Began my hike up the Bessemer Road off the Middle Fork Road by the DNR blue gate to see some waterfalls. Parked at the small lot for the Oxbow Loop Trail and walked the paved road to get to the gravel road. A short way up the road I crossed West Fork of Blowout Creek on a metal road bridge where some of the wood planks have rotted away. When I got up to the junction with the CCC Road Trail I checked the one log bridge over the roaring WF Blowout Creek. It is about a foot wide with no hand rail. I turned right and continued up the road where this section is also part of the CCC Road Trail. On the left side of the road, I saw a side trail heading up through the forest. I soon came to the first replacement CMP (a 4 foot culvert metal pipe). Part of this road had been washed out, covered in mud and had many fallen conifer trees on it from a heavy rainstorm about a year and a half ago. At the first switchback of the Bessemer Road is where the CCC Trail continues NW past Tall Moss Cliff. A new trail had been built to get through the blown out creek area. Several fallen trees had to be cut out. I continued hiking up the road where I could see the damage from the creek blowout. Further up another new large culvert had been installed. I then saw the upper part of the trail I had spotted down below meeting with the Bessemer Road. I found out it had been built when the road was washed out.
Before getting to the second road switchback I saw a sign on a tree stating, "Danger, Active Haul Road". I could see that there had not been any vehicles using this road for quite a long time. I then came to a rock storage area on DNR land. There were many big boulders piled up, two large track-hoes, a front end loader, a scale shack for weighing dump trucks and a storage shed. This was for a rock pit higher up the road that is on private property. After three more switchbacks I came to the Middle Fork of Blowout Creek crossing with a nice waterfall. The culvert is gone and the road goes over solid rock. I could see this was a real gulley washer. After the next switchback the road recrosses the creek where I saw another tall waterfall up hill. Part of the big metal culvert is still there, but the outlet end is smashed flat. Crossing the creek at this location in a vehicle would be pretty hard. No trouble hiking it. I had some mountain views from this road. I turned around here at the creek crossing and headed back. When I got to the connector trail off the Bessemer Road I hiked it down to the Bessemer/CCC Road Trail. This was a nice one to hike on and better than hiking the gravel road. When I got to the log bridge over the West Fork of Blowout Creek, I stopped for lunch and saw a coyote walking on the road. The only wildlife I saw plus two snakes.
I met only five other hikers on my trip and three mountain bikers. No crowds like the Mail Box Peak Trail. If you enjoy waterfalls, check this one out. At the blue gate at the start of the Bessemer Road, DNR still has their "Road Closed" sign for road construction, even though the road work has been completed with new culverts installed, the road cleared of mud and trees on the DNR section of this road. The upper section of the road by the waterfalls is on Forest Service land. George
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