Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: Portland/Vancouver. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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This winding path gradually makes its way uphill through a tangled forest with numerous large, moss-draped vine maples overhanging the trail. In late October the fall colors from these maples are a real treat. At about 0.8 mile the trail crosses the tracks of the Tillamook Railroad and then twists and turns in a slow ascent of the forested hillside. Look here for numerous ancient stumps with old logging springboard holes and fire scars from the massive Tillamook Burns of the 1930s and 1940s. The trees planted after those fires are now large enough to harvest, so don’t be surprised if you hear chainsaws (especially on weekdays) and encounter brand new (usually unmapped) logging roads crossing the trail. As of early 2007 there were two such new roads that you must cross in the next mile, but more can be expected in the future.

At about 2 miles you cross gravel Round Top Road and then wind uphill along the edge of a recently thinned area that still shows many logging scars. The remaining forest is an open mix of Douglas firs and western hemlocks with an understory featuring the Coast Range’s usual “Big Three,” Oregon grape, sword fern, and salal. Although the uphill grade is sometimes moderate, it is rarely too steep. About 0.5 mile above Round Top Road you cross a rarely used logging spur and then switchback uphill through another selectively cut area. Near the top of this logging scar you cross the end of another logging spur road, walk 0.2 mile, and then cross a final logging road. This entire section is rather unattractive, but the scenery will improve in the future as time heals the logging scars. A final 0.6 mile of uphill hiking through partially cut timber takes you to a ridgetop junction with Bell Camp Road, 3.4 miles from the trailhead.