Saturday we took my partners mom out for a nice hike along the Tillamook rails from Cochran pond to the Wolf Creek trestle. When we got the TH, I was attempting to get my bearings and ended up with my first official meeting of a fellow PH'ers, Rustygoat and Melinda
We chatted for a bit and then hit the rail, or I mean trail
It was a crisp 37 out in the shade.
There were a few other people out on the rail, including a rather large group that was getting organized when we left the TH.
There was a lot of litter around (we collected a garbage bag full on the way out). Some of it is becoming part of the landscape.
- plant life growing in this guy
The old mill remnants at the pond were reflecting in the water.
There are a lot of young Alder trees growing along the trail. More in some spots than others.
After about 2 miles, you come to the first tunnel. There is a small portion of the track that the land has washed out under, but you can easily walk around this section.
There are a few sections along the rail, where there have been rock slides, landslides and washouts. But there is plenty of room to navigate around all of these.
Next, we came to the Big Baldwin Trestle. We discovered that mom has a bit of a fear of heights, but she crossed the trestle with no problem.
After crossing the trestle, I decided to hunt for the memorial that I had read about. It took a bit of hunting, but I found it. It was marked by a piece of orange ribbon tied to a branch.
In hunting for the memorial, I discovered how dangerous tiny alder tress can be. I was whipped and tripped up by them a few times.
We got back on the trail and just before the second tunnel, we found a nice area above the river to have lunch.
After lunch, we went on to the second tunnel and quickly came to the Wolf Creek trestle. Mom decided she would not join us in checking out the second trestle as the first one was enough for her.
We went down to the next washout area around the corner from the trestle and decided to turn around, as not to leave mom alone for too long
We headed back and the trail was a lot sunnier than on the way down. We ran into Rustygoat and Melinda a few more times (they were doing some off-trail exploring), as well as a few other people we enjoyed chatting with a few times along the way.
On the way out to 26, we stopped for a few minutes and chatted with the local bison in town.
It was a great trip. I will be excited to hear what comes of the official rails-to-trail conversion. I saw they were having some planning meetings this month, so we shall see.
Ill have some additional photos up later today on my blog below....
I didn't think we were going to see so many other hikers out on the rails, it really kind of surprised me. You were by far the friendliest of them all. Melinda and I cleared a lot of down branches and also branches growing out on the path as we made our way down. I would have brought some clippers if I knew it was that brushy. We did catch up to some teenagers that were hiking/biking all the way through, at the Baldwin Trestle. I was pretty jealous of their trip so we're going to plan on doing the thru hike next time.