[KarlK]

The Monument Creek trail begins at the Harts Pass road some eight miles NW of Mazama and once constituted part of a terrific loop hike through some spectacular Pasayten remoteness. Restoring the loop is a long term goal of Mountain Mike. On June 25th, Mountain Mike, Mike Liu, Lizz, Terry Pisel, Don Hecker and I did a substantial amount of brushing and tread rehabilitation on the popular initial stretch of the trail. Future plans include placing a footbridge over Eureka Creek about 4 miles from the trailhead (hopefully later this year), followed by a (Monumental) amount of saw work, brushing and tread work to reopen the long abandoned trail segment to Pistol Pass some 12 miles from the trailhead. Meanwhile, some progress has been made.

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[neek]

As someone who may take advantage of this trail in the near future, I owe you a beer or 3 or 50...

[KarlK]

[lopper]

Great effort folks. Thanks for your work. I hiked trail #484 as far as the Eureka crossing this past April 25.....reminiscing about a 2-week trip in 1973 that used the long-gone bridge on day one. High water made any further progress laughable for a solo hiker during spring runoff 2019. From the talus slopes 1/4 mile S of the (former) bridge site, I could look up and see sections of ye olde switchbacks on Eureka Ridge. Very nostalgic. And not carrying a 65-lb pack: delightful Looking for recruits?

73Pistol

[RichP]

That's great news about the trail getting some attention and a new bridge. The upper part near Pistol Pass is beautifully engineered.

Tread still intact after all these years

[Brushbuffalo]

[tobster]

Was that trail work done before or after the Eureka Creek crossing? I'm curious if the creek can be (easily) forded at the moment. I'm not familiar enough with the trail to tell which side of the creek those pictures were taken.

[KarlK]

Tobster -- that work was done on the section before the Eureka Creek crossing. We didn't scout that on our work trip. I don't know if it's currently fordable.

[lopper]

I can tell you that in late April, Eureka Creek was most certainly non-fordable. Chest+ deep, fast and cold. Rocky and steep banks. With a lot of the Eureka watershed snow having melted......it might be doable now.

[Mosquito Food]

[KarlK]

Wow -- I'm getting the sense that there's a lot of support for restoring the Monument Creek trail. This is super cool and might help in the effort to enlist additional support -- and believe me, it's going to require a lot of motivated oddballs of the trail restoration kind.

[Alden Ryno]

Thank you for the efforts!!! As a new Comer to the area (Washington), the Pasayten and it's history captivate me. I've found a few resources to delve into, but it's certainly not enough. With such a rich history and such incredible lands, I'm ecstatic and appreciative to see work being done to return (easier) access to some of Washington's most remote areas.

[RichP]

Any thoughts of continuing this project up to Pistol Pass and beyond in the future? I'd be willing to lend a hand. Post coronavirus of course.

[KarlK]

RichP, Oh yeah, something to look forward to in these strange times.

[John Morrow]