{"id":2582,"date":"2018-09-04T20:48:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T20:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/old.cherylhill.net\/blog\/?p=2582"},"modified":"2018-09-05T04:25:22","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T04:25:22","slug":"elk-lake-creek-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2018\/09\/04\/elk-lake-creek-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Elk Lake Creek Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sunday, August 26, 2018<\/p>\n<p>While <a href=\"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/firelookouts\/2018\/08\/31\/gold-butte-in-the-clouds\/\">staying at Gold Butte Lookout<\/a>, Greg and I had wanted to hike up Battle Ax Mountain. But it was far too cloudy, so we opted for a forest hike instead. We drove to Elk Lake and set off down the Elk Lake Creek Trail into the Bull of the Woods Wilderness. I&#8217;ve never seen such a plain wilderness boundary sign before:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1899\/43667667234_457eac6065_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It had rained the night before:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1850\/44336880702_06ec0a7eaa_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We were pleasantly surprised to discover we had hit peak huckleberry ripeness. There were THOUSANDS of them:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1867\/43741632704_b9610046c4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1864\/43741621714_88fb419974_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We were hiking through a nice old forest with big tall trees. Love it!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1884\/30518437478_6af39e357b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1870\/43668962634_0ba8ee148c_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"534\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1895\/30589821068_5827543cc9_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1885\/43741735664_679c277c26_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"534\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There were a number of downed trees we had to detour around, under, over:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1861\/43668969644_f6a39d4f4f_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1864\/44409969212_33181934b7_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1853\/43549876175_ee8c6b1eb2_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At the point where we crossed a section boundary we saw this old sign on a tree:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1892\/43741616884_47ff7bfc15_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Still in the trees:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1893\/30589926978_75b390f142_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Old withered candy stick:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1858\/42650659700_a4a9921c71_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The trail started losing elevation as it descended towards creek level:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1871\/43741721974_08bdcba840_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Crossed an old bridge:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1894\/44459377681_db06eccb51_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t think this\u00a0boardwalk has been maintained in a LONG time:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1872\/44459375511_b2ef0e551b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"534\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And then we arrived at the junction with the Mother Lode Trail. This is a big open area that is clearly very popular with backpackers:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1856\/43550836175_c46da21bff_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1866\/43550825495_6ee49f7e57_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1842\/43550813765_0a2aa783af_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Battle Creek Shelter once stood here somewhere, but collapsed from heavy snow several decades ago. In <em>100 Oregon Hiking Trails <\/em> (1969) it says &#8220;The three-sided shelter is well-preserved and has a concrete fire pit and a steel grate.&#8221; I could find absolutely no sign of the old shelter. No bits of lumber and no remnants of the concrete fire pit. It is thoroughly gone.<\/p>\n<p>We sat and enjoyed a snack and listened to the sound of nearby Elk Lake Creek:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1890\/43550821505_1cb3558679_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1843\/30590703478_d067e91a62_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The trail keeps going to another trailhead on Road 6380 but we weren&#8217;t going that far. We headed back and on the way I spotted an old phone line insulator up in a tree. Lookouts and guard stations were connected by phone line in the pre-radio days. These insulators were put in trees and the phone line strung between them:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1869\/29522446727_1af20341e7_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake Creek Trail\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was 8.5 miles when we were all done. It was cold and cloudy at Elk Lake when we got back. Time to return to our warm lookout!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1868\/43550805515_804400ca6c_c.jpg\" alt=\"Elk Lake\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sunday, August 26, 2018 While staying at Gold Butte Lookout, Greg and I had wanted to hike up Battle Ax<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2018\/09\/04\/elk-lake-creek-trail\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Elk Lake Creek Trail<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,166,159],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2598,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions\/2598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}