Storm-Watching on McIntyre Ridge - 6/29/19

[justpeachy]

The McIntyre Ridge Trail has a "musical chairs" history when it comes to access. The original trailhead at the end of Road 110 (on BLM land) was closed, and an unofficial trailhead (called the New McIntyre Trailhead in the field guide) was established at the end of Road 108. Once TKO helped build the new Douglas Trailhead the Forest Service claimed to close off access to Road 108.

Greg and I visited on June 29 and it didn't look like access had ever been closed to Road 108. The road itself is a bit of a mess with enormous potholes. But it is open, so this is just a quick report to let you know you can still access McIntyre Ridge this way (here's the Field Guide entry).

The boulders at the end of the road are no deterrent for the OHV crowd. They just drive around:




The first mile is not so much a trail as a road, due to the OHV use (even though this is inside the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness):




At the first viewpoint Mt. Hood was only partially visible:




It was not a banner beargrass year here:




But the rhododendrons were in bloom and looking nice:




And the wildflowers near the bench looked great:






We even saw a hummingbird:




We watched (and listened to) a crazy thunderstorm moving from south to north, engulfing Mt. Hood (and dumping a bunch of hail, from what we heard):






On the way back we spotted this shot-up handle on a tree branch. Maybe it was once part of a growler? We removed it and packed it out.






We stopped at the Douglas Trailhead on the drive out. Ever wondered what one of those new plastic-like trailhead signs looks like after being used for target practice? Wonder no more:

[texasbb]

Storms:

[Splintercat]

Thanks for the update, Cheryl! The Forest Service has been dragging their feet in working with TKO for at least eight years on embracing an obvious solution and designating the new trailhead, but the outrageous OHV activity there is proving our point. They will come around, eventually. In the meantime, good to hear that it's open. The things OHVs, dumpers and shooters fear most are eyeballs and cell phone cameras!

Tom

[AaronPDX]

I can confirm that a load of hail was indeed dumped on 6/29 on Hood -- because I was under it, soaking wet, en route out of Sahalie Falls.

Thanks for explaining the ORV tracks I saw on the trail (and resultant mess of shotgun shells at otherwise nice viewpoint), described in my report here:

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