Our scout troop just completed a 7 day trip starting at Slate Peak, up Buckskin Ridge to the Pasayten Airstrip, west on Rock Creek Trail, South on PCT to the Devil's Ridge trail (Sky Pilot Pass, Devil's Pass, Devil's park, then the Jackita Ridge trail out to highway 20 exiting at the East Bank trail (bridge) because Ruby creek was too high to ford at Crater Creek (bridge washed out).
There was significant blowdown on Buckskin ridge between Silver lake and Buckskin Lake, for 1.5 miles north of where Buckskin Ridge hits the valley floor (northbound), and up Rock Creek trail for 3-4 miles. Many of the big blowdown problems on this loop were due to trees killed by beetles. Some sections of forest seem to have 50% of the trees dead. Other parts of the Pasayten have problems with fire damage, but this was beetle damage. It will take a lot of work to clear these trails.
The trip went very well. There were patches of snow here and there, especially over 6000 feet. The section of the PCT near Rock Pass was mostly clear and there were lots of SOBO PCT trail hikers just getting started. The cabin at the Pasayten Airstrip was locked and seems to be used for equipment storage. It's a curious place. There is a nice campsite at the confluence of the rivers a mile south. We swam every day in a lake or creek.
We camped at Silver lake, Buckskin lake, Pasayten/Rock creek river confluence, Goat lakes area, Devil's pass and Devil's park.
One person in the party had a bear run in front of them on Jackita ridge. The flowers were out and we saw deer here and there. An osprey was fishing in Silver lake. A few sections had quite a few flies and mosquitoes. Headnets helped a lot.
Comments
brian98105 on Buckskin Ridge, Rock Creek, Jackita Ridge, Devil's Ridge
Highly recommend leather gloves, gators and eye protection for going over the trees and bushwhacking.
Posted by:
brian98105 on Jul 15, 2021 11:11 AM
spotted on Buckskin Ridge, Rock Creek, Jackita Ridge, Devil's Ridge
question about Jackita Ridge trail near the washed-out bridge at Crater Creek -- is the trail itself in decent condition? I was standing across the creek from it yesterday and could make it a couple of short sections of (what looked like) trail, but in between it just seemed like the hillside and fallen into the creek... any recollection of what that area looked like? tia!
Posted by:
spotted on Aug 23, 2021 11:44 AM
pb on Buckskin Ridge, Rock Creek, Jackita Ridge, Devil's Ridge
The trail has some blowdown but is otherwise fine. There was a huge doug fir across the trail and a bee hive right in the way to get around it on the west side. This was near where the Crater Creek crossing would be. We found the bees stayed chill if you didn't bump anything that vibrated the nest.
Posted by:
pb on Aug 31, 2021 09:57 PM