Oregon Hikers

• Has anyone been on the Swallow Lake Trail between the PCT and Marion Lake in the Jefferson Wilderness recently? Is it any better shape than the Lake of the Woods trail?

• Also thinking about the Elkhorns - other than the various digital maps out there (including the nice reports here, thank you), is there a paper map other than the USDA Wallowa-Whitman map published in 2000?

Thank you!

PS: The Detroit Ranger station did tell me today that there is a crew going up to work on the Lake of the Woods trail this coming week, but they're not sure how much headway they'll be able to make as EVEN MORE trees came down this winter. (They also said Swallow Lake was "probably bad", seeing if I can get a more concrete report)

Elkhorn maps
I have USGS maps of the Elkhorns, 7.5 minute series. They are dated 1972--photorevised 1984. I have Elkhorn Peak, Oreg, Bourne, Oreg and Anthony Lakes, Oreg.
I also have a number of recreation opportunity guides put out by the Baker Ranger District. They have a lot of information but are probably at least 30 years old.
I would be happy to part with this stuff if you want it as long as we can make satisfactory arrangements for delivery.
Let me know.

I know you asked about paper maps, but for what it's worth, I've recently cleaned up most of the trails surrounding Elkhorn Ridge in OpenStreetMap, so OSM-based maps should be accurate once the data propagates.

adamschneider wrote: ↑

July 28th, 2020, 10:46 am

I know you asked about paper maps, but for what it's worth, I've recently cleaned up most of the trails surrounding Elkhorn Ridge in OpenStreetMap, so OSM-based maps should be accurate once the data propagates.

Thanks!

adamschneider wrote: ↑

July 28th, 2020, 10:46 am

I know you asked about paper maps, but for what it's worth, I've recently cleaned up most of the trails surrounding Elkhorn Ridge in OpenStreetMap, so OSM-based maps should be accurate once the data propagates.

Cool, thank you! Perhaps I shall go against the ancestors and forego paper, since you've updated All The Things.

I have just returned from six days on the Elkhorn Crest trail (July23-28). It is seeing a big increase in population compared to my earlier trips there back in 2009 and 2011, but back then I saw almost no one at all so a "big increase" amounts to seeing about ten different assemblages of backpackers, scaling from two large groups of about ten or twelve on down to one other solo backpacker.

I saw no motorcyclists, but instead saw several mountain bikers where the trail was not in wilderness. This is a big improvement over the dirt bikers and MBers do not go fast on that trail (they couldn't!) and tend not to stay overnight or compete for campsites.

I saw dozens upon dozens of trail runners, maybe 60 total (!) but almost all of them were on the trail for an organized event on Saturday the 25th. There was an Aid Station set up on Cracker Saddle and the course did not run through the wilderness, but came up the Summit Lake trail from below and turned south on the Elkhorn Crest.

There is a line in my copy of Willam Sullivan's "100 Hiking Trails in Eastern Oregon" that describes Summit Lake as "rarely visited". Not last weekend!

Btw, the mountain goats are everywhere now and you don't need to go look for them. They will absolutely come to visit you, looking for urine. They are very aware of humans, and seem to think of us only as visiting pee dispensers. I had to use my voice of command frequently to keep them out of my campsite, as they were very persistent, especially at Twin Lakes. This is the sort of thing that finally led the National Park Service to remove the goats from the Olympics.

Thanks for the info! I'd heard that race was still happening. Any "must-do" items from your wanderings?

walrus wrote: ↑

July 29th, 2020, 7:22 pm

Thanks for the info! I'd heard that race was still happening. Any "must-do" items from your wanderings?

I had heard that it might be cancelled. But to quote Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca, I was misinformed. The only must-do item I can pass along would be: have the kind of trip that feels like fun to you.

Aimless wrote: ↑

July 29th, 2020, 6:08 pm

This is the sort of thing that finally led the National Park Service to remove the goats from the Olympics.

The bigger reason is that mountain goats are not native to the Olympics; people put them there so they could shoot them.

As I understand it, the goats were introduced to the Elkhorn Range also and are not native.