East Fork Trail

Again I found tracks on the snow.

This time I believe it was some sort of large cat. These footprints are 3-4 inches across and do not have the elongated heel of a bear. There are no claw marks at the ends of the toes, so it isn’t canine. Felines retract their claws when walking. But what kind? There are cougars, mountain lions, and lynx out here.

There was some washout action as well. In this video I tried to show how the water is undercutting the bank and the trail itself. That’s a 6 foot drop to the water level, and the trail will probably start collapsing soon.

In this last picture you can see a similar undercut bank in the process of collapsing. The gap in the trail is pretty obvious. What is harder to see is that there is only about 8 inches of trail running past that rock in the lower right. The rest of what looks like trail bed there is actually a 60 degree slope into the water. Walking through here made me nervous, because the bank is obviously weak and I wasn’t ready for a bath.

Altogether I hiked a little over 6½ miles. I posted my track as a kmz file here. Once again, I’ve been denied the longer trail I was looking for.

My boots are still beating up my feet. I got these Lowa Renegade GTX boots to use for hiking when it is cold and/or wet, and I got the green Superfeet insoles to go with them. However, I can cinch the laces so tight it’s painful and my foot still shifts around in the boot. I think I need a different insole. Maybe one for low volume feet. I just need to wear them into REI and get a consultation.

Other than that it was a good hike. The scenery was outstanding, and the rain held off until about 20 minutes after I got back to the car. I’m hoping to go out again in about three weeks. I’m thinking of returning to Fall Creek now that I know how to get farther up the trail. With luck I may have company too.