It's gotten worse then in 2 years since I've been there.  Too bad.  ATVs rule the Abbot and soon the rest of the district.  $$$ talks and people do what the hell they feel like anyway.  It really pisses me off.  Funny, the FS is littered in regulation that they don't have the staff to enforce.  I am trying to get a guide service started for the Clackamas District and you wouldn't believe the regulations and restrictions - for someone that actually cares about the wilds and is strongly in support of preservation.  For example, no guided trips are allowed in ANY wilderness in the MHNF, hiking, backpacking, nothing.  Meanwhile the carpenter ants are destroying the framework.  Maybe these are symptoms of the Urban Forest; with vehicles distance has become irrelavant.  I have also read of the exact problem of ATVs and trash in the NJ Pine Barrens, just down the road from Philiadelphia and over a million acres in size.  I'm sure it's a global symptom of our wired age. 

Is there any hope for nature?  There seems to be an epic battle forming.

Paul Turner said:

 

I haven't been on the steep stretch below Lookout Springs through the

Rhodies for quite some time. After the FS allowed a dirt bike rally to

run through there, and after seeing what neat things that did to what

was a rather faint trail, I never went back.

What's that part like now?

 

Well, if there ever were any switchbacks on this segment, the ATVs have removed them to the point it is pretty much straight up the hill. The ground is chewed up and has lots of sticks and branches as what we stumble over is no problem for them. I'd consider this section of trail to be the worst of the entire route - difficult hiking.

I wish I could have traveled it when it was a faint trail - were there any switchbacks through the steeper sections?

On the MHNF site, the 521 is marked as a wilderness trail so it will be interesting to see if the FS can keep the ATVs out.

When I first walked from the lake to the spring at Corral Springs (junction) it was a faint moss and duff covered trail. It was a glimpse back in time. To before the Forest Service. A route up to the berry camps, a sheep route. A really old stretch of trail.

Like many pre FS trails, they go straight up with slight weaving. Like 502-A and the Bissell Trail.

Now it must be said that when that trail was heavily used by horse and stock and large families and hunters, it may well have also been a wide mud track. I have read accounts of large parties of horse and mule plying the trails and complaining about the slippery mud trails, dismounting, etc..

So in a way, it is the detriment of discovery and use old and new. I was just lucky enough to have been able to enjoy it when it was all but returned to duff.

To enjoy what it was like, take Grouse Point Trail  from the river to Dry Ridge junction. That's about what it was like.

I have no faith in the FS keeping ATVs out of the wilderness. They do not have the will to do so. Being a politicaly battered and batted agency, the goal is to be every one's friend.

Donovan said:

I have no faith in the FS keeping ATVs out of the wilderness. They do not have the will to do so. Being a politicaly battered and batted agency, the goal is to be every one's friend.

Interesting. Since the FS is reviewing road closures across many (all?) forests, I suppose that means those of us who obey the rules will be the only ones walking in to recreate as the ATVs go sailing by.

I had a friend once who found a dirt bike stashed well back in a wilderness area along side a trail, and did a little sabotage in the gas tank. Don't think that is the path I'd take, but it would be enjoyable to watch a rule breaker have to push his machine back out of the wilderness/closure area.

I would like to check out the Sounds trail, but haven't been able to find the trailhead.  I was out there yesterday looking for it using these directions, which I understand came from some earlier post on this forum:

"Go west on 224 around the bend to the large pullout under the power lines. At the west corner of the clearing at a pile of boulders enter the woods and find the trail. "

I found the pullout under the power lines easily enough, but didn't see the pile of boulders or find where to enter the woods.  Could anyone give me a little help here? 

Thanks.

Doug Firman said:

I would like to check out the Sounds trail, but haven't been able to find the trailhead.  I was out there yesterday looking for it using these directions, which I understand came from some earlier post on this forum:

"Go west on 224 around the bend to the large pullout under the power lines. At the west corner of the clearing at a pile of boulders enter the woods and find the trail. "

I found the pullout under the power lines easily enough, but didn't see the pile of boulders or find where to enter the woods.  Could anyone give me a little help here? 

Thanks.

Doug,

This aerial photo of near the trailhead may help you locate the trail a little easier.

Don