Bridges along North Fork Middle Fork

ByMichael Goatbells

… of the Willamette River. Last night I had four hikes on the table waiting for the morning’s weather, snow pack, and my mood (especially about driving) … North Fork of Middle Fork Willamette River was the choice. I was just at the same TH for recent Alpine hike, so had a good idea about trail conditions – expect some mud and maybe high water.

Arriving at the trailhead around 6:30 with no other cars, the weather wasn’t as sunny as expected and colder – started with fleece layer. The fog burnt off around 9:30 …

Mud was less than expected; river was running hard but not as high as recent snow melt would suggest … worst part was the wet grass and other vegetation. I was soaked mid-calf down and even my waterproof boots gave out.

The Bridges

Between the TH and my turn around spot there were four 5 bridge originally … two are now gone. One is so slanted that you have to hang on or fall in and another has holes big enough to fall through. The second missing one left me without a good path beyond, hence the turn around

the missing bridge

The River

Water was high and running hard with that deep green look that makes it seem colder than it really is. Regardless, wouldn’t want to fall in

The Route

Started around 6:45 at covered bridge trail head and went up river until a missing bridge with a difficult crossing and turned around … but took the Alpine Tie trail up to the main Alpine Trail and then back to the car around 1:00 pm.

For the first 5 hours, not 1 human on the trail. In the last hour or so, I guy on the North Fork heading up to do trail maintenance – there was only 1 sizable blowdown from the trailhead to the 2nd forest road 1912 bridge.

One solo hiker came down the Alpine Tie trail as I was going up … other than that … nobody. Trail conditions were much better than anticipated after the recent snow melt.

Data Geek Cellar

  • Shoes: Altra Lone Peak WP boots
  • Pack: Yar.gear
  • Upper Layers: 3 (base layer, med Patagonia tech, FarPointe Fleece for first half)
  • Upper shell: none
  • Trekking Poles: Yes – Gossamer Gear
  • Approximate Times: 06:45 to 13:00
  • Carbon ratio: 4.5 driving karma, 6.25 actual hiking time – 72.5 hours banked YTD
  • Notes: Mud and obstacles were common – making for slow going; took time initially getting new trekking poles configured correctly, and took more photos than typical

GaiaGPS data accidentally deleted and All Trails .gpx file imported

All Trails data