Easy afternoon walk very slight incline. some Oregon grapes ready to pick. good for yapping. Good forest!

We went out for an Saturday afternoon stroll in the woods from the Harvey Manning Trailhead. There were about 6-8 cars. On the trails, we encountered a few people and dogs - but no crowds. There were no bugs to speak of. It was sunny and a tad muggy in the woods. There are still plenty of wildflowers - and a frosting of cottonwood seeds. Some salmonberries are ripe. Overall, a very pleasant outing.

Jeno and I met at 6:00 AM at the very small Bear Ridge trailhead (parking for 3 cars) along SR-900 this morning and headed out on a meandering loop around the east and north sides of Cougar Mt.

Our route was Bear Ridge > Tibbett’s Marsh > Tibbett’s Creek > Clay Pit Road > Cougar Pass > Harvey Manning > Million Dollar View then back via Harvey Manning > Tibbett’s Marsh > Bear Ridge.

Bear Ridge is overgrown in spots and there was mud on a few of the trails but overall, the trails were in pretty good shape.  When we turned onto the Tibbett’s Marsh trail the bugs came out in force.  For this early in the year quite frankly they were atrocious.  Jeno asked me if I had any bug spray and it hadn’t even crossed my mind to have some in my pack today…it’s still early in the year.  When we got up to Clay Pit road and went down to the viewpoint my hiking sidekick emptied out his pack…and lo and behold buried deep inside he had some bug “wipes” which saved the day.  Thanks buddy!   After using the wipes, the rest of the hike was a-ok from a bug standpoint.

The clay pit has a great view on a clear day like today.   You can see Tiger Mt off in the distance.  There is also a kiosk located up there with some historical info about the area.  Looking at the kiosk I either forgot or didn’t remember that one of my former clients Mutual Materials had the clay pit up there for years so that was pretty cool to read about that.     

After our short break at the clay pit we went over to Cougar Pass and then onto the Harvey Manning trail which leads to the park up there and the Million Dollar view.  The nice thing about that area is you’ve done most of your climbing so the trail just has some gentle ups and downs which was much appreciated by your trip report writer’s knees.    We had seen a woman running with her dog at the clay pit and we ran into her again at the view.  There were half a dozen cars parked at that trailhead this morning and we had a decent view to boot.  

After a break we headed back down on a more direct route via the Tibbett’s Marsh trail back to Bear Ridge.  We saw a number of runners this morning including a couple who passed us twice going one way and then coming back the other way.  We also saw a number of hikers.  Our total count was an even dozen people evenly divided between hikers and runners.    We got back to our cars at 9:15. 

Stay safe everyone.  See you on the trail and don’t forget your bug spray.   

SR    

Got in a work party while I was briefly in town.  We worked on sections of the Military Trail, focusing on drainage improvements, trail realignment and other annual trail maintenance tasks.  I assisted with widening the trail corridor and creating drainage.  Weather was rainy at times with varying degrees of intensity.  We wrapped things up a little early due to weather conditions at around 1:30p.  Many tasks were accomplished despite ending things earlier than usual.  Happy trails!

I arrived at the Harvey Manning trailhead around 11am and was one of two cars in the parking lot. It was a perfectly cool spring day for a spontaneous hike. I ended up doing a 6.6 mile loop; I'll show the map below. All trails I hiked on were in great condition, only one had a small alder tree across it that wasn't difficult to cross. Overall, I didn't notice too many invasive plants which brought me hope, but as I neared the top of Wilderness Peak, I started to see some English holly trees growing that would be easy to take out.

If you're expecting a view on this hike/at the top, you'll be disappointed. The best view is at the trailhead, at the viewpoint. However, this trail is a great practice in the life lesson, "it's all about the journey, not the destination." Trilliums, salmon berries, bleeding hearts and more are all blooming. Devil's Club is just starting to leaf out and there is lots of it on this trail. The birds were out singing at the top of their lungs, and I even came across three deer--we said hey before they dashed off the trail. I also loved reading all the historical boards along the trail about mining and logging in the area. 

Very cool hike, and very worth it!