Yea, it was quite a day - my body is just now recovering....But it was a good day.  You would have liked the trip - lots of up and down and bushwhacking.  But the neatest part is the scenery - the falls are now officially my favorite falls, and the trees on the east side were magnificent.

I think the current Memaloose trail is the end of the old Wanderers peak trail (515).  On the MHNF map, this trail shows as the continuation of the Hillockburn trail.  I wonder what the 514 trail was called?

Nice trip Rob. Glad u made it to the falls. Ambitious day! That old trail really deserves to be saved. It's also close to home, so having it as another hiking option would be great! My summer list is pretty empty, just hopefully getting to the Cold Spring trail, and now this one.

Do you think one guy by himself could do some good with a day or two of dedication on that abandoned trail?  I'd like to follow your flagging and brush this baby out up to the top where it's always been thick

I think you could do a lot of good in a day or two, however to make the trail truly easily hikeable again, it will require big labor (LOTS of BIG downed trees).  While using hand tools will help with a couple of brushy areas, and you could probably do some tread work in a few places, the big need is for someone with a chainsaw - although it appears this is in the South Fork Clackamas River Wildnerness area, so it will have to be done with crosscut saws.....  I wanted to hike the full length of it later this year and explore that old spur road to see how far you can drive it.

Sounds good. The new wilderness is a blessing and a curse. It's good that this spot won't be logged again. But not having a chainsaw is gonna make it 25 times more effort to get a good amount done. A chainsaw is sorely needed. When I get Saturdays off again, I'm gonna spend atleast one day down in there. 

How far up/downstream from the Hillockburn trail is the closest log suitable for crossing on? 

There was one very close upstream, but it was at quite an angle.  There was also one almost right at the crossing that you might be able to use, but the far side was a little ways off the ground.  We opted to go a little downstream (200'? I'm a bad judge of distance) to a good sized log we scooted across on.  It was pretty easy actually.

Here is the view of the log from where the trail hits the river: If I remember correctly, we opted for the log in the distance (the second one back). It was larger and less of an angle, but still above the river.