[Hulksmash]

After yesteday's trip https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7970305 I was kind of tired, but i wanted to get out and do a hike. I decided to ge Eagle lake a shot. Rather than go than going through Barclay lake, and climbing the hill, i chose the back route via Beckler river road. I have never been to eagle lake, but i know there's no "offical" trail. I parked next to the bridge that goes over Eagle creek.

parking spot

I Immediately found flaged route.

route

I assumed this was the route. At first it was easy going through open forest, then the flags dissapeared. I kept going folowing the sound of the creek. After a bit i came across these odd trees.

odd tree 3

odd tree2

odd tree

It was obvious that this part of the forest had been hit by avi activity in the past. Then i found some more flags. They led to a clearing.

Unfortunatly the clearing was bordered by dense slide alder. There appeared to be some mature forest beyond the slide alder, so i tried to bash through it. I had to put all my weight into forcing my way though the stuff. With much resistance, it gave in..just to transition to dense devils club and nettles. Wearing shorts it was quite painfull. I back tracked a bit. This is where i should have truned around give up. Stubbornly i pressed on. Instead of fighting the slide alder I chose the creek bed. Spashing in the cool water soothed my scratched up legs.

route

The rocks were slick with alge, and there was many log jams to scramble over. It wasn't all bad though i found occasional opening's that were easy going. But i would sink deep into the mud along the meadow. It took five hours of bushwack when i walked into this.

trail 1

A trail! With in a few minutes of "finding" the trail i was at the lake

Eagle Lake

cabin

cabin2

There was a friendly couple camping at the lake. I asked them how the trail was from Barclay. There responce was, that they didn't come in from Barclay. After a few more minutes of conversation about the route. I discovered that there was a trail on the south side of Eagle Creek. I just traveled the north side, through the meadow. Ooops. Who ever named the meadow's Paradise meadows either they had a sarcastic sense of humor, or has never travled though them. On the way out i took the trail

trail 2

trail

It's a trail that some one put effort into maintaining A sign at the trail head would be nice though

the real trail head

So much for my easy hike (edit) Apparently i droped my cell phone, somewhere on this trip It was five years old beat up and in need of being replaced any way.

[Sabahsboy]

Hulksmash, I missed this TR. Darned! The entry into the Meadow is unusual...I am uncertain of the plants you show in photo...perhaps a bistort or knotweed...but unlike any I know of! I have not ever seen this before! Remarkable! Thank you for the shot showing the unusual plantlife at Paradise Meadow's lower regions. Soon, once I have more time, I will download shots of my hike to Eagle Lake, Saturday, Sept. 20, via the usual fishermen's trail (the one you returned on). This walk took me about 2 hours or more round trip than it did in Sept/Oct. 2006. So, my body is still in recovery and the feet remain slow. At the lakeside cabin was a group of 4 (one was floating around on the lake, attempting fishing but just catching mosquito bites). They told me they come to the cabin and keep it clean and repaired. Showed me recent work to prolong the cabin's life, esp. that of the roof that carries heavy snow loads plus endless, rain forest - like rains. This conversation set me back a bit and I had to "hustle" my return to TH. Nevertheless, the upper meadow was still a feast for the eyes, full of flowers (the spectacular bog orchid being the primary flora a plantsman might be willing to trek and see). Learned a bit more of "how to access Mount Townsend" for a yet to try ascent...fellows at cabin have done it and said to avoid the 8' and very heavy growth that looks like moss from the lake. Head for the saddle and mush your way to the obvious exit on the slope. They described this as the only place where there is necessity to catch a grip on rocks and protect self from teetering off the slope. They described the knife edge of the summit ridge line, so often shown in TRs by adventurous NWHikers reaching the summit block, both summer (with dogs) and winter (I think those are amazing). Glad you afforded shots of Merchant Peak from down valley/meadow. Close up, Merchant is diminished by perspective and appears small in stature at Eagle Lake -side. Sorry about the lost phone....perhaps a bear will find it and give you a call? LOL! BTW, isn't the road to this TH spectacular? Exiting last Saturday delivered a near full moon rising over the ridge. The descent drive along the road afforded the great sweep of view including Daniel and Hinman. Knock-you-socks-off, even after dusk!!

[Scrooge]

Hee Hee Hee Way to go, Hulk. Larch and I did that route with our dog, 10 or 12 years ago. What a nightmare. It's Harvey Manning's fault. He wrote up the trip to Eagle via Barclay, then mentioned that he met a fisherman there who'd gotten there in about half an hour by coming up Eagle Creek. He implied that was "cheating" and didn't give details. ........ Ha! That sounded right down my alley, to me. I found it on the map, found the road and the creek, and even found the start of a trail ....... which quickly disappeared. I kept thinking that we must be almost at the meadow (that's what it looked like on the map), not knowing that the map was long out of date and large sections of the meadow buried in second growth. Oh well, like you, we kept going, and we did get to the lake, eventually. We did not, however, take to the creek. I looked at it several times, but each time it looked to be about as much blowdown as water, so we just slogged it out up on the bank.. Going back, I hadn't found anyone to talk to, but I did find the fisherman's trail, anyway. In my case, it was just because I decided that side-hilling it would probably be easier than fighting the brush in the valley ....... and the side of the hill is where the trail turned out to be.

[Bryan K]

I'm glad there is still some flagging on the route that you took, I know somebody that removed the flagging on the route from Barclay Lake (wasn't me either)...................

[Layback]

Nice work. I'd like to make it there one of these days. Does your route to Eagle Lake basically follow the drainage?

[Scrooge]

Here's a map I did years ago.

Eagle Lake

If it's still the same, the key is to take the spur leading uphill to the left, just where the main road dips down to the bridge. The spur was pretty rough, then, so by now you might have to walk it, but the fisherman's trail started at the end of a spur of the spur, as shown. Somebody did a lot of work on it, because the first couple hundred yards was through a field of brambles, and it would have to be cut out every year.

[Snowbrushy]

Yes. It is straight foward. When I went there I suspected that it was the backdoor trail and parked the vehicle at the logical place and hunted for the trailhead and found it. Easy. There are no signs. BTW, you can look down to Barclay from the area (up) at Eagle and it's a loonngg way down, down... The backdoor trail to Eagle Lake is an easy almost flat hike.

[Jim Welch]

So I have been to Eagle 4 times, 2 via Barclay, 2 via the Meadows. The meadows rock (I dont mind "cheating" at all). The second time my friend and I climbed Townsend. There are a few lakes you can see to the north of Townsend. Has anyone gone to them and were they good fishing?

[Hulksmash]

Bryan

[Jim Welch]

[Snowbrushy]

Finding the drainage on the road isn't very difficult if you are attentive to your road map and the country. Looking up the drainage the trail is on the left side of the creek. Left. The unmarked trailhead is off in some brush/grass. Maybe the locals themselves stock the lake with fish. Its an easy hike.

[Hulksmash]

It appears that i'm not the only one who has been fooled by those flags thinking it was the route to Eagle Lake. Check out this WTA trip report http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2008-09-30.7484577687 I think it's time to remove those flags.

[Steve Erickson]

I have been to both Sims and Sunset on a number of occasions. The easiest route in has changed due to road clsoures. PM me and I will give you my thoughts on the best way to get there now. By the way, the first two times I went into Sunset was up the Trout Creek road. You don't want to go that way.

[Sabahsboy]

Last I read, the route to Simms was over the saddle above Eagle Lake and down to Simms. Route finding skills would be helpful. When activists were promoting Wild Sky, they had info and photos on line, including a photo of and one from Simms. Nice views. Obvious access is to Eagle via the fishermens' trail from brushed out parking spot (short, side road, just before descent to bridge over Eagle Cr. and infamous, flagged non-route to Eagle Lk.). I think that road beyond Eagle Cr. crossing contours and heads east and around the large hill that has an unusual name (and, snowpatch remaining at base of east face); I doubt there is a good route from that road nor do I think the road is now passible....but might make an interesting "hike", albeit, mostly in clearcut.

[Hulksmash]

Todays goal was to be that saddle above eagle lake, between Merchant, and Townsend peaks. And maybe about a mile north-ish. However the migraine monster was rattling it's cage. This zapped any ambition i had. It was a nice stroll through the woods. Townsend and Merchant had a fresh dusting of snow, and in places there was a dusting at Paradise meadow. One thing i did notice is after some rain, the short section of trail that ends up in the meadow, needs some puncheon. I snapped some photos, before returning home to hide from all light and sound. I also managed to resist the temptation to pick up a rock and slay the migraine

townsend

foot prints

frost

merchant

merchant

merchant

So thats where jelly beans come from!

merchant

townsend

townsend

I thought the photos were worthy of adding to my previous report.