Forum Index > Trip Reports > Double Eagle Mine --Part Deux
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whitebark
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whitebark
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PostMon Aug 15, 2005 10:09 pm 
Last time I tried this "trail", a misleading guidebook and a mysterous ribbon- marked route to nowhere defeated my attempt to find the Double Eagle Mine and Devils Lake. Today, armed with better information, I managed to get to both places, but paid quite a price in lost blood. If you come here, don't wear a tee shirt and shorts like I did--pick a cool day and come fully armored in long pants and shirt, preferably made of Kevlar, and be ready to beat your way through miles of thorny plants. The hike begins on a closed road branching off the Kelcema Lake access road in the Mountain Loop area. For more info, see the book "Hidden Hikes in Western Washington", published by the Mountaineers, which features this hike, for some reason. One you get past the first tangle of fallen logs and ditches, the walking is pleasant enough in cool woods, although crossing the many ditches cut into the road bed gets tedious. In a mile, a permanent spring-fed creek is crossed, a good place to fill up water bottles. From here, the road gets progressively brushier. A great viewpoint of Big Four Mountain is reached not long after the creek (see picture below). Casual hikers should turn back here. I did a lot of brush cutting on the trail on my first attempt a few weeks ago, and the effect of this shows, at least until the first switchback. Then it's Salmonberry City! Wading through the scratchy bushes gets old really fast in short pants. You may be tempted to short cut the switchbacks by climbing straight up thru the dense brushless forest; if you pick the right spot, this strategy works really well and will preserve your sanity if the salmonberries are getting to you. If you stick with the road, follow it past a second switchback, over an old bridge, and past a third switchback. The misleading guidebook shows the Double Eagle trail branching from the switchback, but this is wrong even though you will see ribbons heading into the woods. Instead, continue beating the brush on the road about a half mile farther, to where an overgrown road branches right. There's a big berm blocking the main road at this point. Follow the branch road. Things don't get any better here. The branch road is brushy and eroded as well; now you have to contend with poor footing on rocks. Eventually the road, such as it is, ends at a gulley; cross the gulley and continue on a vague overgrown trail marked with a fair number of ribbons. There's one particulary messy part where the trail crosses an open area of brush for about 100 yards. Just plunge through and hope you find the resumption of the trail on the far side. The faint path eventually approaches the big creek draining Devils Lake. After climbing above a sizeable waterfall, you abrubtly top out next to the Double Eagle Mine, located just a few feet from the creek. At this point you are wondering whether all this effort was worth it to see a drippy hole in a cliff. Well, probably not. But Devil's Lake is not too far from here, so you may as well have a look. The trail crosses the creek at the mine. Look for a faint path scrambling up thru the blueberry bushes. The route generally stays close to the main creek, much of the way following a dry creek bed that provides a passage thru the brush. If all goes well, you start breaking out into meadows, first small then good sized. After all that brush, arriving at the big meadow feels really really good! Ahead the red rock cliffs enclosing Devils Lake are quite scenic. To get to Devils Lake, head across the meadow, climb over a low brushy ridge to the right of the creek (there's no real trail), then scramble over a rock slide. The lake itself is small, murky, and shallow, kind of third rate really. But the setting is nice, and all the bugs seem to have gone to insect heaven--there are hardly any at all. Lots of ripe blueberries are everywhere and nobody to pick them. If for some masochistic reason you want to camp here, there's a spot with a fire ring close to the outlet. O.K. I didn't make this hike sound very nice. But with all of the overcrowded trails around here, we can't afford to ignore the not so great ones. Come here, bring your friends, and provide loppers for all of them! This trail is in danger of completely disappearing due to neglect. Next on my masochistic mountain loop hikes list: Marble Pass. There's practically no water in the river so now's the time to wade across and have a look.
Devils Lake
Devils Lake
Big Four Mountain
Big Four Mountain

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-lol-
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PostMon Aug 15, 2005 10:28 pm 

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Andy D.
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PostMon Aug 15, 2005 11:10 pm 
Nice trail report. I was up there for the first time in March when it was still covered in snow. This made it nearly impossible to follow the trail once it went off into the woods from the road. There are flags EVERYWHERE and I got turned around in every direction. I eventually found the stream and a small waterfall, but I never found the mine. I ended up turning around just short of the lake in the meadow because the snow was very deep and I was getting very wet! On the way back I followed some flags that went nowhere and ended up getting quite lost. I got lucky and found my footsteps though. There is a very large waterfall just a little ways into the woods past the first switchback in the road which was very cool. I was also curious what the Marble Pass trail looks like. I look forward to hearing your report. I tried Hall Peak up Silver Gulch in the early season but turned around when the steep, slick scrambling stopped being fun. I was thinking about maybe trying Marble Gulch as an alternate approach.

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Sore Feet
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PostTue Aug 16, 2005 2:03 am 
cdrbond007 wrote:
There is a very large waterfall just a little ways into the woods past the first switchback in the road which was very cool.
HA! I knew it. Vindication! hockeygrin.gif

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Dogpatch
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PostTue Aug 16, 2005 8:46 am 
Hey, congratulations and thanks for the info. Marble Pass! That's been on my list for awhile now--but I'm grounded this summer due to back problems. waah.gif Good luck with it.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." – Groucho Marx
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whitebark
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whitebark
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PostTue Aug 16, 2005 9:52 am 
"Got any pics of the mine?" Nope, sorry. The Hidden Hikes guidebook has a poor picture of the mine. The mine entrance is in solid rock with no wood bracing. It didn't look like it went very far in, only 10 feet or so--but it was so dark in there, I could be wrong.

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Sawyer
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Sawyer
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PostTue Aug 16, 2005 6:54 pm 
The adit next to the stream only goes in about 10 feet. The Marble Pass trail is in remarkable condition in some places. And it's impossible to follow (especially near Silverton) in other places. Good luck, and bring loppers to keep it intact.

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