Barlow Ridge Loop

[Sugar Pine]

Hiked the Barlow Ridge Loop yesterday, up to Barlow Butte, along the ridge, down to Klingers Camp and back on the Barlow Road. Unfortunately, it was cloudy in the morning so we did not have any views. The trail was in good shape up to Barlow Butte. Along the ridge, we'd occasionally lose the trail but soon find it again. Heading down we could not follow it. We'd occasionally see old flagging or tree blazes, but they didn't seem to mark a clear trail, at least not for long. Lots of blow-down made the cross country trek slow going.
GPS track logged about 11 miles vs. 9.5 in the field guide, but that could be because of our zigzagging around looking for the trail.

[romann]

That rocky ridge looks fun! Once looked at Barlow from Palmateer point across the canyon, and thought what would it be like there. Thanks for sharing.

[Webfoot]

Yes, that ridge does look like fun. Thank you as well.

[jime]

A friend & I had already planned to hike this loop before seeing this trip report.
We did it Friday, June 19, 2020 and the views were good.

Hood

Jefferson

Classic

The ridge trail becomes faint but is pretty easy to follow and blazes are frequent up until the end of the ridge.
At about 4.25mi into the hike you come to the last little open meadow before the ridge drops off.
From here we lost and found the trail several times. Coming down was a tough, slow trek for us.
I can't really recommend this route for all but the most prepared and adventurous. GPS needed.
We did find blazes and some diamond trail markers at the waypoints marked on this map.
There are clearly a lot of tree blazes but they are very difficult to follow. And no trail tread.

Went back to Klingers Camp along the road to find the TH on this end.
Not on the road, this sign is above the road behind a pull-in campsite.
Coordinates here are N45° 14.661' W121° 37.809'

[bobcat]

Fun loop. When I did it, I also came out just west of Klingers Camp, getting distracted by elk trails.