Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

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arieshiker
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Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by arieshiker » February 17th, 2021, 9:05 am

This is a trip report with a question about the value of repeated trip reports. Before the Eagle Creek Fire and COVID, most of the posters to this site used multiple venues for hikes, so the postings here were of a wonderfully staggering variety.

Currently, with closures and health issues, it seems many of us are limited to old standbys closer to home or travels to where we’re fairly certain we won’t be heading into crowded spaces.

For me personally, close by means Deschutes and/or Cottonwood Canyon with Horsethief Butte and Catherine Creek as venues of choice.

It’s not always so fun doing the same trail over and over, but it serves several purposes, so we do what we must. I just hiked Deschutes Upper Trail for near my 30th time in the past eight years. Early on when I first started, I made it out to the eight mile marker, now I mostly just shoot for the five or six mile post and call it a day.

Age and minor health issues rule some days, but I’m still aiming for the Beartooth Mountains in August, so preparation has to carry on.

Following is my latest wander on the Deschutes Upper Trail - to the five mile marker and back. My question to our readers and posters is this: Is there much value to posts of trails that get over posted? I realize that updated/current conditions are valuable, but what about the photos or the dialog supporting the conditions issue? Worth the time and effort?

Is there value in just reading about what others are doing? I’ve noticed over time that there are numerous degrees of opinion about topics from posters here, so......what’s your take on this question?

Now to the redundant trip report from February 8, 2020, on the Deschutes Upper Trail. I include photos, one looking north, one looking south, from the mile marker itself, for those who have never been out there and seen this trail. It doesn’t change much over the years, but it always seems to be a quality trek. Rare wildflowers are a bonus.

I picked a good day to be out there - cloudy but cool with a breeze starting later in the morning that made things slightly chilly. For a Colorado boy, the best kind of hiking day.

As opposed to hiking places like Eagle Creek, or Herman Creek’s options, along the Deschutes Upper Trail there are no trees to block the sky, so when it’s cloudy the sky seems to change multiple times before the sun breaks through, then the hike takes on a very different challenge as the trail is almost totally exposed. It can go from cold to hot and back multiple times. Having fun yet?

Anyway, it was a good day and a fun day for me on the 8th. I continue to hope for many more for us all.
Attachments
Mile1View-LookingNorth.JPG
Mile1View-LookingSouth.JPG
Mile2View-LookingNorth.JPG
Mile2View-LookingSouth.JPG
Mile3View-LookingNorth.JPG
Mile3View-LookingSouth.JPG
Mile4View-LookingNorth.JPG
Mile4View-LookingSouth.JPG
Mile5View-LookingNorth.JPG
Mile5View-LookingSouth.JPG
SecondSpringCrossing-Mile3.5 .JPG
RandomSkyView2.JPG
RandomSkyView4.JPG

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retired jerry
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Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by retired jerry » February 17th, 2021, 9:20 am

I've done this many times too, great hike. A lot drier than the wet side of the cascades. I'll probably go there in the near future.

I like to see trip reports even if there was another one recently. Easy enough to skip over. I like to see current conditions.

I'm sort of lazy so I don't do a lot of reports. Sometimes if there's some question about it that might be useful for others.

If I do this trip in the near future I won't need to do a report because you just did one :)

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bobcat
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Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by bobcat » February 17th, 2021, 12:12 pm

No, please post! Firstly, this site will become extinct if people don't post. Secondly, everyone has a different take on things, different focus, etc. Trails change from one year to the next and with the seasons.

arieshiker
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Joined: December 3rd, 2009, 3:19 pm
Location: Goldendale

Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by arieshiker » February 17th, 2021, 12:33 pm

Thanks Jerry and bobcat - you more or less expressed my feelings about this place and the reports, be they new and different or near-repeats of something recently posted. When people are out and about where I haven't been or where I might want to go sometime, I love the reports. They somehow just never seem to grow old.

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retired jerry
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Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by retired jerry » February 17th, 2021, 1:04 pm

and to anyone that doesn't get a lot of responses for a trip report, a lot of people read them but don't have a reason to reply

cfm
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Joined: June 18th, 2008, 6:49 am

Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by cfm » February 17th, 2021, 6:56 pm

Yes please post, nice to see conditions and hear your experience. The special little things are nice to read about when we are sitting on the couch dreaming about the great outdoors.

I like the increasing historical nature of this website. So cool to look back on the old TRs from 2007!

AlpenGlowHiker
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Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by AlpenGlowHiker » February 17th, 2021, 7:27 pm

retired jerry wrote:
February 17th, 2021, 1:04 pm
and to anyone that doesn't get a lot of responses for a trip report, a lot of people read them but don't have a reason to reply
Guilty.

Limey
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Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by Limey » February 17th, 2021, 10:01 pm

I agree, keep posting. My hiking days are limited physically so I live vicariously through people who hike the places I can no longer go. I enjoy seeing all types of trip reports.

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drm
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Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by drm » February 18th, 2021, 7:58 am

I hiked Coyote Wall yesterday (saw my first wildflowers), and I hike Deschutes and Klickitat regularly - because they are drier and very close by. And I almost never post them. I don't tend to post repeat hikes, and when I do nobody comments on them, which tells me folks aren't that interested. But it depends. I do tend to report every time I hike the Lewis River, which is about twice a year. But most of my hikes are local/regional, and so are repeat hikes, and so I don't post so often.

I think there is a balance to be found. I found it a tad humorous that a certain poster used to post repeatedly, and with numerous photos each time, for a certain favored hike to lake on the south side of Hood. But not any more. And it doesn't bother me at all whatever.

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retired jerry
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Re: Trip Report for Deschutes Upper Trail with a question

Post by retired jerry » February 18th, 2021, 8:07 am

"and when I do nobody comments on them, which tells me folks aren't that interested"

no :)

I'm more likely to post something if it hasn't been mentioned for a while, or if conditions have changed. Or I'll just stick something on someone else's post.

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