Brad availing himself of the Keuffler Road trail head facilities.
We set off on an old logging road that shows up on most topo maps of the area and after a short distance crosses the East fork of Woodward Creek.
Apparently the road used to ford the creek here but over the past few years the creek has erroded the bank leaving an 8' drop.
There was a handy dead tree across the creek & Don led the way, deciding to walk upright over the log. All was going well until the last step were just as I was taking a photo he parted company with the log slightly earlier than planned but somehow still managed to grab hold of the tree on the bank & save himself from a dunking!
Don in mid air!
Shortly after the creek crossing we left the road & headed out on a short bushwhack to find the Falls on East Woodward. We ended up at a spot right above the lower tier.
We persuaded Don that walking across either of the 2 logs in the left of the photo wasn't a good idea
..After checking out the Falls we climbed up the canyon side to regain the road at a higher elevation than where we left it.
Looking back down into East Woodward Canyon.
Once back on the road we followed it until we were walking along the West side of Hardy Ridge looking up to Phlox point. We used a couple of game trails to climb up the West side of the ridge to Phlox Point. The GPS track shows us heading further North than we should have. It would be better to ascend slightly more steeply & miss the brushy section we encountered just North of Phlox Point.
Looking East from Phlox Point.
From here we headed to the Hardy Ridge East side trail & on to it's junction with the new Bridal way trail to the Mega Bridge over Hardy Creek.
The Mega Bridge.
From the junction after the Mega Bridge we could have gone a little South then up Dons Trail to the Hamilton Saddle but decided to go North on the Upper Hamilton Trail that leads up to an old Hamilton Ridge Road that goes all the way to the Power lines.
The road starts out in great shape but deteriorates towards the Powler line end, but nothing some simple brushing wouldn't take care off. On My Topo this route is shown as two dashed lines that do no meet in the middle but it is possible to follow the trail all the way though. The shorter dashed line that comes in from the Powerline end resembles a logging railroad grade with deep cuts & fills. We also found a railroad spike & bolt so I'm thinking this northern portion was a railroad spur while the Sothern section was a road.
Some brushing required!
Once at the Powerline Road we ended our exploration East for the day we had come 7 miles from Keuffler. The photo below shows the next & most challanging section to map. A way down & across Hamilton Creek & on to Table but that will have to wait until next time.
After a bite to eat we headed West again on logging roads around the headwaters of Hardy Creek & Hardy ridge. There was active logging in the area.
The old bullet hole ridden car that has shown up on reports here before marks the junction with the road that leads back on the West side of Phlox Point to Keuffler Road.
We saw significanlty more bear poop than we did other people on the trail today! We past well over 20 piles on our loop & only saw 3 people
..
The loop clocked in at 11.2 miles & 2825 of EG.
Here is a map:
& there are a few more pics here.
