In what is becoming an annual fall tradition, we celebrated Public Lands Day by hiking the Dry Creek Trail in the Bourbon Roadless Area just outside the Trapper Creek Wilderness.

We also made a point to hike in a Roadless Area in light of the proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Rule.

Most cars at the trailhead belonged to hikers headed into the wilderness, so the Dry Creek Trail usually is pretty quiet. We probably saw more people on this hike than at any other time we have been here.

A lot of hikers turn around at the end of the railroad grade, but we continued on almost to the crossing of Bourbon Creek, which usually is a turnaround point anyway since there isn't a bridge and the creek runs too full to rock hop.

This upper segment of the trail is pretty brushy in places but we managed to find the tread and continued on almost to the ford of Bourbon Creek. Since the Big Hollow Fire in 2020, a lot of fire-killed trees keep falling across the trail in the burned area so it often is difficult to get through.

The trail had been logged out earlier this year, so we only had about four logs to climb over on the entire hike.

The trailhead is very easy to find. There are a decent amount of potholes on the road to the TH but passable for any vehicle with normal clearance. The bridge between the road and the TH was a little terrifying to drive over as there are potholes and today they were iced over. Thankfully the bridge is not very long.
The bathroom at the Trapper Creek TH was very well maintained with plenty of TP. The handle for the boot brush was a nice touch I thought.
At the start of the trail it is a glorious fern and moss covered fairy tale setting with a very well maintained track. The weather has been pretty cold and we saw some really neat ice formations on the ground, fallen trees and creeks.
At about mile 3, blow down obstacles started to make the hike a bit more difficult. Some of the blow downs take you a bit off trail to get around and combined with the icy snow it was becoming more frustrating than enjoyable, but still fun. At about mile 3.76 we decided to turn around because the blow downs were getting worse and we were unable to follow the trail anymore.
Overall, it was a nice quiet and serene hike. We only saw a couple other hikers the whole time.

We enjoyed fine fall hiking weather and had the Dry Creek Trail to ourselves.

The trail is well-maintained and a delightful hike for the first 1.7 miles or so to the end of the railroad grade, including evidence of power-brushing the trail corridor as well as cutting out all fallen trees.

For hikers who don't like the exposure where the trail crosses over a basalt outcrop with a lot of sloughing of the slope above the trail, I recommend taking the Horse Bypass instead. This unofficial trail has been built and is maintained by equestrians from the Skamania Saddle Club who have a campground near the trailhead.

When the trail makes a sharp turn to the left at the end of the railroad grade, the trail maintenance level declines. There is one log across the trail and it gets very brushy as it goes through a black cottonwood and bigleaf maple riparian forest along Dry Creek. The forest understory of trailing blackberry, salmonberry and sword ferns grows across the trail hiding the tread.

Once the trail climbs above the floodplain, the tread is in better condition and the trail sides are not as brushy.

My dog is elderly, so we stopped at 3.1 miles, but the rest of our group hiked on to Bourbon Creek and back to meet us at our turnaround point where we enjoyed a trailside lunch break. The rest of the group reported many downed trees across the trail once it enters the Big Hollow Burn for about the final .5 mile to Bourbon Creek. They said they did not cross the creek because they could not see the trail on the other side.

Note: FOUND, a Toyota key on a keyring with red plastic keychain pieces, about 3/4 mile into the trail. Placed on the the board at TH; no other cars in lot at time. 

This is a nice trail in a beautiful forest with cool maple stands and a peaceful creek nearby at almost every turn. Calypso orchids blooming, bigleaf maple flowers in the air and so many lovely ferns. However, it's clear that this trail hasn't been popular or maintained much lately. Fireweed is sprouting up in the middle of the trail after the burned area, and there were at least 64 significant blowdowns from TH to Bourbon Creek. So be prepared for some gymnastics. Bourbon Creek was pretty quick and full, we opted not to cross because we couldn't see the trail anywhere on the other side. 

Well-maintained facilities and road was a bit potholed but any car could do it just fine. 

The Dry Creek Trail always is a good choice for solitude. It fits Robert Louis Stevenson's quote: " I travel not to go anywhere, but to go."

Since the trail doesn't have a destination like a waterfall or view, most hikers choose the other trails in the adjacent Trapper Creek Wilderness. The Dry Creek Trail does have the distinction of being the location of the very first WTA trail maintenance work party nearly 30 years ago.

Our goal and turnaround point was the trail ford at Bourbon Creek where to continue onward requires wet feet. We didn't get quite to Bourbon Creek due to a tangle of deadfall trees blocking the trail in the Big Hollow Burn. The 2020 Big Hollow Fire burned across the north end of the Dry Creek Trail. The tangle was too challenging for us to get through so we turned around.

The Forest Service crew had logged out the trail since the previous trip report, so the fire-killed trees must have come down later, and there were a few other fallen trees along the trail that were easily ducked under or stepped over.

We hiked back to where we had seen some nice trailside logs that would make good lunch seats. We had started out our hike in rain showers but by now the sky was clearing and the sun shone to dry us off. Our clothes were wet from the trailside vegetation -- the upper end of the trail is in serious need of brushing.

We met one other hiking party during the entire day, and one mountain biker on our return hike where the trail follows the old logging railroad grade.

Dry Creek lived up to its name: it was dry in the lower reach but still had flowing water at about the 2 mile point on the hike and from there upstream. We also could see water flowing in Big Hollow Creek near our turnaround point.