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Proposal 2: Expand the Trail System
Issue: Since the 1940s, the Forest Service has systematically obliterated many trails around Mount Hood with logging roads, and abandoned many others for “lack of use”. Meanwhile, remaining trails are increasingly overcrowded
Proposal: Triple the trail mileage in the Mount Hood National Park from current Forest Service levels. The strategy would be two-fold: (1) create new destinations for the ever-growing recreation demand, reducing pressure on current trails, and (2) create denser trail networks that allow for loops and varied trips. For starters, the following are simply some of the abandoned trails that would be easily restored for public use:
- Tanner Cutoff
- Devils Ridge Trail
- Hiyu Mountain Trail
- Sugarloaf Mountain Trail
- Eagle Cutoff (including route to Wildcat Mountain)
- Salmon Mountain Trail
- Mack Hall Creek Trail
- Upper Roaring River Trail
- South Fork Roaring River Trail
In addition, new trails would be built to visit spectacular lakes, waterfalls and mountain vistas that are currently out of reach to visitors. These would include the following new routes:
Columbia Gorge
- Shepperd’s Dell/Youngs Creek to Bridal Veil Loop Trail
- Horsetail Creek Trail (extension from Ponytail Falls)
- McCord Creek Trail (extension to Tanner Cutoff)
- Moffett Creek Trail (new trail from I-84 to Tanner Cutoff)
- Tanner Creek Trail (extension from Wahclella Falls to Tanner Cutoff)
- Ruckel Creek Trail (creates loop with Ruckel Ridge Trail)
- Herman Creek Trail (rebuilt route at stream level along both forks)
- Lindsay Creek Trail (to North Lake)
Mount Hood Area
- Dumbell Lake/Cast Lake/Cast Mountain Trail
- Cast Creek Trail (to Cast Lake)
- Burnt Butte Trail (Burnt Lake to Burnt Butte)
- Horseshoe Creek Trail (to West Zigzag Mountain)
- Clear Fork Trail (to Lolo Pass)
- Devil Canyon Trail (to Cast Mountain)
- Little Zigzag Trail (to Hidden and Enid Lakes)
- Camp Creek Trail (Bruin Run to Yocum Falls)
- West Fork Salmon River Trail (Highway 26 to Timberline)
- Coe Branch/Compass Creek Loop
- Lamberson Spur Trail (complete missing segment)
- Eastside Trail (Elk Meadows to Cloud Cap)
- Eliot Branch Trail (Clear Branch road to Timberline Trail)
- Middle Fork/Clear Branch Rim Trail
Salmon-Huckleberry & Roaring River Areas
- Salmon River Gorge Trail
- Devils Way Trail (from Salmon River to Devils Peak)
- Bighorn Creek Trail (to Salmon Butte)
- South Fork Salmon River Trail (to Plaza Lake)
- Abbot Divide Trail (High Rock to Squaw Mountain)
- Tumbling Creek Trail (to Roaring/Salmon Divide)
- Eureka Peak Trail
- Wind Creek Trail
- Salmon River Trail (extension from Wolf Creek to Highway 26)
- Baldy Creek Trail (to Baldy Lake and Old Baldy)
- Squaw Creek Trail (Squaw Meadow to Roaring River)
- Shellrock Creek Trail (Oak Grove Road to Shellrock Lake)
- Roaring River Trail (Highway 224 to Squaw Creek)
- Roaring River Divide Trail (Roaring River to High Rock, via Shining Lake)
- Indian Ridge Cutoff (Rock Lakes to Indian Ridge)
- Signal Buttes Trail
- Frazier Mountain Cutoff (Rock Lakes to Frazier Mountain)
- Wolf Peak Trail (High Rock to Wolf Peak)
- South Fork/Memaloose Creek Trails (loop to South Fork Mountain)
Badger Creek, Lookout Mountain and Boulder Lakes Areas
- Frog Lake Butte Loop (to South Twin, Green and Catalpa Lakes)
- Bonney Meadows Tie (Bonney Meadows to Boulder Creek)
- Senecal Spring Trail (Fifteenmile Camp to Lookout Mountain)
- Fifteenmile Creek Trail (complete middle segment)
- Shellrock Mountain Trail (via Cat and Puppy creeks)
Barrier-Free Trails
- Salmon River Flats Loop
- Trillium Lake Trail
- White River Interpretive Trail
- Latourell Falls Loop
- Lava Flow/Middle Fork Interpretive Trail
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