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| Hiking | 6.00 Miles |
1,700 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.00 Miles | 4 Hrs 48 Mns | | 1.37 mph |
| 1,700 ft AEG | 25 Mns Break | 10 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | I have hiked Parker Creek Trail #160 perhaps 25 times since the mid 1990s, most often from the trailhead just beyond MP 278 on State Route 288 (or from the Experimental Forest buildings a little farther on, using a now-obliterated shortcut) up to Dixon Saddle between the Parker and Coon Creek watersheds, and back, but occasionally have come in from the Workman Creek side, and bushwhacked on the Carr Peak side.
The segment from the TH on Route 288 up to the saddle has always been a gem for me, given the geological and biological riches there (deer, elk, turkey, bear, coatis) plus the flat-out beautiful scenery. Those magnificent quartzite-topped cliffs -- metamorphosed from beach sand starting 700 mya -- on the north side of the canyon seem to attract many eyes if the photologs on HAZ are any indication!
I have seen the area pre-Coon Creek Fire (April 2000) and pre-Juniper Fire (May/June 2016). The latter burned my favorite part -- South Fork of Parker Canyon proper -- in mostly light to moderate fashion, with some patches of severe burning. I exchanged email with one of the Pleasant Valley RD rangers and she told me that some places would look bad for several years but that the overall effect would be improved forest health as dog-hair stands of pines were cleared, forest floor was opened to sunlight, and woody brush and debris were cleared by fire.
I understand this, but it is hard to see so much greenery go, especially in the severely burned pockets. From an old fire scar on an ancient living juniper on one of the switchbacks above the stream gauge, I knew that the canyon had long ago had fire and that fire would someday return.
The ancient juniper did not survive the 2016 fire. Neither did the immense Douglas-firs, admired by Preston Sands, near the big rockslide. Many pines and Douglas-firs have survived, though; there is less brushy and woody fuel on the forest floor; and large areas have been opened up to sunlight. Recovery is proceeding, but it is now a very different Parker Canyon. Species I haven't seen there before have taken advantage of the nutrients released by burning and of sunlight, including large wild hollyhock plants (Iliamna remota) by the tens of thousands, still blooming in mid-October.
The opportunistic species, post-fire, are part of the problem with this segment of #160 -- all the new vegetation has badly overgrown what has always been a lightly used trail. (In all of my hikes here, I have encountered another person or party only twice... in 25 years. And one of those was a FS employee repairing water bars.) Stretches are now very hard to discern. I lost the trail in the vegetation coming back down-canyon, just above the stream gauge, and ended up doing a nasty downhill bushwhack to find it again. This would not have happened on the pre-fire trail. There was also a great deal of deadfall over the trail, though nothing so large as to be unmanageable -- all of the throw-the-leg-over-the-log variety.
More dead trees will come down on the trail this winter, and if it is a wet winter, there will be even more growth of the wild hollyhocks and other sun-loving opportunists. Without some trail maintenance work, Parker Creek #160, in the canyon from the TH at Route 288 up to the back wall where the final set of switchbacks takes you up to Dixon Saddle, will effectively disappear in several areas. I'm not so sure that would be a bad thing, though even in its altered state, I would miss this lovely little hike.
Details: Due to my own late start at 1:35 and due to overgrowth and deadfall making for some slow going, I went up as far as the pretty little glen just below the back wall and its switchbacks, and then turned back to my vehicle at the TH, making it just as dusk fell. Parker Creek was mostly dry but had a small above-ground flow measuring 0.02 cfs at the gauge. A smaller population of canyon maples, post fire, had turned bright red. In addition to the aforementioned Iliamna, wild asters and groundsels were also still blooming. Temps were in the low 70s. It was a beautiful October day to do this hike -- no one else around, canyon quiet, no wildlife sightings.
Elevation at TH at 288 is 5000. Elevation at Dixon Saddle between the Parker and Coon Creek watersheds is 6896. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Light
Canyon maples red. Sycamores and Gambel oaks still green. |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
Wild hollyhocks, asters, groundsels. |
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