Elk Cove – Pinnacle Ridge Loop – 8-31-20
Posted: September 2nd, 2020, 8:12 am
I hadn’t been on these two trails since the Dollar Fire (2011). Almost the entire length of the Elk Cove Trail was scorched in that blaze, and only the uppermost section of the Pinnacle Ridge Trail escaped it.
I parked at the Elk Cove Trailhead and hiked the 1 ¼ miles up decommissioned FR 2840-650. Once around the bend in the road, views open up immediately through the standing conifer corpses – across the Clear Branch to Vista Ridge and Owl Point as well as The Pinnacle on the next ridge west. Once the trail proper begins, you’re soon on the ridge crest that takes you all the way to Elk Cove, and Mt. Hood’s glaciered north face is visible most of the time.
Nine years after the fire, there’s now a dense understory of post-fire shrubbery: Scouler’s willow, western larch, manzanita, snow brush, huckleberry, bear-grass, and chinquapin. There are a few small stands where there wasn’t crown fire, but the whole time you are in the burn.
I stopped at the rocky viewpoint (the Lowe guidebooks call it Inspiration Point) which gives a clear view up to the mountain and the tumbling Coe Glacier. Below, the Coe Branch and Compass Creek come together, with Canon Ball (sp?) Falls a.k.a. Lower Compass Creek Falls plainly visible. (The original Elk Cove Trail came up this valley from the east side of the Eliot Branch and arrived at the ridge crest north of the viewpoint; that was before they put in all the logging roads.)
From the viewpoint, I hiked on up to cross Cove Creek and then passed numerous campsites (all empty) before arriving at Elk Cove itself. I took the short jaunt along the Timberline Trail that cuts across the northern reach of Barrett Spur and then dove down the Pinnacle Ridge Trail.
This section of the Pinnacle Ridge Trail is a delight, passing down heather meadows and passing over burbling tributaries of the Clear Branch. Wildflowers are still very much in bloom along the creek verges. The edge of the burn is just south of Pinnacle Meadows, a boggy open space that offers views to Mt. Adams and is now swaying with cottongrass. As usual, the sections of trail near the bogs are a little overgrown; this is a situation that hasn’t changed in decades and I did a bit of snipping here and there as I walked.
From here on down, it’s all burn. I passed close to The Pinnacle and then traversed below talus outcroppings inhabited by indignant pikas. The trail arrives at the old trailhead and then runs east of the decommissioned road until it gets to the current trailhead. This is about 1 ¾ miles from the Elk Cove Trailhead by narrow gravel road, but only about 700 yards away if you bushwhack down the clearcut slope to FR 2840. (Walk about 250 yards down the road before you cut down the slope – lots of downed trees and debris – to reach 2840, where you turn right to get to the Elk Cove Trailhead.) It would be nice if they just made a connector trail down here some day.
I parked at the Elk Cove Trailhead and hiked the 1 ¼ miles up decommissioned FR 2840-650. Once around the bend in the road, views open up immediately through the standing conifer corpses – across the Clear Branch to Vista Ridge and Owl Point as well as The Pinnacle on the next ridge west. Once the trail proper begins, you’re soon on the ridge crest that takes you all the way to Elk Cove, and Mt. Hood’s glaciered north face is visible most of the time.
Nine years after the fire, there’s now a dense understory of post-fire shrubbery: Scouler’s willow, western larch, manzanita, snow brush, huckleberry, bear-grass, and chinquapin. There are a few small stands where there wasn’t crown fire, but the whole time you are in the burn.
I stopped at the rocky viewpoint (the Lowe guidebooks call it Inspiration Point) which gives a clear view up to the mountain and the tumbling Coe Glacier. Below, the Coe Branch and Compass Creek come together, with Canon Ball (sp?) Falls a.k.a. Lower Compass Creek Falls plainly visible. (The original Elk Cove Trail came up this valley from the east side of the Eliot Branch and arrived at the ridge crest north of the viewpoint; that was before they put in all the logging roads.)
From the viewpoint, I hiked on up to cross Cove Creek and then passed numerous campsites (all empty) before arriving at Elk Cove itself. I took the short jaunt along the Timberline Trail that cuts across the northern reach of Barrett Spur and then dove down the Pinnacle Ridge Trail.
This section of the Pinnacle Ridge Trail is a delight, passing down heather meadows and passing over burbling tributaries of the Clear Branch. Wildflowers are still very much in bloom along the creek verges. The edge of the burn is just south of Pinnacle Meadows, a boggy open space that offers views to Mt. Adams and is now swaying with cottongrass. As usual, the sections of trail near the bogs are a little overgrown; this is a situation that hasn’t changed in decades and I did a bit of snipping here and there as I walked.
From here on down, it’s all burn. I passed close to The Pinnacle and then traversed below talus outcroppings inhabited by indignant pikas. The trail arrives at the old trailhead and then runs east of the decommissioned road until it gets to the current trailhead. This is about 1 ¾ miles from the Elk Cove Trailhead by narrow gravel road, but only about 700 yards away if you bushwhack down the clearcut slope to FR 2840. (Walk about 250 yards down the road before you cut down the slope – lots of downed trees and debris – to reach 2840, where you turn right to get to the Elk Cove Trailhead.) It would be nice if they just made a connector trail down here some day.