Casey Creek Loop Hike

Overview

WARNING: The Casey Creek Trail was severely affected by the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. In places, the tread has been obliterated or is very faint, and no maintenance work has been done. Good route-finding skills are necessary. The Casey Creek Loop is one of the Gorge's more challenging day hikes. It has become more so after the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. The Casey Creek Trail has not been maintained since then: downfall at the bottom end of the trail and rampant regrowth in the crown fire areas higher up the ridge obscure the tread in places. As of Summer 2019, probably 90 percent of the tread can be fairly easily located: it's the other 10% you have to worry about! After the pleasant amble up the Herman Creek Trail, Casey Creek's very steep connection to Nick Eaton Ridge - over 2,500 feet in elevation gain in two miles - is singularly demanding. Once you have survived this, however, it's an undulating crest hike along Nick Eaton Ridge, taking in a few vistas and oak-rimmed meadows before you drop to Herman Camp and then the trailhead. The path drops from the Herman Creek Trailhead, but then switchbacks up twice before traversing. There are two more switchbacks in shady big-leaf maple, hemlock, Douglas-fir woods. Reach the powerline corridor and cross it, heading up to the right to reenter the woods. Here, you'll begin to see the effects of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, with the understory burned away but slowly recovering and the conifer canopy mostly intact. The path winds through an area of large, moss-covered boulders, and then passes an old forest track leading off the left. (This track drops down to Herman Creek Road.) Pass around the nose of a ridge, switchback twice, and traverse up to the junction with the Herman Bridge Trail #406E, 0.6 miles from the trailhead. Keep up on the main trail to switchback and then reach a bend in an old forest road. Stay right and head up the road, which levels in Douglas-fir, hemlock, and maple forest. You'll arrive at a five-way junction after 1.3 miles where the Herman Creek Tr

Trail Stats

Photos

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400px-CaseyCreekLoopMap

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250px-CaseyCreekLoop5

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