CarriesNineFires
Member
Joined: 03 Oct 2016
Posts: 134 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle |
I wanted to get some snow-free miles in while checking out a new place, so I headed up to Marblemount Friday morning and picked up a permit for one night at 39 Mile Camp on Big Beaver Creek.
I zagged where I would usually zig and stopped for a couple of bacon, egg & cheese biscuits and a large coffee. It's been about four years since I last exposed my tender gut to the million insults being shoveled forth daily by the McDonalds Corporation; turns out, that $5.79 was well-spent. Breakfast is apparently their specialty.
A light drizzle in Marblemount to bring out the scents of the western slopes and then nothing but a bright overcast sky for the rest of the day: perfect hiking weather.
I moved at a leisurely pace for the seven miles to Big Beaver Creek. Nice trail and a couple of blowdowns. A team of four National Parksmen pleasantly checked my permit there, and we chatted. They had arrived aquatically at the Big Beaver dock; I don't know what they were looking for with such a big team on a sleepy Friday morning but the Man has his reasons.
Then five miles and change to 39 Mile Camp. There's a brief section of blowdowns but nothing to mention. No snow anywhere, which is, I suppose, to be expected by this point. The cedars and firs were very impressive. I would put this stretch in the same category as the Vista Creek section of the PCT for huge trees, with my personal preference being for the Douglas Firs of Vista. But Big Beaver Creek is great. A beautiful, placid deep green river hemmed in by jungle.
A couple of huge, fresh bear mounds on the trail here; they were composed entirely of grassy material and upon closer inspection they smelled worse than I expected them to. I sighted no bears but something big was walking through my camp later that night; it could have been the trio of robust deer I spooked as I neared camp.
One mile or so before 39 Mile Camp a creek must be forded; no difficulty there. Some pretty serious flooding has occurred there and it's quite impressive to see what a small creek can become when the water and debris really starts coming down. The same is true for 39 Mile Creek, which was flowing more robustly. There are some log crossings available but I would have had to clamber up some freshly exposed and loose rootballs to access them and it seemed unnecessary, as I could just camp in the horse camp on the near side of the creek. If you want to proceed further it can surely be done.
The horse camp has been minorly disassembled by flooding, but it is plenty campable. I arrived after a photo-rich 6 1/2 hours, 12.2 miles. Taking it easy. I would hike out the next morning in 4 1/2 hours.
Mosquitoes were vigorous. I think I may have stepped on a toad while hanging my food. It was in what may be described as a defensive position on the trail, immobile and legs flexed. I couldn't tell if there was actually a problem so I left it but went back to check on it after a while with a mind to tossing it into the creek to bring forth a swift end to its tortures.
It was gone.
Hiking out Saturday morning I passed several gaggles hiking in; I encountered them all between Highway 20 and Big Beaver Creek. I don't know their destinations other than the intrepid 12 year olds asking how far to Greenpoint Camp. It was a lot of people: probably 30 spread out over about five parties.
The rains hit about 20 minutes after I began the drive home: perfect timing once again.
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