Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

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Beer Town Bill
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Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

Post by Beer Town Bill » September 7th, 2009, 10:16 pm

Introduction

For several years I did the Timberline Trail around Mt. Hood to close out the hiking season and transition into football/tailgating season. But with the washout of the trail at Elliott Creek, I was left at a loss for a long weekend hike. After some thought though, I dreamed up the idea of hiking the Gorge from one end to the other. This seemed like a decent replacement hike. I have done a lot of hiking in the Gorge dating back to my youth, so stringing it all together in a single hike seemed like a neat idea. But after plotting the route and doing the math, I discovered the route was about 55 miles - too much for a weekend. So the idea was added to my bucket list and then pretty much forgotten for a couple of years.

Early this summer I decided to get serious about the hike. I was very worried about the state of the trail on the Tanner Cutoff, Tanner Creek, and Moffett Creek sections based upon my experiences on the Eagle Tanner Trail last year. The first time I did that trail as part of a two day backpacking trip, I got “lost” twice (the second time was a cakewalk though). So I decided to do some exploration in advance of my hike.

My first trip involved riding my mountain bike up the Tanner Road to the Tanner Creek Trail. As a footnote, I would not recommend this bike ride unless you have done some training. The first 4 miles involves a 1600 foot climb. The Tanner Creek Trail was very brushy, but easy to follow. I also did the bottom sections of both the Tanner Cutoff and Moffett Creek. They were both also very brushy, but I figured that once the trail got above the wet areas, they would be fine. My second scouting trip involved taking the Nesmith Point Trail and then heading over the Moffett Creek Trail to the Von Ahn Rim area. That trail reminded me a lot of the Eagle-Tanner Trail, but without all the fallen trees. On both trips I used my GPS to generate some waypoints to help me “connect the dots” should I lose the trail. This seemed like a good idea at the time, but in hindsight I would say that if you were to lose the trail, navigation would be very tough due to the steepness of the descent and ascent to Tanner Creek.

After completing my scouting hikes, I was reasonably confident that I could complete the hike in 3 days and 2 nights. But just in case, I carried an extra day of provisions. I also opted to carry a tent because I didn’t want to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. In hindsight, I should have carried an emergency bivy and insect netting - it would have cut my load by four pounds.

Day One - Starvation Creek to Whatum Lake - 14.7 Miles / 6,000 ft of climb

Trails - Mt. Defiance (#413), Wyeth (#411), North Lake (#423), Gorton Creek (#408), Rainy Whatum (#409)

My wife dropped me off at around 8:30 AM and I was soon headed up. I was carrying 5 liters of water, so my pack was a lot heavier than I had expected. Fortunately I was in the shade most of the way, but the climb seemed to take forever. I stopped to do a couple of geocaches along the way, which cost me some valuable time that I would later wish I had. I brushed off three ticks from my arms including one that was just starting to dig in. This convinced me to switch to long pants. I reached the top of the nearly 5000 foot climb around 12:30 and wasted some more time on another geocache. After a quick lunch, I headed off towards North Lake, where I took a side trip to swim and reload on water. This cost me yet more time, and I later found that there were water sources trail on trail #423.

I reached the summit of Green Point Mountain around 4:00 PM after another 1000 feet of climbing. The view was incredible. I quickly determined that I need to do a loop trip up Nick Eaton and down Herman Creek sometime in the future! I made good time on the Rainy Whatum Trail, where there were some good vistas of Hood. When I reached Whatum Lake, I didn’t look at my map closely enough and ended up hiking virtually the entire way around it in clockwise path. Only later did I discover the PCT shortcut at the west end of the lake.

By this time it was around 6:30 PM. My original plan was to spend the night at Indian Springs. Although this route would add a couple of miles to the trip, I wanted to camp there because it was one of my favorite spots on my 1977 PCT Thru Hike. But I was beat (6000 feet of climbing!!) and opted to camp at the lake instead. After a dinner of freeze dried teriyaki chicken and rice and a nightcap of a little scotch, I was soon fast asleep.

Day Two - Whatum Lake to Tanner Creek - 19.1 Miles / 3,500 ft of climb

Trails - Eagle Creek (#440), Eagle Tanner (#433), Tanner Butte (#401), Tanner Cutoff (#448), Tanner Creek (#431)

After a quick breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, I broke camp and headed off down the Eagle Creek Trail at around 7:30 AM. In my prime I would have been under way by 6:30 AM, and I vowed to do a better job the next morning. I have never hiked the upper portion of the Eagle Creek Trail and soon discovered some great camp spots which made me wish that I had pressed on last night. At around 10:00 AM I made the crossing of Eagle Creek and started the 2500 foot climb towards Tanner Butte. I did the Eagle Tanner Trail twice last summer, but in the opposite direction. So I was reasonably confident that other than for the climb, the trail was doable.

I stopped for lunch at Big Cedar Springs but didn’t have much of an appetite - I was approaching the “unknown” section of trail and was a little nervous. The skies were partially cloudy - I seemed to be right on the edge of a marine air front - clouds to the west and blue sky to the east. This made the going a little easier than yesterday where temperatures were in the 80’s and 90’s.

At long last I reached the Tanner Cutoff Trail and proceeded into virgin territory. I used my GPS to mark waypoints periodically but this proved to be unnecessary. Other than for a few vine maple thickets which required crawling on all fours, the trail was easy to follow. But the trail wasn’t easy - it was steep, narrow, and brushy. I had been warned to watch for poison oak on this section, but only saw a few shiny leaves. The bottom portion of the trail was the hardest to follow, but I could tell from the waypoints I had taken on my scouting trip that I was on the right path.

By the time I reached the Tanner Creek Trail, I was exhausted. I trudged on though, planning to stop for an early dinner at Tanner Creek before attacking the climb up to Von Ahn Rim. I wanted to get the route finding portions of the trip over. But in my haste/delirium, I missed the turnoff and ended up at the camp spot at the end of the Tanner Creek Trail. Although it was only 5:00 PM, I decided to stay put and make camp. My original plan was to camp at the Von Ahn Rim Camp (I had even stashed water there), but after my misadventures on the Eagle Tanner Trail last year (lost the trail/found the trail/caught by darkness/camped in the trail) I quickly decided that way finding would best be done in the morning when I was fresher.

After a dinner of freeze dried beef stew (my favorite), I made a fire to dry out my boots and my sweat-laden clothing. I was also nervous about bears. Although I hung my food both nights, I had seen lots of huckleberries and bear poop, so I figured a fire wouldn’t hurt. I had heard lots of noises in the night on Tanner Butte last year, and didn’t want any night encounters. A couple of shots of scotch helped ease my mind.

Day Three - Tanner Creek to Multnomah Falls - 17.9 Miles / 4,500 ft of climb

Trails - Moffett Creek (#431), Horsetail Creek (#425), Oneonta (#424), Franklin Ridge (#427), Larch Mountain (#441)

I was able to break camp earlier this morning, and was on the trail by 7:00 AM. The 2000 foot climb up towards Von Ahn was brutal. I was a lot like the descent to Tanner Creek, only in reverse. I reached the top at around 9:00 AM and was met by a fabulous view of Mt. Hood. The trail then traversed and descended to Moffett and McCord Creeks before climbing another 1000 feet up to the Nesmith Spur Road.

By 11:00 AM I was on the Horsetail Trail an was getting some incredible views from the bluffs down into the Gorge in the area of St. Peters Dome. I had never been on this trail before and think it would be a great hike to do as part of a loop in conjunction with the Nesmith Point Trail. There was plenty of water along this section of trail with multiple stream crossings. At the junction with the Bell Creek Trail, I considered taking an alternate route that appeared to avoid a lot of the descent and subsequent 1500 foot climb associated with the drop down to Oneonta Creek. But I opted to stay on the route I had left with my wife.

I stopped for lunch at Oneonta Creek and encountered the first hikers I had seen since Whatum Lake. A couple came down the trail from the the nearby trail junction both complaining that they had just been stung, but they weren’t sure by what. 15 minutes later I saw someone throw a log over the bank up the trail, but I didn’t think much of it. About 30 minutes after that, I headed up the trail to the Oneonta/Franklin Ridge junction. I was immediately drilled in the ankle just above the boot line and thru two pair of socks by a yellow jacket. I sprinted down the Oneonta Trail for a 100 yards without further damage. My ankle hurt like hell, and I had run down the wrong trail. I proceeded back carefully and then sprinted up the Franklin Ridge Trail. I looked back and could see where the nest was because there were lots of yellow jackets buzzing around. In retrospect, I feel fortunate to have only been stung once. My only question was why had someone thrown a log down the hill towards the nest?

I proceeded to grind up towards Franklin Ridge. My ankle hurt, but wasn’t too swollen yet. I hadn’t done anything to treat it. I probably should have stopped immediately after being stung and applied a mud pack for 15-30 minutes. By the time I reached the top of the ridge, I started to consider bailing out from the hike at Multnomah Falls rather than Angels Rest. This would shave 4.2 miles off the hike and mean that I would finish two hours earlier.

Were it not for my ankle, I would have probably continued on, but the thought of burgers and brews at McMennamins had started to creep into my mind as well. When I was able to get cell phone coverage on the descent from Franklin Ridge, I called my wife and arranged for a different pickup point. I limped into the parking lot at around 5:30 PM. It was strange to go nearly two days without seeing anyone and then encounter several hundred “tourists” in the last mile. I overheard one kid tell his Dad that I must have gone to the top of the falls - I resisted the temptation to tell him that I had come in the “back way”.

My wife, bless her heart, remembered to bring me a couple of beers which I quickly downed. We drove home to Portland, and I quickly showered before we headed out for the aforementioned burger (I had the “Communication Breakdown”) and beers. It sure tasted better than Mountainhouse and Gatoraid.

Epilogue

Two days after returning home, I had to visit the doctor to have my ankle checked out. It had swollen up considerably. Turns out the swelling was from an infection brought on by the bite - nothing that seven days of antibiotics couldn’t fix. The only advice he could give me was to next time swab the wound with an antiseptic swipe. I have since added them to my first aid kit.

After completing the hike, I swore that I was done with the Gorge for backpacking and my trip next year would involve alpine ridge running. But after two weeks thinking about the trip, I have decided that by applying the lessons I learned and my newfound knowledge of the route, doing it a second time wouldn’t be nearly as difficult.

Lessons Learned
  • Skip the side trip to North Lake. There is water on the trail!
  • Become more familiar with all the trails in the Whatum Lake area. This will save some miles and time.
  • Study the Bell Creek Trail as an optional route to the one I took.
  • Drink a lot more water before starting the hiking each day (at least a liter). This will help alleviate the risk of dehydration and perhaps allow me to carry a little less water to start each day. (I just read the book “98.6 Degrees - The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive” which emphasizes this point.)
  • Ditch the tent or buy a tarp tent with bug netting. Too much weight!
  • Take less food. I probably had enough food for 5+ days. I always forget that on shorter trips such as this, nothing sounds or tastes good for the first several days, and that my appetite is curbed.
  • Save the geocaching for day trips - time is too valuable of a commodity on a trip such as this.
  • Don’t bother with a water stash. Instead try and focus on a beer stash at the likely camp spot.
CRG Thru Hike 002.JPG
Ready to go.
CRG Thru Hike 003.JPG
On top of Defiance.
CRG Thru Hike 005.JPG
North Lake.
CRG Thru Hike 008.JPG
Rainy Lake & Mt. Defiance from Green Point Mountain.
CRG Thru Hike 009.JPG
View from Green Point Mountain.
CRG Thru Hike 011.JPG
Forest near Whatum Lake.
CRG Thru Hike 012.JPG
Morning mist at Whatum Lake.
CRG Thru Hike 018.JPG
Eagle Creek crossing on the Eagle-Tanner Trail.
CRG Thru Hike 020.JPG
Thrush Pond below Tanner Butte.
CRG Thru Hike 021.JPG
View east from near Tanner Butte.
CRG Thru Hike 023.JPG
Dinner at Tanner Creek.
CRG Thru Hike 024.JPG
Rest break on climb up from Tanner Creek to Von Ahn Rim.
CRG Thru Hike 025.JPG
View from Von Ahn Rim.
CRG Thru Hike 026.JPG
The reason I hung my food.
CRG Thru Hike 029.JPG
St. Peters Dome from Horestail Trail.
Last edited by Beer Town Bill on September 17th, 2009, 9:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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MarkInTheDark
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Re: Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

Post by MarkInTheDark » September 9th, 2009, 5:08 pm

cool report!

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retired jerry
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Re: Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

Post by retired jerry » September 9th, 2009, 5:56 pm

beer cache - yes :)

personally, I don't do the gorge now when the higher areas are still open

a couple alternatives - trail around Three Sisters, any of numerous hikes on Mount Hood and other cascades areas, Timberline Lodge to Cascade Locks (ignoring my rule about staying out of the gorge now)

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Splintercat
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Re: Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

Post by Splintercat » September 11th, 2009, 6:42 pm

Great report..! Ouch!

I don't remember reading a "trans-Gorge" report before. Cool idea!

Tom

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Scree
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Re: Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

Post by Scree » September 17th, 2009, 12:29 pm

Really cool pictures from Green Point Mountain. The view east from there is pretty cool. I actually made it to the top of Green Point Mountain on the Wyeth Trail yesterday. By the way, when did the chain link fence at the top of Defiance show up? Is that new?

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

Post by Don Nelsen » July 25th, 2010, 10:56 am

Hey Bill,

Great report and nice photos! I missed this when you first posted it and just now found it.

Don
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

bjpascoal
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Re: Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

Post by bjpascoal » July 26th, 2010, 12:24 pm

Regarding the wash-out for the Mt. Hood Timberline trail.

You can still do this hike if you go with a friend and take two vehicles. I did it by dropping a vehicle off on one side of the washed-out section then carpooling over to the other side. We hiked around to the first vehicle and that was the loop, or arc I guess you could call it. Anyway, it works out. In fact when we did it we ran into another group of hikers and they were not aware of the washed out section so we gave them in lift in the bed of the truck to bypass the wash-out.

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jeffstatt
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Re: Columbia River Gorge Thru Hike 8/20 - 8/22 (FULL REPORT)

Post by jeffstatt » July 26th, 2010, 7:54 pm

It's great this trip report got resurrected. Good read this evening!

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