Instead I thought I'd continue my theme of last week, reprising hikes that I haven't done since the 1980's & so an Eagle Benson Loop it was!
We set off from the lower Eagle Creek Parking lot at 8:00, there were three cars parked at the upper lot that had been there overnight so some folks are still getting out there on backpacking trips. We soon found ourselves running the Ice Gauntlet on the lower Eagle Creek trail.
An uneventful hike up to just before high bridge where we ran into another gauntlet of ice.
Carefully does it!
Just before reaching the junction with the Eagle Benson trail junction you cross the Creek below Wy'east Falls. Someone had left a rope handrail there which on this icy morning was appreciated! The trail climbs & doubles back to the creek above Wyeast Falls. The crossing would have been easy expect for the fact that all the rocks to hop on where covered in a layer of ice & cold wet feet this early in the hike were not something we wanted. Shelly saved the day by making a heroic leap onto a rock that did not look icy! She then threw in a piece of wood so that those of us with shorter legs & heavier packs could also make the jump
.The best part of this trail is the next half mile up and around the bluffs looking back down onto Eagle Creek & Wyeast Falls.
Not a lot of room for error on this section of the Eagle Benson but it was ice free in in reality not really any more dangerous that the Eagle Creek trail below.
The next mile was a steady climb through trees.
Before the trail opens out again at around 2400'.
Tanner Butte looked cold!
The trail was mostly free of fallen logs but there were about 10 that required either climbing over or crawling under & some were at a height that didn't make either option easy
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Around 3000' the top of Hood came into view.
At about 3500' there is a great north facing viewpoint looking all the way down to the Dam, Ruckle Ridge & Table Mountain.
From here it was about another half mile up to Camp Smokey & the junction with the PCT where we stopped for lunch, we had clocked 9.3 miles & were at 3900'.
It was a lovely Sunny day & amazingly no wind but the air temp was still below freezing or close to it so after about 15 minutes we needed to get moving again, marching North across the Plateau on it's maze of trails! All the snow that Sean had reported on last weekend had melted away.
Soon began the part of the day I was least looking forward to, the descent of the seemingly never ending Ruckle Creek Trail! I thought my climbing was done for the day too but it turned out not to be the case. We stopped at the first big meadow view on the way down where there is a perfect log for sitting on. Chiyoko took her pack off and put it on the side of the trail. It stayed there for a minute or two then began a slow role down the slope! It almost stopped before making one final role over onto steeper terrain then picked up speed as it rolled off the meadow & into the trees below & out of sight! Complete with camera, wallet & driving license inside I figured & had to set off after it and see if it could be retrieved which thankfully after a lot of huffing & puffing it was! The really annoying part was I left my Garmin up on the trail with my pack & so got not credit for the extra climbing
.. 
Bridge of the Gods came into view at about 2000' as we hiked on down the never ending trail.
Just past the Indian Pits area we met the first two people we had seen since Eagle Creek & we knew one of them, a friend of a friend who I had hiked the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness area with a few times but not seen for several years!
We took the old highway back to the lower Eagle Creek Parking lot arriving back at 4:00pm we had clocked 17.1 miles & 4700' of EG. Parked next to us & just getting ready to leave was Portland Hiker Pablo who had just returned from an Eagle 4.5mile ridge Tanner Loop! Good to bump into you yesterday Paul!
A few more pics of the day here & a map below:
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