The blowdowns on Downey Creek trail are unfortunately as bad as everyone says. The first 3 miles of trail is pretty normal. Around mile 2-3 it starts to get a bit overgrown. Miles 3-6 are overgrown and have downed trees about every 2 minutes on the trail, making it difficult to go more than 1 mph on that section.
This made hiking out of the Ptarmigan Traverse pretty annoying. But at least the first 3 miles of trail to the car were good.
Comments
AlexVineyard on Downey Creek
Thanks for reporting!
Posted by:
AlexVineyard on Jul 19, 2023 09:04 AM
Kmino on Downey Creek
Heyo,
Well done on completing the traverse.
How were the trail conditions on the Bachelor Creek section just before you hit Downey?
Thanks for your report
Posted by:
Kmino on Sep 01, 2023 09:15 PM
Andrew Leader on Downey Creek
Hey Kming! Below was what I wrote in the Washington Alpine Climbing FB group on trail conditions, I did post a photo there too but you might not have access to that group https://www.facebook.com/groups/410755159116472/permalink/2212981408893829/?mibextid=W9rl1R
Ptarmigan Traverse trail conditions: The blowdowns on Downey Creek are as bad as everyone says. The upper 3 miles of Downey Creek have at least minor blowdowns nearly every 2 minutes on the trail, expect to move about only 1 mph there. The final 3 miles to the trailhead are good though! Bachelor Creek is slightly worse than normal but it's always really bad there even in 2015. Took us nearly 9 hours to get to the car from Itswood Ridge.
Rest of the trail was great! And we climbed Spire, which was two 30m pitches of low 5th, quite good rock and actually interesting! Full beta on Spire Point here: http://hiking.andrewleader.net/routes/east-face/
Posted by:
Andrew Leader on Sep 02, 2023 06:13 AM