The Mission: 5 days in the backcountry with a base camp 4 miles in at the junction of White River and Boulder Pass trail. Last year a team of 9 of us were able to brush out about a mile of the trail beyond the junction, this year we hoped to get another mile of trail cleared. (More on this later!)
The Road:The road is paved until you get to Tall Timbers, after that it becomes a dirt/ gravel narrow road. There are some pulloff spots to allow others to pass. It’s suitable for all cars, no high clearance is needed to get to this trailhead, which is about 4 miles after Tall Timbers.
The Trailhead: There is room for a lot of cars, there is a picnic table in the woods near the river/ bridge. There is a pit toilet a short walk back down the road. Probably 500 feet from the parking lot, there is a sign to it. Last year I don’t think any of us noticed there was a pit toilet but this year we did notice it. There is ample room for a horse trailer (it is a stock trail). For trailers I would be kind and park closer to the trailhead if possible to leave enough room for them to turn around.
The deets: Our crew was lucky enough to have the Forest Service packers, pack in most of our gear the first 4 miles to where we would set up a base camp at the junction of Boulder Pass and the White River Trail. Our mission the first day (Wednesday) was to clear some brushy overgrown area of the trail that the Forest Service had not gotten to yet this year. They had been more focused on getting the trees out of the trail about a month ago. At 2:30 we stopped working and continued our hike to where our gear had been dropped off for us and set up camp and enjoyed the late afternoon early evening on the first day. The Boulder Creek crossing has a nice footlog across it to walk over, the horse ford is also an option, although this year the water was higher than it was last year (granted we were a month earlier). For History buffs, just upstream of the foot log you can see what was an old crossing that has been built up on both sides of the creek but never finished. There are logs piled like they were going to put in a good sized bridge but it never happened. The logs are very old, decomposing and no longer able to be used for a bridge. Like last year we discussed how old these logs could be, and why it was never built. I know I'd love to know the history of this once proposed bridge.
Thursday we split into two groups, one group worked on logging out a few trees that are harder to step over. The rest of us headed up the trail to start working where we left off last year (About 1 mile from the junction). We guess about a month ago (given the leaves on the cut stuff) that a rogue hiker went through and cut some stuff back off the trail. We redid some of their work and removed their cut stuff off the trail corridor and cut what they cut back even further. We ended up crossing what we thought was Thunder Creek before realizing we were still about 1.5-2 miles south of the creek. This unknown creek has some rock steps across it, and a few branches to hang onto. Right after this crossing about 200 yards we found a little pike camp that has enough room for one, maybe two tents? This is a great spot for a lunch break in the shade if needed. Towards the end of the day our entire crew was working together on brushing (Removing vegetation from the trail corridor) the trail.
Friday we all headed out to where we left off at yesterday and having walked through the areas we worked on last year we decided that our time and energy would be better used if we focused on the woody stuff growing into the trail- Vine Maples, Alders, Hawthorns, and some what we think were Red Osier Dogwood. About ½ mile from the stream crossing are two 25 inch logs crossing the trail which are hard to get over, one you have to sit on to get over. About 11 today we were greeted by a welcomed sight, Mike the Pie guy!!!! He hiked us out with some Marionberry Pie, raspberries, chips/ salsa, and a Bulgarian Pepper which we said WTA required gloves, safety glasses and a waiver (waiver was left in camp for us to sign before we ate the pepper). Mike visited our crew last year with Pie on this trip as well. He did let us know that he was touched by some brush on his 5+ mile hike in to get to us. (He was joking of course!) https://www.wta.org/news/signpost/pie-guy-delivering-smiles-to-the-backcountry-one-slice-at-a-time After lunch four of us headed back down the trail to work on an area that the rogue hiker had worked on to make that area of trail even better. On our way we encountered two gentlemen and their three horses letting them know that the trail ahead is not passable for stock at all. They even had trouble turning around in the widest spot on the trail. They ended up making camp not far from the Boulder Pass Junction.
Saturday we split into two groups, three headed back towards the trailhead to finish clearing out some stuff we did not get to on the hike in since the Forest Service wanted us to catch three areas on the first 4 miles of trail. The other 5 of us continued out towards Thunder Creek again, and continued to clear out the trail corridor. We made it what we guess to be about ¾ of a mile from Thunder Creek. We had three people pass us (One was hoping to stay at Thunder Basin, and two others were scouting for deer season). Between where we left off - a wall of dogwood that is hard to push your way through, but you can see where the trail should be- and thunder creek it's a lot of the same. It does open a little bit apparently. We ended up seeing them all later in the afternoon while we were back at camp.
Sunday we packed up our camp, put on our backpacks (no mule team for the hike out, but our packs weighed less after 4 nights in the woods, our hearts full of memories).
The Sights: As always the sights up the White River Valley are beautiful! Full of beautiful views! I hope that this trail will continue to be worked on and the corridor open to the PCT via White Pass.
The Snacks: Thimbleberries were ripe, and delicious. Some huckleberries right at the junction of Boulder Pass and White River a little up the Boulder Pass trail about 75 feet.
The bugs: The flies were pretty annoying, no mosquitoes to talk about though which is a treat!
The notes: This is a stock trail, however only the first 4 miles to the Boulder Pass Junction are passable for stock. Stock should not go out the White River as it’s overgrown, and not maintained very well (minus what we have done this year and last year). Hopefully it will be passable for stock in a few years! It is bear seasons for hunting right now, and with many trails in the area we encountered 7 hunters that we actually saw (could be more that we did not see!)
Right now is WTA's annual fundraiser, Hike-a-Thon, donations go directly back to trails and allows crews to continue to maintain the trails. Our tools get dull and need sharpened, handles break and need replaced, tools get so worn down over the years that they need 100% replaced. For reference just one Forest Service shovel costs $90! In order to outfit a crew of just 10 people it costs about $1,000. Please consider a donation to WTA today (better yet, become a member!) Even if you can only donate $5 that makes a huge difference in trails around the state.
Until next time! Happy Trails
#HikeaThon
https://give.wta.org/Elizabeth2025
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