Kettle Creek, American Ridge, Pleasant Valley Loop & Mesatchee Creek — Friday, Jun. 25, 2004

South Cascades

Starting out at the Pleasant Valley Campground east of Chinook Pass, I made a loop trip via the Kettle Creek Trail, American Ridge Trail, Mesatchee Creek Trail, and Pleasant Valley Loop Trail. The trip started out inauspiciously as there is no indication of a trail at the campground. I remembered crossing the American River on a log jam years ago, but my memory was fuzzy. Then a woman with trekking poles came along who was heading for a foot bridge at the west end of the campground. She gave me a detailed description of where it was and claimed to have been on it the week before. I parked the car, packed up, and headed off for the bridge. I never saw the woman again nor did I find a bridge. She was obviously much more confused than me. I did find a nice fat log to cross on just upstream of the campground entrance road. Access is via a brushy fishermans trail. The trail takes off a short bushwhack upstream from the log. The Kettle Creek trail could use some saw work and is uninspired scenically until you reach an easy barefoot ford of Kettle Creek and enter subalpine meadows near the headwaters. A second wet ford can be avoided by following the meandering stream through the meadows to a down log in some streamside trees. The trail then switchbacks up to, shallow, Kettle Lake on a wooded bench. From here I headed west about a mile on the American Ridge Trail, making camp in a beautiful alpine basin. Beyond Kettle Lake many of the shaded slopes were still snowy. I decided to make an early start the next morning and was rewarded with slick, rock hard snow. Fortunately I was able to work around the worst of it and it quickly softened up in the sun. The trail climbs over a viewfull pass and drops under high cliffs at the headwaters of Timber Creek then climbs to incredible views at point 6946 before dropping into Big Basin. The last entry in the summit register was by some snowshoers in February. From here the trail was basically snow free except for a few lingering drifts along the ridge tops. The Mesatchee Creek trail decends through pleasant open forest with a remarkable gorge and waterfall near the bottom. Back on the valley floor, I crossed the American River again on a log jam just downstream of a shallow horse ford. Arriving at Highway 410, I debated hitchhiking back to the car, but decided to extend the day and walk the highway a couple of miles to, discreetly signed, Pleasant Valley Loop Trail 999 which I followed back along the river. Trail 999 crosses the American River on a highway bridge about a mile downstream of the Lodgepole Campground.