17 min
Overview
The short, half-mile Black Lake Trail #409A keeps cropping up in Forest Service announcements (e.g. after the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, it was “reopened” in 2018), but in fact the trail has been neglected for decades. Abandoned trail aficionados may find this short expedition interesting, however, and others may take advantage of its brevity to dip their wicks, so to speak, into that particular genre. It’s recommended that you do the trail, or route, from top to bottom and then walk back along FR 2820 from Black Lake. Black Lake, along with North Lake and Rainy Lake, was dammed by a low wall at the beginning of the 20th century to make it a better log pond. Flumes from each of these lakes carried logs downhill to the Stanley-Smith Lumber Mill at Greenpoint, now Kingsley, in the vicinity of the current reservoirs. From the Rainy Lake Trailhead, walk to your left to the beginning of the Rainy-Wahtum Trail #409 (There was a temporary sign here in 2018). The trail follows the route of the old Wahtum Lake Road, a narrow, nail-biting, rock strewn nightmare according to those who drove it back in the day. Cross a seep vegetated with skunk-cabbage, salmonberry, and arrow-leaf groundsel, and step over an old berm. This is an old-growth montane forest of tall Douglas-fir, mountain hemlock, noble fir, and silver fir. The road bed swings right between two old gate posts with the cable still attached. From here, it's about 200 yards to the Rainy-Wahtum-Black Lake Trail Junction. Just before the track begins to rise, look down on the left side of the trail for a rock with a handful of smaller rocks on top of it, and find the Black Lake Trail leading down to the left. There's also a broken snag across the road bed here. Once you’re in the woods, look for an old signboard tacked to a tree. The board is unreadable, but you can follow a faint tread from here down the slope following a few old blazes. To your left is a clearcut. As you descend the slope, you’ll see a boggy area below. Keep the clearcut to your left, and descend
Trail Stats
0.0 km
86 m
0 m
0 m
—
Photos
350px-BlackLakeRouteMap
350px-BlackLakeRouteMap
250px-At_Black_lake
250px-At_Black_lake
250px-Marsh-marigold_%28Caltha_leptosepala%29%2C_Black_Lake_Trail_409A
250px-Marsh-marigold_%28Caltha_leptosepala%29%2C_Black_Lake_Trail_409A
250px-Old_sign%2C_Black_Lake_Trail
250px-Old_sign%2C_Black_Lake_Trail
400px-North_Fork_Green_Point_Creek_tributary_crossing%2C_Black_Lake_Trail_409A
400px-North_Fork_Green_Point_Creek_tributary_crossing%2C_Black_Lake_Trail_409A