Parked at McClellan Butte lower trailhead. Only one other car there, didn't see anyone during the hike. FS-9020 was generally in good condition, mostly clear singletrack trail on the way up. There were a few short muddy sections where I could see mtb tracks. I went up Gardner's lower talus field to avoid the road's long switchback. I found the small talus to be more stable than it looked. Quite a wide variety of moss and lichen growing on the talus here.
The uppermost portion of FS-9020 was pleasant through the unlogged Hemlock forest. A brown furry animal ran across the road right in front of me. So fast I couldn't tell what it was. Maybe fox sized. At the end of the road a faint bootpath begins descending about 100' to a saddle, it turns into a more defined steep trail for a ways. I lost it in the berry bushes below the summit. The summit has been flattened by bulldozers as part of the logging operation and it's covered in a pile of rotting logs they left behind. Zero bothersome bugs on the summit was a welcome change.
Noticed more sections with encroaching slide alder on the way down. Most of FS-9020 is clear singletrack, some of it looked recently trimmed. I ran down the long switchback rather than descend steep talus. I went down the talus covered in a thick carpet of moss to Palouse to Cascades Trail. I came down right next to the huge old log I'd seen on previous bikepacking trips. Slowly ran down the P2C.
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