Wanting to go for a harder hike, Val and I picked the Rudolph Spur in the Gorge. On one side it had been quite some time since we did it last and on the other, I had been mentioning the last month or so. Also, we wanted something closer so we wouldn’t have to wake up super early and rush out the door. So we drove to Bridge of the Gods and had to do a couple of turns to find a parking spot. As it has become the norm, parking areas are now full so you need to be creative and sometimes park in places where you’re not sure if you’ll get a ticket or not. So with our fingers crossed, we crossed the street and got on the PCT. The first part, as you gain elevation in a couple of gentle switchbacks is a good warmup until you reach the power lines and then head east towards Dry Creek Falls. Right before the spur trail we found our turn and from there we could see lots of people heading to the fall. Trying to be inconspicuous, we made a quick turn and quickly tried to disappear thru the bushes. Right there we noticed that there seems to be less traffic on Rudolph spur. The trail has always been kind of hidden but has clear marks of adventurous hikers that take this route. We also started seeing newer fallen trees that were not there the last time we did this hike. The going was hard as we had to negotiate branches and rocks. We lost the trail a couple of times and were able to find it again. AS you gain elevation, there’s a known area where the hill gets very steep on the side and towards the end, the trail seems to disappear. At that point an old fallen tree serves as a handrail to climb and continue a bit higher but here’s where things got different. The tree, after many years of rain and sun, is finally decaying so grabbing onto it is not a good idea. The other thing we found is that the foot path that used to be there at the top is no longer there. There’s signs of a small washout that seems took the path down, We found an alternate path around a tree that was very sketchy but were able to negotiate and get to a fairly decent viewpoint before the path made a turn and headed back into the forest. From there, the ridge was easy to find and follow for the most part. The hard part was multiple new downs trees crisscrossing the trail. The progress was slow and at some point we lost the trail again. I noticed quickly enough and corrected just a couple hundred feet below a big clearing that serves as a great lunch spot with great views of the Columbia. In the past we have found groups of people here enjoying the views before continuing on. To our surprise, the area is now almost uninviting. Three trees feel across blocking pretty much the entire area where we used to sit and enjoy the view. Now, the only way to see anything is climbing around a knob of rocks and standing there. Otherwise, you see branches. Unfortunately, this is a trail that is marked as not maintained, so the likelihood of having a work party go up there with tools to clean it up is almost none existent. After a short break, we continued up negotiating even more downed trees as we gained more elevation until we reached Benson Plateau. I remember a faint trail that was somewhat easy to follow to get back on the Ruckel Creek trail. Either we missed it or buried under fallen trees and branches. Finding your way up there is always a challenge, the added branches and trunks, made it eerie.
It felt like being in a haunted forest for a while. Navigating our way around, we finally found our trail for the return path. At first we started going down fast as the trail is pretty steep and sometimes is just easier to let yourself fly down. But after a while the pounding took its toll. Both Val and I started feeling our knees as we pounded our way on a rocky trail all the way back down to trail 400. Normally the hike down is the easy part, not this time. It was as hard as the climbing so when we got down we had just enough energy left to hike back to the car. It was a bit sad to see the trail disappearing, but I guess that’s what happens when the trail is not maintained, the forest just takes it back.
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