AG Aiken Lava Flow Loop 8/8/2020

[BeaverDawg]

On 8/8/2020 we did a counter clockwise loop hike around the AG Aiken Lava flow on Mt. Adams following the loop described here https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... _Loop_Hike. We parked near the Gotchen Guard Station, hiked up the road to the Snipes Mountain TH #11 and began our ascent of the dry dusty trail. The trail hugs the east side of the lava flow through areas burned by multiple forest fires. Although the first two miles of the trail have been logged out the tread can be challenging to follow in places. After two miles many trees have fallen across the trail - none of which were hard to hop over. At about 4.5 miles we entered the Gotchen Creek Meadows complex, a series of meadows that run up to the Round the Mountain Trail #9. This was a nice reward as the creek and meadows were filled with wildflowers. The meadows were also filled with a resident herd of cows which is causing significant damage. We saw no other people.

Turning west on trail #9 we hiked over the north end of the Aiken Lava flow toward the South Climb trail #183. We passed three people along the way and enjoyed tons of lupine in peak bloom. The trail is in great shape.

At the South Climb trail we descended to the campground passing about 15 people. As expected the campground was packed so we quickly transited through to continue south on the Cold Springs Trail #72.

The Cold Springs trail is very lightly used and the tread is hidden by grass in places. The entire trail has been logged and the sawed logs aided our navigation. It was really nice hiking through the silver forest as we descended along the west side of the Aiken flow. The mountain was out and provided a great backdrop to the hike. After 4.25 miles, the Cold Springs trail junctions with the Gotchen Creek Trail #40.

We headed east on the Gotchen Creek trail for a mile, now foot-sore and ready to be done. This trail is dry and dusty due to equestrian traffic and not one to linger on. Shortly thereafter we arrived at the Gotchen Cr TH and only a short 1/4 mile road walk back to our truck.

It was a challenging but rewarding day. If you go be prepared with map and GPS. Mother Nature is reclaiming much of this route and some sections require close attention to stay on course. More boots on the ground would help A LOT. 15.6 miles and 3,325 ft gain. No bugs!!

[drm]

The Snipes Mtn Trail gets a modest amount of usage, but I think the Cold Springs trail is pretty rare since at the top it just goes to a road, and a very busy one at that. Snipes is often one of the first trails to get cleared of logs on Adams because it melts out first and is not in wilderness so chain saws can be used. But this year the trail team got a late start and so I think it just got bypassed.

And issue with those cows is that the responsibility for keeping them out of the upper areas rests with the managers of that land - the Forest Service and the Yakama, not the owners of the cattle. The Cougar Creek fire destroyed the fence that at least attempted to keep them out and it has not been rebuilt.

[bobcat]

Great loop! The several times I've been on the Snipes Mountain Trail, there have always been a few downed trees lower down, but never enough to impede progress.

I wonder if the same grazing concession applies to Yakama land? I know the cows have been all over Bird Creek Meadows since that area has been closed.

[drm]

It used to be that only the lower section was burned, from the Cold Springs Fire I think. But the Cougar Creek Fire reburned that, and also burned up higher. So it's now mostly burned all the way to Gotchen Meadows, though the meadows themselves did not fully burn.

The single grazing allotment includes both FS and Yakama land lower down.