Well I had now been off the PCT for 6 weeks, so it was finally time to go for a hike again. I filled my days with hanging out with the family, going for runs, working around the house, coaching cross country, and of course teaching math. I was well in it as the school year already felt long and it was only a few weeks in. I had a successful run at the Walterville Waddle where I placed first in my age group and ran a personal best 19:36 5K. Conrad was right behind me by only 8 seconds. I got a bunch of cookies as a prize. Most of the time was taken up with coaching cross country, though, as weekends included races in which my kids were doing really well. Still, the need to get out on the trail existed and this day I was going to make sure that I got a good hike in. Since last spring, I had been interested in the Olallie Trail.
I had hiked every part of the trail except for the lower section. I was going to remedy that today. My drive took me out to the Aufderheide Rd. This road wound through the wilderness to numerous trailheads. I had stumbled on the southern part of the Olallie Trail about a year and a half earlier. This was spring, so I hiked just about as far as I could before snow slowed me down. I turned around at the snow about 3 miles in, but this day I was determined to not let anything stop me. Besides, it was fall and all that could really get in my way were downed trees. The trail starts out at the end of a dirt road. I parked at the trailhead and went on my way. The first little bit is flat and then it charges up the ridge.
There are numerous switchbacks climbing several thousand feet. This trail is about 40 miles long if you did the entire thing in one day. I have never done that. Instead, I have done it in chunks, first hiking the northern part over 10 years ago into the snow. That part takes you past the O'Leary Trail, then up past Horsepasture Mountain. Conrad and I hiked the section from the Saddle Trail to the 1993 road before it heads to Olallie Mountain and then down to Bear Flat. Today I was planning to hike the southern section from the Olallie Trailhead to Bear Flat. Bear Flat was where I headed off for a loop hike to French Pete once and found myself bushwhacking most of it. All and all I guess you could say that this trail and I had some history.
Today, though, I was determined to finish it and explore other trail possibilities that existed there. The first thing I had to was get farther than I traveled previously. That was done after crossing a creek only about 3 miles into the trail. The trail continued uphill until leveling out right where the trail met the Rebel Creek trail. This trail was really suspect to me and even though there was a sign, I imagined that it was probably a trail to nowhere. I hiked Rebel Creek 10+ years ago when it was in better shape than it is now, and I never saw this part of the trail even though there was likely a junction at some point. It wasn't for me today, so I continued on. The trail was now relatively flat and only a half a mile more brought me to another trail junction.
This was the Wildcat Trail that would take me out to Wildcat Swamp and Bill Gott Spring. This hike was for another day and I continued on. The trail was not in great shape. It was relatively flat, though, and for the most part I could see how the trees had been cleared to get me through the woods. I felt like I was doing the trail a favor by hiking it so it did not cease to exist. There were times I had to climb over fallen logs, but for the most part, I was able to find my way. At one point, I crossed the headwaters of French Pete Creek. Here is was just a small trickle and there was a campsite nearby. It was a place to get water, but it was easily crossed without a footbridge.
As I continued on, the trail took me past a swamp and out to an obvious clearing. Here was another trail, but it lacked a sign. This was the first evidence that the Forest Service had just decided to give up on some of these trails. This was a trail that could take me out to Corral Draw and up to Dillon Lake if I so chose. But, it was on the map, just lacked signage. This meant that it was likely out of service. This was sad because it closed off a huge section of wilderness. I would definitely hike it some day, though. Trail or no trail, I was determined to see what was out there. After this trail, it was only another half of a mile or so before I ran into the junction for the Bear Flat trail. When I had done my bushwhacking long hike here, there was a sign.
Granted, that sign warned that the trail existed no more in sharpie, but the sign was still there. Now it was gone. Another trail bites the dust. The wilderness here used to be invaded by sheep in cattle. There used to be a drive right through these mountains. Now most of this is left to be reclaimed by the forest. Humans really had a way of fixing one problem by causing another. At this point, the wilderness may be a little bit too wild and it could use a little more trammeling. In any case, this was my turn around point. I though about the many opportunities that existed for me to not only explore further out here, but put my stamp on the forest by helping to clear some of the trail.
There were so many sections where trail was a relative word. This forest, like so many other places, was being left to be overrun. I was going to have to put some time into making this place better at some point. The whole hike was about 18 miles, which took me about 7 hours to complete. Along the way I got to see junctions at 3 new trails that I had never explored all going deep into the heart of the wilderness. Two of those still had signs, which meant there was still hope. All of them needed to be explored. I was determined to really know this wilderness inside and out. This day had brought me one step closer to that and it had been a rewarding long hike to keep me in shape also. All and all, a great day out in the woods.
