Elliot Washout Timberline Trail

Trip recommendations, current conditions, and other trail related Q&A
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Joeshmo
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Joined: June 20th, 2016, 7:17 am

Elliot Washout Timberline Trail

Post by Joeshmo » July 27th, 2022, 5:04 pm

I’m hearing the washout is bad this year. Not the stream crossing, but the scree slopes. Anybody crossed it in the past week or two that can provide some beta?

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pinecone
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Re: Elliot Washout Timberline Trail

Post by pinecone » July 28th, 2022, 8:05 am

Yea, it's a mess, as the Eliot Branch continues to drop the canyon floor here, the sides of the west canyon wall are falling apart, into cliffs in spots. Getting out/into the west side of the canyon is dicey. It's not so apparent how/where to descend coming at it CW because you can't see the cliffs as well, from CCW it's easier to identify where to exit since you can see the slopes and terrain. You have to go further up the canyon than in years past. Since I went across about a week ago, certainly more backpackers have made the effort, and hopefully, a bit more defined route may be getting in. It's all loose material tho, some of it quite large. and some of it just sand with not much grip, that just disappears. A good route up needs to be groomed, and secured with ropes to assist, something like the Toutle crossing of the Loowit.
The wide angle of these pictures sort of make things look smaller, but here are two views:

Image

Image

Joeshmo
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Re: Elliot Washout Timberline Trail

Post by Joeshmo » July 28th, 2022, 12:04 pm

Thanks for the beta. Is the route you used visible in the photos? I’m wondering how high up by the waterfall I’ll need to be looking.

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pinecone
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Re: Elliot Washout Timberline Trail

Post by pinecone » July 29th, 2022, 6:41 am

yea, that second photo covers the expanse of area. I'll stress again, there wasn't any route out that I took, I would qualify it as an "escape." But it really isn't that hard to gauge where you have to exit when you're in the canyon, there is a limited area with angles that look achievable for an exit, and you have to go up that way to cross the creek.

JBG
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Re: Elliot Washout Timberline Trail

Post by JBG » August 14th, 2022, 2:43 pm

I went CW this weekend. You want to be careful, especially about people above or below you and only go one at a time and be patient. The way down I used had a cairn along the trail at the top and was marked pretty well. The top section was mostly big rocks and the middle a lot of loose ash and scree. It's very doable - honestly seemed easier than trying to get out of the White washout - but might be the expectations I brought to the two. I went CCW last year here and this year seems much worse.

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retired jerry
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Re: Elliot Washout Timberline Trail

Post by retired jerry » August 14th, 2022, 3:26 pm

They sure went to a lot of work putting in that new trail down to Eliot, but it doesn't seem much better than the old location above.

That is a difficult crossing for the Forest Service

Maybe they could put a suspension bridge where the old trail went a long time ago. That would be cool. I don't know if they could find a spot on both sides that wouldn't just wash out.

leiavoia
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Re: Elliot Washout Timberline Trail

Post by leiavoia » August 14th, 2022, 3:52 pm

Maybe they could put in a ski lift like they have on the other side of the mountain ;-)

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