Timberline Trail 9/4 - 9/8 2008

[mickmcd]

My brother and I took a trip around the Timberline Trail. We left from Timberline Lodge going clockwise. We received good news when we got to Paradise Park - even though it was fairly late in the season, the wildflowers were in full bloom.

Paradise Park

We camped the first night near Ramona Falls, and day hiked up Yocum Ridge the next day.

Yocum Ridge

Hiking Down from Yocum Ridge

Subsequent camps were at Elk Cove and Elk Meadows.

Elk Cove was especially lush with wildflowers.

Flowers at Elk Cove

Flowers at Elk Cove

Flowers at Elk Cove

Sunrise from Elk Meadows

About the "closed" section of the trail over Eliot Creek: if you can't handle that section of washed out trail, then you probably aren't safe doing the stream crossings either, so you probably shouldn't be on the trail at all. In fact, we saw two people come down from Cloud Cap, decide not to cross Eliot Creek (I assume they did not have extra shoes for wading), and climb back out. What does that say about relative difficulty?

I realize the Forest Service is in a difficult position, but the first thing they should do is make it absolutely clear which is the correct trail to go on when approaching from the west. A person coming to the "Closed" sign could easily assume that the trail to the "old" crossing is the place to go (it certainly looks like the "closed" trail), rather than taking a right turn to hike upstream to the correct crossing. The trail to the "old" crossing heads right over the edge of a cliff, so it is definitely NOT where you want to be.

Once into the washed out section, the biggest danger is knocking down loose rocks, so it definitely pays to go one at a time or make sure people are not in each others fall line.

Eliot Creek

Eliot Creek - not as steep as it looks in the picture

All in all, it was a great trip. The scenery and the weather were beautiful throughout.

[joerunner]

Thanks for the report. Are there still ropes at the Elliot crossing?

[mickmcd]

Yes. We crossed in the Elk Cove to Cloud Cap direction. The rope climbing out towards Cloud Cap was helpful - the soil is very sandy in there. The rope is getting a bit frayed in one place. If the USFS really wanted to be helpful, they would put in new ropes and warn people about the possibility of dis-lodging rocks.

[bush_marmot]

Good report, mickmcd, thanks for sharing your trip.

All in all, it was a great trip. The scenery and the weather were beautiful throughout.

Nice pictures, too; all the way around Mt Hood... love to see a few more if you've got'em...

Thanks for the heads-up on how to approach the crossing of Eliot Creek from the west, too.

How was your Yocum Ridge dayhike? How far up did you go?

How was Coe Creek? I've heard that it's fairly easy to cross this year. Some years past that baby has been a monster!
Did you ford/wade Eliot Creek? How wet (deep) did you get?
And how was the Timberline Trail from the Eliot Creek to Coe Creek? I met a fellow earlier this summer who said it looked "several-years unmaintained" to him...


Thanks again for your report!
Peter

[mickmcd]

We waded across both the Coe and Elliot. Neither was a problem. Neither was more than knee deep at any point.

On Yocum Ridge, we did not go as far as we could have. We went over to the Sandy Glacier side, maybe 6200' elevation.

There are a few more pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickmcd/

[retired jerry]

Great report! Great trip!

Was there any snow past Cooper Spur, before Gnarl Ridge?

Did you see any evidence of the recent fire on Gnarl Ridge?

[mickmcd]

The trail went over a couple of patches of snow. You could look down from Gnarl Ridge and see burnt trees. I'm not sure if that was from the recent fire or the fire a couple of years ago.

[Paul]

I've been across Coe up to my crotch. It was RAGING!