Paul Turner said
Hey Rob,That's a really neat find - got a GPS track?
--Paul
Sure - But it is a little wandering at the start. The trail is a little sketchy at the bottom of the hill due to several marshy areas. On the way up we missed a switchback and headed too far south. If you keep looking for cut logs, you will probably be able to stay on the trail. The blazes seem to start farther up the hill. You can DEFINITELY see the beginning of the trail on the other side of the river from the bottom of the Hillockburn trail. It is very evident that the trail curves north up the bank.
Here is the track from the whole day:
I'm still curious about the name of the old trail. Is it really the old Memaloose trail? Or did it have a different name?
I don't think it should be called Memaloose Trail. I would make that the next trail east. Could be wrong, of course.
What I remember beginning up left to a large White Fir, then right and through the soft and under (hands and kness) a cluster of small tumbled trees to a switchback in the open but still in that bog, then back across the bog again.
I am glad you all went up there.
It is easy to follow once you get up that speep ramp out of the hole with the big timber. The logging didn't compromise the tread much at all. I am sure it could use picking up again tho.
Don2
Chalk up another mistake on the '56 map.....
Your memory is very good (as usual).
The tread is in GREAT shape once you get out of that boggy area down low. About the only problem areas are a few areas of blowdown. There was one in particular through a rather boggy area where there was some BIG trees down - that was a little tough to get through, but the flagging was of great help.
It was a blast to hike that trail. It needs some help to bring it back - the trees in there are too nice to let this one revert to nature! I want to go back and go from the top end. I don't know if those spur roads are still open, but it looks like it is only about 2 miles off of the 45 road up to the point where it looks like it meets the 242 spur. If those spurs aren't gated or decommissioned, you should be able to get pretty close to the upper part of that trail. That will be a trip for another day.
Rob Williams said
Chalk up another mistake on the '56 map.....
[...]
Hey Rob, I've been looking at your track in GE - that was quite a day.
Confusing map labeling - the 1963 MHNF map has pretty the same set of trails but numbered such that there is no ambiguity.
Below is your track in blue and the 1956 map in GE. Looks like they got the trail in the general area. The next map fragment is from the MHNF 1963 map with numbers that sort of corresponds to today's designations except it has Wanderers peak as the 515 which from the trail index is Memaloose.
That last little bit where we took a turn to the east felt wrong to me. I think the trail may have continued in a more southerly direction before the roads were built. 