[reststep]

Rod, Have you had a chance to do any checking on the old trail going up Grand Creek from Three Forks to Badger Valley that you mentioned in another thread?

[Phil]

[reststep]

Interesting HJT. Rod F said he has or saw a 1949 quad that showed a trail up Grand Creek.

[RodF]

[Malachai Constant]

It is my job to point out that there is no hike leader and no guarantee that everyone will get out or any promise to rescue. You are on your own. There is also no instruction or training offered. TNAB is not a hiking organization it is a social group whose members occasionally hike. We often car pool to an agreed destination. All participants know that they and they alone are responsible for their actions. If you cannot agree with this please contact a guide service or join the Mounties.

[RodF]

As promised, here are scans of the 1948 Olympic National Forest map. The original map is 3 foot square, far too large for my scanner. So I've scanned several areas of it which depict abandoned trails of interest. Here's a link to the original scans; click on the magnifying glass icon for full resolution or download them.

1948 ONF Map Legend

Grand Creek Trail

This shows the trail up the south bank of Grand Creek from Three Forks to the surviving Badger Valley Trail. Note that the Cameron Creek Trail is incomplete, although the Grand Pass Trail is shown to Cameron Creek.

Townsend Creek Trail

The Townsend Creek or lower Mt. Townsend Trail is shown above. It begins at what was once the end of the Big Quilcene Road, Bark Shanty Shelter, and follows the east bank of Townsend Creek to Sink Lake, which is near the current lower Mt. Townsend trailhead. The first mile of this trail was reopened in 2000-2003 as the historic Notch Pass Trail; one would search for the Townsend Creek trail leading upstream from the third (upper) footlog on the lower Notch Pass trail. Most of the lower portion of this trail was never logged, so it might still be found? The above map also shows the entire Little Quilcene Trail, beginning at Eightmile Creek, near what is now the junction of the Gold Creek Road (FS28) and Little Quilcene Road (FS27). The current trailhead is less than 1/4 mile below/east of "Last Water" on FS2820. This lower section of the Little Quilcene Trail approximates what is now FS27, so has likely been destroyed by roadbuilding and logging. Edit: part of the old trailbed can still be seen crossing the old clearcut east of the current Little Quilcene trailhead.

S Fk Skok, Six Ridge, Graves Creek, O'Neil Creek Trails

The area above shows the southern portion of the Mt. Olson Trail, from Six Ridge to Lake Success. It also shows the lower O'Neil Creek Trail. (An old ONP trail database suggests these were linked by a trail up the SW fork of O'Neil Creek, which was later abandoned in favor of the Mt. Olson Trail which followed the ridge north from Mt. Olson). I included the entire South Fork Skokomish Trail in this scan, because it shows many original shelters: Intermount Guard Station (now Brown Creek CG), Le Bar GS, and shelters at Camp Comfort, Church Creek, Harps, Riley, Graves Creek Basin, Sundown Lake, Belview, Big Log, Camp Pleasant, O'Neil Creek, Wynoochee, West Branch, upper Satsop Lake (Church Creek trail) and Spider Lake are all shown (link to a list of Olympic trail shelters). Although a trail is depicted up Steel Creek, the Steel Creek Shelter is not shown. The entire Dry Creek Trail is shown, as is a trail extending much further up Four Stream than the current Staircase Rapids Trail now does. It also shows the Mount Lincoln Trail (abandoned after the 1985 Beaver Fire) and the entire Wynoochee Trail (mostly destroyed by logging). Finally, it shows the abandoned Smith Lake Trail from Eight Stream, as mentioned in Wood's Olympic Mountain Trail Guide page 224.

This 1948 map shows an interesting transitional form of the Skyline Trail. It does show the abandoned, original 1913 Finley Peak Trail up Finley Ridge past Lily Lake and Finley Peak to Three Lakes Shelter, as well as the 1920 Big Creek Trail and now the long-abandoned Tshletshy Creek Trail. The Skyline Trail appears to end at Promise Creek Pass and resume at Beauty Pass: the section over Hee Haw Pass is missing, and the original, abandoned 1920 Promise Creek Trail also isn't shown. Also of interest is the abandoned Rustler Creek Trail, as mentioned in Wood page 273.

[Dane]

My 3rd Ed Oly Climber's Guide seems to show a trail from FS 2740 up the N. Fork Tunnel Creek to Charlia Lakes. Abandoned trail? Boot path? Crazy climber bushwack?

[Luc]

i've scouted that from the lower lake and from the road. there is a turnout that looks suspiciously perfect for parking and embarking. i'm not sure what it used to be. it kind of fell off my radar. but it would significantly cut the distance to charlias. it would be a gawldarn bushwack for sure. i remember hearing that the slopes near the basin are hell on earth. (might be your thing dane! ) can't remember where i heard this from. it's been since the 90's since i caught word of it. pm me. i'm game.

[RodF]

[Dane]

[reststep]

Not by me.

[Luc]

pass on the dayhikiness of this schwak. make it a 3 dayer with a summit.

[RodF]

[JeffR]

[BlueMountainMan]

A couple of things I noticed about the Grand Creek trail map: - the Three Forks shelter is shown at the wrong creek junction- it's actually at the next creek junction to the SE, near the Greywolf shelter - this map shows the road that was built westward from the Deer Park RS, along the thin ridge towards Green Mountain, eventually ending after about a mile. This road is obvious today as you start on the Obstruction Point-Deer Park trail. When you reach the low point along that thin ridge, you're walking on that old road. Right where you start uphill, the trail leaves the old roadway; the roadway continues as an obvious cut out of the side of the slope below the current trail. It's overgrown with trees and etc., but is about 15-20 ft wide and goes some distance. I've walked along this old road cut a few hundred yards, but would like to follow it to the end(why? because it's there!) This road was part of the road planned to be built from Deer Park all the way to Obstruction Point. Probably better that they didn't. . . I remember up until just recently there was an old survey monument on the side of the trail on Elk Mountain(being a land surveyor I notice these things). It was a pipe set in the ground with a brass cap that said something like "Federal Highway Administration". . . . which makes sense, they would've been the people to have set and used that monument. I think the brass cap has since been removed from the pipe. . . Would be cool to see the old plans for where they wanted to put that road. . . I would think it would've been pretty challenging to build and maintain. . .