More Wahkeena - Multnomah Loop - 11-25-2018

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dmthomas49
Posts: 267
Joined: May 16th, 2013, 6:51 am

More Wahkeena - Multnomah Loop - 11-25-2018

Post by dmthomas49 » November 25th, 2018, 1:40 pm

First, I want to thank all the people that worked on the trails in the Gorge! Without them, we would not be hiking today.

We decided to drive the old route 30 and see what it looked like. The Angels Rest Trailhead parking already had about 20-25 cars parking there at about 7:40. When we came back at about 10:10 the lot was full and cars were parked up the hill.

We parked at the Multnomah Falls parking outside the lodge. At 7:45 there were only about 10 other cars there. When we finished, there were still about 20 spots available and about 30 on the I-84 lot.

We hiked counter clockwise to finish the walk along the road first. I noticed one spot along this section that seems to have already had a slide. Quite a bit of the trees and brush were gone between the trail and the road.
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The parking at Wahkeena was fully open with quite a few spots remaining. The lower parking is closed.
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The trail up the Wahkeena side was in good shape. This side only had a few areas where there were some trees down.
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When we reach the top there is not a lot of evident damage there.

As we headed down towards Multnomah basin, the fire damage was more evident. A lot of trees were totally burned to the top, leaving big gaps.
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Along the Multnomah Creek Basin, the trail is in good shape. It appears to me that there are more muddy areas, maybe due to less brush uphill to absorb some of it. There were a few areas with trees down.
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We passed a lot of hikers on our loop. All of them were happy to be on these trails again. One women exclaimed, “I actually cried when I started my hike, did you?” My reply, “Not sayin…”

On the switchback on the way down to Multnomah Falls, one main viewpoint was totally logged out. It looks very different!
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So great to have these trails again!
"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."
— John Muir

squidvicious
Posts: 525
Joined: May 11th, 2015, 8:41 pm
Location: Troutdale

Re: More Wahkeena - Multnomah Loop - 11-25-2018

Post by squidvicious » November 25th, 2018, 3:03 pm

dmthomas49 wrote:
November 25th, 2018, 1:40 pm
The parking at Wahkeena was fully open with quite a few spots remaining
When I got there at 8:45 Wahkeena parking was maybe half full. By 9 or so it was full. By noon when I left there were cars parked all over the road, not all legally. Still, nothing like Angel's Rest.

I also wound up doing the loop today. I had intended to just pop by for a quick look around on my way elsewhere, but it was hard to stop, and I was surprised that it was not really super crowded on the trails. A steady flow of people, but not claustrophobic.

The trail surfaces are now notably better than before, really well taken care of. If you're looking for silver linings, that part was quite nice. Quick summary:

Wahkeena to Devil's Rest junction: lovely. wide, smooth, nice drainage work, old holes and washouts filled.
Devil's Rest to Larch: almost immediate difference, more "rustic." Narrower, a bit brushy and mossy in parts as the photos in the other thread show, more loose stuff on the trail. But already getting stomped down. Visible fire damage was the worst through here.
Going down Larch: slick, muddy, lots of loose stuff, full of clueless people who don't really care if you die. So, the usual, but more so. I definitely appreciated poles for stability.
On the switchback on the way down to Multnomah Falls, one main viewpoint was totally logged out.
Was not prepared for that! Pretty much from the viewpoint on down the majority of the trees are cut. It felt really really weird, more eerie than sad even.

mjanardh
Posts: 65
Joined: September 8th, 2015, 8:56 pm

Re: More Wahkeena - Multnomah Loop - 11-25-2018

Post by mjanardh » November 25th, 2018, 4:00 pm

great report.
I hiked from Angels rest TH, after a brief stop at the summit for lunch, continued on trail #415. I wanted to do the devils rest loop, but no access/opened yet. So continued on to Wahkeena and then to Multnomah. The damage is severe from Angels, trail covered with over growth and slides, the hard working TKO volunteers were mending them in a number of places.

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