Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/30
Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/30
Opening pic
We set out to hike the Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek loop last Sunday. I'd only been up Nick Eaton as far as the Deadwood Camp junction before & never hiked the Casey Creek Trail so we got to cover some new ground too.
Arriving at Herman Creek at about 8:30am we found the gate open & 3 cars already at the trailhead! Oregonians are hardy souls!
Most of the time we were quite sheltered from the wind with only the occasional gust making it through the trees. We soon found ourselves at the Nick Eaton - Herman Creek Junction & began our climb up.
Nick Eaton is a no nonsense trail the first mile climbs over 1200', you finally break out of the trees at the 3 mile mark from the TH.
We hit snow at about the 2000' mark, it was easy to see the windy spots versus the Sheltered spots in the Herman Creek drainage by looking at where the snow was blowing!
We continued to climb & were mostly sheltered from the wind.
The temperature continued to drop & sometimes the wind would make it across the ridge & give us a battering!
http://youtu.be/VarfRU6DoVc
Things got a bit tougher after the Deadwood Camp junction. The ridge steepens again there & the trail moves to the East side out of the sun but in the wind! It was a tough slog up to the Casey Creek Junction at 4100'
At the Casey Creek junction there are some good views of Mt. Defiance to the East.
We had planned to have lunch up here but we were too cold & so began our decent of the Casey Creek trail to get out of the wind. The ladies were not best pleased
We finally stopped about a quarter of the way down the trail in a sheltered Sunny Spot & warmed up with some hot Tomato soup before continuing our decent of Casey Creek.
Kazuko checking out some fresh Bear Prints in the snow.
The snow slowly disappeared as we hiked down the trail & we soon found ourselves down on the Herman Creek Trail.
From here it was just a walk back out on the Herman Creek Trail with a stop at Nick Eaton Falls.
The hike came in at 11.5 miles with about 4500' of EG.
A few more pics of the day here & a map below.
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Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
Cool. I did almost the same loop on Saturday, but I took Gorton Creek to Deadwood Camp area before connecting to Nick Eaton Ridge. You must've encountered my tracks up there starting at the Deadwood Trail/Nick Eaton junction. There were plenty of critter tracks, deer, bear and I think cougar. Nice pics, looks like a beautiful day.
Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
Yeah, we followed your footprints up the final section of Nick Eaton & down Casey Creek. Thought it was pretty funny because I bet there are lots of sunny summer weekends when the Casey Creek trail doesn't see a soul & yet it was hiked both Saturday & Sunday on this cold snowy weekend!
Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
Mars and I hiked up the PCT out of Herman Creek that day! We were first at the TH around 7:30. We both expected to not be the first - and were quite surprised at how many cars were overflowing from the lot when we finished! So many cold weather hikers!
It sure was pretty on your hike! And it may have been less 'gusty' than the plateau - thanks for the pictures!!
It sure was pretty on your hike! And it may have been less 'gusty' than the plateau - thanks for the pictures!!
oh-beer-ah
- Sean Thomas
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Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
Great TR Guy! I haven't been on the Casey Creek trail in a long time but I remember it being a steepy too. Cool find on the bear tracks too, I wonder if its the same one Jo and I saw a couple weeks ago?
- Splintercat
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Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
Fresh dusting of snow, bright blue skies, view into untouched wilderness... can't go wrong there, Guy! I had to look at my map to see why you didn't just plug along to Greenpoint, but then realized that your 4,100 high point suffered from the "plateau effect" in that it is still a fair hike across the plateau to the summit! Plus, the snow was probably getting exponentially deep at that point, too... good call!
Thanks for posting!
Tom
Thanks for posting!
Tom
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Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
On Saturday the snow depth wasn't more than about 2 inches along Nick Eaton Ridge. Really dry and powdery. Conditions might be different now.
- Eric Peterson
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Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
Picture of the 3 ladies is great but I have a sneaking suspicion the gal under the mask is really smiling
How did they like going down Casey(crazy) Creek trail?
How did they like going down Casey(crazy) Creek trail?
Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
No! Her left thumb is down! She is just a whiner, it looks like a great hike for anybody used to a bit of suffering!Eric Peterson wrote:Picture of the 3 ladies is great but I have a sneaking suspicion the gal under the mask is really smiling
Some people are really fit at eighty; thankfully I still have many years to get into shape…
- roadtripmom
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Re: Nick Eaton - Casey Creek - Herman Creek Loop - 2014/11/3
Your pictures are great ! What size are they when you upload them ? I can learn a thing or two from your fantastic trip report !
Filling my bucket, one hike at a time.
Amanda
Amanda