Forum Index > Trip Reports > Silver Creek to Mineral ... uh ... river. 5/24/03
 Reply to topic
Previous :: Next Topic
Author Message
Stomp
Terminally Indolent



Joined: 28 Jun 2002
Posts: 65 | TRs | Pics
Location: Bellevue
Stomp
Terminally Indolent
PostSun May 25, 2003 10:30 am 
My sister and I headed up the North Fork Sky Saturday to rehash one of our favorite trips, the Galena-Mineral City roadtrail. After driving her little car an inadvisable distance up the road, we pulled it into the bushes and set off on foot at about 10:00 with blue skies, warm sun, and a cool breeze. The water-spewing pipe I mentioned in my last Mineral City trip report is still poking mysteriously from a nondescript hillside. Upon closer inspection it turns out to be badly rusted metal, a couple inches in diameter, but still has no apparent reason for being. Anyway, the trail is in good shape, such as it is. It still has creeks running down the middle in spots, but it's been well brushed recently, with no blowdowns save for the pair of logs right near Mineral City that have been there for years. In fact, there's another new mini-bridge installed across one of the minor creek fords. All of the tributary waterfalls appear to be running a bit low, though Silver Creek and its West Fork are doing well. So well, in fact, that the West Fork has near completely flooded the townsite. Soon after crossing the aforementioned downed trees, the trail becomes a creek edge-to-edge, and swiftly after that we encountered a deeper channel too high to cross in my waterproof boots. Not wanting to forego the ritual soaking of hot feet in the icy West Fork, we plunged uphill through the thick saplings and brush. Fortunately for my bare shins, we soon popped out into spotty clearings of snow-tamped dead foliage (I saw only one tiny lump of crusty snow in the brush, otherwise the trail is all melted out) and made our way to the West Fork, passing several very fresh flags. Maybe I'm imagining things, but once I got my bearings creekside, I could swear the creek and related rocks and debris weren't where they were supposed to be. Aside from the large portion of creek flowing through downtown Mineral City, boulders and logs seemed out of place, though I was viewing the creek from an angle I hadn't seen before. On the way back, we probed a freshly flagged and brushed path up the mountainside South of the West Fork. I don't know where it was headed, but apparently it's interesting enough to throw about a billion pink and yellow flags at. Probably a mine. We also met more people on the trail than I've ever encountered there, and I'd like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to the people cooking broccoli on the trail, the guy in the Northwest Underground Explorations shirt, and the fellow hiking with a shotgun in his hand. Hi!

# Stomp (fifty score key-tapping monkeys)
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
   All times are GMT - 8 Hours
 Reply to topic
Forum Index > Trip Reports > Silver Creek to Mineral ... uh ... river. 5/24/03
  Happy Birthday noahk!
Jump to:   
Search this topic:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum