Coyote Wall & Catherine Creek Loop - 4/11/13

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mjirving
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Coyote Wall & Catherine Creek Loop - 4/11/13

Post by mjirving » April 11th, 2014, 7:38 pm

Had a gorgeous hike on a big loop from Coyote Wall to Catherine Creek and back. This was my first time there and it seemed that a lot of the info I read about it was confusing. I tried to add some clarity with my GPS track and my detailed blog post. I might have crossed a small bit of private land thinking I was on a different road, but I'm not sure. (at the top of Coyote Wall through the trees).

Here is my blog for more pictures and detail of the route:
http://goaltechhikes.blogspot.com/2014/ ... creek.html

Here's a little video I made of the hike. I even caught 3 F-16s buzzing me at the end...very cool!
https://vimeo.com/91768496

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day. The flowers are on the verge of an explosion of color over the next few weeks.
IMG_3733.jpg
IMG_3745.jpg
IMG_3752.jpg
Screen Shot 2014-04-11 at 5.29.56 PM.jpg

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Roy
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Re: Coyote Wall & Catherine Creek Loop - 4/11/13

Post by Roy » April 12th, 2014, 3:45 pm

I never have hiked up there I guess its getting quite popular. It is very beautiful country I rode dirt bikes all over the Lyle area years back. I find it interesting all the talk of crossing private land. We road freely up there and land owners only ask we closed the gates so the cows stayed home. We mostly road on old roads and visited many old abandoned homesteads.

But there was at least a million less people living in the PDX metro area then.
The downhill of the mind is harder than the uphill of the body. - Yuichiro Miura

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mjirving
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Re: Coyote Wall & Catherine Creek Loop - 4/11/13

Post by mjirving » April 12th, 2014, 4:00 pm

Yeah, from my studying up on the area, they've closed some of the trails and made a concerted effort to educate people about staying off private land. I even saw a couple of homemade signs from homeowners asking politely to stay off their property. That's why I mentioned it...I was trying to find a proper public way to make the loop. Thanks for the bit of history...interesting. I'm sure it is due to the increase in popularity. I was surprised a bit that at mid-day on a Friday it was starting to get crowded at the trailhead...particularly Catherine Creek.

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UTurn
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Re: Coyote Wall & Catherine Creek Loop - 4/11/13

Post by UTurn » April 12th, 2014, 8:58 pm

Wow! Though we only went half the distance you went, we may have walked right past you today. It was stunning up there and I highly recommend this hike to everyone while it's so green and lush and full of color. Beautiful video, mjirving!

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chiefWright
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Re: Coyote Wall & Catherine Creek Loop - 4/11/13

Post by chiefWright » April 13th, 2014, 8:10 am

Beautiful pix and TR, @mjirvine! Great idea to make an early start; those sunrise pix are sublime.

The top of the wall is pretty confusing with a blend of public and private properties and many tracks. I think your suspicion was correct. By turning right you may have missed Atwood and taken a track on private property.

This site is useful for identifying property ownership. Though what it calls B&B road is Atwood on other maps. http://imap.klickitatcounty.org/.

It's worth noting that most of Atwood (which is supposed to be public, according to NFS) crosses private property in this area, and there are a lot of unmarked private tracks. I've overlayed a few private parcels on your track image. Atwood is the faint white line crossing the upper parcels:
Screen Shot 2014-04-11 at 5.29.56 PM (1).jpg
No blame or shame to you intended! Only for benefit of others who may study your track. Most people stay lower down, but with the popularity continuing to rise, I hope there's a better effort by the NFS and landowners to mark this area at the top of the wall.

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jgreisel
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Re: Coyote Wall & Catherine Creek Loop - 4/11/13

Post by jgreisel » April 13th, 2014, 12:23 pm

beautiful photos! It looks like it was a perfect day!!
See more pics on my blog: http://cjsjaunts.blogspot.com/

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mjirving
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Re: Coyote Wall & Catherine Creek Loop - 4/11/13

Post by mjirving » April 13th, 2014, 6:03 pm

Thanks ChiefWright! Very interesting. I came to that "fork" in the road at the upper left parcel and I thought I saw a sign to the left indicating private property (but it could have been "off the road" as you mention) So I went right where there were no signs. Easily confusing. I appreciate your clarity. It's good for the record!

-GoalTech

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