Located in the Tillamook Forest, Elk Mountain is one of the peaks you can visit. Although the views from up there are quite fantastic and different than the views you get from any place in the cascades, most people do it as a training hike in preparation for longer and steeper climbs in the summer. This trail can be done in conjunction with the King’s Mountain trail forming a grueling loop with lots of ups and downs or the shorter, less traveled version coming back down on the Elk Creek trail. In the past I have done Elk as an up and down only and also the traverse. This time we did the Elk Creek trail to check it out. So we got to the trailhead and I did my normal pre-hike speech explaining what we were doing and what to expect. I did note that one of the hikers in the group showed up in jeans, cotton t-shirt and dressy shoes. I told him that I was concerned about it because I knew how steep this trail is and not having proper shoes was going to be a problem. After a bit of debate, he said he was going to be ok… I was still worried as I though he didn’t know what he was getting into. So we got to the trailhead, looked up, and started climbing. Contrary to most trails that have an approach before you start climbing, this trail shoots straight up, there’s no warming up or getting into it. Just to give you an idea, the total elevation gain of this 8 mile loop is 2350 feet, the summit is at 2000 feet which you climb in 1.3 miles! On the way up, there are several viewpoints that overlook the Wilson River Valley and the highway as you leave it far below. When we got to the first viewpoint, our friend in jeans was panting really bad that had to sit down for a while and rest. About a minute after he started vomiting and my guess is that he was overheating. We waited for a while until he got his colors back and then with Pat he went back down to the car while the rest of us continued on our adventure. After about an hour of huffing and puffing we made the summit just in time to see dark clouds moving in. We opted for a short stop for lunch and then continued on the back side of the mountain where you scramble your way down just to climb back on the next ridge. We did several times until we reached the fork with the Elk Creek Road (an old and abandoned logging road). From there we turned right and started descending towards Elk Creek and soon found ourselves on one foot of snow. This section of the trail is very obscure and dense making it completely different from the ridge walk we had just come from. Shortly after, we found the second fork with the road where we turned right again. As we continued descending, we got closer to Elk Creek which has seen a fair share of destruction. Most of the upper section of the creek is almost covered with downed trees and remnants of old floods. Once bellow a thousand feet or so, the scenery changed a bit and opened up to nicer views of the creek. At some point, almost at the end of our hike, I saw a nice little waterfall and being adventurous as I am, I bushwhacked to it to take a picture. I can tell you I was not expecting the rocks to be as slippery as they were. As soon as I stepped on one rock, I slid sideways, hit my head on a log and landed on my but, in the water… I guess that should teach me a lesson. I did get the picture though.
Interactive map
To see the full map, click Menu and select Full Screen. You can also click Terrain to change the map style
No comments:
Post a Comment