I was really surprised that most of this abandoned trail is in really good condition.  It looks like it's had a little bit of maintenance over the years. Rob and I threw and pushed what we could off of the tread. And got rid of some of the vine maple face slappers.

It was interesting to see the difference in the sizes of the trees in this area. Some of it was due to geology and some due to fire history, I suspect. The best part of the trail was on gently sloping ground with younger trees, which is unusual for an abandoned trail. I suspect this area burned some time ago because there were some very large living trees at the edge of the younger stand. Some of these giants had burned bark on one side up to about 80' above the ground.  I don't remember ever seeing living trees with that much bark that was burnt.

Do any of you guys know the fire history of this area? 

Did you guys notice the dwarf forest? After the stretch along the rim in the rhodies, you turned left through a deep moss floored woods of old little trees.

I think the big fire was 1902. Could be wrong, of course.

Don 2

Donovan said
Did you guys notice the dwarf forest? After the stretch along the rim in the rhodies, you turned left through a deep moss floored woods of old little trees.

 

I think the big fire was 1902. Could be wrong, of course.

 

Don 2

Yeah, it was right after the small patch of salal where you couldn't see your feet because it was so thick on each side of the tread.  It took us a minute to regain the trail in that little moss meadow.  It was kind of strange how the trail segments were so straight in that section after zigzagging up the hill, and that there weren't really any trees or shrubs that had sprouted in the tread. Maybe this trail hasn't been abandoned as long as some of the others in the district?

Hey Rob,

That's a really neat find - got a GPS track?

--Paul