Wilson River Trail to Lester Creek Pinnacles 2/20/2011

[payslee]

I've been on a "hike new trails" bent this winter. Since last weekend looked like it would shape up to be an epic traffic day for snow on Hood, I invited some meetup folks to head the other direction for a coast range hike. We took a section of the Wilson River Trail just west of Kings Mtn, starting at the Jones Creek TH and heading up to a pinnacle and viewpoint about 5 miles in.

The first two miles of the trail dodges around the road to the Diamond Mill OHV lot, but it was still pretty quiet even though we didn't start hiking until about 10 am on Sunday. The trail was in good shape, although one spring had emerged just downhill of a water bar and made the trail an eroded creekbed for about 50 yards. This section was very pretty with winter-white alders and moss-covered big leaf maples making up most of the tree cover. I bet this is a pretty autumn hike when the leaves turn.

Alders along the creek

Mossy vine maple shining in our 10-minutes of sun

The trail crosses the road a few times - just before the Diamond Mill parking lot stay right at a turn to see the small-but-pretty Lester Creek Falls.

Just up the trail from here is a picnic table and large footbridge across the Wilson, where the trail starts a well-graded steady ascent, and the broad-leaf trees gradually give way to firs.

We hit patches of snow throughout the day, but it was never more than about 6" deep and many areas were bare. The trail was easy to follow even when snow covered.

This is as deep as the snow ever got

After about 2 hours of hiking (+ some break time) we reached the viewpoint/lunch stop at the pinnacle.

The not-totally-obvious pinnacle is right at a sharp bend in the trail.

For about a half mile prior we started to get good views to the west and south. The new snow made even the clearcuts look pretty nice!

If you do this as an out-and-back like we did, keep going about 100 yards past the actual pinnacle to the best viewpoint *of* the pinnacle from the trail.

Can you find the hiker in this picture?

This trail was very quiet and very pretty. Once we crossed the footbridge we were totally sheltered from any OHV noise, and really only had much of it in the afternoon when we took a break at the picnic table at Diamond Mill itself. I would guess that we were the only hikers on the trail all last weekend - there were prints of a large dog or coyote on the lower trail, but once across the footbridge we were the first footprints in the snow since it had fallen, and we saw nobody else hiking all day.

Doug Lorain describes a variation of this hike in his Afoot and Afield book, maps are also available for download from the Tillamook state forest web site ("Highway 6 Corridor Trails"). The way we did it, starting from Jones Creek, gave us GPS totals of just under 10 miles distance and just over 2000 feet total elevation change, with a fair amount of that in rolling ups and downs.

This is one of the few hikes I couldn't find a trip report on here, so I thought for once I'd actually post one myself. Enjoy.

[Jane]

Great report payslee, welcome! (I moved your "test" to the Trip Report forum for you)

[payslee]

Thanks! I hope it's not double posted then - I just re-posted it there too

I love this resource, it's helped me find some great places to go.

-payslee

Great report payslee, welcome! (I moved your "test" to the Trip Report forum for you)

[Crusak]

The Wilson River Trail is a nice trail. I recently hiked from the Kings Mtn TH about 3-1/2 to 4 miles in. Your hike is the next one on my 'Wilson River' agenda. Someday I want to do that whole section (Kings Mtn to Jones Crk and back) in one shot (15 miles or so).

Nice report!

If you're gonna be snooping around on the trails in that area you'll likely run into me, or 'Mayhem' or some of the other Coast Range enthusiasts. So if you see a tall guy with a shaved head and goatee, feel free to introduce yourself. It's probably me.

[payslee]

Someday I want to do that whole section (Kings Mtn to Jones Crk and back) in one shot (15 miles or so).

My friend did that a few weeks ago with a car shuttle, and threw in Little Kings as well. And when the visitor center is open spring-to-fall that's o nly about a half mile past Jones, and is supposed to have some cool exhibits.

I really liked this as a winter hike, but we'd probably have enjoyed the view a lot longer if it hadn't been so cold!

-payslee

[Stevefromdodge]

Great post Payslee.

Welcome to the site!

[ErinL]

Thanks for the report Payslee. I love the picture of all that moss on the vine maple! It looks so lush.

[bellaj1018]

Great report Susan - you beat me to exploring this hike! David and I learned at our Sierra Club Leadership Training that there are efforts by the organization to help protect the Tillamook Forest (see http://www.sierraclub.org/lewisandclark ... lamook.asp) so we will probably be spending more time out there. There is plenty to explore out there...

[payslee]

Great report Susan - you beat me to exploring this hike! David and I learned at our Sierra Club Leadership Training that there are efforts by the organization to help protect the Tillamook Forest (see http://www.sierraclub.org/lewisandclark ... lamook.asp) so we will probably be spending more time out there. There is plenty to explore out there...

Hi J-

Yes, the Tillamook has had a tough last century or so. About 10 years ago when I did more Sierra Club stuff, I helped build parts of the Gales Creek trail with them. They've always said (and I believe!) that one of the best ways to make hiker voices heard is to get out there and volunteer. The Jolly Jeepers (an OHV group) always trounced our turnout in the big cleanup events back then.

But yes - there are still some great places in there, and ODF has been making progress to expand the opportunities for those without engines. This trail was a great example - quiet the whole way. Let me know when you next head out to the Coast. I want to start exploring down by Drift Creek when the days get longer...

See you on the trail,
payslee

Can I start calling you Bella?

[payslee]

Thanks for the report Payslee. I love the picture of all that moss on the vine maple! It looks so lush.

Hi Erin,

I love the chance to hike in deciduous areas like this one in the winter - that epiphytic moss and ferns just seems to glow! And these were mixed in with nice big stands of alder that made a beautiful white contrast.

Although I mis-captioned that photo. It's actually a bigleaf maple. If you look closely you can see two hikers on the trail behind the upper part of the tree, for scale. A biggie. But there were lots of nice mossy vine maples too. And sword ferns as tall as I am for ground cover.

-payslee