North Section Line Hike

Overview

This obscure trail is theoretically part of the Surveyors Ridge mountain bike/Gibson Prairie horse trails system, and yet the trail tread indicates that the creatures that are most abundant here are pocket gophers, whose mud castings decorate the route from beginning to end. The 44 Trails Association, a mountain biker group, has logged and brushed out the trail although a spring visit will no doubt involve encounters with a few downed trees. There has been no work on the tread itself, though, and this sometimes gets lost in open grassy areas, particularly towards the eastern end of the trail. You have little chance of getting lost, however, as the trail runs close to, and often right along, the northern boundary of The Dalles Watershed, to which entry is forbidden. Also, the trail runs parallel to and, for a couple of stretches within touching distance, of Forest Road 1700-622, a road that is gated for part of the year. This ridge hike takes you through heavily thinned forest, making the transition from Douglas-fir/grand fir woods to more open ponderosa pine parklands. From the eastern terminus of the trail, you can hike up the lovely open meadows of the west end of Mill Creek Ridge. In the spring, trillium and toothwort are still in full bloom on the western sections of the trail, but on the open ridge, you’ll encounter whole slopes of arrow-leaf balsamroot, saxifrage, prairie star, and larkspur. The trailhead is not signed, but there is a corner post for The Dalles Watershed displaying No Trespassing signs. Walk past this post along a line of fence posts that once were strung with barbed wire. The trail tread is fairly obvious but, being hardly ever hiked or ridden, is riddled with gopher mud castings and supports its own plant communities. The thinned forest here is dominated by Douglas-fir and grand fir with some western white pine and red-cedar. About 75 yards from the trailhead, there’s a trail coming in on the left that originates from the Gibson Prairie Horse Camp. You’ll be descending gently before wi

Trail Stats

Photos

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