Barrett Spur Sept 27-28, 2010
Posted: September 30th, 2010, 10:10 am
A quick overnight trip to celebrate Indian Summer. Cascade blueberry, Sitka mountain-ash, and even some currants were flaming perfectly, up in the basins. There were a few blueberries left for picking.
Saw two elk, tons of elk track, ravens, hawks, and a falcon that looked too big for kestrel but I couldn't really i.d. as it zoomed past against the sky. Saw one other hiker. Saw very few mushrooms, even though the month has had rain and the ground was everywhere damp.
Social trails leading from Timberline Trail up to Barrett Spur are mostly obvious and heavily beaten. The more pleasant and pretty one, worth the extra distance in my view, goes up from Dollar Lake, following the ridgeline directly overlooking Elk Cove. (See the first photo, above.) The short one if you're coming from Vista Ridge (or Cathedral or Bald Mtn.) continues up Vista Ridge as it eventually turns into Barrett Spur. As far as the ridge crest is covered with conifers, it avoids them by staying on sandy scree east of the ridge crest. The conifer growth turns into very challenging windswept thickets in places.
Vista Ridge trail, with a nice coat of needles, didn't look beat up at all.
As for the drive to Vista Ridge TH, I went up via Zigzag and down via Hood River, and the time was about the same both ways, so I recommend via Hood River for being prettier—the orchards, and the Gorge. Being a few miles longer, it may consume a little more gas but save a little wear and tear on your vehicle. Make sure you have a good Forest Service map or directions for all the turns.
This was my first trip report. Next time I'll know to export the jpegs Large instead of Medium. These Medium ones have all the impact of the 19" Stonehenge.
Where snow had lingered longest, there were still small-flowered paintbrush and broadleaf lupine in full bloom.
Up at tundra elevations (7,000'+) nothing much was in bloom but the foliage of the dwarf lupine and oval-leaf buckwheat was charming. These were gorgeous sunny days for Oregon, but there were puffy cumulus clouds clinging around the Cascade Crest, and they clung to Barrett Spur on the day I headed up, so Mt. Hood played peak-a-boo. Mostly boo.
Along the ridgelines there were hundreds of bleached snags of whitebark pines, showcasing their windswept forms and massive size.
Some of them had one small branch still alive. Also there were plenty of small young whitebarks looking healthy, especially at the highest elevations. I failed to spot any symptoms of whitebark pine blister rust, so I don't know if that has been killing them, or something else. Yet it was clear from their form that most of the dead snags were whitebark pine.Saw two elk, tons of elk track, ravens, hawks, and a falcon that looked too big for kestrel but I couldn't really i.d. as it zoomed past against the sky. Saw one other hiker. Saw very few mushrooms, even though the month has had rain and the ground was everywhere damp.
Social trails leading from Timberline Trail up to Barrett Spur are mostly obvious and heavily beaten. The more pleasant and pretty one, worth the extra distance in my view, goes up from Dollar Lake, following the ridgeline directly overlooking Elk Cove. (See the first photo, above.) The short one if you're coming from Vista Ridge (or Cathedral or Bald Mtn.) continues up Vista Ridge as it eventually turns into Barrett Spur. As far as the ridge crest is covered with conifers, it avoids them by staying on sandy scree east of the ridge crest. The conifer growth turns into very challenging windswept thickets in places.
Vista Ridge trail, with a nice coat of needles, didn't look beat up at all.
As for the drive to Vista Ridge TH, I went up via Zigzag and down via Hood River, and the time was about the same both ways, so I recommend via Hood River for being prettier—the orchards, and the Gorge. Being a few miles longer, it may consume a little more gas but save a little wear and tear on your vehicle. Make sure you have a good Forest Service map or directions for all the turns.
This was my first trip report. Next time I'll know to export the jpegs Large instead of Medium. These Medium ones have all the impact of the 19" Stonehenge.