McIntyre Ridge hike 6-23-09

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Jane
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McIntyre Ridge hike 6-23-09

Post by Jane » June 24th, 2009, 9:47 am

Paul, Ben Jim and myself decided to check out the McIntyre Ridge area. Lorain's (Afoot and Afield) descriptions are now not exactly correct because of some closures, but here are my notes, and I hope my comrades will chime in with any corrections or more details:

Take Hwy 26 east towards Sandy, very soon out of town watch for Shorty's Corner-Shell gas station/store/cafe. Flip your odometer to watch mileage.Turn RIGHT here on Firwood Road, which after 7/10ths of a mile turns sharply RIGHT (if you went straight you're on a smaller country road, turn back the the corner missed, which we did ;)
Stay on Firwood for a total of about 3.4 miles to the intersection with Wildcat Mtn. Rd., turn LEFT here. You will drive another 13 miles till the road ends, but watch for some changes along this way: the two-laned yellow striped road will turn into a narrow one-lane looking still paved road at about 8.7 miles (you'll see a boulder-blocked turn-in on your right), continue, drive carefully as the alder and other vegetation is grown out into the road and could scratch your car. Ignore all side roads and forks so far, this road is windy and you will see more boulder blocked turn-ins and target shooting areas. At 12. 7 miles this turns into a gravel and very rutted road. At just 1/10th of a mile you will come to a fork, veer RIGHT (I think there was a pink faded flag) and you will end at a boulder lined rocky parking area. It needs some cleaning up, as there were a few beer cans and gun shell caseings around, park carefully.
6-20-09 Mc.Rdg. hike parking area.jpg

You can see the trail/wide dirt path on the right heading up inthe trees, but you must first skirt a large car-sized hole as Tom showed in report below, and continue up on this about 500 yards(?)till you come to a T, turn RIGHT. Note the three post ends sticking up out of the ground as you need to remember to turn back down this way and not continue straight when you return.

(see more pics and map on page two here http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... a&start=10
and in this report: http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... f=8&t=2476 )


This trail is wide and and gradual at first, lined with a floating green carpet of sorrel
6-23-09 McIntyre Ridge trail greenery.jpg
but there is a rough bare section that is in dire need of reconstruction;steep and muddy here, watch your step especially coming down
6-23-09 Mc.Rdg. muddy steep section.jpg
and later some rocky sections (note the tiny determined Trillium coming out of the rocky trail)
6-23-09 Mc.Rdg. rocky trail section.jpg


several pretty rhododendrons
6-23-09 Mc.Rdg. beargrass and rhodie.jpg
The climb is very minimal, and the trail is often level for large sections, here it is narrow through some grasses
6-23-09 Mc.Rdg. trail through grassy meadow.jpg
and then your senses are slammed with this
6-23-09 Mc.Rdg. Mt.Hood and bear grass.jpg
6-23-09 Mt. Hood from McIntyre Ridge.jpg
yep, looks like a good place to laze and lunch (except for the occassional gun shots we heard in the far distance, but they didn't last too long luckily)
6-23-09 Mc.Ridge lunch.jpg
6-23-09 Mc.Rdge. JG Mt. Hood.jpg
The few flowers I noted on this hike included the beargrass, paintbrush, penstamon, trillium, lupine, bunch berry, and rhodies
6-23-09 Mc.Rdg. beargrass party.jpg
6-23-09 McIntyre Ridge rhodies.jpg
photographers inhaling the views
6-23-09 Mc.Ridge photographers.jpg
We pulled ourselves away from this meadow only to be hit minutes later with the next one,
6-23-09 Mc. Ridge Jiim and Mt.Hood.jpg
6-23-09 Mc.Rdg. Mt. Hood and paintbrush.jpg
where that bench is,
6-23-09 Mc.Rdg. hikers enjoying view.jpg
but we continued on. There were several patches of slushy snow on the trail or near it, but it should be melted soon I would guess.
When we came to the junction with the Douglas Trail (you'll see this sign board 15-20 yards or so to the left at this T interesection), we decided to turn back.
100_6294.JPG
Paul and Ben and Sadie (the cutie chocolate lab in the pics) headed out to camp somewhere, Jim and I returned to the city. I "think" we did between 5-6 miles, about 800' elev. if I remember Paul's comments.
I had never explored this area, and saw there are many additional trails that could be explored, as mentioned in the other trip reports (Plaza Trail, Wildcat Mtn, etc).
We were the only hikers today, going on a weekday making a difference I'm sure!

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anna in boots
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Re: McIntyre Ridge hike 6-23-09

Post by anna in boots » June 24th, 2009, 11:00 am

Nice trip, Jane! Mmmm, sorrell: tasty! I call it trail lettuce. Love that shot with all the admiring photographers ogling the peak. We are such suckers for a good-lookin' volcano! Glad you had fun.

anna in boots
Current trip reports at All Thoughts Work™ Outdoors
http://allthoughtsworkoutdoors.wordpress.com/

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Splintercat
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Re: McIntyre Ridge hike 6-23-09

Post by Splintercat » June 24th, 2009, 2:30 pm

Nice report, Jane - glad you found your way to the "new" trailhead! Do you mind if I use a couple of your photos for a Field Guide trip description..? I've been meaning to post one, and now that people are starting to use this approach, this seems like a good time.

Tom :)

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Jane
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Re: McIntyre Ridge hike 6-23-09

Post by Jane » June 24th, 2009, 2:41 pm

That's fine Tom, and I know my comrades took lots of photos too. Paul was "considering" this a hike for his next book revision, so he took additional notes that may be helpful.

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