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.