Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

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rubiks
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Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by rubiks » April 30th, 2023, 7:29 pm

Photo of the Day:
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Mt. Hood over the spine of Wooly Horn Ridge

Took a quick jaunt up the Herman Creek Trail to Tomlike on Saturday. The weather was perfect for it, clear skies and warm. Started from the trailhead just after 6am and were at the top before noon. The trail is excellent as far as Slide Creek, then there's quite a bit of blowdown across the trail beyond that for the remainder of the burn zone (see drm's post in the snow level thread). Once you hike out of the burn zone, the trail clears up again.

Snow started about Cedar Swamp. The east fork of Herman Creek would have been a ford, but there's a couple logs just downstream that you could scramble across to keep your feet dry. We took Bosterson's Express Route for the last 1000', saving us about a mile of sidehilling in the snow. It's fairly steep, but the snow conditions were very good for kicking in steps without postholing.
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Starting up the Express Route
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Part way up

Somewhere on the way up Mt. Hood begins peeking over Waucoma Ridge.
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First views of Mt. Hood

From the top of the Express Route, there's still a couple hundred feet and a stretch of that stunted forest to navigate to the high point of Tomlike. The exposed ridge was mostly melted out, with plenty of spots at the top to each lunch and soak in the views. There's a reason this is my favorite place in the whole gorge, maybe in all of Oregon.
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Tomlike, flanked by two Washington volcanos

Return trip was uneventful. Plunge stepping, plus a little glissading, had us back down the Express Route in ten minutes. From there it was a leisurely three and a half hours back to the trailhead.
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Express Route down
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Where the Express Route meets the trail proper
You know exactly what to do.
There's no need to be afraid.
Keep walking.

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RobinB
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by RobinB » April 30th, 2023, 9:14 pm

Fantastic! Thanks so much for the report. I've never done the express route in snow - guess I need to.

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drm
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by drm » May 1st, 2023, 7:12 am

That's like 20 miles roundtrip?

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rubiks
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by rubiks » May 1st, 2023, 7:47 am

Round trip was 19.2 miles and 5000' eg, according to Caltopo.

RobinB, in that TR thread from Bosterson you'd mentioned an alternate route that leaves the trail just past the east fork HC crossing. We considered it, but ultimately skipped it because of concerns about bushwhacking. Our route had zero bushwhacking, 90% open slope. There were a couple tree lines to get through, but wide enough gaps between the trees that it was no issue.
You know exactly what to do.
There's no need to be afraid.
Keep walking.

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Bosterson
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by Bosterson » May 1st, 2023, 8:20 am

Nice work! That short cut is pretty excellent - there was enough snow that we had no concerns about breaking through into the talus underneath, so since the snow had softened a bit while we were on top, we were able to just heel plunge run down in only a few minutes. Definitely the recommended way to get up there from the Herman side in snow.
#pnw #bestlife #bitingflies #favoriteyellowcap #neverdispleased

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Charley
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by Charley » May 1st, 2023, 9:43 am

Before I realized it would be an incredibly long hike in, I was thinking that slope looked like a good ski. I guess it still would be, but that hike is tooooooo long!
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

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drm
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by drm » May 2nd, 2023, 6:00 am

I have looked up at that shortcut many times when it was melted out and the steep scree didn't look very inviting. Doing it in the snow would be perfect, but I would have to camp in the upper canyon because it's too many miles in a day for me too. Tomlike really is one of the special places in the Gorge, but Tanner Butte is pretty nice too. If only they can get that trail open too.

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Charley
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by Charley » May 2nd, 2023, 6:50 pm

drm wrote:
May 2nd, 2023, 6:00 am
... but Tanner Butte is pretty nice too. If only they can get that trail open too.
It's taking SOOOOO long. I'd really like to get up there and see that area again.
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

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rubiks
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by rubiks » May 5th, 2023, 7:24 pm

Charley wrote:
May 2nd, 2023, 6:50 pm
drm wrote:
May 2nd, 2023, 6:00 am
... but Tanner Butte is pretty nice too. If only they can get that trail open too.
It's taking SOOOOO long. I'd really like to get up there and see that area again.
Seconded. I've been getting back to gorge trails one by one as they reopen, most recently Wyeth and Nesmith Point. There's not a ton left on the list, but Tanner Butte is the one I'm anticipating the most.
You know exactly what to do.
There's no need to be afraid.
Keep walking.

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Eric Peterson
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Re: Herman Creek Tomlike 2023/04/29

Post by Eric Peterson » May 11th, 2023, 5:37 pm

Since establishing the fake Bosterson Express Route w/CH and Thum in the spring of 2012, have done it both up and down in snow and summer. Lost my favorite neck gaiter going down in the summer of 2021. Go find the old TR, too lazy to bother looking it up, heh...

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