[BigBrunyon]

dissappearing cabins and trails is HIGHLY suspicious. Now weird buildings with names like that poppin up in text?!

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YOU NEVER KNOW!!

[Riverside Laker]

I've toyed with putting a big list of abandoned trails on wikipedia. But... would that cause too much attention? Better to leave them harder to discover? Meanwhile, procrastination and laziness works.

[BdCast]

[puzzlr]

BdCast (or any anyone else interested). The Mountaineers has a large set of Robert Kinzebach Pic-Tour maps covering many areas of the Cascades and Olympic mountains. A couple copies of each map are in the permanent collection but there are lots of spares. If anyone wants a paper set of these maps PM me. I will need to get a set together and then you can pick them up at the Mountaineers facility (or pay me to send it via mail - probably not worth it).

You can browse an online inventory of the maps here at the section labelled "Robert Kinzebach Pic-Tour Guide maps"

Here's a good example of lost trails on these maps. It shows trails past Sunday Lake (North Fork Snoqualmie) to Honey and Mowitch Lake. Also an indication of how far one could drive up the Quartz Creek road in those days (1980s).

1 label

Sample

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Mid Fork Rocks • flickr

[Waterman]

Interesting thread.

While it is nice to go online to pour over old maps I much prefer a paper copy in hand. I can provide copies of the following if any one is interested.
1955 Mt Rainier NP usgs
1918 Wenatchee NF
Metskers that predate the red and yellow envelope versions, guessing the 50s.
North Central wa
Yakima county
King County
Sportsmens guide 1953 collection of 20 maps covering state of Washington
Just pay for copying and postage.
Would be interested in paying for copies of anything interesting from your collection.

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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost

[hatchetation]

Wow, puzzlr - that Pic-Tour map is great. Has some small details I haven't seen on any other maps (like the small spur trail that forks to the right on the way up to Pratt balcony).

If you're GIS-minded, there are a few other useful resources for researching abandoned routes. WA DNR has a few open geodatabases available:

Forest Practices Orphaned and Abandoned Roads- exactly what it sounds like.

DNR Proprietary Roads (Statewide) - This purports to only show active roads, but also contains many long-abandoned ones.

Washington State LiDAR portal - Even the online viewer is really useful, but the real fun is in the raw data. Fragments of abandoned roads and trails are often visible in the DTM hillshade layer. ("DTM" is a model of the earth's surface, with all vegetation removed.) Coverage is surprisingly good.

[timberghost]

Interesting digging thru these again

[Downhill]

thanks for the bump Timberghost!

This is such a cool thread and so many great resources too!

[moonspots]

[Joey]

Here is a USFS recreation map I made with a bunch of GIS layers you can turn on/off/restack.
Covers most national forests.
When the map opens, 2 layers are 'on'.

White = open USFS road (this layer is 'on top' and therefore clickable)
Orange = closed USFS road

Click "Map tips" upper left corner for more info.

Open GISsurfer map:
https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfer.php?center=47.810140,-121.533165&zoom=12&basemap=ESRI_scanned_topo_USA&overlay=Motor_road_closed,Motor_road_open&txtfile=https://mappingsupport.com/p2/special_maps/recreation/USFS_recreation.txt

[timberghost]

Great addition Joey

[christiangustafson]

USGS put their 1971 survey of the Pasayten Wilderness online.  I have a physical copy and was thinking about scanning the maps and posting them, but the USGS has made them available for download as PDFs.

The maps are included as extra plates in an envelope inside the back cover.  They are based on 1955 USFS trail data, and show all the points where guys like Rowland Tabor had to visit to get sediment samples, amazing.

Plate 2, Eastern Pasayten
Plate 3, Western Pasayten

Take a good look at these maps, see what secrets they contain, such as

• Holdover Ridge, Lease Creek, Chuchuwanteen, Ptarmigan Ridge
  
• A trail continuing up Three Fools Creek and Castle Fork
  
• A route from Eightmile ridge past Fool Hen Lake to Diamond Peak
  

What can you find?  Any trail gems in here?  Correlate these to a newer USGS topo to work out a route.

I also have the mineralogical survey of Whatcom County from this time; the plates include maps of the mining tunnels (!) in the vicinity of Harts Pass.

[Pyrites]

See also what’s not there. The first place I looked was Buckskin Lake. No trail.