Mt Floyen and beyond, Jun 2nd

One of the may attractions in Bergen is Mt Floyen where a restaurant sits on top of the mountain overlooking the entire city. You can get there the easy way by taking a funicular from the city or the harder way taking one of the many trails heading that way. Up to that point, the trail is like any hike in a forest park on any city. What sets this apart is that, once you are up there, you have connecting trails that go deep into the mountains giving you access to longer day hikes, day excursions to lakes or even multi-day backpacking.
I arrived at Bergen at around noon after an overnight flight from Portland to Iceland connecting then to Bergen. Since I was spending one night in the city and then heading east for more interesting hiking. I parked my car in the city and went for walk. I spent most of the day walking around the city and getting my bearings while making time until I could go to the hotel and check in. Once I was able to do that, I changed into my hiking gear, grab a small pack and headed back out. My plan was to head up to Mount Floyen at least and go from there. So, starting from the hotel, I walked back to the city and crossed towards the fish market and started heading up looking for the funicular station as I knew I could start from there. As soon as I found it, I noticed a set of stairs on the left heading up. So up I went. At first, I found it a bit confusing as I though it was going to be a well-marked path, but the area is crisscrossed with winding streets and stairs heading up. Regardless of what you take, if you are going up, you are going the right way. This first section ends at the former Skansen fire station which now hosts youth organizations. There’s a square fountain in front of it with views of some of the older houses in Bergen.

From that point on, you enter the forest and, as you climb up, there are several view points opening towards the city below and the fjords. The trail itself is very interesting and if you give yourself time, you may find some strange things like the girl perched on a rock statue. It’s not even on the trail and you find it only if you go off and happen to see it. Being a city trail. You’ll certainly share the route with runners, hikers and tourist, it’s not the place to find isolation, or at least not yet. Eventually you get to a road that connects towards the Mt Floyen where you’ll find the top funicular station and a fancy restaurant. There’s a viewing platform which is the highlight as it offers splendid views of the city and the fjords. Even if you are not hiking or going any further, this place is worth a visit.

Having enough sunlight to go and energy to explore, I decided to take that path towards Skomakerdiket lake. The rote there followed a combination of trail and road and that’s because it seems you can drive to it (I didn’t see any cars up there though). Being a hot spring day, I found several campers and kids playing and running around the lake. I hiked around to the northern end and took a trail heading up into the mountain towards Revurtjenet Lake. On that trail I finally left people behind and found a bit of solitude, but it didn’t last very long. Along the way I passed a couple of shelters that seem to be first come first serve where you can stay the night or just enjoy for the day. Finally, one I got to the lake, I wanted to go around it but noticed people camping in different spots. Being later in the afternoon, I didn’t want to disturb so I took the trail around the south end which gave nice looks over the calm waters.

Towards the western end, I found yet another campsite and a wooden statue of a fox(?) Which was kind of nice. Since it was getting kind of late and I needed to get some rest and sleep, I started connecting trails to head back down thru the forest. As I hiked I noticed less people on the trail even though there was still sunlight to spare considering it was getting closer to 10PM. As I made my way down to the city I got again several views of the older houses perched on the foothills of Mt Floyen and the sun setting over the fjords. It was a good opening for this three-week vacation

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Table Mountain, the long way, May 27th

Several years ago, I did this route whit a small group of people. Back then I remember that we started really early as it was already late in the season and we knew the hike was long and hard. After that, I’ve repeated Table Mountain several times but doing “the short route” that started from the Bonneville hot springs resort. A bit over a year ago, the resort was sold and now it houses a mental institution. With it, they closed access to the back-parking lot and a connector trail that cut about 6 miles from the route to Table Mountain. So now, instead of doing about 9 miles and 3350’ of elevation gain, you have a grueling 15 miles hike with almost 4000’ of elevation gain. But what’s a bit more distance and elevation, right? So, of we went. Being early season, we had a long day ahead and enough light but still cooler weather and nice blue skies. All perfect conditions for this hike and to get the rewarding views from the top.

We hiked the forested area pretty fast and without making many stops. We did admire and comment about the gigantic ferns covering the forest floor. After the PCT section, we got to our junction with the Heartbreak trail. Just looking up from the junction you get the idea that you’ll have to work to get up there. After regrouping, we started our climb. In past hikes I’ve done here, I usually make some stops along the way to catch my breath and to let people catch up. This time Mary, a fellow hiker, was leading the pace and she was not stopping. I made a point to keep pace and try to make it without stopping. If for nothing else, just to test my endurance given that this hike was the last before my big trip. I got pleasantly surprised when we reached the junction at the top of the climb signaling the end of the grueling torture. It felt good to be up there. Aside from that, there was a gentle breeze keeping us cool and the mountains were all showing their glorious white cover.

We hiked to the view point facing the river where we stopped for lunch enjoying the early flowers and views of Mt Hood

After a good rest, we hiked the summit trail to the north end of the mountain where we made a quick stop at the second view point. We then hiked back down on the west side of the mountain creating a loop. This trail is not necessarily easy even when going down as it’s covered with loose rock and scree. Even with trekking poles, it’s easy to miss a step and slide. Having to keep you balance on the steep incline is tiring. On this route though, we did make a couple of stops just to admire the flowers and the views before getting back down to the PCT. Once there and after recharging a bit with water and trail food, we hiked our way out at a steady pace.

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Dog Mountain, May 17th

This was a day I took of from work to do the Larch Mountain Scout with the FS as I mentioned in my previous post. Since we got back down to Multnomah Falls at around noon and I was already in the Gorge with still half a free day, I decided to drive to Dog Mountain to go check the flowers. This proved to be a great idea. Not only did I get an incredible wildflower display (almost at peak) but also was able to park at the trailhead and hike Dog Mountain without the gazillion people that go there over the weekends. This first part of the hike, while I was still in the shade, went fast as I didn’t make any stops. Then I got to the open area and was welcomed with a blanket of yellow flowers. It was a perfect hike to complement the scout I had just done.

Larch Mountain Scout, May 17th

As part of the volunteer work I’ve been doing with Trailkeepers of Oregon, I had the opportunity to go on a scouting hike down the Larch Mountain trail to assess the damage and document the work needed to repair that trail. Susan, a fellow crew leader with TKO and I met the guys from Forest Service at Multnomah Falls. From there we drove to the currently closed Multnomah Basin Road to a gate that gives access to the Devil’s Rest trail. From there, the idea was to hike down back to Multnomah Falls taking notes and pictures of all the damage and talk about restoration and who’s doing what. Even though down at Multnomah Falls the day was looking pretty good, the basin was covered in dense fog. Walking thru that into the burned area was very eerie as trees and limbs take different shapes that spark the imagination.

From what I saw, it seems the Devil’s Rest trail was kind of the boundary of the fire. As soon as we made the turn into the trail from the connector trail, we were in the burned area. It was interesting to see holes where trees used to be, either because a nurse log burned but the tree feeding from it didn’t or the tree and roots burned completely leaving “hell holes” on the ground. Most of the Devil’s Rest and Wahkeena trails were in pretty good shape thanks to work done by the Forest Service.

It does look like a complete different trail system now. With no underbrush, you can see thru the burned logs far n the distance to a point that it’s almost disorienting. We noticed certain areas that need some drainage work but nothing too significant on these trails, and that was almost expected. We knew already they had done work there and our goal was to scout the Larch Mountain trail so our hike thru Devil’s Rest and Wahkeena trails was more like a bonus to Susan and me.

When we got to the junction with the Larch Mountain trail though, things changed dramatically. First, we took a little detour going uphill on an almost unrecognizable trail to the bridge that crosses the Multnomah Creek. The metal structure is still there although it might be compromised due to the extreme heat. What’s missing is the wood planks on the bridge.

From that point, we hiked down the Larch Mountain trail pointing little problems here and there that need attention. That was the case until we got to the top of the several switchbacks before Wisendanger Falls. We were told the Forest Service spend several days moving rocks downhill to clear those switchbacks. The main problem with that is any rock you move from the upper leg, lands on the lower compounding the work to move and clear all that debris.

Aside from the rock slides, I discovered that those switchbacks were reinforced with gabions, something you could not see as they were completely covered under dirt and moss before the fire. Further down the work to be done became even more clear. Almost at every turn, we found the work needed. Piles of rock has rolled down the hill and landed on the trail. Some of these piles are small and probably easy to move while others are several feet deep. It’s almost a daunting task to think about moving and clearing that trail.

Finally, we got to the paved trail which also marked, as directed by FS, the end of the section we would be working on. That didn’t mean there was no work to be done below that. As we hiked the 11 switchbacks down to Multnomah Falls, we saw all the destruction and debris that fell on the trail. At certain points you can’t even see where the trail is.

Switchback #6 was probably the one damaged the most as the rock slide literally moved the turn several feet to the side. The sign post got almost buried in rock. We estimated the pile being at least 5 feet deep. We learned there that the reason for not wanting us to do the work is because this trail sits almost above the highway, so the work must be coordinated with ODOT to close the highway.

Finally, we got down to the last couple of signs of the where the fire was contained. The wood bridge over the Shady Creek is burned and big cedar stump that served as an anchor to the retaining wall was gone leaving a gaping hole. I remember passing by that cedar stump several times in the past and noticing the glowing orange color given by the thousands of hands that touched it over the years polishing the surface.

I must say that, even though I walked thru heavily burned areas, I saw a lot of green and a lot of wildflowers. Certainly, these trails will not fully recover to what they were in our lifetimes. I think we can see this in a different way. These are now new trails with new views. In a sense, we got new trails to discover.

Deadwood trail work party, Apr 29th

For this weekend I needed a hike, but I also wanted to do some trail work. I was having a difficult time deciding which one to go for but then I got an email from PCTA inviting me to join a work party to clear the Deadwood trail up to Nick Eaton Ridge. In the description I read that we would need to hike 10 miles to the work site with about 3000’ of elevation gain. It was the perfect combination, a good hike and trail work all in a single event so I joined. We met at the Herman Creek trailhead and started from there. I recall the first part of the trail meandering thru some boulder fields that were always covered in moss. The rocks are still there but there’s no moss as fire took care of that. Still I did see hints of green here and there, so it will recover probably next rainy season. As we hiked up, we passed areas that suffered the fire at different levels. We went from places that were untouched by the flames to complete obliteration. One interesting thing that was pointed out was that even though the ground cover was gone, a lot of the trees still had green needles indicating the tree might be able to survive. Only time will tell. The other thing we saw plenty is what we have been calling hell holes.

It’s basically the hole left by a root that was completely consumed by the fire. Some of these are off trail so they are not impacting our work, but some are right below it. I started to wander if this is an impending problem that will require future work parties to armor the trail in some fashion, so it doesn’t come down. Further up, towards Indian Point the fire took almost everything. It was quite a different hike than what I was used to do in this area. Before you could only see the trail corridor with towering trees on both sides and lots of green shrubs. Not the black poles line the trail, and nothing stops the views of the Gorge. Hard to imagine what it was or what it will look like in the future. That area was probably one of the most heavily burned I saw.

Finally, we reached the Deadwood trail, so we unloaded our tools and started working our way up clearing the path. The objective was not to bring the trail back to standard but make it passable. We cleared pine needles, rocks, branches and even a handful of burned logs. I must say it was interesting to hike and work our way up the ridge. Once done in that section we stop for a quick byte and continued up to Nick Eaton Ridge to check it out. Nick Eaton was completely devastated by the flames. I think it’s the only place in the entire day where I saw no signs of green. It was a bit saddening to see it like that but now that I understand a bit better the dynamics of the forest I believe some of it was needed. At some point it will recover but it will take a long time to look anything like what it was. On our way down, since we had still a bit of time, we pushed on the Gorton Creek trail past the junction with the Deadwood trail clearing logs and branches. That area was also heavily burned so there was a lot cutting and hauling stuff of the trail. We finished the work day at a switchback that had a huge log that had landed on the trail. Rather than try to cut It, we all sat next to it and pushed it out of the way with our feet. It felt good to do that.

Then we packed grabbed our tools and hiked all the way back to the cars.

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