Aurora Creek, Aurora Ridge — Tuesday, Jul. 16, 2024

Hiked up Aurora Creek trail to Aurora Ridge and over to Sourdough Mountain and back. Aurora Creek is in fairly good shape - a few downed trees in the beginning but otherwise it’s clear. There are two points you can bushwhack down to the creek from. It was a warmer day than I anticipated, so I ended up detouring to the creek to camel up on water and snag an extra liter. I’m glad I did as I had very little excess water at the end of the day.

The creek trail eases up on grade and then connects to Aurora Ridge, which looks like it sees more bears than people on it. It’s very overgrown, though not difficult to follow if you’re paying attention. There’s a muddy trickle of a stream a little west of the trail connection I’m glad I didn’t have to try to filter.

The trail spend a mile losing several hundred feet of elevation, then another mile regaining it before the spur to Sourdough Mountain. It’s a short spur but very overgrown, easy to lose if you’re not paying attention. The view from the top was pretty nice - no views of Lake Crescent but a nice look up all the old growth along the Sol duc to High Divide and Mount Olympus. Ate lunch while grey jays yelled at me, then retraced my steps. Ended my day in later afternoon, temps around 85 F. Bring lots of water for this hike!

Wildflowers were nice, though past prime. I bet mid June would be a beautiful time to hike this lonely trail.