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Past Activity

Hardesty Loop conditioning

  • Start date: 04/14/2018

  • Start time: 12:00 AM

  • End date: 04/14/2018

  • End time: 11:59 PM

Description:

This is my annual goodie in the Cascade Foothills. We will climb to the summit of Hardesty, take the Eula Ridge trail back down to the Willamette Trail and back over to the bottom of Hardesty. It is 3400’ elevation net gain on Hardesty and another 1000’ on Willamette Trail. Expect mud and a good workout. The good news is that we aren’t doing Mt. June the same hike! The Willamette Trail is surprisingly difficult on the last part of the hike. Carry enough food and water, have warm clothes and rain gear, and at the same time you may want to carry lighter than usual (no books, magazines, rocks, etc.)

I plan a break on the road going up and another break at the summit. We will have lunch somewhere on the Eula Ridge Trail.

NOTE::*** Early season hikes have the possibility of both snow and blowdowns. If either of these is a major issue, it may cause shortening of the hike. Specifically, getting to the summit of Hardesty may be difficult as some snow is predicted at the 2500 foot level this week. Saturday itself should be cloudy, 20% chance of showers in the afternoon, snow level 4500 feet, which is above where we will be going.

  • Event Leader: Mike Smith

  • Event Leader Phone: 520-488-9569

  • Event Leader Email: mssq@comcast.net

  • Assistant Leader:

  • Event category: Trips

  • Area Type: Mountain

  • Departure Location: Lane Community College, parking lot nearest stoplight

  • Rating: Difficult

  • Roundtrip total drive miles: 50

  • Season: 2018

  • Permits Required:

  • Event Status: Passed

  • Supplies and Equipment Required: 10 essentials, rain gear, good boots and gaiters (mud), hiking poles strongly recommended. Plenty of food, water, energy drinks. Water is available on the Willamette Trail part if one wants to filter.

  • participant prerequisites:

  • Conditions:

  • Total Distance: 16.5

  • Member Fees: 1

  • Elevation Gain: 4550

  • Non-Member Fees: 5

  • Committee: Trips

  • Junior member fees: —

Trip Report

This is a tough hike. Period. Hardesty is always muddy, and it was really muddy today. We had snow at about 3500 feet, and iti was slick the last two miles to the summit. The small bowl above Eula junction had at least 18 inches of snow in it. We took a short break at the summit and then came down Eula Ridge. The snow disappeared at about the really steep stretch, but the whole area was slick. We navigated that and had lunch on a big log at about 9 miles. There were several huge blowdowns which the leader photographed for the Scorpions. We got to the Willamette Trail just before 2 and negotiated its 1K feet of vertical as well, which is difficult after 11 miles. Everybody did fine, including two who were training for an upcoming Grand Canyon trip. They should do fine on the Hermit Trail and its connections.