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Rock of Ages - Mystery Trail loop, July 8, 2007

Posted by pablo (2007-07-10)

DISCLAIMER: I don't do technical, I am not a climber, I hike. Mystery Trail is a climber's route, with at least 3 rappels, some serious downhill scrambles, exposure like you wouldn't believe, and some tough bushwhacking. I went with someone who has done Mystery Trail many times and is a very experienced climber and instructor. I wouldn't do it otherwise and neither should you. BTW, any errors in the following report are mine.

A couple of things prompted to me to want to do this loop, one is a co-worker (nom de plume CarlosMasters) with about 35+ years climbing experience who thought it would be a great experience for me to do and another is the trip report from the field guide at http://www.metatropo.com/reports/rock_of_ages_hike_tripreport_gps_data.htm where there is mention of the little bit of a metal sign on/in a tree off Rock of Ages trail marking the cutoff to Mystery Trail. I thought I'd like to see that. In this regard, CarlosMasters gave me a list of 3 items to get from REI, a harness, a locking carabiner, and a rappel device. Did that and had REI clip me on to a rope hanging from a rafter to check the harness didn't pinch. Groovy. You, dear reader, have no idea of the apprehension I was feeling at this time.

We departed around 9:00AM Sunday morning from Horsetail Falls heading up toward the cutoff just before Ponytail Falls (in the trip report above this may be mislabeled Horsetail Falls). Rock of Ages trail is a great hike, one of those more or less straight up the ridge user trails like Ruckel Ridge with views, exposure, and interesting side trips. I've done Rock of Ages Trail before but missed the side trail to the arch. A spot of blaze marks the cutoff and the views are nice with some exposure, so be careful. The arch was much larger than I thought it would be.

A view from the arch location below to a meandering creek that will show up from some incredible spot on the Mystery Trail in a photo later on in this trip report .

Looking east from the arch.

Looking back on the arch - edgewise.

Left the arch view and regained the trail through a neat little chimney about 15' high. While not quite a test, I think it was at least a pop-quiz to see if I had the stomach to do the rest of it. Hmmmm, maybe more like 20'.

Onward to the Devil's Backbone.

The Lords of the Gorge lined up and looking out with indifference to the puny works of Man. A side trip to an outrageous viewpoint, I don't know, 600' down? See the track log for the location. I was very tentative going out on this ledge.

Sign marking the cutoff for Mystery Trail just like in the trip report mentioned above. BTW, it's a red cedar.

Now on to Mystery Trail and down the ridge to the first rappel. My first rappel ever and it felt very natural, I was a bit fearful but I had confidence in the instructor and the gear and it went off nicely. The only issue at this point was no turning back, we were committed to the remainder of the journey.

In between the rappels were narrow ridge lines, steep scrambles, bushwhacks and some really serious non-intuitive route finding - I thought I was a good route finder and I am as long as I have a GPS, a reasonable map, fairly good ground, this stuff was beyond the pale.

One of several narrow ridge lines.

The 3rd rappel was to a ledge between 2 cliffs that put us at the back of St Peters Dome and in line for the route home. Adams in the background.

Down a steep rocky slope got us up close and personal with St Peters Dome. Compare with it's namesake. There is a pinnacle in the lower right named Little St Peters's Dome, hard to distinguish in this photo but look to the lower right, it cuts across the bottom ledge on the larger feature.

Looking back between Rock of Ages and St Peter's Dome, I spied the meandering creek I had photographed from the arch.

The last rappel was at the gully where the landslide in 19?? (please edit) occurred that blocked I-84. The rappel down the gully is where the only damage was sustained, I took a couple of hits to the shins from loose rock giving me a couple of macho hematomas, I didn't cry, that much anyway. From there it was out the gully to intersect the 400 and back to base camp.

Soakin' the feet at Horsetail Falls. Thanks CarlosMasters, you're the man, man. I'm going back to regular hiking for now, I need some time to absorb all this - maybe Mazamas BCEP next year.

Track log, lost the battery during the Mystery Trail part...

Re: Rock of Ages - Mystery Trail loop, July 8, 2007

Posted by Don Nelsen (2007-07-11)

Hey Pablo, you are The Man! You sure have upped the ante for "out there" hikes!

Nice report and great photos - I've wondered about "mystery trail" for some time and you've satified my curiosity. Thanks for putting this together.

Don

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