Previous :: Next Topic |
Author |
Message |
Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6720 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
|
Schroder
Member
|
Fri May 20, 2011 12:44 pm
|
|
|
Hanzsek and I thought this would be a quiet place to go following all the activities of the past few days up here. We were right. Except for 3 Whidbey jets skimming the treetops during the day, it was secluded with spectacular weather.
The road has considerably improved since Quark, JimK and I were up here a couple of years ago (TR's here and here). I was interested in going up here and seeing what progress has been made on the road. It's passable for vehicles to Downey Creek and it looked like there were plenty up there during the search a few days ago from all the tire tracks.
The gate is at milepost 11 and no motor vehicles are allowed beyond the gate.
Mile 11
first washout first washout
Mile 12
reroute around second washout reroute around second washout third washout
I imagine this reroute that was worked on last summer at the Huckleberry Mountain trailhead is what Pilchuck Audubon Society and Wilderness Watch are up in arms about.
Huckleberry slump Huckleberry reroute started
Mile 13
Buck Creek Campground has been cleared of windfalls recently. The campsites are in great shape
Buck Creek Campground Buck Creek Campground
Mile 15
Most of the road surface up here is smoother than most Forest Service roads
typical road surface Suiattle Guard Station Suiattle Guard Station
Mile 17
This was a nice stopping point for lunch
Green Mountain Horse Pasture
Mile 19
fourth washout near Downey Creek fourth washout near Downey Creek Looking up to Sulphur Mountain Downey Creek Bridge Downey Creek Downey Creek Campground road past Downey Creek
Mile 21
The road past Downey Creek doesn't have a single washout. At the end of the road is a paved parking lot that can hold over 100 vehicles.
Sulphur Creek Campground Sulphur Creek Bridge paved parking lot at road end parking lot at road end Dan Anderson
Suiattle Trail
bear scat Milk Creek Bridge
Many years ago, I used to park my car at the Milk Creek Bridge
old Milk Creek parking lot orchids on Suiattle River Trail trillium on Suiattle River Trail White Chuck some kind of duck duck
It would be tragic to give up this road, where 90 percent of it is in great condition. More discussion on that can be found here: Suiattle Road Plan has a potential new hurdle
The closed road section
View larger size in new window
|
Back to top |
|
|
David¹ Token Canadian
Joined: 25 Jul 2002 Posts: 3040 | TRs | Pics Location: The Great White North |
|
David¹
Token Canadian
|
Fri May 20, 2011 1:02 pm
|
|
|
That is a male Harlequin Duck - quite a find!
Thanks for the report
|
Back to top |
|
|
Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
Great pics and report Schroder. Thanks.
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
|
Back to top |
|
|
Quark Niece of Alvy Moore
Joined: 15 May 2003 Posts: 14152 | TRs | Pics
|
|
Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore
|
Fri May 20, 2011 1:05 pm
|
|
|
Here was my prayer before I clicked on the thumbnail: "O god please don't let that be a marbled murrelet O god please don't let that be a marbled murrelet O god please don't let that be a marbled murrelet O god please don't let that be a marbled murrelet!!!"
About a month ago, the jets buzzed by about a dozen times in just the few hours I was there - one time they were right in the valley, very low. It was annoying.
2 weeks ago, they buzzed just a few times. But they're always there!
"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate."
Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate."
Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
|
Back to top |
|
|
Hulksmash Cleaning up.
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 7113 | TRs | Pics Location: Arlington |
|
Hulksmash
Cleaning up.
|
Fri May 20, 2011 1:10 pm
|
|
|
There's a bag O' trash in the Downy Creek camp trail head parking area. Just past the out house. Also some beer bottles littering the forest floor.
The bag is visible from main road.
I guessing the trail register is about full by now.
"Bears couldn't care less about us....we smell bad and don't taste too good. Bugs on the other hand see us as vending machines." - WetDog
Albuterol! it's the 11th essential
"Bears couldn't care less about us....we smell bad and don't taste too good. Bugs on the other hand see us as vending machines." - WetDog
Albuterol! it's the 11th essential
|
Back to top |
|
|
Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6720 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
|
Schroder
Member
|
Fri May 20, 2011 10:28 pm
|
|
|
We didn't see the trash in the Downey CG. Did carry some out from the Horse Pasture though.
Yours was the last entry in the trail register.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Hulksmash Cleaning up.
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 7113 | TRs | Pics Location: Arlington |
|
Hulksmash
Cleaning up.
|
Sat May 21, 2011 12:36 am
|
|
|
Might swing up there again this Sunday.
I don't think i'll bother with a trash haul out of Downey just yet. I'm signed up to do some trail work up there in June...i assume i'll have some sort of vehicle access. Why pack it 10 miles when i might be able to pack it a tenth of a mile.
Other wise i'm thinking bicycle trailer.
"Bears couldn't care less about us....we smell bad and don't taste too good. Bugs on the other hand see us as vending machines." - WetDog
Albuterol! it's the 11th essential
"Bears couldn't care less about us....we smell bad and don't taste too good. Bugs on the other hand see us as vending machines." - WetDog
Albuterol! it's the 11th essential
|
Back to top |
|
|
tmatlack Member
Joined: 21 Aug 2007 Posts: 2854 | TRs | Pics
|
|
tmatlack
Member
|
Sat May 21, 2011 4:35 am
|
|
|
To All Cross-Cascade Hikers,
We need this road open. That route from Holden to Sulphur Creek is pure magic...views, history, PCT, Image Lk., etc.
Yes, the navy jets are annoying. When I got buzzed, it was still the old A-6 Intruders or EA-6B jammers. Both are wicked loud and slowly being retired out of the squadrons. I think.
Tom
|
Back to top |
|
|
analogkid Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 174 | TRs | Pics Location: Houston, TX |
Yep. Buzzing the Glacier Peak area and river valleys has always been a "standard" route for the local Navy squadrons. I used to be in an Intruder squadron in the late 80s - early 90s. I saw many photos of our planes against a backdrop of Glacier Peak well before I knew where it was. Simulated low level attack runs were common here, especially at night when using the forward looking infrared (FLIR). The Intruders are gone - have been for many years now. The Prowlers are quickly on their way out as the EF/A-18 Growlers are being phased in.
I didn't start hiking the Glacier Peak area until around 2000. My fourteen year old son has not made it out there with me yet. I hope the work continues as well. I imagine future WTA, or other, trail work parties out there will be quite popular.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6720 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
|
Schroder
Member
|
Sat May 21, 2011 10:26 pm
|
|
|
Some day I'm going to get a photo of one of them. Even with my camera ready in my hands, I wasn't quick enough to catch them from below.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Layback Cascades Expatriate
Joined: 16 Mar 2007 Posts: 5712 | TRs | Pics Location: Back East |
|
Layback
Cascades Expatriate
|
Sat May 21, 2011 11:31 pm
|
|
|
Wow. That's a beautiful area that I have sadly yet to see since I moved here in 2005. Funny, I don't see any old growth.
Thanks for sharing Schroeder.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Slugman It’s a Slugfest!
Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Posts: 16874 | TRs | Pics
|
|
Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!
|
Sun May 22, 2011 12:08 am
|
|
|
When did that walkway get built, the one up to the Downey bridge? That looked cool, way better than the homemade ladder.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6720 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
|
Schroder
Member
|
Sun May 22, 2011 10:24 am
|
|
|
It must have been built last year. We barely had to slow down on bikes over it. It's not wide enough for the forest ranger's quad though.
On the topic of this bridge, I've read several places (including statements from the Pilchuck Audubon Society) that this bridge was "wiped out" or that a section was gone. This is not true at all. It's only the roadbed on the approach that had water from Downey Creek erode it down about 8 feet. It's obvious that the water has come no where near that in the past 5 years.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Quark Niece of Alvy Moore
Joined: 15 May 2003 Posts: 14152 | TRs | Pics
|
|
Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore
|
Sun May 22, 2011 5:33 pm
|
|
|
Yeah, and it's obvious Pilchuck Audubon doesn't know what they're talking about. No bridges were destroyed in 2003 or 2006 floods - not Sulphur, not Downey, not Boundary. Including the one to the Milk Creek trail (it's a bit bent up and 1/4 mile downstream, but it is whole )
analog, there has been equipment back there the last year or so; contractor put the approach in to make it easier for the authorized ATVs for surveyors, engineers, etc. (but not wide enough for a quad? Maybe just for wheelbarrows [that doens't make sense]) Yah, better than the ladder, but certainly not as charming.
"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate."
Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate."
Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
|
Back to top |
|
|
Allison Feckless Swooner
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 12287 | TRs | Pics Location: putting on my Nikes before the comet comes |
|
Allison
Feckless Swooner
|
Sun May 22, 2011 5:49 pm
|
|
|
Anyone know if the Suiattle GS is available for rental these days? Looks like a reasonable bike ride.
www.allisonoutside.com
follow me on Twitter! @AllisonLWoods
www.allisonoutside.com
follow me on Twitter! @AllisonLWoods
|
Back to top |
|
|
|