Write-up: Lu Blanchard

Leader: Lu Blanchard

Co-Leader: Peter Franz

The Oregon Trail to North Bend was in fine shape for a March hike. Parking lot was plowed out with plenty of room- although very icy. Snow was hard-packed enough that micro-spikes were able to be used, although some preferred snowshoes and all carried them for the way out in case the snow softened. (Except for one Tramp who let himself be talked into leaving his in the truck!)

The trail is a steady uphill for at least ½ mile, enough to get your heart racing and call for a steady shedding of outerwear. The woods were pretty quiet, not a lot of songbirds back yet. The stream along the left side of the trail was flowing hard and the beavers have widened it at certain points forcing the trail further to the right unless you want to wade. The first bridge afforded beautiful views of the vly and the stream and we stopped to enjoy them for a bit.

After the first uphill there are just steady rolls of up and downs with a few flat areas in between. There is a corner about 2 miles in that I’d forgotten about and we started down a trail to the vly, but about ½ way down I remembered that led only to the vly and probably was used by snowmobilers to take a shortcut across. Just a bit more in we met the other half of our group who left earlier and they reported a lot of blowdown and we couldn’t make it all the way to North Bend without major hassles. Since no one wanted to continue we turned around. Some decided to get extra miles by going into Cod Pond others did Auger Falls on the way back. The day was beautiful and we all worked up an appetite for the great dinner at the Camp.