Participated in a 4-day WTA work party in the area from a high camp at Indian Corral/Dunlap Spring. Our group of 12 logged out about 4 miles down the Crooked Creek Trail and as far as Oregon Butte to the west and Sheephead Spring to the east along the Mount Misery Trail. Our hike in and out via the Panjab Trail was facilitated by a pack string that transported our gear courtesy of the USFS.
One evening I mustered up the energy to hike out to Oregon Butte to view the sunset and full moon rising at the same time. Beautiful!
In all we cleared more than 100 trees over 13 miles of trail and did other assorted work. Good times!
A FS employee stated that trails in the area will be getting much attention this summer so get out and enjoy.
Comments
I noticed that it looked like some work was done on Crooked Creek Trail the last time I was at Dunlap Springs about a month ago. So you guys cleared the section along Third Creek down to about where the Grizzly Bear Ridge (not the 3103 Grizzly Bear Trail, but the Grizzly Bear Ridge that runs up to Oregon Butte) meets? I hiked Crooked Creek Trail a few years ago. It was in pretty bad shape along the Third Creek section.
Posted by:
BYOC on Aug 27, 2019 10:32 AM
Yes, that's correct. We went down about 3.5 miles from Dunlap Spring. A USFS crew was going to be starting on the lower end later in summer. They were entering via Troy, Or. I have no info if that has been done yet though.
Posted by:
RichP on Aug 28, 2019 05:27 PM
That would be great to open up that loop again for a shorter/easier option to using Melton Creek (which is getting a little overgrown too). If I recall correctly, Crooked Creek trail is in pretty good shape till it starts following Third Creek. So the crew coming up from the South should only have about 2 or 2.5 miles of difficult work.
Posted by:
BYOC on Aug 29, 2019 09:52 AM
Hi! The Crooked Creek trail is still not cleared all the way through as of September, it's doable but quite rugged and not considered a fun time for your average hiker. All the bottom sections in the Wenaha Tucannon (except for the main popular trails) are overgrown and require tenacity and map skills. Sometimes the office map is not updated or interpreted 100% correctly so be ready for a real wilderness adventure in all the creek bottoms with the upper sections of trail in better condition.
Posted by:
Dusty Diva on Sep 07, 2019 10:26 AM
Thanks for the update.
Posted by:
RichP on Sep 07, 2019 04:27 PM