Yesterday I decided to take advantage of the clear skies and hike up to McIntyre Ridge. I drove out to the quarry to take the Douglas Trail up. However, the final gravel spur to the old quarry is in ROUGH shape. Two-thirds of its width is rutted from what I imagine was some heavy spring snowmelt. It looks like the road served as a streambed for awhile.
There is enough unscathed road on the left for a little ways, but I could see ahead that I was going to run out of that. Driving my low-clearance Honda, I didn’t want none of that. So I slowly and carefully backed down my narrow strip of road until I got to the really wide shoulder, where another car had also parked. Fortunately, by parking here, it only added about half a mile total to my trip, since the quarry trailhead was just up the road.
A large Clackamas County crew was swarming all over the quarry area. I guess it was clean-up day. Hooray for them! I had encountered several signs along the road on the way in warning that workers were in the area and shooting was not allowed today. So I didn’t have to put up with the sound of guns. I’ve read this can be a real problem in the area.
The first view out over the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness and Eagle Creek.
I climbed up through the viewless forest, listening to my ipod. At one point, the trail came really close to a gravel road. I walked over to check it out. It looked in great shape. This road, however, does not appear on topo maps, the forest service map, or Google Maps.
I kept climbing until I reached the McIntyre Ridge Trail. Parts of this ridge trail are surprisingly overgrown, mostly with rhododendrons. Does it just need maintenance, or is it a seldom-traveled trail?
I had seen almost no wildflowers the whole hike. The rhododendrons hadn’t started yet and the beargrass in the forest was not blooming. So when I reached the bench, I was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of beargrass blooming everywhere. I love beargrass! There were also lots of paintbrush and penstemons.
I sat at the bench for awhile soaking up the awesome views. I had the place to myself except for one woman who briefly appeared on a key search. She had been up there the day before and had lost her keys somewhere. She was headed to the summit of Wildcat Mountain next in her search for them. I hope she found them!
I had planned to go further on the Douglas Trail, but it was a hot day and I was running low on water, so I headed back. Good choice: I would end up emptying my two liter camelback before reaching the trailhead. It only took about 45 minutes to hike back from the bench. I passed a couple heading out to the bench and saw nobody else. The Clackamas County crew was gone too.
I figure I probably did a little under five miles if you include the road hiking. Great hike for such a beautiful day!
