k.a. the "ropes route.")
THE NEW CROSSING
It's looooooong. It takes almost a mile to switchback down from Cloud Cap to Eliot Creek, and it drops about 500 feet. On the west side, it gains about 600 feet over the course of 7/10 of a mile: steeper, but with fewer switchbacks. The Cloud Cap side is largely unshaded thanks to the 2008 Gnarl Ridge fire.
Here's a photo of the east side, taken from the west:
As for the stream itself... if you were hoping for an easier crossing, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that on the day I went, there were logs that actually made it pretty darn easy:
The bad news is that log crossings don't last forever, and on a high water day it'll be pretty bad. Basically, the stream crossing itself is no easier than it's ever been. It's on a par with Newton, Coe, and Muddy Fork.
THE OLD CROSSING (washout/ropes route)
First of all, let's stop calling it the "ropes route," because the ropes are gone. (I don't know if the Forest Service took them out or if nature did.) On the west side, as expected, they've decommissioned the trail that leads to the west moraine of Eliot Glacier. Here's the junction, with the old trail leading uphill, obscured by sticks and brush:
On the east side, though, something interesting has happened: they've kept the old trail in place, and put up a new sign indicating that it leads to the "Eliot east moraine":
That's cool, because it implies that they're encouraging the east moraine as an alternate route up to Cooper Spur, which opens up an obvious loop option for those who didn't already know about it — or who don't like taking unsigned trails.
Now, about the crossing itself... the steep west side is pretty much like it's always been. It's doable, but much slower going on the descent without the rope. The stream itself also hasn't changed much; in fact, I found my usual crossing rocks more or less where they've always been! (Of course, this being a hot day in a high snow year, they were mostly underwater, and I ended up crossing way up near the end of the ice.)
The east side has suffered some rockslide damage, but isn't hugely different than it was before; the lack of a rope doesn't change much. The trail from the "bench" up to the top of the east moraine is still there — it's visible as a light streak in the left-center of this photo:
THE GLACIER CROSSING
I didn't go up on the glacier last week, but visually it didn't look like anything had changed significantly up there. My old advice still applies.
CONCLUSIONS
Both the new "official" route and the old washout route are viable options. The new route avoids nasty loose moraine debris, but it's longer and involves more elevation change. As always, the glacier is an option for those who want a little adventure or really hate rock-hopping across raging streams.
I've updated OpenStreetMap with the new trail alignment, so sites like GraphHopper will be able to calculate mileage and such.
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