Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

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Eric Peterson
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Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by Eric Peterson » July 21st, 2014, 8:30 am

Had an idea for a few years to connect Siouxon Creek to Observation PK in the Trapper Creek
wilderness. Added Sister Rock for good measure. Added a seemingly endless death march road
walk towards the end to get over to Horseshoe Ridge, the road walk looked like a short cut
on my GPS but I ended up adding a few extra miles had I just used the Siouxon Trail instead.

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Another section I wanted to hike was the original alignment of the Siouxon Creek Trail that starts
on the other side of the 'closed' bridge. Going out on a limb here and guessing they officially abandoned
the old alignment and made the new section for the bike riders. The old alignment is being maintained
however up until the Siouxon ford area.

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Fresh cuts on the abandoned section -

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Sample section of tread on the abandoned trail -

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Lost the tread in some blow down area and ditched out to ford using a sweet wide log -

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Back on the newer alignment heading up to RD 58 there is some newly cut logs, this area was trashed back
in September when Bos and I came through on my first attempt for this hike -

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From RD 58 I thought I'd cut across to connect into the main Trapper Creek trail 192 going cross
country. Got pretty soaked coming up through some open sections of the Siouxon trail and ditching
cross country from rd 58 looked super wet not to mention over grown, I continued down 58 until
getting to a old logging road hoping it would continue on as a user trail. Wow! Lucked out and I was
right, had a vague idea there would be something like this as the really old alignments showed trail
systems that are now roads that cut across over into Trapper Creek. If anyone else goes this way,
just stay on the old logging road, I verged off to check out another user path that went nowhere.

Sample of the user trail that heads to Trapper Creek -

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Bog area with ancient wood planks for a trail right before connecting into trail 192 -

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Feeling pretty stoked on this undocumented find, I pushed on to Observation Peak, views were somewhat
socked in, temperature around 50 and I was a bit wet but didn't really care -

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Hiked over to Sister Rock, thought I'd exit off down ridge to connect back to where Siouxon hits rd 58
but there was a big ass hill in the way so I just 'bombed' down the side. Super steep and slow.

Sister Rock -

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Looking back towards Observation Peak -

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Looking at the other Sister Rock and the dumb hill that got in my way -

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Selfie from Sister Rock -

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From the exit off Sister Rock I road walked 58 and made a last minute decision to road walk 58 to
57 over to Horseshoe Ridge thinking it might be a short cut. I think I added a few miles instead :D

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Reassuring road signage along the way -

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Nearing the end of the endless road death march I caught a glimpse of Sister Rock -

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Snacked on some almost ripe huckleberries for dinner -

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Horseshoe Ridge is almost 4 miles long and loses almost 2000' of EG in a little over a mile, not very well
graded for down hiking :lol:

Old tin signage from July of '76 -

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Looking over to the cone that was recently for sale -

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Down ridge -

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Made it back to the car with enough natural light to drive out to the main roads :)

28 miles and 6000'

http://gpsfly.org/a/3493

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drm
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by drm » July 21st, 2014, 8:46 am

I did that old trail into Trapper Creek a few years back, but for me I was making a high connection between Soda Peaks Lake and Observation Peak without hiking all the way around to the Observation Trail TH. Still a fair amount of road walking, but I know it was the same trail because of the section through the meadow. Trail people call those old logs corduroy. I also remember that the first part of that trail just after leaving the road was really brushy - head-height brush.

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kepPNW
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by kepPNW » July 21st, 2014, 11:12 am

Eric Peterson wrote:28 miles and 6000'
Slacker! :lol:

Holy cow, man, that's an awesome day out there. Love the bog shots.
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

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VanMarmot
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by VanMarmot » July 21st, 2014, 4:05 pm

Awesome concept and subsequent hike - I hope 28 mi doesn't qualify as "slacker" activity!

I did a loop around the Trapper Creek Wilderness in 2010 (Trapper Loop) and stumbled across that corduroy log trail segment then. It may have once (in the '50s) connected to a trail to the W, which is now a road.

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Crusak
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by Crusak » July 21st, 2014, 5:03 pm

I'll just use my favorite phrase today: "You're just showing off" lol I kept saying that to my coworkers all day.

EP takes lots of time away from hiking to dabble in other ventures but still manages to crank out a 28 mile 6000' EG day at 2.5 mph. Fantastic! Nice report and nicely done.

The other Wonder Twin Tower salutes you! :)
Jim's Hikes

Solvitur Ambulando

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MarsIsCobra
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by MarsIsCobra » July 21st, 2014, 8:26 pm

that is awesome man. respect

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CraigG
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by CraigG » July 21st, 2014, 10:25 pm

Well done!

pablo
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by pablo » July 22nd, 2014, 10:45 am

EP,

An excellent outing and nice find on that connector trail to the Trapper Creek area. I've done the Soda Peaks Lake/Observation Pt loop a couple of times and I wish I'd know about it, next time.

I will have to add this to my list as I've not done anything in Siouxon Creek - might have to shorten it up somehow, lotta miles for these old bones.

Thx,

--Paul
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

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Sean Thomas
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by Sean Thomas » July 22nd, 2014, 8:10 pm

Ep just dusts it off and busts out a 30 miler with 6000 eg like its nothing! Great report too, I tried driving from the upper observation TH over to that sioxon TH west of Sister Rocks but just turned around, was too lazy to walk it so just went home :lol:

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Craig Romano
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Re: Siouxon/Observation PK/Sister Rock/Horsehoe rdge 7.20.14

Post by Craig Romano » July 23rd, 2014, 9:35 am

You're a hiking machine Eric!

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