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| Hiking | 4.60 Miles |
2,145 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.60 Miles | | | |
| 2,145 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Belated post. Last day at Seaside. Once again I was on a time crunch and needed to be back at the resort so we could continue our journey. Got to the TH around 6am. Easy drive back to the TH. Paved all the way. The road had a lot stationing/off sets markings, making me think some kind of road construction might be coming soon. There is enough parking for close to 20 cars. There is no fee for this area and there are bathrooms, but no water at this TH.
This trail is listed as difficult and as you start out you get an immediate sense of what it may be like. It starts out paved, but fairly steep. Neither of these characteristics last long. Within .15 miles the asphalt turns to dirt and the grade lessens considerably. At .24 miles the trail junctures with the Humbug Vista Trail. It is listed as .2 miles long and is worth the side trip. It is a neat little trail in its own right and provides an excellent view of what you will be hiking. I actually did this on my return trip. Enjoyed it, but I think it would have been better as providing a preview of what was to come.
The trail has several switchbacks as it climbs, but the grade is surprisingly mild. In the first mile I had only climbed 600 feet. At .87, I came upon a fairly lengthy seep that went along the length of the trail. The trail had only been mildly damp up to this point. This stretch was muddy. Even though the trail is climbing the views are fairly limited due to the vegetation. Every once you would get an opening and get a distant view, but they were infrequent. Around .6 miles I started to hear a noise that I initially thought was wind but as I continued to hike I realized there was a nearby stream making its way down the slope. At 1.15 there is nice shaded bench with limited views. Shortly after that you start to see a fence meshing that is secured across the trail with the idea of keeping the rocks in place and providing a better tread. This starts off intermittently, but becomes more common as you proceed and the grade becomes steeper. There was a warning in some write ups that this meshing could be hazardous to dog paws getting caught and I could see how that might be a problem. I also discovered on the way down that the meshing could become very slick when wet.
I had been hiking casually along, enjoying the weather (gray, cloudy skies), the Oregon views, taking pictures liberally when my Garmin beeped at me with a low battery warning. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") Very annoying! This could mean that my Garmin would die anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. I really wanted to record this track so I basically pocketed my camera and just made some audio notes as I tried to bet to the top before my Garmin died. I still managed to enjoy the hike and take notes I just had to forego the pictures until the descent.
At 1.62 a small stream joined the trail. The trail and stream coincided for about .15 miles with the stream flowing from a trickle to a minor rivulet. The stream was very minor and easily negotiated and didn’t even create much mud on the trail. At 1.84 the trail crossed another seep; probably a fairly common phenomenon in Oregon, but a noteworthy encounter for me. The trail continued to climb steadily going in and out of pockets of trees. Around 1.94 the trail reached another picnic table. This one is nicely surrounded by trees, providing good shade and limited views to the west. From here the trail continued to the north, leaving the trees behind and having a relatively flat section. Along this section the park has provided a foot high cable railing that I guess is suppose to act as guide/barrier for the trail. There is a good-sized slope to one side of the cable that could lead to injury if one were to fall. However, I feel a foot high cable is more likely to lead to a fall than prevent one. It seemed like a tripping hazard to me. 
At 2.12 is where the difficult inclines really begin. You have reached the saddle. There is a sharp decline (maybe a 100+ feet) followed by a brief saddle and then a very aggressive 400 foot climb to reach the summit. The 400 ft climb is done in about .3 miles, (summit end at 2.57). There is evidence that stairs were at one time used, but they have been replaced by metal railings and fence meshing. The meshing worked very nicely on my climb to the summit, providing good traction. I’m happy to say I was able to beat my Garmin before its demise. It took me a little over an hour (1:05) of hard climbing to reach the top. Well worth it. The views were very rewarding. The clouds minimized some of the more distant views (ocean, Mt Hood), but added to the ambience of the nearby ones. I had the mountain to myself so I took my time enjoying it.  Just below the peak there is a little spur that juts out to the south and east. The spur has serious drop offs on both sides, so I didn’t play around too much out there. A more confident person probably could have gotten some nice pictures from that spot. It had started to sprinkle while I was enjoying the summit and I discovered that the meshing which was so beneficial on the ascent became a liability on a wet descent. Very slippery and unfortunately the railings were not along the entire length of this saddle. Luckily, I only had a few slips and no falls. Hiking poles would have been very advantageous in these kind of conditions. The rain did not last long and once past the saddle the trail grade wasn’t challenging, even when wet. Took my time on the descent. Took pictures and some videos that I had bypassed on my way up. Didn’t see my first hiker until I was 1 mile from the end and then I encountered about 20 more along the way. As I mentioned I hit Humbug Vista on the way out.
Very enjoyable hike. Felt nice to be able to start and finish the entire trail. (I hate not being able to finish a trail). No wildlife.  |
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