Multnomah - Wahkeena loop

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squidvicious
Posts: 524
Joined: May 11th, 2015, 8:41 pm
Location: Troutdale

Multnomah - Wahkeena loop

Post by squidvicious » January 9th, 2022, 11:23 am

Quick condition report as of this morning. Short version is I was expecting it to be terrible after all the rain, and it's fine. In more detail:

ICE: Trail is frustratingly patchy. Much more melted out than I expected. While most of the way is either bare or grainy snow, there's still enough ice for microspikes. I think coming down on the Wahkeena side was the iciest stretch.

DEBRIS: Shocked that there was virtually nothing. No significant new blockages, just one small tree across the trail just east of the Devil's Rest junction, and a bigger one that I can't remember whether it was there before or not down the hill from there. There was fresh rock fall visible everywhere, but I didn't hear anything coming down while I was out.

WATER: Not surprisingly, there's a lot. On the Larch Mtn side, the water that flows across the trail towards the beginning was going hard and seemed to have done some reshaping of the trail. Stable footing meant getting a bit wet.

The normal trickle of Shady Creek was higher than I've ever seen as well--the rocks were submerged and the water was flowing fast. It was enough to convince me to not bother trying going down via the Vista Point trail (a quick glance up as I went by the junction confirmed that was for the best).

Finally, the runoff just before Wahkeena bridge had brought down some fresh rock and carved channels in it, making a bit of a lumpy mess. No harder to cross than usual, though

CROWDS
: It always amazes me what a difference it makes when the HCRH is closed. Only a handful of people out on the loop.

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