- Trail:
- High Divide (Middlefork - Willamette River Trail Area)
- Status:
- Significant Issue / Amber
-
Issue status:
- Condition:
- Ideal - Hero dirt! Not wet but not dry, moisture in soil.
- Reporter Primary Activity:
- Mountain Bike
Description:
Trail is faint and not always easy to follow. Some logs across blocking trail. A significant reroute has no flagging to follow,pretty confusing
This report was generated from the activity log.
Local Weather During Report
- Summary
Cloudy - Temperature
15° (7°/16°) - Precip
0 mm/h - Wind
6.79 km/h - Cloud Cover
97% - Humidity
0.61
Previous Reports
7 Comments
- + 1
Thank you for such a detailed reply. I may go take a look at it later this week. It's still on a pretty recent FS inventory, so I assume reclaiming it on a volunteer basis would fall under addressing deferred maintenance?
- + 2
@mountzlu:
If I'm not mistaken the trail is within the Umpqua NF boundary but that's all I can add, I simply don't understand what goes on.
As to the trail work needed:
1. Before you commit to any restoration of this trail, I'd urge you to walk as far as the rocky ridge and look at the reroute which is on the eastern side of the drop at 43.37778, -122.13233. From memory I think this is a complete botch job, trail was built without correct benching / drains / outslope and it's like a big water sluice that needs fairly major attention. It is also covered in debris and small slides. Aside from this one section it seems to only need a log out.
2. A realignment of the entire trail has massive potential. It would be one of the best trails in the entire area if the whole of the trail was shifted 50 feet south on to the top of the extensive rocky slab ridgeline with the peakaboo long-distance views. Instead, the trail is strictly average, no views, no cool terrain at all. It was probably an historic livestock trail which I'm guessing from the blazes on the trees. If it ran across the rocky stuff it would be sublime and probably a lot more sustainable too.
3. The trail flow if you come down from Sawtooth, Windy, High Divide is actually super good.
4. if you figure out anything for permission to fix this trail please loop me in, I'd pitch in for any work days / projects.
5. I ran into snow on the road near the trailhead about 3-4 weeks ago but I'd bet it is clear now. However I can still see significant snow on Sawtooth Peak (south aspect) as of today 6/10. I have not been into the trail but it still might be snow covered or have pockets of snow drifts.
If I'm not mistaken the trail is within the Umpqua NF boundary but that's all I can add, I simply don't understand what goes on.
As to the trail work needed:
1. Before you commit to any restoration of this trail, I'd urge you to walk as far as the rocky ridge and look at the reroute which is on the eastern side of the drop at 43.37778, -122.13233. From memory I think this is a complete botch job, trail was built without correct benching / drains / outslope and it's like a big water sluice that needs fairly major attention. It is also covered in debris and small slides. Aside from this one section it seems to only need a log out.
2. A realignment of the entire trail has massive potential. It would be one of the best trails in the entire area if the whole of the trail was shifted 50 feet south on to the top of the extensive rocky slab ridgeline with the peakaboo long-distance views. Instead, the trail is strictly average, no views, no cool terrain at all. It was probably an historic livestock trail which I'm guessing from the blazes on the trees. If it ran across the rocky stuff it would be sublime and probably a lot more sustainable too.
3. The trail flow if you come down from Sawtooth, Windy, High Divide is actually super good.
4. if you figure out anything for permission to fix this trail please loop me in, I'd pitch in for any work days / projects.
5. I ran into snow on the road near the trailhead about 3-4 weeks ago but I'd bet it is clear now. However I can still see significant snow on Sawtooth Peak (south aspect) as of today 6/10. I have not been into the trail but it still might be snow covered or have pockets of snow drifts.
I replaced the trailforks "track" line so you can follow the map carefully to figure out the hidden/weird reroute. Current track is accurate but when you're on location your trail sense will probably not help as much as the GPS. There are no tracks to follow.
This trail needs a couple days of work to get going, maybe just one.
I will add that the trail alignment / design is pretty poor for MTB, the slope/grade and line choice are not really anything that makes sense for bikes. It's mainly an abandoned moto line,