I intended to do a loop up and over McKay Ridge, down to Boulder Creek Pass, then down Boulder Creek and Chancellor Trails. The first and last legs went great. There was a nice flagged boot path up the west side of McKay Ridge to the alpine (many thanks to CP for maintaining this route!). There were many blowdowns lower down, typically of the matchstick variety, and some brush higher up but flagging is good until well above 5000'. Once on top of the ridge the route goes up and down over many minor high points (some class 2 scrambling, rock is loose). The McKay highpoint is a beautiful vantage of many peaks near and far. I continued along the ridge east to Boulder Creek Pass.
At the pass I could not for the life of me find the Boulder Creek trail or where it heads west down into the valley. I searched around back and forth and could see no hints even subtle of a trail. No matter, I figured I'd just follow the route that the trail takes on my map and I'll run into it sooner or later, right? I bushwhacked down the steep valley headwall, through dense rhododendron thickets and wet slippery blueberry slopes. Not fun. No trail. At the creek at 5400' I looked around and eventually found what seemed to be a nice and well graded trail that took me several hundred feet downhill to a flat meadow area at 4800'. I was now 800' below where the route appears on the maps, and I was worried I was on the wrong trail. I lost the trail in the grassy meadow, and wary of the canyon that appeared downstream, I figured it best to regain all the elevation I lost and try to find the real trail higher up. 800' up steep slopes and I made it to where the trail was supposed to be. Nothing. Not even animal paths. So I continued on, traversing north on the west side of Majestic Mountain trying to follow the trail as it appeared on the map. Thus began the gully section. My goodness, there were a lot of gullies. None were trivial, many were cliffy, most had dense slide alder thickets, and the endless sidehilling between was beginning to get to me. One of these gullies had a trickle which was thankful since I had just about run out of water. I began to worry that I wouldn't make it back by dark.
I kept pushing on, aware of the progressing day and running on adrenaline and cortisol. As the gullies ended and the route rounded a prominent ridgeline I contemplated heading directly downslope to meet up with the Chancellor Trail, but I was close enough to the North American Mine and I must be able to pick up the trail there, right? I made it to the mine, found the deteriorating and moss-covered remnants and I could still find no trail. So I headed downhill from there, cutting through mapped switchbacks several times and each time there was no hint of a trail. Finally, as the sun was setting I made it, at last, to the Chancellor Trail. I looked around and not 20 feet from where I landed was a sign for the Boulder Creek Trail, and a very pleasant-looking path leading up through the forest. Did I really just parallel a perfectly nice trail for 5 miles over some of the worst cross country travel imaginable? Seemingly so!
Lessons: 1) The Boulder Creek Trail DOES NOT follow the line that it appears on all available maps. 2) It is much easier to find the trail from Chancellor than from Boulder Creek Pass. Try to find an accurate track before attempting from the top.
I made my way down the 5 miles on the delightfully trail-like Chancellor Trail and arrived at the trailhead after dark.
16 miles, 6700', 12 hours
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