North Section Line Trail - Needs LOTS of work!

[mattisnotfrench]

I'll have a trip report for this hike soon but I wanted to post this here too. We hiked the North Section Line Trail today and it's in pretty rough shape. We did this hike with the intention of trying to clean it up as much as possible but it really needs a serious trail crew to come through sometime in the next year or two or we might lose it. We did what we could, and the first 2 miles of trail from the trailhead are in much better shape now. Here's a taste of what a lot of the trail looked like as we hiked:

Some parts of this first section are in decent shape. Here's one of them:

But the second section of the trail, which departs from behind a gate and climbs up a slope away from the gravel road that runs along the ridge, is in absolutely terrible shape. We spent about a half-hour trimming tree limbs so you can see the trail heading uphill, but from this point we decided that it was going to be too much work for us while still enjoying our hike. It took a lot of effort to clean up the first two miles and we just ran out of time. This is an absolutely beautiful trail that leads to a beautiful view of Mount Hood from a grassy knoll at the eastern edge of the Mount Hood National Forest:

We hiked the road that parallels the trail on the way back for a lot of the way. There are some really nice ponderosa pines along this stretch of road:

It would be a shame to lose this trail. There was a decent amount of flagging and it's clear that some people do hike the trail, but it needs more boots, more maintenance, and significant amounts of tread work and brushing. Hopefully it would get a helping hand someday in the relatively near future.

[pinecone]

Yep, I found that out last year, and I can only imagine it has gotten worse. I did come across plenty of morels along the trail there though. Thanks for the clean-up efforts, it would be great to have the route open for easy travel again. I stuck to the gated road 1700-62 for the duration of my visit to Mill Creek Lookout site last week. Great bird life and a lovely area. Last year I took 1711 back through the 2013 Blackburn fire zone, to make a loop which goes through some great terrain and views but involves a lot of brush and log scrambling on the burned over road section. I've got to get back to the area to finish exploring the rest of the newer network of horse/hiking trails put in all through the Gibson Prairie area just to the north.

[bobcat]

Thanks for working on this trail, Matt. It is really the purview of the 44 Trails organization, based in Hood River. However, when I contacted the ranger about this trail a few years ago, when it was hikeable, I was asked, "Why are you interested in hiking this trail? Why don't you hike these other trails . . .?" Which led me to believe that there isn't an interest on the part of the USFS to see that trail maintained even though they still have a description of it:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 18581.pdf

[pinecone]

there isn't an interest on the part of the USFS to see that trail maintained

Funny, hopefully this will change as seeing as the perhaps newest? network of trails constructed on the forest connects directly onto the Section Line Trail. The Clydesdale Trail No. 420 connects directly onto the Section Line Trail near its western terminus. The Mustang Trail No. 422 is really lovely too weaving its way through the thinned forest down to connect from Gibson Horse Camp. The whole area is a great area for spring bird life especially, and makes some nice trail running/hiking opportunities in addition to the horse riding use.

[pinecone]

I was back out to the area last week, and ran into NW youth corp leader, at the Section Line Trailhead/road start. He had a crew out working on the trail! Then up at the Gibson Prairie Trailhead ran into some Backcountry Horseman volunteers who were out clearing some of the horse trails. Use signs are up now at all the trail starts, and trail signs are coming! They said that new recreation manager for the area has done more progress in his first six months than the last six years...

I collected trail tracks and observations for the rest of the new trail system there, and will be working on a map as I can get to it. It's a nice network, with the work going on, now in pretty great overall shape. Still a few sections working on brushing and clearing, but not hard to follow anymore.

[bobcat]

Thanks for the information! Yes, I have found over the years that the individual ranger really matters. Some people just punch in and punch out (yes, fulfilling their contract perhaps but without the passion for tackling new projects), others (a rarer breed) really take the initiative. Glad to hear the horse volunteers are out there, too.

[mattisnotfrench]

I am very pleased to report that the North Section Line Trail has been brushed out and retreaded, courtesy of the efforts of the Northwest Youth Corps. Dreams do come true!

Thanks to everyone who works on trails!