Tarbell Trail — Tuesday, Sep. 14, 2010

Southwest Washington > Lewis River Region

I set out to check on the fall colors and to see how the Tarbell trail up to Larch Mt. might be affected by the proposed BPA power lines as well as the planned ORV trail expansion. From Washougal it took about 45 minutes to get to the Grouse Vista Trailhead, a much smoother route than heading up to the Silver Star Trailhead on the north side of the mountain. At the trailhed there are actually three options heading off in the direction of Larch Mt. Two are old road beds that have been used by ORV's and are pretty chewed up. The middle option is the official Tarbell trail, although the sign had been broken off. It too has had ORV incursions and is quite wide and rutted in places. Climbing steeply up the ridge, you get a decent view of Mount Hood just as the trail flattens out a bit. Where it crosses Grouse Creek there are some nice Old Growth trees and it looks like a beaver has been busy creating a wetland. Higher up you top out on a ridge about 1.5 miles from the trailhead with a spectacular view of Silver Star Mt. and Mount St. Helens. This would be great spot for a picnic among the beargrass and hucklebery and I made a note to come back with my wife next time. Continuing on I took a left turn to follow the spur trail to the summit of Larch Mt. There is a radio tower there and the summit if fairly flat, so the trees block most of the view. But along the way I stopped to admire a nice meadow - another spot to return to when the bear grass is in full bloom. In all the trip was about 6 miles round trip. Its a great sized hike for an afternoon, and I'm sure it would be a lot more popular if the trail was in better condition, keeping ORV's off it would keep it narrow and flat rather than the wide, rocky ruts that there are now. The proposed BPA power lines would cross the trail near the jct with the spur trail and would continue northward across the valley. Hopefully the DNR will respond to pressure from WTA and others to move the proposed 4X4 ORV trails away from the Grouse Vista Trailhead.