Grassy Knoll to Big Huckleberry 5/29/23

This forum is used to share your experiences out on the trails.
Post Reply
Natmospheric
Posts: 34
Joined: September 26th, 2021, 10:52 am

Grassy Knoll to Big Huckleberry 5/29/23

Post by Natmospheric » May 29th, 2023, 7:00 pm

We started at Grassy Knoll Trailhead. The meadow at the bottom had numerous wildflowers of different varieties, but it is not at peak bloom. The trail is in relatively good shape up to Grassy Knoll, apart from some blowdown - maybe 5 or so trees, all passable. There is also a snow field on the slope just below Grassy Knoll that requires some careful navigating. Views were great from Grassy Knoll.
PXL_20230529_184222682.jpg
After Grassy Knoll, the trail is brushy in spots and clearly not heavily traveled. I did pick up a tick in one brushy section. There are a few spots with snow on the trail, but it is relatively easy to follow up to the camp at Coldspring. Even before that, as soon as you reenter the woods, there's a lot of debris on the trail and it is faint at times.

After the camp, we encountered more and more areas with snow covering the trail until it became challenging and then impossible to follow the trail. It required significant route finding to get to the junction with the PCT. From there, the trail to the top of Big Huckleberry is a bit brushy, but was easy to follow. After Big Huckleberry we continued north on the PCT for a mile and half before being turned around by a large area of snow and blowdown after the trail reenters the woods. This section of PCT is in rough shape with brush and several difficult areas of blowdown and snow on the slopes. Long before getting to this messy area of trail, there is a camp just a short distance north on the PCT from the junction with the trail up to Big Huckleberry with an incredible view of Mt. Adams.
PXL_20230529_195603302.jpg

This is a great hike in good conditions, so these trails could use some love and foot traffic.

User avatar
drm
Posts: 6127
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: The Dalles, OR
Contact:

Re: Grassy Knoll to Big Huckleberry 5/29/23

Post by drm » May 30th, 2023, 6:37 am

The bumpy drive to the Grassy Knoll trailhead keeps the traffic down. But you can be sure that the PCT will be cleaned up once the snow is gone.

Natmospheric
Posts: 34
Joined: September 26th, 2021, 10:52 am

Re: Grassy Knoll to Big Huckleberry 5/29/23

Post by Natmospheric » May 30th, 2023, 5:16 pm

Agreed on the PCT being cleared once snow is gone; this was definitely typical winter impact and we really appreciate the work that gets done each year to clean it up. The tread was faint in spots on the continuation of the Grassy Knoll trail beyond Grassy Knoll, so hopefully a couple more sets of feet after some more melt helps there. This is definitely a favorite of ours.

User avatar
IdahoNative
Posts: 8
Joined: August 4th, 2019, 5:33 pm

Re: Grassy Knoll to Big Huckleberry 5/29/23

Post by IdahoNative » June 1st, 2023, 11:49 am

I was actually thinking of going last weekend too. We'll be up there soon to help with keeping the trail going. It's one of our favorites. I can picture exactly where that tricky patch of snow is, we navigated it carefully last year.

User avatar
MarkQ
Posts: 69
Joined: March 26th, 2013, 7:51 am
Location: Portland

Re: Grassy Knoll to Big Huckleberry 5/29/23

Post by MarkQ » June 3rd, 2023, 11:54 am

I was there yesterday. The snow patch just below Grasdy Knoll is nearly gone. From there to Big Huckleberry the trail has a lot of debris on it.

Post Reply