3/17/12 Gnat Creek Trail 3000 mile Milestone Reached!

[mileagemike25000]

We wanted to pick a special hike for this day as I am going to cross the 3000 mile milestone of my 25000 mile goal! My wife and I really enjoy the Gnat Creek Trail in Clatsop County, Oregon (and it's a short drive on the highway to Astoria) and my youngest son decided to join us while on spring break from WWU.
This hike really consists of 2 distinct trails. The first portion begins at the Gnat Creek Campground and travels close to Highway 30 until you cross it and arrive at the Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery. The second hiking section starts at the Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery where you access the Upper Gnat Creek Trail and hike about 3 miles until you reach a small loop that acts as a turnaround (and has creek views with benches).
Here is the trailhead at the Gnat Creek Campground just north of Highway 30.

The hike is generally level and there are plenty of great views of Gnat Creek along the way.

With some wood walkways that cross feeder streams.

And after you cross Highway 30 you will walk around a couple of bends and arrive at the Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery.

Where you can spend 25cents to get a handful of fish food to throw in the ponds and watch the Rainbow Trout in a feeding frenzy (sorry but can't see fish feeding so here's one resting).

And you can see a nice waterfall at the far end of the hatchery just across from Gnat Creek.

Also at the far end of the hatchery is the gate that leads to an excellent waterfall and the Upper Gnat Creek Trail.

And if you keep walking past the gateway past the powerlines you will come to a Falls on Gnat Creek that is quite amazing!!!

And the entire spectacular view looks like this!

If you continue hiking there is a huge number of trails that can confuse your journey. Just follow the trail from the falls along the creek and you will cross a road and finally reach a sign (after turning left after crossing the road) that says Upper Gnat Creek Trail. Continue on this trail and you will have many great views of the creek.

Now just continue following the trail and you will get to a bend to the right and will finally reach a stream with a nice log to cross the stream.

A short while after crossing this bridge I reached the mileage necessary to bring me to my 3000 mile milestone. It's worth stopping and reflecting on the journey every 1000 miles or so!

We continued the hike by following the small loop at the end of the trail and heading back to the car. It seemed very appropriate while driving home to see a rainbow on St. Patrick's Day!

We logged the trail at about 8.3 miles in distance.

[mayhem]

Bammm!!! 3,000 and a great TR to share!! Gnat Creek Trail is a new one to me! I bet Pulgar knows of it though.

[Splintercat]

Cool, Mike! Great pics, too -- nothing better than a charging stream in rainy weather... that's Oregon!

So, did you hike to the end of the trail? Supposedly, OSF was going to eventually extend that trail to the BIG falls on Gnat Creek, which I believe are just off the edge of your map, but not sure if they've made it that far, yet. Love that trailhead gate, BTW..!

Also, is there parking by the hatchery trailhead -- e.g., do they mind if hikers park at the hatchery?

Nice report!

Tom

[BrianEdwards]

Great accomplishment, I too am very interested in this trail. It would be an awesome one if it was indeed pushed all the way to the big falls. Gnat creek looks like it's roaring

[BrianEdwards]

Upon further investigation, it appears the current trail ends right about where Bryan Swan has a rumored waterfall on his site, nice!




Also, nice shot of the waterfall near the hatchery.
[quote="mileagemike25000] [/quote]

[mileagemike25000]

Thanks All!

We did hike to what we thought was the end of the trail where you traverse a small loop as the turnaround point. However, we did see what appeared to be a less travelled path that went down to a small stream at the far end of the loop, as you can see marked in the map below. I didn't notice the trail continue past the stream but will investigate this at another time!

There is a posting at the Upper Gnat Creek Trail sign that indicates you need permission to go on the private property where Gnat Creek Falls is located. I have a picture of the trail sign below but not the posting that is next to me.

Laughingly, my wife noticed that there is no contact for this private owner on the sheet. From the picture of the falls that is on the posting I'm sure he could sell tickets to this beauty!

Tom, there does appear to be parking at the end of the hatchery where I have seen vehicles before, but I'm not sure if it's for the public. We have bumped into forest service employees at the hatchery and they have been very friendly. We have also seen trucks park on US30, which is just a couple blocks from the hatchery, as there is quite a lot of fishing (as you would expect) on Gnat Creek.

Brian, Gnat creek does seem to be quite high with a good flow, but I have actually seen much more water in it. On one hike we were at the far bend on the Upper Gnat creek trail and the creek was high enough to flow over the trail. We just bushwacked around it and moved on! Also, thanks for the map of the falls location. I'll have to look into how to get there! You may also notice, on the picture of the waterfall, that there is a large pipe dangling down the full height!

[BrianEdwards]

Looks like the reason the trail doesn't go to the Big Falls yet is it's still privately owned. Recently there's been an agency or bureau trying to buy the land containing the big falls. Guess that hasn't happened yet.

Enough with the hijack. Great job reaching 3000 miles. Astoria to New York's Central park is 'only' 2990!


.

[mileagemike25000]

Thanks for the update and the congrats!

[justpeachy]

Supposedly, OSF was going to eventually extend that trail to the BIG falls on Gnat Creek.

Is the BIG falls the one labeled Gnat Creek Falls on the topo map?

[BrianEdwards]

Is the BIG falls the one labeled Gnat Creek Falls on the topo map?

That's correct