On Forest Road 6380 (which is the approach to the Elk Lake Creek trailhead) there is a short trail which leads from the road down a steep slope to a terrace near the Collowash River. This trail is located about Ω mile downstream of the bridge crossing the river. The trail is not evident from the road except for the flagging that someone has hung on the trees. Someone (maybe someone from Clackamas Trail Advocates?) has done some maintenance on this trail within the past few years, cutting through the blowdown and hanging flagging along the trail. This ª mile or so of trail appears to be a constructed trail, with a level tread dug out of the hillside and a constant grade down the hill and may be a remnant of a more significant trail, perhaps one that predated the construction of FR 6380. At the end of the trail there are the remains of a camp of some sort, including a storage box or cabinet made out of wood slats, and a table or work surface. Two walls of the storage box, fastened above ground to two trees, are still in pretty good shape, but the table is mostly rotted away. Could this be a camp that early-day forest rangers might have used as they went about their rounds or whatever they did in the old days? On a couple of maps that I have there is a reference to ìOh Boy Campî in this general area, so Iím wondering if this might be that camp. Does anyone have any information on this?
Could this be a segment of a trail that once followed the general route up the Collowash joining what is now known as the Elk Lake Creek trail? Trails along that route can be seen on the 1935 and 1946 Mt Hood Forest maps posted on this website as well as on other maps that I have.
Rob,
It wasn't really me that found this trail. Someone had been there before me and had flagged it and it was the flagging by the road that I noticed. It's been two or three years since I first explored down there, so it's been at least that long and probably longer since persons unknown located it and marked it. Whoever it was had to have been looking for it because it is well hidden by a wall of second-growth fir trees along the road.
It's my guess that the trail crossed the river near this camp and continued on up the river and then up Elk Lake Creek. Last week I followed the river upstream from the camp to the bridge, but did not see any sign of a trail. I was really just interested in enjoying the river, but one of these days I'll go back and poke around more carefully to see if there's any sign of a trail on the other side. I might also look around on the uphill side of 6380. Maybe there's more of the trail to be found on the uphill side. I'm not real hopeful, though. With all the logging the was done in that area, it's surprising that even this little remnant of trail down to the river still exists.
Doug