[treeswarper]

I decided to walk the short version of the Similkameen Trail. You can start in downtown Oroville or you can cut a couple miles off by driving towards Nighthawk. The upper trailhead cannot be missed. The trail is marked "Unleashed Dogs". I thought that was a great omen. The yang of that was the county pickup with two guys in it who informed me the trail was washed out. I could go up it, but they didn't think I would get very far. I went. You go down a couple of fenced in well graveled immaculate switchbacks. There is a vineyard along one side.

There is a bench overlooking the trestle, and a writeup of how it was built--the trestle not the bench. There are lots of benches along this trail. I felt silly carrying my foam pad that I had brought along to sit on. Oh well.

The trestle is rather urban like.

Then you hit the old railroad grade and follow it upstream. There were a few little flowers out.

I met another county pickup coming down the trail. They told me that even a lazy person could easily get around the washout by following game trails up to a log across a small creek and then on more game trails back to the road/trail. I did that and it was pretty easy. Thank you cows, deer and Okanogan County guys.

The area kind of flattens out a bit.

Then, Enloe Dam comes into view.

The Demon Dog was having a great time and would soon make it greater--for her.

I went past the gate that said End Of Trail and explained how they hope to complete that section to Nighhawk. Near the dam was a KEEP OUT sign so I turned back. and saw a bench made for very long legged people. It was a viewpoint.

I had planned to eat my peanut butter sandwich here. I began to search for it and heard a lot of happy rolly noises in the brush where the Demon Dog was. She came out and hopped up on the bench and.......THE STENCH! She smelled bad. Poopy bad. My appetite was suppressed so we started back. I had her lie down in a deep mud puddle which helped just a bit. We ran into the two county guys again at the washout. I heard words about about a pipe. I hope they can fix it this year. The stinky dog and I continued and met a guy on the trestle. He was Jerry and was the trail steward of that section. He convinced me to sign in on the trail register. I did. It's a way to show how many people are using the trail and to get funding for it. He also wants to get a porta potty set up. Meanwhile, the gate on the bridge had been closed but there was a spot to squeeze through without a pack on which is good or I might have been stuck up there. The county guys had put up a Road Closed Washout sign at the start of the trail. The mileage of this part was supposed to be about 4 miles round trip. If you start in Oroville, it adds 3 miles to that. Jerry the trail guy said it was worth walking too. I wiped off the Demon with Wet Ones and the truck only smelled faintly like a stockyard. She has since had a bath. I've still got to wipe off her taser collar and wash the pickup seat dog blanket. According to a downtown Oroville sign, it was 71 degrees when we went by!

[whitebark]

Ah, the joys of dog ownership... Lovely trail, though.

[RichP]

I love to see these rail to trail conversions. I've never heard of this one. Hopefully they can deal with that washout.

[reststep]

It is good to see a report from this area. Thanks Are you going to do some hiking in the Pasayton this year?

[treeswarper]