Nick Eaton / Casey Creek Loop 18-April-2010
Posted: April 18th, 2010, 4:48 pm
Busy day at Herman Creek! When I got there at 7:45am, the “parking lot” (i.e., the large grassy area around the sign) was already full and cars (soon to include mine) were strung out along the road. With all the cars and the large Mazamas Basic School conditioning hike contingent at the TH, I feared traffic on the trail – a fear that proved groundless. I got past the conditioning hike early on and by the time I started up the Nick Eaton Ridge trail, I was pretty much alone – which gave me time to check out the little Calypso orchids along the lower part of the trail.
On the way up the ridge, I caught up with a woman who I’d not met before but after we got to talking it turned out that that we have professional and Mazamas acquaintances in common. We ended up hiking together for the rest of the loop – which was a pleasant change from my usual solo style.
The ridge trail was devoid of snow well past the cutoff (Tr 422 – poorly maintained) to Deadwood camp.
Snow requiring gaiters didn’t appear until 3,800’ and even then it was pretty sparse and soft. With more warm temperatures and rain, most of it will probably be gone soon.
Blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) are good at making “drumming” noise at this time of year. There’s also good at scaring the daylights out of you with their penchant for exploding out of the undergrowth just as you walk by. As their name suggests, they can be pretty obscure to see but today was my day to finally get a picture of one.
As we descended the Casey Creek trail, I put my new pruning saw to use doing a little trail maintenance – cutting back some of the small deadfall and encroaching bushes. There are still some big trees on the trail but I figured every little bit helps.
Continuing the degrees of separation theme of today’s hike, when we reached the junction of the Casey Creek and Herman Creek trails, three hikers were just starting up the trail – one of whom was Kam (aka “pdxflowergirl”) and her dog Max. It was nice to meet both of them in person!
After that it was back to the TH on the Herman Creek Trail, stopping to admire Camp Creek Falls(?) along the way.
It was a warm and sunny – dare I say almost summer – day. I also saw and interacted with more folks on this one hike than in all my previous hikes this year. It was a very good day hiking.
On the way up the ridge, I caught up with a woman who I’d not met before but after we got to talking it turned out that that we have professional and Mazamas acquaintances in common. We ended up hiking together for the rest of the loop – which was a pleasant change from my usual solo style.
The ridge trail was devoid of snow well past the cutoff (Tr 422 – poorly maintained) to Deadwood camp.
Snow requiring gaiters didn’t appear until 3,800’ and even then it was pretty sparse and soft. With more warm temperatures and rain, most of it will probably be gone soon.
Blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) are good at making “drumming” noise at this time of year. There’s also good at scaring the daylights out of you with their penchant for exploding out of the undergrowth just as you walk by. As their name suggests, they can be pretty obscure to see but today was my day to finally get a picture of one.
As we descended the Casey Creek trail, I put my new pruning saw to use doing a little trail maintenance – cutting back some of the small deadfall and encroaching bushes. There are still some big trees on the trail but I figured every little bit helps.
Continuing the degrees of separation theme of today’s hike, when we reached the junction of the Casey Creek and Herman Creek trails, three hikers were just starting up the trail – one of whom was Kam (aka “pdxflowergirl”) and her dog Max. It was nice to meet both of them in person!
After that it was back to the TH on the Herman Creek Trail, stopping to admire Camp Creek Falls(?) along the way.
It was a warm and sunny – dare I say almost summer – day. I also saw and interacted with more folks on this one hike than in all my previous hikes this year. It was a very good day hiking.