Appears much the same on the USGS 1956 High Rock TOPO but with a part of the lower track on a ridge rather than in the creek as in the 1946 map:
The last appearance is on the 1966 MHNF map:
So with plenty of historical support, it looked like there might be something there.
The approach was to do Salmon Butte to Abbot Road then west to the start of the trail off Abbot and then follow the 1956 version of the trail to intersect with Salmon Butte trail and out.
I departed the Salmon Butte trail head around 8:30. On the Salmon Butte trail early on you get a glimpse of the huge rock outcropping that lies just west of the summit of Salmon Butte.
While the views from Salmon Butte are quite beautiful, my interest was in the scout for another hike I'd like to do, the Hambone Trail. Here is a panorama of the ridge line the Hambone Trail runs on. Actually, the Hambone Trail runs up the ridge just to the west of the ridge Hambone Butte is on, the trail obviously named for the destination. If you follow the near ridge from right to left, you'll encounter a small dip in the ridgeline. It is there the trail enters the ridge after leaving the saddle and traversing the bowl from Hambone Butte. Just a nice long, even ridge hike until dipping into the Salmon River.
Another shot of the massive rock outcropping from a little south of the Salmon Butte summit.
Once on Abbot Road, I came on the infamous washout, it starts with The Big Dip and the logs across the road feature.
Further west on the way out of The Big Dip, the Steepness guards the west entrance, guaranteed to take the bottom out of your Honda Accord - my KLR-650 looks like the appropriate vehicle for negotiating this part of the road:
I went along Abbot until due south of the South Fork Ridge where I bushwhacked up the hill to a viewpoint and the start of the ridge. This was not the start of the trail proper but I was running late. The trail proper according to the 1956 map starts further west and goes east along the side of the hill to meet the ridge.
Once on the ridge, the going was fairly easy with lots of flowering rhododendron but not the dense thickets that drove me off Salmon Mountain last year. The forest is quite young with a thick canopy that keeps the underbrush down, likely recovered from a burn 30-40 years ago. I saw no blaze the entire day given the age of the trees on the ridge, not surprising.
Further down the ridge a very nice viewpoint presented itself and from there details about the rock outcropping on the side of Salmon Butte became apparent. I claim it is the neck of an old volcano. Looks very climbable on that sloping part on the right.
Here's a wider shot of the rock, Salmon Butte and Mount Hood in the background.
Came across a fire ring from several years back, some rock cairns here and there, and a sawed tree so people still travel this ridge. No sign of an obvious trail the entire day. A possible vision quest pit on the ridge:
The ridge was pretty easy except for one extremely steep pitch, 40-50%, down to a talus slope - this traverse is part of the trail on 1956 USGS map, I stayed on the ridge line too long so I had to get there via a steeper route. I think the purpose of the talus traverse was to route around some rocky bits on the ridgeline but I did not explore that part.
After some tricky navigating and heading off down the wrong ridge, I dropped into the canyon formed by a tributary of Mack Hall Creek. Things got tough in here with larger trees, some old growth, and lots of downed stems to climb over. The rest of the hike was pretty much on the side of the hill and the constant need to dig into the side of the hill with the edge of my boots took its toll on muscles not generally used. It was warm and dehydration along with leg cramps started to kick in so I downed my 32 ounce bottle of Pediolyte which seemed to help. I crossed Mack Hall Creek and recharged my water supply and continued along the contour that would return me to the Salmon Butte Trail. I tell ya, the last .25 mile to the SB Trail seemed like 20.
Were I to do this again, and I might, I'd follow the ridge all the way down to the confluence of the South Fork of the Salmon and Mack Hall Creek then use the route along the abandoned S. Fork Salmon River Trail to connect to the road back to the Salmon Butte Trailhead. The side hill stuff with all the creeks was brutal. I exited totally exhausted, in retrospect doing Salmon Butte was probably tough enough and took away the energy I needed to finish in better shape than I did. If I do Hambone, I'm going to start from Abbot Road at Hambone Springs or maybe park at the upper Salmon Butte trailhead and return on Salmon Butte - it would be painful but at least I would not have the added pressure of route finding.
13.5 miles, 4800' cumulative, about 11 hours.
