Rock of Ages, Apr 11th

The week previous to the 11th I had so much work that I wasn’t able to plan something with the group; still I needed to go out and do some hiking. Being this the case, I took one hike of my to-do list and decided to try it out. The other thing was the weather. Forecast had announced the possibility of rain so I waited until I woke up on Saturday and look out the window to make the final decision. Rock of Ages was it. This hike starts at the Horse Tail falls which I did way back when I started hiking here in Oregon. After a short hike up and right before getting to the second fall, Pony Tail, there’s a tree on the left side with its roots form a sort of stair that gives access to a very faint trail. This trail, as the sign clearly says, is not maintained. What this means is that this is a very old trail that at some point the forest service decided to take out of the maps and close it. Obviously people still go up so the trail is still visible. The first portion is, as expected very steep with numerous switch backs and few opening with nice views. After almost every turn I had to stop and check where the trail was going. After a while, I found a tree with some markings. One was pointing towards the edge with an inscription that read “L/D”. I decided to check it out. It turned out to be the trail to Rock of Ages, an arch rock formation that has been eroded by wind. If the arch is not impressive enough, the background you get from there is breath taking. I stayed up there, sitting at the edge of the cliff for several minutes just enjoying the views of the Gorge. From that point I could see St Peters dome, a huge rock formation that has been climbed a couple of times by some very serious climbers and the Devil’s back bone, the next portion of my trip. After going back to the tree with the markings, I continued up towards the ridge. Soon after I found myself walking on a ridge with very steep drop offs on both sides, I was in the Devil’s back bone. I followed this formation to the other end where the ridge reaches a plateau and goes back into the trees. I made a quick stop to take a couple of pictures and eat a light lunch before continuing on my expedition. I did continue the hike at around 2 in the afternoon getting into the forest and trying to follow the very faint trail until I reached snow. Despite my best effort, after about half an hour, I knew I was not on the trail. In the pictures you’ll see that it all looks the same. From that point on, continued heading in the direction I though would take me to the horse creek trail which I never found. At around 3:30 it was official, I was lost. I figured that I was high enough (maybe higher than what I was supposed to be) and further east, so I started heading south-west towards where I though the trail would be. According to my map, I had to cross two creeks before getting to the Wahkeena Creek and finding my trail back. I did find two creeks which I crossed and continued until I found the third one but no trail. By that time (about 5 PM), I decided to follow the creek down thinking that I was much higher than the trail crossing so I would, eventually, find the trail. On my way down, I had to bushwhack all the way climbing and descending very un-even terrain. At some point I found some trail markers and numbers on the trees. I did follow those markers for a while but those ended up disappearing. I also found, half way down, a very old campsite that probably hasn’t been used since the 40’s or 50’s. Notice in the pictures of the fire pit all the moss on the rocks. At that point I already knew I was not in the correct creek but had a pretty good idea where I was. Being around 6PM I though for a minute about spending the night right there (I had all the proper gear to do that if I needed to) but since Shia was home, I had to get back. I continued bushwhacking down and at some point I noticed the ridge I used to go up to Rock of Ages, I knew where I was. Following a very faint animal track I was able to quickly reach the trail I used to go up and start my last descend back to the car. From the trail I took the last couple of pictures in the set with the light you get at 7:30PM.