Bear Valley Trail

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
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JThomasJeffrey
Posts: 7
Joined: July 9th, 2019, 6:09 pm

Bear Valley Trail

Post by JThomasJeffrey » July 10th, 2019, 7:57 am

My friend Linda and I have decided to try to open the Bear Valley Trail. Linda got permission from the Forest Service to work on this trail. This trail is NOT the Rockpile Lake trail which also leaves from this trailhead parking area.

I hiked on this trail before the B&B fire. This trail went to Bear Valley Lake. Please look on Google Earth to see the location of this lake.

From Bear Valley Lake the trail continued SW and intersected the Minto Lake Trail. The trailhead for this trail was at Jack Lake and after Minto Lake the trail continued to the PCT.

Unfortunately the Forest Service has abandoned the Minto Lake Trail. Another project worth doing. From Wasco Lake to the PCT is one mile.

In the past there used to be a trail from Bear Valley Lake that went NW past Windy Lakes and joined the trail to Rockpile Lake. You can still see the remains of an old trail sign on the Rockpile Lake Trail for this trail. On your way down the Rockpile Lake trail you can see these lakes.

Linda and a friend of hers actually made it to Bear Valley Lake by going cross country through the Snowbrush. It was a horrible trip. She said there were many trees down and the Snowbrush was very high.

Linda and I have started to clear the trail and have gone about 0.2 miles so far. The Garmin Basecamp map shows an old logging road going west from the current trailhead. So far there hasn’t been to many downed trees and the Snowbrush is not very high. We are almost to the point where the old logging road ended. I plan to try and find the old trail from that point.

The Forest Service told Linda that after we cleared the trail of brush they would send a crew in to remove the trees across the trail.

Aimless
Posts: 1922
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: Lake Oswego

Re: Bear Valley Trail

Post by Aimless » July 10th, 2019, 9:55 am

First off, thanks for your volunteer work. It's great to see the east side of Jefferson is finally getting some attention, even if it's only from private citizens determined not to let that area languish from persistent neglect.

I am happy to hear the Sisters Ranger District made a verbal commitment to log out a trail, if someone else brushed it out first. That indicates what they are willing to contribute. Brushing out has pretty obviously been a task they have no intention of pursuing for 80% of the trails damaged by the B&B. At least now we have a clearer idea of where we stand.

justpeachy
Posts: 3066
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Portland, OR
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Re: Bear Valley Trail

Post by justpeachy » July 12th, 2019, 6:46 am

Thank you for taking this on! Please keep us updated on your progress.

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kelkev
Posts: 800
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: McMinnville, OR

Re: Bear Valley Trail

Post by kelkev » July 14th, 2019, 7:47 pm

Thomas,

glad to see you are on the forum here and thanks a bunch for your work on the Bear Valley Trail! And I'm still smiling from our trip up the Brush Creek Trail a few years ago - - that was a great day of hiking.

Kevin
"Going to the mountains is going home."
— John Muir

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