Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

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chiefWright
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Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by chiefWright » July 5th, 2018, 1:04 pm

These days it's almost impossible for me to get out more than once a month. Unheard of to get out twice in less than a week, and to the same place! Which made for some fun comparisons.

On 30 June, Mike, Ruby and I set off for a day trip to Jeff Park via South Breitenbush trail.
On 4 July, just Ruby and I set off for a day trip to Jeff Park via Woodpecker & PCT trails.

Trail, South Breitenbush:
Distance to Park: 6.0 miles
Elevation gain to trail high point: 3000'

Maybe a dozen blowdowns, with a couple that needed to be climbed over/crawled under. As described in the trail guide, the upper 4 miles were pretty rocky, so I was looking at my feet more than the scenery. No significant trail damage. The Whitewater fire last year didn't touch the South Breitenbush trail, though there is burn scar visible on the slope south of the river.

Water on the trail was abundant, every seasonal creek had water. South Breitenbush required some rock hopping, but it runs flat at the crossing. All other crossings were negligible.

Trail, Woodpecker/PCT:
Distance to Park: 5.5 miles
Elevation gain to trail high point: 1400'

All of this trail up to the park entrance was inside last year's Whitewater fire. Burn damage is everywhere from negligible (crest of Woodpecker) to severe (PCT between Jeff & Russell creek) No blowdowns on Woodpecker. A half dozen or so on PCT, but none required any dodgy over/under. In spite of the fire damage, both PCT and Woodpecker were in remarkably good shape. The trail was quite dusty in areas of severe burn. But a side benefit of the burn is a lot more expansive views. Bottom line, I was looking more at scenery than feet.

There are fewer creeks on Woodpecker/PCT than South Breitenbush, but all creeks had water. Russell Creek is in a steep canyon and required agile rock hopping-- more hazardous than the South Breitenbush crossing. All other crossings were negligible.

Given that most guidebooks (including the trail guide on this website) list three routes to Jeff Park (PCT Park Ridge, South Breitenbush, Whitewater), I'm surprised there's little mention of Woodpecker. It's only a half mile longer than Whitewater (which is still closed for fire damage), and has less elevation gain. The first half-mile is steep, but the rest is easy grade. Especially the PCT highway. Of course, there's the fire scar.

Comparisons in Jeff Park:
In both cases, we went to Russell Lake. Explored a bit more around the lower lakes on the 30th, Explored a bit more east of Russel on the 4th. There's still some snow, though all campsites appear to be clear, and most of the trails are clear. There wasn't much change in snowpack from the 30th to the 4th, but more hot days could change all that. Skeeters were a bit worse on the 4th. I brought out the DEET on the 4th and got one bite, where it wasn't needed on the 30th and I got no bites. Anything that could flow water was flowing water, and the flowers are just gorgeous. Jeff, as always, is simply majestic.

Picturetime!

Mike & Ruby on the way up South Breitenbush:
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Ruby at the tarn on the highpoint of South Breitenbush:
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Ruby & Wildflowers by the South Breitenbush crossing:
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Woodpecker trailhead:
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Burn? Who cares? We're hiking!!
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Looking across to the "mosaic burn" on Whitewater ridge from Woodpecker. That's the closed 2243 road to the Whitewater trailhead in the valley bottom.
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Nice of the USFS to let me know when I'm into the wilderness zone. As if I would change my behavior because of some silly boundary:
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I guess replacing trail signs is lower on the priority list, as evidenced by the burned out post to the left at the Woodpecker/PCT junction. Grr.
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Go Go Beargrass!
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Go Go Rhodies!
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Go Go other green things!
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Rock eating tree, done in by fire:
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Sentinel Hills from the PCT. You can pick out the line of the closed Whitewater trail:
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Whitewater fire went all the way up the west flank of Jefferson in places
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Last edited by chiefWright on July 5th, 2018, 2:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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chiefWright
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by chiefWright » July 5th, 2018, 1:16 pm

Obligatory "reply" to post more pictures.

Russel Creek. A bit of tricky rockhopping, similar to Zigzag on the way to Paradise Park from Timberline Lodge
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Whitewater/PCT junction, with Whitewater closure notice
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Ahh, the park at last! So much lovelyness.
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Water
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by Water » July 5th, 2018, 1:50 pm

thank you for this! I have an out of town friend visiting and was considering my different options of special spots I know.
I was wondering about overall conditions - I've done woodpecker TH (for some reason, and not pamelia..) years ago to climb jefferson from the south ridge - haha, I know.. we got back to the car sunday night at some ungodly hour.

woodpecker is a super under-utilized TH in general.. though this year I suspect not as much.
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Don Nelsen
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by Don Nelsen » July 5th, 2018, 5:41 pm

Chief,

Thanks for the TR. With the Whitewater trail closed for now the Woodpecker ridge route is in my schedule for later this season. I've hiked this trail three or four times but usually use the other as Woodpecker is longer. Nice to know it's in good shape - a few years ago it had scores of trees down but looks like it's in much batter shape even after the fire.

I'm sure lots more folks are going to "discover" this route!

dn
Last edited by Don Nelsen on July 5th, 2018, 8:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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chiefWright
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by chiefWright » July 5th, 2018, 8:13 pm

Glad my TR is helpful!

Please note most of my language is past tense. As in "past results are no guarantee of future performance", blah blah blah.

Especially in a burn zone where dead trees are a whole lot more likely to topple across a trail that live trees. And where the snow is melting out. So I predict three things:

1) More trees will come down, especially in the burn zone. Bring rough gloves (glad I did), and clear out some light debris. Or be a true TKO, bring a handsaw and an extra hour, and pay it forward.
2) Betcha I was lucky on Saturday. Wednesday was a foretaste. And by now the skeeters are massing and ready for blood. Bring a headnet and DEET. Lots of it.
3) Real boots with real waterproofing are worth it. If you wear glorified tennis shoes, don't whine to me if you get your feet wet and twist an ankle.

By the way, there was a dead horse in Russell Creek, left hand side downstream of the crossing on Wednesday. I met up later with a ranger who told me there was a search and rescue Tuesday evening. A horse in the S/R party slipped off the trail into the creek and needed to be put down. I didn't see any evidence of scavengers, but no doubt it's only a matter of time before they or the USFS go to work on it. Ugh.

And a secret-- Notice that path around Russell? Maybe wander it until you see E Oregon. Perhaps there's a campsite a couple stones throw off. Is it in the NF? Is it in the Warm Springs reservation? Is it legal? For sure it's drop dead idyllic.

carlyk
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by carlyk » August 3rd, 2018, 1:24 pm

How are the roads to these trailheads? I've heard the last stretch to the South Breitenbush trailhead is a little rough. We've been burned a couple times before trying to follow what are described as "good gravel roads" in hiking books that turn out to be washboard the whole way. In our rattly old Corolla we had to go so slow that we would have spent the whole afternoon in the car, so we just turned around and skipped those hikes... So I'm a little wary of unknown gravel roads to trailheads!!

Thanks for the trail reports! :)

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Water
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by Water » August 3rd, 2018, 9:42 pm

don't want to tell you how to drive but washboard is a good gravel road.. ..if you go faster it gets it done quicker and you don't have to individually experience every single bump.

my ratty old corolla made it up 4220 to brietenbush lake a few years ago, probably about the worst road it's done. That's beyond gravel.. But there's been endless dirt, gravel and potholed roads its been down.
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retired jerry
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by retired jerry » August 4th, 2018, 5:51 am

It has something to do with resonance frequencies of your car and if you go faster on the washboarding, the frequency of input increases, maybe above a resonance

Another thing is, if you go faster it can make the washboarding worse. On the gravel road along the Deschutes below Sherars bridge, for example, there's a speed limit to reduce washboarding.

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drm
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by drm » August 4th, 2018, 7:10 am

retired jerry wrote:
August 4th, 2018, 5:51 am
It has something to do with resonance frequencies of your car and if you go faster on the washboarding, the frequency of input increases, maybe above a resonance

Another thing is, if you go faster it can make the washboarding worse. On the gravel road along the Deschutes below Sherars bridge, for example, there's a speed limit to reduce washboarding.
I think it also has a lot to do with weight and the size the wheel-base of the vehicle. I have seen some roads that are getting timber truck traffic get badly washboarded in weeks, and similar for roads that feature a lot of larger pickups towing horse trailers. I have always felt that it had to do with resonance frequencies of a vehicles suspension, but never seen that proven.

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retired jerry
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Re: Jefferson Park x2, 30 June & 4 July

Post by retired jerry » August 4th, 2018, 7:37 am

I read somewhere that lighter vehicles actually cause more washboarding, although that seems counter intuitive

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