1.9 hr
Overview
Two trails, the Hidden Meadows Trail #472 and the Forest Creek Trail #473, run up the ridge west of Boulder Lake to offer access to such scenic delights as Bonney Meadows and Bonney Butte. The hike is described from a trailhead and a trail not shown on any current maps, the old trails having been rerouted after clearcutting in the area during the 1980s. The loop takes you up the Hidden Meadows Trail to Bonney Meadows and thence to Bonney Butte, where during the months of September and October, you can observe expert birdwatchers tally, and sometimes band, migrating raptors. You can then loop back around Bonney Meadows and take the Forest Creek Trail down the steep-sided rim below Echo Point. Because the trails have been maintained for mountain bikers, they are cleared early in the season, but you are unlikely to encounter a soul until you get near Bonney Meadows. From the trailhead, ascend an old road bed through clumps of manzanita, chinquapin, and snow brush. The area was clearcut of its old growth, as the graying stumps suggest, and is regenerating with Douglas-fir, noble fir, silver fir, western red-cedar, and western white pine. Look for the scat of bear and coyote on the tread. At a junction, peel off to the left, and then go right at the next junction. (The trail is sometimes marked by red paint stripes on trees.) Gradually rise through young lodgepole pines and western larch trees. At some red stripes, go left on what is now a foot trail and reach Forest Road 4881-121, which is normally gated except during logging operations. Go right on this gravel road for 30 yards, and see signage at the Hidden Meadows Trail-FR 4881-121 Junction. It’s about 3.2 miles from here to Bonney Meadows. Enter a woodland of lichen-draped conifers and come to an abandoned gravel road. Go 50 yards to the right to resume the trail. Rise gradually under noble fir, western larch, and mountain hemlock. Pass through a clearcut and then into an old growth stand. Cross a former logging road, reach another clearcut, and soon find yo
Trail Stats
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565 m
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Photos
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400px-Little_Boulder_Lake_and_Grasshopper_Point%2C_Forest_Creek_Trail