To start with, about 9:30 I was about to pull into the Starbucks just east of Lombard and Farmington in Beaverton when I saw a van coming at me about 70 mph or more. Smoke was pouring out of one of his front tires and a half dozen police were hot on his tail. I decided the center turn lane was a bad place to be so quickly entered the Fred Meyer lot and watched the action go by. He crashed into the back of another van at Lombard and was quickly dealt with by the police. Hmmmm… Could this be an omen portending an even more exciting day?... (Not really hiking related, but an entertaining start to a day of hiking...)
The plan was to check out a few spots on Herman creek between the road and the footbridge and later try to get a good measurement on the newly found falls on Camp Creek. Anyway, I followed the connecter trail to the PCT to a spot where there is a very old abandoned road crossing the trail and an old camping spot. There, I found a steep game trail down to the creek. Surprise!: The wooden pipeline I tried to follow on earlier trips was right there at the bottom of the bank. Previously I’d found that this 26” ID pipe ends at the powerline road but I’ve never managed to track it past a cliffy section about 1,000’ above the powerline road.
I went downstream following the pipe until I came to an impassible mess of downed trees and bank washout.
I could see the pipe continuing on the other side past where it too was washed out. This messy section of creek has a half dozen drops no more than 6 feet or so but no falls worthy of the name.
I turned around and hiked upstream and found the uppermost section of the pipe and evidence of a long destroyed dam at approx 540’ elevation. Part of the mystery solved. Evidently, the dam was once the source of some kind of ambitious water supply for unknown purposes. Here's a pic of the pipeline a short distance above the powerline road:
And the lower end of the pipeline:
I did not understand why such a large pipe ended in a 2” valve – Just didn’t make sense and besides, now I knew the drop was only about a hundred feet to that valve. – 100 feet of water gives about 45 pounds pressure – about what the average house would have and a little weak at that. More later….
So, now to climb out of the streambed. I tracked a game trail with hopes to find a shortcut to continue up the Herman Creek trail. No such luck! I soon ran into an impressive wall of vertical cliffs:
I traversed until I found a break and made my way back to the Herman Cr.Trail but now it was starting to drizzle. I did not want to get as soaked as last time time so I gave up on Camp Creek and opted to hike trail 400 for a few miles east. After 7 miles of that, I headed back to where I knew the wooden pipeline ended at the powerline road in hopes of solving more of the mystery. I ‘whacked through a thicket to where it should be if it continued down the hill and voila! I found concrete supports in a direct line down the hill then a remnant of a 19” diameter steel pipe.
Seems the wooden line segued to steel when the pressure was too great for wood. There is a concrete support every ten feet or so all the way to the remnants of the foundation of an ancient powerhouse, elevation approx. 130’.
Wow, over 400’ of drop would give about 180 pounds/square inch pressure – that’s enough to run a large capacity Pelton wheel. Must have been a major operation! A fun day in the woods, for sure. I wonder what more there is to find out there.....
The map:
