Vicinity Location: About xx miles northeast of Portland, OR in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Directions: From Portland: Drive east on I-84
Length and Elevation:
Xx miles roundtrip. Elevation at the trailhead is xx feet. Total gain is xxx feet and loss is xxx feet. Highest elevation is zzz feet and the lowest elevation xxx feet.
Trail Maps:
Topo Map-future, Download Garmin .gpx file-future, Open Garmin .gpx file-future
Trails:
Review: October 12, 2024
Moderate climb for the first couple of miles on a sandy rutted trail. There are nice colors in the fall with the different blueberries and huckleberry bushes.
A sandy trail gently climbing up to the PCT. You pass through nice open meadows with views of Mount Adams.
At 4.5 miles cross Adams Creek, which can be a hop across or there might be a log upstream. During summer runoffs this stream can be quite large.
We wandered around at night and found some great views of Mount Adams, Mount Saint Helens, and Mount Rainier.
From camp, we walked down the trail back to the junction with the PCT and the killing creek trail and continued north on the PCT. The trails in very good shape and the fall colors were very pretty pretty. You are near timberline so there are many views of Mount Adams. There was a little walkout spot with a great view of goat rocks and Mount Rainier.
You pass through the beautiful killin Creek Meadows, cross Killin Creek, then drop down to the junction for the highline trail, where you turn right and immediately start climbing up a seldom maintained trail.
The trail goes through a somewhat open forest as it climbs up along the northern shoulder of Mount Adams.
Vent that you get to foggy flats which is several large meadows with a swiftly running stream just passed the meadows. This is the last place to get Clearwater for a couple of miles.
After foggy flats, the trail crosses the stream and climbs deeply up a rocky trail.
In about 0.5 mile the trail starts to level out and the force begins to open up. As you continue to climb up towards the money for work, the trees become more sparse and you start getting more and more views of Mount Adams.
Just before the money Fork follow the GPS track out of the valley to a spot where there are several mostly flat campsites. There are some spectacular views from some of the campsites. There is no water here except for the muddy Fork which is very muddy and brown in color. If you need water from the muddy Fork, then you can dip out water and let it settle a couple hours and then you have a choice of either just boiling it and using it or filtering it, but be aware this silty water will quickly clog your water filters.
there is a lot of off trail wandering available in this area. You can climb up to where there are some spectacular views of Mount Adams and goat rocks and Mount Rainier.
When we got up to around 7000 feet both nights we had between one and two bars of Verizon cell service.
On the third morning, we broke camp and brought our packs up to the next crossing of the money fork. Here we dropped packs and they hiked about a mile further up the trail looking for future camp sites. The Trail here has been rerouted in a couple of places because Stream has washed out the marine that the trail was once on. Reroute is rough and rocky and spots but easily manageable.
You’re the top of our day hike there was a nice little waterfall. Here was where we turned around and came back down to our packs Then headed back to muddy Meadows. No foggy flats for lunch. After enjoying the cool stream water just east of the meadows we backpacked down to muddy Meadows and turn right on that muddy Meadows trail. This trail is reasonably well-maintained and after about a quarter mile start dropping at a moderate rate Down through mountain meadows.
The trade is very sandy here with very few rocks and the trail.
You pass a couple of nice campsites, one of which is green timber camp. There’s a nice all year stream running alongside these camps. Continue down the trail through the forest of tall hemlock trees. Here are the trail is deeply red in some places, but not too rocky so you can Rock downhill at a good pace.
Continue down through the forest along the winding trail. There is one pretty steep section, but it is fairly short and the rest of the trail is good. Eventually, you’ll come out to muddy Meadows, which are some huge meadows with spectacular views of Mount Adams.
Arrive at the muddy Meadows parking lot, then continue across the parking lot Down the trail 3 to 4. There’s a small seasonal stream on the left, but it is dry in late summer.
As a mention the last water for a long time is at green timber camp. No, there is another small stream along the way.
Continue on the trail until you intersect with the road then follow the road for a bit past a second road intersection and turn right to reconnect with the trail.
The trail goes through the forest and by the creek for a bit, then pops out to cross over the creek using the road. About 150 feet after the creek the trail re-enters the woods and starts climbing a hill.
In about a half a mile, the trail comes out to the road again and then crosses an access road and immediately dives back into the forest. This trail is mainly used by horses so it’s brushed out fairly well, but don’t expect to see any hikers.
Continue through the forest until you follow a small stream. Trail makes a dog leg and crosses the creek. Now you have another hill to climb as you leave the creek.
Enjoy the photos!!
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