Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

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woodswalker
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Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by woodswalker » November 18th, 2014, 6:40 pm

Sunday looked beautiful and clear so I was eager to get out and hike after a back injury that had kept me going slow for a while. I'm not quite up to par but I'm getting there. I thought I could get one more snow free mountain hike in but a quick check of the weather cams squashed that idea. The gorge was my next thought, but some weather sites were predicting gusts to 55 mph. In the past I would have gone anyway figuring the wind through the trees would block out some of the traffic noise. But Mileage Mike's recent near death brush with a falling tree made me consider other options. So I decided on Forest park. It had been more than 30 years since I had done anything more than a quick stroll there. I started up from the Lower Macleay TH. Balch Creek was flowing nicely but it was icy in spots on the trail and very icy on the sides.
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This Hollow log is wearing a Green Man mask. Can you see him?
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Finally out of the shade and into the sun and dry paths!
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There were a few sneek peeks through the trees at Mt Hood but none good enough to capture on camera. The maples were still bravely being colorful!
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Turning onto the Wildwood it took me awhile to move out of the crowds, but after about a mile and a half the crowds thinned out enough to make it pleasant. Although the path was dry once I got out of Balch Creek Canyon the bridges were still very icy.
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So I took it slowish and checked out the plant life.
Older shelf Fungus starting to crumble a bit.
ImageIMG_0842 by w00dswalker, on Flickr
Happy sword fern!
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Not so happy licorice ferns on the tree.
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I decided to turnaround at the jct. with the Dogwood trail. My back was still feeling good but I wanted to keep it that way.This fallen tree has taken out part of the trail. It was about halfway between Dogwood jct and Wild Cherry jct on the Wildwood. Not hard to get around at all though.
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As I was coming back down the trail was completely backed up to a standstill. Apparently someone had fallen and reportedly broken a leg. Fire and Ambulance services were there evacuating. Fortunately he had fallen quite close to the trailhead. When I did Wilderness First Responder training one of questions was how long did we think it would take EMS to arrive on the scene and transport you out if you were 2 miles up the Forest Park trail. The answer was a surprisingly long time. It made me feel not so bad about carrying my poles and a couple of rescue blankets.
Despite the sober reminder that an accident can happen anywhere, it was a pleasant, if urban hike, logging in at around 8 miles and 800 feet e.g.
Woodswalker

payslee

Re: Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by payslee » November 18th, 2014, 8:09 pm

I was on the very same stretch of trail on Sunday! And I fell on my butt on the ice at that one seepy spot on Balch Creek. (Although I didn't break my leg!)

Forest Park is always lovely, altho your pictures are MUCH better than mine. Thanks for posting these.

-payslee

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woodswalker
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Re: Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by woodswalker » November 19th, 2014, 8:18 am

payslee wrote:I was on the very same stretch of trail on Sunday! And I fell on my butt on the ice at that one seepy spot on Balch Creek. (Although I didn't break my leg!)

Forest Park is always lovely, altho your pictures are MUCH better than mine. Thanks for posting these.

-payslee

Thanks Payslee! I didn't get up there until noon due to work and vacillating between hikes. I often wish that I had some sort of radar to detect PHikers on the trail. :D It would have been super fun to run into you. If I chat with people I always ask if they have been to the website. I'm looking forward to putting some names to faces at the Meet & Deet.
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kepPNW
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Location: Salmon Creek

Re: Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by kepPNW » November 19th, 2014, 10:39 am

woodswalker wrote:I often wish that I had some sort of radar to detect PHikers on the trail. :D It would have been super fun to run into you. If I chat with people I always ask if they have been to the website. I'm looking forward to putting some names to faces at the Meet & Deet.
The buttons used to work a bit. Nothing like trip reports with selfies, though. When I was writing a TR every week, I'd be recognized 3-5 times each hike. Usually by lurkers, but sometimes by people I only know by their avatar. :)
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

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woodswalker
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Re: Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by woodswalker » November 19th, 2014, 11:10 am

The buttons used to work a bit. Nothing like trip reports with selfies, though. When I was writing a TR every week, I'd be recognized 3-5 times each hike. Usually by lurkers, but sometimes by people I only know by their avatar. :)[/quote]
Thanks for the tip Karl! I'll try that next time.
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kepPNW
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Location: Salmon Creek

Re: Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by kepPNW » November 19th, 2014, 11:35 am

woodswalker wrote:
The buttons used to work a bit. Nothing like trip reports with selfies, though. When I was writing a TR every week, I'd be recognized 3-5 times each hike. Usually by lurkers, but sometimes by people I only know by their avatar. :)
Thanks for the tip Karl! I'll try that next time.
Woodswalker
It's a fine balance. I have caught a bit of grief for going overboard at times. 8-)
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

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woodswalker
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Re: Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by woodswalker » November 19th, 2014, 12:42 pm

I'll keep the selfies in check. :lol:

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Sean Thomas
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Re: Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by Sean Thomas » November 19th, 2014, 7:17 pm

Long before the selfie was ever invented some wise person said, "one can never post too many selfies". Well maybe that's not what they said but oh well :)


Glad you're back is feeling better too, back injuries are always a real bummer.

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woodswalker
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Re: Balch Creek and Wildwood Trail

Post by woodswalker » November 20th, 2014, 7:48 am

Sean Thomas wrote:Long before the selfie was ever invented some wise person said, "one can never post too many selfies". Well maybe that's not what they said but oh well :)


Glad you're back is feeling better too, back injuries are always a real bummer.
Thanks! These days I'm going for the old cliche "onwards and upwards"
Woodswalker

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