Ruckel Creek/Benson Plateau/Wahtum Lake/Eagle Creek

[yoshi187]

Well, we made it! We took the advice of someone on here and did the loop backwards.

Day 1: up Rucker Creek trail to Hunters Camp; what a beast of a trail. For some out-of-shape 30somethings that had not been hiking for some time, this was a killer; 3600 ft. of climb in 4.5 miles. Some beautiful views of the Bridge of the Gods/dam area about half way up. Took us almost nine hours to complete the hike that day. We reached some snow around Hunters Camp and spent the night next to the creek; it was cold, cold, cold that night (strangely enough it was about 15 degrees warmer about 100 feet from our camp; the wind from the creek and snow seemed to funnel thru there). As bad as it was going up, I'm glad we didn't have to go down that son of beeyatch. I'm sure that everyone going down says, "I'm glad we're not going up this" while everyone going up says, "I'm glad we're not going down this." Glad we made the loop, but I will never find myself on that trail again!

Day 2: Pretty easy hike towards Wahtum Lake compared to the previous days' trek. We took a 'short cut' near the lake just past the Chinidere Mtn. side hike that was supposed to loop around the lake. The trail seemed to end at the lake. We then had to put it in 'four-wheel-drive' and hump it up the steep slope on the north side of the lake. This added about an hour to the hike that day and countless scratches on the legs. I would not recommend taking that 'short cut'. We stayed in spot H near the lake. All other spots were taken except for one which was covered in garbage. It was sad to see that people would show such disprespect; there were dirty diapers, batteries, and bags of spilled garbage strewn throughout the site. It was obvious that they 'relieved themselves' all over the place on the outskirts of the site and left piles of TP everywhere. DISGUSTING!!!! Even that spot got taken within 15 minutes of us arriving. There was spots of snow around here, but nothing substantial.

Day 3: The lake was a sheet of glass when we left around 8am. Not a single ripple except for the fish rolling which you could see anywhere in the lake. Absolutely beautiful! The first mile or so was a little rough with some snow and mud and several creek crosssings. We had to switch to the flipflops for a couple of the crossings which added some time to the hike, but we still reached 7 1/2 mile camp before 12:30. Very easy going hike down. We got an awesome spot at camp with a steep trail down to the river. I guess Sunday is a good day to get your choice of spots. We had some great fun doing some fly fishing below and finishing off our bottle of Jack Daniels. It was also very nice to get some well deserved rest there.

Day 4: Easy and fun hike down the Eagle Creek trail. The falls were very pretty and 'Vertigo Mile' was much less scary than we had anticipated. Tunnel Falls was obviously the highlight. We were all ready to get home, get out of our shoes, take a shower, and relax on a comfortable seat, so we kind of hauled down the trail finishing around 12:30 again. We probably passed around 50 people this day which included a group of around 20 on a Monday, so I can see why people avoid this trail, but it was neat and easy.

If you would like to see some pictures:

http://s268.photobucket.com/albums/jj17 ... p/Day%201/
http://s268.photobucket.com/albums/jj17 ... p/Day%202/
http://s268.photobucket.com/albums/jj17 ... p/Day%203/
http://s268.photobucket.com/albums/jj17 ... p/Day%204/

[Aimless]

Sounds like you had fun after that first climb was behind you.

(strangely enough it was about 15 degrees warmer about 100 feet from our camp; the wind from the creek and snow seemed to funnel thru there).

This is a pretty well-known phenomenon. Cold air, being heavier than warm air, flows downhill. This makes it a lot like water, which laso flows downhill. Not coincidentally, wherever you find flowing water, the same terrain will also capture and funnel any flow of cold air. On a hot day this is a welcome feature. When you're trying to stay warm and sleep, it can be less welcome.

Eagle Creek is just too wonderful to avoid for long, but I always like it better in the off-season, when I don't have to share it with crowds quite so much. However, it is beautiful any day of the year.

[joerunner]

That sounds like a great hike. Did you catch any fish? Was there much snow? And my last question- what was the trail condition between Wahtum and 7 1/2 mile camp?

[yoshi187]

That sounds like a great hike. Did you catch any fish? Was there much snow? And my last question- what was the trail condition between Wahtum and 7 1/2 mile camp?

We actually caught 7 small brook trout in the creek below our site at 7 1/2 mile camp. They were pretty small (around 6-7 inches), but what a gas. They would strike the dry fly on nearly every cast; it was just a matter of hooking them.

The trail was snowy, wet, and muddy on a stretch just after leaving the lake for a few hundred yards, but nothing that would keep someone from getting thru.

The only problems we ran into with snow was up at Hunters Camp. The trail ended at the creek edge and we couldn't see any footprints in the snow on the other side, but we took the Benson loop (I believe it is called) which crossed the creek right near our site and that trail was fine. Also, the 'short cut' that we took either ended at the lake or we lost the trail in the snow. Not sure which.