Not Nasty Rock Hike

Overview

NOTICE: Trails in this area were affected by the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire. Please check current closures in the Willamette National Forest before planning an outing. From the get-go, let’s establish that the Willamette National Forest’s Nasty Rock Trail #3356 does not go to Nasty Rock. However, you can continue from the end of this short but very steep path (2,500 feet in 1.6 miles) along a well-defined user trail to the interesting pinnacles of an unnamed formation on the ridge, here monikered (after the Cascade Rambler) Not Nasty Rock. (Although many hikers believe this is Nasty Rock, the latter is still over a mile east along the ridge: see the Nasty Rock Hike.) Not Nasty Rock is tricky to ascend since there is some exposure, but the talus slope below it offers vistas down the central Cascades to the Three Sisters: this is a remote, little traveled route offering a great conditioning opportunity and ending with expansive views. It should be noted that the Chemeketans, a Salem-based climbing club, know Not Nasty Rock as the 'Chemeketans Nasty Rock.' Walk back to FR 2209 and go right 25 yards. The trail proceeds behind the wilderness permit box. Hike up an old road bed under Douglas-fir and hemlock with a rhododendron, Oregon grape, salal understory. Switchback and enter the Opal Creek Wilderness. Rise steeply to ascend past a mossy bench where the trail becomes a rubbly seasonal waterway. Switchback three times under much smaller, lichen-draped conifers, swishing through the salal and passing numerous chinquapin bushes. Switchback again, rounding mossy andesite boulders and head up the west side of the ridge. After another switchback, the trail levels briefly in a carpet of salal, bear-grass, and lady fern. Two more switchbacks take you to the crest, from where you proceed directly up the ridge. Make several short switchbacks, getting glimpses of the massive wall across Tincup Creek. The trail switches over to the east side of the ridge, but soon you keep switchbacking back and forth across the crest. P

Trail Stats

Photos

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