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This is an easy out and back trail. I would not recommend driving all out of your way to check it out, but it is something worth tacking on to the end of another day hike in Gifford-Pinchot.
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This is a very unique loop that has several drastic changes throughout the course of the hike. You encounter unusual flat, grassy sections enclosed by evergreens with amazing views of Hood and Adams, as well as heavily forested sections, and several alpine lakes.
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This hike is one of the highlights of the Indian Heaven Wilderness. Blue Lake lives up to its namesake. We were greeted by axolotls on the shore which looked like tiny cute monsters with dreadlocks. This hike ranks somewhere between moderate and difficult with some steep sections, but you are rewarded with a cold swim at the end, so it's certainly worth it.
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You are drowned in amazing views throughout this entire hike. Treat it as a long day hike, or make it an overnight like we did and camp at Goat Lake with the whistlepigs....they offer endless entertainment. Bring your food into your tent at night, or they will get into it.
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Nice stiff stroll. Theres ice on the falls now, which was a great surprise.
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Lots of parking. No fees area. Lots of camping locations along the Siouxon trail/creek. And this would be a great place to relax and enjoy the water in the summer. Two nice waterfalls on the Siouxon trail until I turned off for Horseshoe Ridge. This trail is not maintained given the downfall in the places and I assume that not many take the trail given the views from Huffman and Siouxon peaks. You are walking in the trees the whole trail on a primarily northern exposure so not much sun. Steep climb to the ridge line, especially precarious on the decent. Sioux trail was clear and but hit snow as I climbed towards the ridge.
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Well marked for winter activities. Was not needed today regardless of the snow and you could still see the path. Hit snow as I got to some elevation and was blazing the trail. Can’t complain about having the place to yourself and being the first through fresh snow. Beautiful, sunny day. Was all alone until the way down when I decided to add on the Dog Mountain side. Ensure you have traction devices for the Dog Mountain side.
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Love the squeak underfoot of freshly fallen snow. Crisp fall day. First hike of the season where snow was encountered nothing was really on the trail until you get beyond the cutoff trail back to the falls trail. Started out alone but ran into people on the way down. Took the 125 on the way up and went to the top to take in the vantage. Then back to the cutoff trail and the falls. Wonderful view and enjoy the sound of the water crashing down. The road to the trailhead is closed Dec - Mar.
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Hiked East crater to pct to Indian heaven trail to Lemei trail, to lemei lake trail to pct to east crater trail; favorite spots bear lake and lemei rock. 10/14/19. 12.36 miles with 1683ft elevation gain Solo.
TH has a large parking area with a camp spot right across from the sign that says slow children at play. There are no bathrooms or trash here. You must fill out a self issue wilderness permit to hike here.
Forrest road 65 from Carson is paved the whole way and in descent shape (good for all vehicles) there are some potholes farther up the road. Forrest road 60 is a dirt road riddled with washboard and potholes, Forrest road 6035 is a dirt road riddled with potholes and washboard. Lots of pull off camp spots and dirt roads along the way. I believe the PCT junction is on Forrest road 60. Goose lake campground is on FR60 (closed for season) beautiful lake.
East Crater trail has a couple of non bridged Creek crossings, lots of mud (boot gulping mud)! Not too many great views of the crater. Ice and snow on trail close to East Crater/PCT junction. Forrested area with some burn area looked like.
PCT to Indian Heaven Trail forrested area with a bunch of lakes and ponds. A couple non bridged creek crossings. Bear lake was my favorite on this part of the trail. No snow on trail.
Indian Heaven Trail; snow, ice and boot gulping mud on trail.
Lemei Trail; mostly covered in snow, ice and mud. Gradual ascent on this side compared to the ascent from the Lemei Trailhead. Views of Lemei rock are also better on this side. At the base of Lemei rock there was a frozen Pond. Didn't need microspikes going up, but used microspikes on the way back just to be safe. I slipped in the mud on the way down from this trail.
Lemei lake trail; snow, ice and a lot of mud! Beautiful meadows and a frozen creek on this trail. Most of the trail is water bogged.
Good for small children, not handicap accessible. Saw bike, horse and dog tracks.
Saw no one on the trail for 8.5 hours. I was first car in the lot and only car in the lot when I returned back to my car.
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Hiked East crater to pct to Indian heaven trail to Lemei trail, to lemei lake trail to pct to east crater trail; favorite spots bear lake and lemei rock. 10/14/19. 12.36 miles with 1683ft elevation gain Solo.
TH has a large parking area with a camp spot right across from the sign that says slow children at play. There are no bathrooms or trash here. You must fill out a self issue wilderness permit to hike here.
Forrest road 65 from Carson is paved the whole way and in descent shape (good for all vehicles) there are some potholes farther up the road. Forrest road 60 is a dirt road riddled with washboard and potholes, Forrest road 6035 is a dirt road riddled with potholes and washboard. Lots of pull off camp spots and dirt roads along the way. I believe the PCT junction is on Forrest road 60. Goose lake campground is on FR60 (closed for season) beautiful lake.
East Crater trail has a couple of non bridged Creek crossings, lots of mud (boot gulping mud)! Not too many great views of the crater. Ice and snow on trail close to East Crater/PCT junction. Forrested area with some burn area looked like.
PCT to Indian Heaven Trail forrested area with a bunch of lakes and ponds. A couple non bridged creek crossings. Bear lake was my favorite on this part of the trail. No snow on trail.
Indian Heaven Trail; snow, ice and boot gulping mud on trail.
Lemei Trail; mostly covered in snow, ice and mud. Gradual ascent on this side compared to the ascent from the Lemei Trailhead. Views of Lemei rock are also better on this side. At the base of Lemei rock there was a frozen Pond. Didn't need microspikes going up, but used microspikes on the way back just to be safe. I slipped in the mud on the way down from this trail.
Lemei lake trail; snow, ice and a lot of mud! Beautiful meadows and a frozen creek on this trail. Most of the trail is water bogged.
Good for small children, not handicap accessible. Saw bike, horse and dog tracks.
Saw no one on the trail for 8.5 hours. I was first car in the lot and only car in the lot when I returned back to my car.
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Hiked Lemei TH to Wapiki Lake to Lemei trail and the viewpoint above the lake Wednesday 10/9/19. If you are using Google maps to get to the Lemei trailhead the directions are wrong, go a little further up the road till you see the Lemei TH sign. Parking is maybe enough for 4 vehicles right after Lemei TH sign. There is no bathroom here or trash. You must fill out a self issue wilderness permit to hike here. Make sure you have a Northwest Forest pass, America The Beautiful Pass or have a day use pass as there is no pay station at this TH. There was a snow storm the day before I went dumping up to 3 inches of fresh powder on the trail in some places. Snow in the lower elevations of the trail started melting out as I was finishing my hike. The TH is across the road from parking area.
Lemei Trail to Wapiki lake is a moderate hike. It's 7.26 miles RT if doing the lake only out and back. I would say good for small children. Not handicap accessible. There is a camp spot in between the lake and the pond.
Lemei trail is a hard hike. Steep ascent and can be difficult to navigate, make sure you have a map with you. I went up the old trail which has a bunch of debris on trail and down the new trail (by the trail #34 sign there is a turn off). It looked like there was a couple turn offs on trail, but no signs on the lemei trail for as far as I went (to the talus field). Beautiful overlook of the lake on this trail with a dusting of fresh snow. Hiked 1.48 miles on the lemei trail going above the lake.
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Hiked Soda Peaks Lake trail via Trapper Creek Trail. 10/7/19. 1 other vehicle at Trapper Creek Trailhead when I started at 5:45am. 9.81 miles with 2723ft elevation gain.
Bathroom at this TH. Big spacious parking lot. Road getting in has a few potholes, but is short. Has trash can. You must fill out a self issue permit for this wilderness. You need to have an America the Beautiful pass, or a Northwest Forrest pass, or pay a day use fee.
Would not recommend this hike for young children and this trail is not handicap accessible.
Trapper Creek is moderate hiking, when you get to the log at Soda Peaks trail it starts to climb (moderate to difficult hike). There are only a few spots where the trail flattens out a bit, trail does not stop climbing till a little before the lake.
I just hiked to the first two camp spots at the lake as there was rain in the forecast the day I went and I did not want to descend in the rain.
There are fallen trees on trail. Also Creek crossings that you can rock hop across this time of year.
Saw no one on the trails, but when I got back to my car there were two new cars in the lot.
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Hiked Siouxon Creek for the first time 10/8/19, it is a magical place and a must see! 9.10 miles with 1318ft elevation gain in 6hrs 10 mins total time, 5hrs 26mins moving time and 46mins stopped time.
I hiked from Siouxon Creek Trailhead parking to Chinook Falls out and back.
The drive in (watch out for fallen trees) isn't too bad till the last 4 miles, but I think with care in driving any car can make it to the TH. There are big potholes and paved/ dirt patches.
Great for small children at the lower elevation, but there is a Creek washout on the trail before Chinook Falls. Not handicap friendly.
1 other vehicle in the lot when I arrived at 6:08am, saw 5 people and 3 dogs after 11am. With 3 other cars in the lot when I left. Parking area is gravel and fits 20+ cars. No bathrooms at this TH.
Great camping spots on trail with beautiful views and some even have picnic tables.
Trail is pretty spacious till the second big waterfall, then turns to single file.Hiked Siouxon Creek for the first time 10/8/19, it is a magical place and a must see! 9.10 miles with 1318ft elevation gain in 6hrs 10 mins total time, 5hrs 26mins moving time and 46mins stopped time.
I hiked from Siouxon Creek Trailhead parking to Chinook Falls out and back.
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Hiked Siouxon Creek for the first time 10/8/19, it is a magical place and a must see! 9.10 miles with 1318ft elevation gain in 6hrs 10 mins total time, 5hrs 26mins moving time and 46mins stopped time.
I hiked from Siouxon Creek Trailhead parking to Chinook Falls out and back.
The drive in (watch out for fallen trees) isn't too bad till the last 4 miles, but I think with care in driving any car can make it to the TH. There are big potholes and paved/ dirt patches.
Great for small children at the lower elevation, but there is a Creek washout on the trail before Chinook Falls. Not handicap friendly.
1 other vehicle in the lot when I arrived at 6:08am, saw 5 people and 3 dogs after 11am. With 3 other cars in the lot when I left. Parking area is gravel and fits 20+ cars. No bathrooms at this TH.
Great camping spots on trail with beautiful views and some even have picnic tables.
Trail is pretty spacious till the second big waterfall, then turns to single file.Hiked Siouxon Creek for the first time 10/8/19, it is a magical place and a must see! 9.10 miles with 1318ft elevation gain in 6hrs 10 mins total time, 5hrs 26mins moving time and 46mins stopped time.
I hiked from Siouxon Creek Trailhead parking to Chinook Falls out and back.
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Great ride with some a few technical spots. For the most part a great day on the Adventure Bikes. FR 4211 is fairly steep with many water bars, but after that section the remainder is a good deal of fun. FR 53 has some unmaintained blacktop that can be tricky when moist, as it has a good deal of moss covering it. FR 54 is a well traveled and maintained road. It is closed 1 mile North West of the Canyon Creek crossing.
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Most of the hike is through light to medium forest. The trail is pretty flat but with some mainly gentle undulations. The real payoff is the lake at the end. It is good sized and has a small, tree filled island perfectly placed beneath a mountain in the background.
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ADV Motorcycle ride. Definitely some challenging sections, and roads are less traveled. A good bit of overgrowth on the less traveled roads (FS 4250, FS 37). A scree slide on FS 37 about halfway from FS 53 going towards FS 42 was passable. Also on FS 37 a big washout about 1-2 miles NNW of FS 42 can be a challenge to get through. The two obstacles definitely shows why this road is less traveled. Traveled in a group of 4 riders. Was good to have extra hands available for the difficult sections. All in all was a very fun ride. Great views.
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So, this is one of the most high quality trails I’ve ever ridden. Most of this is apparently not yet on any maps until you get to 80a. Craggy peak is pretty exposed but getting off your moto to get around the switch backs is no biggie.
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Although there aren't a lot of wildflowers on this hike, the views of Siouxon Creek and the Waterfalls make it worthwhile.
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This is a superb hike, but be warned: the road getting there isn't just "bad," it's barely even a road. It looks like it has been carpet-bombed in many places. Only really rugged vehicles with high clearance can even make it to the trailhead. If you have just a regular car, like I do, be prepared to park 2 miles down the service road and have an uphill slog to the trailhead.
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Beautiful hike. Some wildflowers are popping out. I can tell there’s a ton to come. Went out 6/1/19. Still a lot of snow from about mile 2.
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Mixed weather up top. Clouds stayed intact until 11:30 then windows opened and closed. Fog came up from south side intermittent. Snow softened around 11am so we were post holing above lunch Counter.
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4/30/19 It's 3:39am and I am the first car in the lot! This is my first time ever hiking or stopping here. There are two handicap parking spots. The parking lot is riddled with large potholes so take care with your vehicle. There are locked vaulted toilets 100 yards up the dog mountain trail. They were pretty smelly when I got there downward in the am. There is a picnic table. You need a Northwest forrest pass, america the beautiful pass or there is a self service pay station here for $5.00. I hiked 11.95 miles 4387ft elevation gain in 8hrs 9 minutes total time, 6hrs 44 mins moving time. Augspurger trail to Augspurger Ridge to Dog Mountain and down more difficult trail on dog, started at 3:59:30 AM. Augspurger is a beautiful trail (way more easy going and gradual than the more difficult trail on Dog Mountain) mostly forrested and well maintained till you get to the dog mountain trail junction. There was a trail junction on Augspurger at .73 miles in for an Old Loggers Trail that looked overgrown. When you hike down to the valley before the powerlines, expect bushwacking and there are lots of obstacles on the trail. A section of the hike is on powerline roads and can be confusing to navigate, if you do not have a map. There are trail markers on the actual augspurger trails and great signs to point you in the right direction minus the powerline roads junction. I stopped on Augspurger Ridge, great views of the gorge here (I liked it better than Dog, because no one else was up there). This was at 5.13 miles in. I continued on for a bit, but the trail was really overgrown beyond the ridge to the summit, so I decided to save that for another day. On the way back headed up Dog Mountain trail via Augsburger. (very nice trail in the forrest till you are at the ridge on the side of Dog mountain.) Small trails on the ridge. The true lookout didn't have much of a view, but the first lookout has beautiful safe seating and spacious. Take care on your steps down from here. The dirt on the trail is slick. If you prefer a gradual descent and are using a map take the long way down dog (the difficult trail). Unbeknowst to me I took the more difficult trail down (there are no signs on top that tell you, which trail is more hard.) The more difficult trail is 2.98 brutally steep miles. The dirt is slippery until you get to the forrest. From the time I started to 10am (10am I was on dog mountain trail via augspurger) I saw nor heard no one on the trail for the first 6hrs of my hike. An almost full parking lot on a Tuesday early afternoon I think most cars were carrying a car load, because I saw and stopped for a ton of people and dogs on the way down. A couple of trail junctions on the more difficult dog trail. Saw very little trash on trail and about half of the dogs I saw were leashed. Very small sporadic wild flower sightings. Lots of trillium in the forrests. If you are coming to dog at this time of year for wildflowers, I think it is still too early. Come here for a great thigh burning workout. A couple of areas on highway 14 for road work one right in front of dog mountain trailhead takes highway down to one lane so expect some waiting. Another at beacon rock area, all on my way out. Saw two police cruisers speed checking highway 14, one at North Bonnevile on the straight part. One closer to Washougal, WA. Also saw no rattlers and had no Ticks on myself at the end of the day. Lots of bugs in the more lush areas where you can tell there is underground water running. I did not see any children on this trail and would not recommend this trail for any child that is not experienced.
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4/30/19 It's 3:39am and I am the first car in the lot! This is my first time ever hiking or stopping here. There are two handicap parking spots. The parking lot is riddled with large potholes so take care with your vehicle. There are locked vaulted toilets 100 yards up the dog mountain trail. They were pretty smelly when I got there downward in the am. There is a picnic table. You need a Northwest forrest pass, america the beautiful pass or there is a self service pay station here for $5.00. I hiked 11.95 miles 4387ft elevation gain in 8hrs 9 minutes total time, 6hrs 44 mins moving time. Augspurger trail to Augspurger Ridge to Dog Mountain and down more difficult trail on dog, started at 3:59:30 AM. Augspurger is a beautiful trail (way more easy going and gradual than the more difficult trail on Dog Mountain) mostly forrested and well maintained till you get to the dog mountain trail junction. There was a trail junction on Augspurger at .73 miles in for an Old Loggers Trail that looked overgrown. When you hike down to the valley before the powerlines, expect bushwacking and there are lots of obstacles on the trail. A section of the hike is on powerline roads and can be confusing to navigate, if you do not have a map. There are trail markers on the actual augspurger trails and great signs to point you in the right direction minus the powerline roads junction. I stopped on Augspurger Ridge, great views of the gorge here (I liked it better than Dog, because no one else was up there). This was at 5.13 miles in. I continued on for a bit, but the trail was really overgrown beyond the ridge to the summit, so I decided to save that for another day. On the way back headed up Dog Mountain trail via Augsburger. (very nice trail in the forrest till you are at the ridge on the side of Dog mountain.) Small trails on the ridge. The true lookout didn't have much of a view, but the first lookout has beautiful safe seating and spacious. Take care on your steps down from here. The dirt on the trail is slick. If you prefer a gradual descent and are using a map take the long way down dog (the difficult trail). Unbeknowst to me I took the more difficult trail down (there are no signs on top that tell you, which trail is more hard.) The more difficult trail is 2.98 brutally steep miles. The dirt is slippery until you get to the forrest. From the time I started to 10am (10am I was on dog mountain trail via augspurger) I saw nor heard no one on the trail for the first 6hrs of my hike. An almost full parking lot on a Tuesday early afternoon I think most cars were carrying a car load, because I saw and stopped for a ton of people and dogs on the way down. A couple of trail junctions on the more difficult dog trail. Saw very little trash on trail and about half of the dogs I saw were leashed. Very small sporadic wild flower sightings. Lots of trillium in the forrests. If you are coming to dog at this time of year for wildflowers, I think it is still too early. Come here for a great thigh burning workout. A couple of areas on highway 14 for road work one right in front of dog mountain trailhead takes highway down to one lane so expect some waiting. Another at beacon rock area, all on my way out. Saw two police cruisers speed checking highway 14, one at North Bonnevile on the straight part. One closer to Washougal, WA. Also saw no rattlers and had no Ticks on myself at the end of the day. Didn't see any children on the trail and wouldn't recommend this hike for children unless they are experienced. Lots of bugs in the more lush areas where you can tell there is underground water running.
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The day we went had low level clouds covering the mountain top above about 1800 feet so no views. The date was April 17 which is about two weeks early for what will be the main Balsolm root bloom as buds were just showing. There were plenty of yellow bells, bleeding hearts and red currants among other varieties. The trail had lots of recent rain so was slippery but manageable.
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Great hike. I love it on a clear day when you can see the 5 peaks (St Helens, Rainier, Adams, Hood and Jefferson). Enjoys the water and Hidden Falls on the Tarbell portion. Go through some clear cut sections on Tarbell and reminds you that our state forests provide for us. On the Chinook trail portion you see the former roadway that was used to support the lookout that once stood on Silver Star Mountain.
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Always a great, challenging hike. Nothing technical when done in summer/early fall. Make sure to bring plenty of water as there are no water sources. If it is going to be a hot day try to start as early as possible. Once the sun rises the upper stretches can be brutal in the heat.
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