Spent a few days up near Graham Pass, lovely and hardly any mosquitoes.
My kid and I brushed out trail from the pass to almost Lowe, parts were completely overgrown despite the new Forest Service sign! I can't believe they would send someone down into that jungle. 564 is one heck of a trail, that is some remote country. It still needs quite a bit of work, young trees are starting to grow into the tread.
Can you believe we didn't need DEET in June?
Notes:
6350 has brand new gravel
63 is closed towards BOTW at the 6350 jct, not sure why. Road work?
They are doing logging along 63; there is a stupid secondary road a couple miles before 6350 that looks bigger than it is, petering off in a couple miles. Don't be fooled by its fresh gravel.
Great report, Bob. Thanks for helping to keep Rho Ridge passable. Since the FS apparently doesn't care about that northern section anymore, it is up to advocates to keep it passable now I guess.
Haven't been down that far in the district for a while now. My list of places to go keeps growing!
Just checked with the Forest Service and they state that 63 is now open since the road repair project is done. Good thing since I was going to use it the middle of next month.
Rhododendron Ridge is indeed an excellent route. It used to be the Pacific Crest Trail until they straightened and shortened it 10-12 miles some decades back. I did the span from Mount Lowe Trailhead to Hawk Mountain Trailhead about 3 years ago with a car shuttle. Its about 11 miles, but if your maps are based on older work there are inconsistencies and inaccuracies. Because of those I thought it was going to be close to 12 miles. One short section we never found. Probably roaded over rather than paralleling the road at a short way off. You rarely see other people except near Hawk.
When it (the PCT/Skyline trail) came down Rho Ridge, was it the PCT or was it still the Skyline trail? I have a hard time knowing when they "officially" changed the name.
When we did the whole length of it as a shuttle, I don't remember missing any parts, but we were following Don, who seems to just "know where to go". I do remember crossing the road several times, though. It is a pretty cool trail in places. We never saw a soul all day long....And we did go up to Hawk Mountain. I love that little cabin!
I have a '53 map that shows both PCT and OST along Rho. Must have been a transition. I think the OST lived until the early '70s and then faded away.
Of course later they moved it back east onto the Reservation to make room for more logging. Must have been a lot of dancing in the district during the 60s....dancing trails anyway.