Oregon Hikers

A few years ago I went and checked out a couple of the mines up past the Skamania mines road! The last chance mine was completely collapsed, but a little ways up is the yellowjacket mine, which we peeked in the entrance. I think the Mabee mine and the blackjack mine are even further up the same abandoned road (past the gate at the end of the Skamania mines rd), which looks like it leads up to the SW side of Bluff mountain. Actually found some copper ore! found a few pieces outside of the yellowjacket mine and some float pieces from the creek.

Webfoot wrote: ↑

February 8th, 2021, 9:29 am

I wonder if one could follow Bluebird Creek up from the Washougal River, starting at 45.7393, -122.1294.

You can. My dad did that in the 80's. It should be easier now because a recent steelhead recovery project cleaned out a massive log jam from Bluebird Creek just above it's confluence with the river.

https://www.wildsteelheaders.org/scienc ... gal-river/

However, between Prospector Creek and Bluebird creek the Washougal flows through a slot canyon and has to be swum. I took an old road South from the waterfall on Prospector Creek down to where it crosses the Washougal and comes up by an old cabin. Most of that area was recently logged (it is private property, but not posted) so you can see the old road grade in satellite views.

https://goo.gl/maps/9qsvnKDNXjmLEe4BA

From the old cabin at 45.72725521198424, -122.13181425660373, you can follow a road NE. It has a Y intersection that heads back into the Bluebird Creek valley. From there it degrades, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the ox-cart road that runs on the East side of shirt creek to the mines.

Thank you.

CyrusK. wrote: ↑

February 10th, 2021, 10:33 am

I actually went and checked out a couple of the skamania mines by the west fork washougal river. The last chance mine, which is the largest, was completely collapsed, but bushwhacked up an abandoned road to the yellowjacket mine, where we peeked into the entrance. Also, I think the Mabee mine and the blackjack mine are even further up that abandoned road, which looks like it leads to the SW side of Bluff mountain.

You can follow the road a little further to where some logs spanned the creek as of 2002. If the logs across the creek aren't there, there should at least be the abutment for the bridge. There is a mine there, and I believe several others as you follow the creek back to the Last Chance mine. The miners often put in small exploratory adits as they searched for the vein. I haven't been further up the road than that.

Do you think its possible to get to the yellow jacket/copper canyon mine from the peak of bluff mountain? Opposed to fighting your way north from Skamania mine.

And if you take a left at the y intersection can you follow silver creek all the way to the silver creek mine?

Jbar290 wrote: ↑

December 24th, 2022, 4:38 pm

Do you think its possible to get to the yellow jacket/copper canyon mine from the peak of bluff mountain? Opposed to fighting your way north from Skamania mine.

Understanding that I haven't visited the mines on Skamania Mines road in 20 years; I wouldn't refer to the approach to Yellow Jacket from that direction as a fight. The closest I have been (in 2018) was the intersection of Skamania Mines Road and Snag Mountain Road. The continuation of Skamania Mines road looked passable from there.

Coming down from the peak of Bluff Mountain would be possible, in the sense that anything is possible. But by taking that route you would lose 2,000 feet in elevation through all kinds of underbrush. And the road access to Bluff Mountain is in really poor shape. Skamania Mines road is well graded for the majority of it's length. If you hiked in from the intersection with Snag Mountain Road, I believe Yellow Jacket is about a mile away, and you would get to see the log crib dam and the Last Chance mining site. That is a situation where the easier route is the better route.

And if you take a left at the y intersection can you follow silver creek all the way to the silver creek mine?

Yes, my Dad also did that in the 80s. Now I would expect a ton of brush and logs on the old road. But the grade definitely shows up on Lidar. Also, I see that the old cabin near Silver Creek and the Washougal has been replaced by a much nicer building. So I don't know if the current landowners are friendly to hikers. This is a situation where going in from the Bluff Mountain Trail might make sense.

Assuming the road is good i plan on taking a trip from the mercantile to the end of Skamania mines road.Ill take pictures of the entrance but i dont wanna go in. Then ill head up snag mountain and try the tree platform

Does anyone know about if someone is living down in the area around that dam? Checked it out and looked like someone might be there making it risky to try and descend to the river around the Snag junction. I've also not seen any maps marking it as private but the road gets roped off a bit after the junction along with a heap of no trespassing signs. Maps I have indicate "prospects" up at the end of it (Yellow Jacket I think?), right at the border of Gifford Pinchot. Overall just trying to assess what I can and can't get to in the area without some creative hiking solutions.

didn't mean to post this twice