So this blog has been quiet so far this year, but it's only because we've had a rainy winter again and I haven't been taking many photos on our hikes. But me and Keeley have been hiking a lot, actually. We've re-discovered the majesty of forest park.
I've talked about forest park before, and everything I said then more or less still applies, but I wanted to go significantly more in depth this time and talk about specific trails and trailheads because now I've actually explored the whole damn thing.
The beauty of FP is the numerous points of access and the plethora of trails. The other main beauty of Forest Park is that it's not your regular city park at all. You won't find basketball courts, duck ponds, playgrounds and big open areas. It's not that kind of park. It's much closer to a jungle. You are in the woods. The park is a preserved section of the Tualatin Mountains northwest of downtown Portland. Your only real recreation options are hiking, running, mountain biking, and horseback riding in select areas.
FP consists mainly of 3 types of trails: Firelanes, Dirt/Gravel Roads, and actual trails.
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Actual trails are pretty self-explanatory. It's your classic dirt path through the woods.
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Dirt/Gravel Roads are also pretty self-explanatory. It's a big wide access road that travels through the park. None can actually be driven on by the general public, but are used frequently by maintenance workers and bikers.
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Firelanes are the sort of strange in-between of roads and trails. Firelanes were obviously once used as fire access points in case the park caught fire. They've since stopped being used as roads and now more closely resemble trails. They are frequently a little wider than most actual trails, usually muddy because they all bisect the park and travel up/downhill instead of along the side and the water runs down them. Most travel under power lines and frequently firelanes are the only source in the entire park for viewpoints. There are 15 "official" firelanes, although firelanes 6, 11, and 14 are all impossible to find on a map. Most Firelanes are open to bikes, but most require a bravery I don't have.
Forest park is located in the eastern side of the Tualatin Mtns, bordered on the west by Skyline drive at the crest of the mountains, and by highway 30 on the east at the bottom. The elevation is never higher than 1000 feet, and never lower than 100.
The easiest way to think about Forest Park's trail system is this:
All trails serve the Wildwood. The Wildwood trail is the femoral artery, the Mississippi river of FP. Almost every single trail in the entire park touches it, and the few that don't are still connected to it by other means. It is the lifeblood of the park, and walking through it you are the blood vessels. Or a virus, depending on how much of an environmental nutjob you are. The WW (referred to as such henceforth) is 30.25 miles long, running from Newberry road at the top to the Zoo at the bottom. For purposes of this blog post, I will only talk about the Forest Park section of the WW. South of Burnside Street is technically Hoyt Arboretum and Washington park, which deserves it's own post.
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| The sign at the north end on Newberry Road. Note the milage. |
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| The unceremonious end of the WW |
The only other major artery in FP is Lief Erickson Drive (LED) . It parallels the WW at a lower elevation and doesn't touch the WW. It only runs about half the length of the park. It's 11 miles end to end. LE was a planned development road but landslides and other issues caused it to simply become a part of the park instead, and today it's the primary bike path. It's wide, gravel, and an even grade pretty much the whole way. If you spend any time at all on LED, at some point a biker will pass you, looking dirty and vaguely miserable.
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| Lief Erickson at the base of Firelane 2 |
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| The average LED turn |
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| Robin spotted on LED |
Together, it's basically impossible to hike anywhere in the park without touching one of these two pathways. Every other trail connects these two trails to themselves or other trailheads. Most trails are just little shortcuts between the two, a few longer ones reach roads on the edge of the park. Thanks to this elaborate network of major arteries and capillaries, you can hike every day in forest park for months and never do the exact same loop. The only bad part about this fantastic factoid is that for the most part, FP looks basically the same everywhere. Because it's an urban jungle, you could take a picture on any section of the WW and say it was taken at a different location, and only hardcore obsessives with photographic memories could come close to calling you out with certainty. Basically, if you've hiked one section of the WW, you've hiked the whole thing, and most of the ancillary trails that feed it. The smaller trails go between the two main arteries tend to be less frequented/less maintained/steeper, but they look the same.
For the past 4 months FP has been my backyard. I've seen almost everything the park has to offer. The entire system is 80 miles of trails, and I've probably already doubled that with various loops and by duplicating sections of trail in an attempt to get it all.
As such, I now consider myself basically an expert on the park, at least in terms of knowing the layout. Before I get to the actual, interesting parts of the park, Let me run down all the trails! There isn't much to say about each one, because most are simple and serve to connect you to other trails. All are less than 1 mile long unless noted, most are less than half a mile.
Upper Macleay Trail (1.19 miles total)- A upper and lower tiered trail that connects Macleay Rd with the WW. Just over a mile. The lower sections terminates at the WW, the higher section goes all the way to Cornell rd.
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| Pittock Mansion, near the Upper Macleay Trail |
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| Flowers at sunrise on Pittock |
Cumberland Trail Connects Cumberland rd with the WW
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| The Cumberland Trail on a foggy day |
Tunnel Trail - Short, steep, connects Cornell rd with Cumberland Trail. Follows a creek, very pretty, offers views of a small whirlpool on a wet day.
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| Entrance to the Tunnel Trail on Cornell during a wonderful day |
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| The exit of the Whirlpool on a rainy day. The Water vanishes into the ground about 20 feet uphill from this. |
Collins, Founders, Jay, and various small trails in Pittock Bird Sanctuary - Cute loops near Cornell rd off of WW. (2.30 miles total). On the back end of the North Collins trail an unmarked path goes up a ridge to a forest neighborhood, and if you exit the neighborhood onto Skyline, you can visit the Willamette Stone.
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| Entrance to the Collins trails near the Audobon Sanctuary |
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| The Willamette Stone meridian marker, accessed via a backdoor trail from the Collins trail |
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| Cell towers |
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| The Willamette Stone |
Lower Macleay trail - Connects Lower Macleay park to WW via a very popular and pretty trail along Balch creek, terminates at the Stone House. If you've hiked FP at all, you've been here. I've never at any time walked this .8 miles without seeing another person.
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| Lower Macleay Park entrance from Thurman Street Bridge |
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| Balch Creek |
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| Lower Macleay trail and Balch Creek |
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| Stone House |
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| Small waterfall on Balch Creek |
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| Entrance to Balch Creek |
Birch Trail - Short trail that connects 53rd ave to WW.
Wild Cherry Trail - Connects LED to WW and 53rd ave trailhead. Popular.
Aspen Trail - connects Aspen rd to WW
Dogwood Trail - Connects LED to WW and 53rd ave trailhead via a ridgetop trail. Popular.
Kiel Trail - Connects WW to 53rd ave trailhead
Alder Trail - Connects WW to LED
Nature Trail - Connects Firelane 1 to WW and LED, follows a creek.
Chestnut Trail - Connects WW to LED, follows a creek then a ridgetop.
Maple Trail (3.48 miles)- Second longest trail in the park (ignoring roads, very pretty, worth exploring.
Koeing Trail - Connects Maple trail to LED and WW on a ridgetop.
Cleator Trail - Connects LED to WW. Steep, but actually very nice and open.
Wiregate Trail - Connects LED to WW along old abandoned roadbed
Tolinda Trail - Connects LED to Tolinda trailhead on lower Germantown rd. Climbs steepy, traverses a very nice ridge. Excellent trail.
Hardesty Trail - Connects Firelane 7 to LED and WW.
Trillium Trail - Connects Firelane 7 to WW, short but very steep
Norak Trail - Tiny shortcut connecting Firelane 1 to WW.
Ridge Trail (1.35 miles) - connects firelane 7 to St. Johns bridge area. Long, steep, and well loved. Offers a few views.
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| St. Johns Bridge from Ridge Trail |
Quarry trail Tiny shortcut from LED to Maple trail. Honestly feels pointless and may only exist because people were shortcutting the ridge anyway.
Cannon Trail - Basically a sidewalk on Germantown road between the WW trailhead and the LED trailhead.
Linnton Trail - Connects a bus stop in Linnton to Firelane 10. Steep switchbacks and a pretty creek at the bottom.
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| Linnton Trail |
"Keyser trail"- Not labeled in park, is basically a short detour around Firelane 10's steepest hill.
Kielhorn Meadow trail - Short side trail to Kielhorn meadow off of Firelane 15. Kielhorn meadow is very small and kind of nice, worth the quick detour.
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| Kielhorn Meadow |
All that's left now are the firelanes and a couple of roads, and some secrets.
If you ask me the Firelanes need to be explored if you want to get the most out of FP. They are the only place in the park you can get views, challenge and solitude all at once. The Firelanes frequently are left alone because most of them have hard to find or simply impossible access points unless you hike to them via other trails. Only firelanes 1, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 15 have actual trailheads, and only 5 and 7 have trailheads that are truly busy. From here out, I'll describe each firelane in detail and the area around it.
FIRELANE 1
Firelane 1 is the most interesting firelane. It's the longest at 2.3ish miles, but probably the hardest to find despite having two trailheads. Access from the top is on Forest Lane, a potholed backwoods road with some limited parking. Access from the bottom is easy, but only if you know exactly where to look, as it's a dirt path heading uphill in an empty lot behind a industrial building near the corner of St. Helens ave. and Highway 30. But Firelane 1 is captivating. Starting at the top, the trail is wide and easy, gently rolling downhill on a wide grade to intersect the WW. There are even some picnic tables. From here the firelane begins to drop more dramatically. It eventually makes its way to LED, cuts over a few yards, and plunges down a ridge at one of the steepest grades in the park for a brief section, then follows the ridge downhill until it takes the world's sharpest turn (If you ride this on a bike this is the spot in which you plunge into the bushes) and then follows the powerlines for a mile east, crossing streams and washouts, and occasionally giving fantastic views. On a clear day you can see 4 volcanoes from the lower viewpoints. The trail after the hairpin turn is very narrow and choked with brambles, so while this is a bike-able lane, I would heavily advise against it, especially as the final descent to the road is washed out and extremely steep.
F1 is in a very isolated section of the lower park, just beyond the crowds from Thurman St. and just before the crowds from Saltzman rd. It's a worthwhile exploration if you need to get out of the crowded zones for a little while.
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| Firelane 1 from the top. Maybe the best photo I've taken. |
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| Firelane 1 trailhead |
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| Firelane 1 |
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| Firelane 1 and the WW crossing it |
FIRELANE 2
Firelane 2 is a typical FP firelane. It follows a ridge from Skyline drive down to LED. It's steep, it's muddy, it's just over a mile long. The only access to F2 directly is by a tiny gravel pullout on Skyline drive, that's big enough for 2-3 cars at most. Walk through the gate and downhill you go. As such this trail is lesser used, and it's not real easy. The section between the WW and LED is actually quite nice however, as the trail settles into a saddle and then follows the side of the ridge instead of staying on top, through a very open area with nice brush. You can't bike it, although people probably do anyway.
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| F2 near the bottom |
FIRELANE 3
Firelane 3 is like the easy-going well adjusted brother of F2. It's about the same length, but it's less steep and more busy. It follows a ridge from the backside of a community (You can't park here, so really the only access point to F3 is to hike to it from elseware or bike from the top.
Here is a video I found of someone biking it, in what looks to be summer months. You can see them carelessly blaze by the wildwood junction around 1:40, blatantly not looking out for any possible hikers they might hit.
Also a legitimate boobytrap was found here in 2014!
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| F3 |
FIRELANE 4
Firelane 4 is weird. For one thing, it barely resembles the other firelanes. It's not wide. It's not straight. It's not on many maps. Firelane 4, despite having easy access from the lower Saltzman Rd trailhead, was probably never really built as a firelane. Right at the start from the TH it goes straight up in a zig zag fashion all the way up to a clearing on a ridge. No car would ever take this route. It stays under the power lines most of the journey and feels more like a powerline access path than anything. There are some nice views from the ridgetop just before the Maple trail junction. After passing the Maple trail F4 just climbs under the powerlines till it hits LED and ends. It doesn't extend up to the WW (unless you look at my secrets section below)
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| From lower Saltzman rd trailhead at the end of F4 |
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| St. Helens |
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| Mt. Hood |
FIRELANE 5
Easily accessed from the upper Saltzman Rd. trailhead, which has plenty of parking. F5 has some "viewpoints" (They might have been legit viewpoints at some time in the past but now not so much). It feels just like F3 but in better shape. When it hits the WW, the lower section was not actually a planned section of firelane but was simply made into a trail thanks to bikers who would come screaming down the hill and hit an effective dead end at the WW (You can't bike the WW). So now a trail at the end of F5 exists for bikers to reach LED below.
You can see it in this video. (Note, for whatever reason these two dummies don't actually start on F5 but on Saltzman rd, then take a side trail between the two, and then they blaze down a hill to F5 and then have to stop immediately due to the turn, making you wonder why they did this in the first place. If they just started down F5 they could just keep their momentum)
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| A thing at the bottom of F5 |
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| F5 |
FIRELANE 6
Doesn't appear to exist! There are only two meaningful places between F5 & F7 that it could legitimately have been placed, and part of me wonders if it eventually became the Wiregate trail instead, because the Wiregate trail follows what appears to be an obvious abandoned road grade at certain spots. Today there is a gas line on the Wiregate, so maybe it was never a firelane but an access road for workers.
FIRELANE 7
The only other firelane besides F1 that actually bisects the entire park. It's weird though. Firelane 7 has a very big trailhead at the Springville road entrance up top, and as such is a highly trafficked firelane and also happens to be one of the nicest. The upper ridges above the WW are actually quite flat, very open, and just excellent to look at. Someone even built a shelter on it. Then, shortly before actually
meeting the WW, the firelane splits into the Gas line road, and the Oil Line road. Both of which are fancy names for whatever pipes are underneath your feet. If you take the right path, it's the Oil line, and it drops steeply and terminates very subtly at LED. However, if you take the Gas line rd to the left, it not only meets up with LED, but crosses it. The lower section of F7 might be the least walked section of FP. The trail becomes one shoe wide, overgrown, and ends up in some sketchy spots down a steep hill. There is a nice overlook at a corner overlooking North Portland, then the trail cuts up and ends up on the road leading to the St. Johns bridge. There is no way to access this lower trailhead unless you park up the hill by the ridge trail and then walk down and scamper across the street.
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| Excellent shelter built on F7 |
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| A sign long eaten by a tree |
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| An old...thing on lower F7a |
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| Lower F7a |
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| The hilarious sign where F7 splits into the Gas and Oil line roads |
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| F7 is beautiful |
FIRELANE 8
Firelane 8 is a joke. It's less than a quarter mile long and it doesn't even get it's own sign in the park. The very fact that it even exists feels pointless. It has one end on the WW, goes steeply uphill to a muddy meadow area, and dumps you out on the shoulder of Germantown rd.
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| Pretty much half of F8 in one picture |
FIRELANE 9
Firelane 9 has possibly the steepest single section in the park. It's also the muddiest thing I've ever walked. It starts directly across from the Germantown rd lower trailhead, where LED ends. You might be tempted to bike its relatively short length. Don't. The upper reaches are fine, but then it drops harder then a fat guy missing a step, and the bottom has a hairpin turn. The bottom of F9 drops into a nice community, and passes by the remains of an old reservoir system. You might notice a side path near the bottom. It's a secret path. The secret is how bad of an idea taking it will be. But more on that later.
Here is a video of a moron biking it. At 1:27 he's going down the "hill" and you can hear his brakes die as he has to stop at the bottom before he plunges over the cliff. Note, the video is labled "Firelane 10" but as evidenced by his biking of this path, he is a moron. Also, the firelanes are very clearly labeled on their gates when you find them. He has multiple videos of him going down "Firelane 10". Maybe he's illiterate. This firelane is technically closed to bikers. I can not say enough about how stupid this man is.
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| Old resevior tank |
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| F9 Hill |
FIRELANE 10
Firelane 10 is probably the closest thing left to an actual, honest-to-god working firelane. It's weirdly shaped. The lane starts at the Germantown rd. trailhead slightly north of F9 and kind of functions like an extension of LED. It drops into a creek and climbs back out, then turns northwest and eventually reaches Newton rd. It's very well graded, is wide and accommodating, still has fresh gravel, and the only steep spot has a little flat detour trail. A very nice firelane.
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| F10 at the Linnton Trail junction |
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| A creepy ceramic pot in a tree on F10 |
FIRELANE 11
Doesn't exist! Can't even find evidence of something that might have been planed. It's possible "Firelane 11" is actually just Newton Rd. Or the BPA road. Newton Rd. is more likely.
FIRELANE 12
We've been going slowly north over this blog of mine, and now we come to a fun fact: F12 is actually farther north than F13. The only reason I think this happens is because both F12 and F13 are accessed by the BPA road and if you start from the western end, you'd hit 12 first.
F12 is a great firelane. It has no entrance. To reach F12 you have to find it via the BPA road, or via F15, or by walking through somebody's backyard at the bottom. It's quiet, very isolated, and gentle. The only problem is that it literally terminates in someone's backyard, so if you do go down to the end, you then have to turn around and come back up, which sucks. You can bike this, but it's probably not a great idea because there are multiple deadfalls across the trail. This area does not see a lot of maintenance. Which is part of the appeal, if you need to get away.
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| lower F12 |
FIRELANE 13
Firelane 13 is the only firelane that literally dead ends. Not at another trail, not at some road, not at a junction. It just straight up dead ends. Walk down the BPA road to the entrance, then go further downhill in the woods on a nice wide trail, and then it splits. Both F13 and F13a dead end about a quarter of a mile past this split, under two sections of powerlines. There is no reason to take F13a, it has no view. However one of the best views in the entire park is secretly tucked away at the bottom of F13. It looks north along the Tualatin Mtns and you can see the Sauvie Island bridge. It's worth seeing, and chances are you'll have it all to yourself.
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| Viewpoint on the end of F13 |
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| Zoomed a little |
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| Sauvie Island Bridge over the Multnomah Channel |
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| Powerline on F13a, F13 viewpoint is located on the far ridge under the other powerline |
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| F13 |
FIRELANE 14
Firelane 14 does not exist, and literally has no place it could have ever existed.
FIRELANE 15
Should be called firelane 14. Firelane 15 is the northernmost firelane, and is a steep asshole. The top can be accessed via a small shoulder pullout on Skyline drive. It's more or less a powerline access road, but it's nice. It goes down, then up, then down again, then up again to a viewpoint! Then past Kielhorn meadow, then down a knee pain inducing hill, meets the WW, then keeps going down more knee pain hills until it terminates at F12 by a creek. It's wide, well maintained, and would be the nicest firelane if it wasn't so steep. But, it serves as one of the few options this north in the park, so it's nice.
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| Firelane 15's end at F12, note the secret boot path to the left |
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| F15 and the WW junction |
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| Viewpoint on crappy day |
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| The view back to Skyline |
HOLMAN LANE
Not technically a firelane, but looks and functions exactly like one. Starts off in a beautiful meadow and then climbs steeply for half a mile before finally leveling off somewhat and connecting to 53rd ave. There are many secrets on Holman lane, but I'll get to those.
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The Entrance to Holman Lane, it goes up.
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| The Meadow TH for Holman Lane |
WATERLINE TRAIL
Also not technically a Firelane, but also more or less feels like one. It starts on LED and goes uphill, meets the WW, then climbs to a huge, gorgeous meadow next to a water tower. It's very eroded and muddy, and you can't really access it from Skyline unless you live in that area.
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| NO EROSION AT ALL |
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| The big park at the top of the Waterline trail |
BPA ROAD
Stands for Bonneville Power Administration road. The BPA road is a meandering, exposed access road for the powerlines that's clearly still important. It's also the worst thing ever between firelane 13's entrance and the Newton Road junction. The BPA starts out inaccessible from the west at Skyline and must be hiked to. From the WW it undulates, out in the open, past Firelane 12 and Firelane 13. At the Firelane 13 split, there is a great viewpoint. Once you start heading downhill, however, BPA becomes a pain in the knees. It drops like a rock for just under 900 feet in about a mile (most of it coming in the final half mile), switch-backing like mad down the hill. Unless you are one of those weird people who likes self punishment for fitness, I would not recommend this hill unless you are making the BPA-Newton loop. The only saving grace is you get some solid views on the way down.
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| View from the BPA on a bad day. Visible is the mouth of the Wilamette, bordered by the Port of Portland and Sauvie island (Left). The water in the distance is Lake Vancouver. |
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| "hole in the park" |
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| Plaques on rocks slowly being eaten by nature |
NEWTON ROAD
Newton Road starts on Skyline Drive and goes down to Highway 30, merging with the BPA in the final 100 feet. Newton Road is effectively a firelane. The trailhead, a half mile off skyline, is actually very nice. But getting to it is difficult, as it's a very rutted single lane dirt road. Bring an SUV. From here you can access firelane 10 and Newton Road itself. Newton follows a ridge for over a mile, passing the WW at one point, then it too begins to drop so that it can eventually meet with the bottom of the BPA. Unlike the BPA, the descent/climb is more mild and gradual. Newton follows the ridge for a while, then cuts into a river valley to cross a stream. The road at this point is pretty much gone and is now a trail that quickly joins up with the BPA.
The BPA-Newton Rd loop is only 5.5 miles, but if you want a good workout it's probably the toughest 5.5 miles you can make in the park, especially if you go up the BPA instead of down.
SECRETS
At the top of Holman Lane, within view of the green gate, you will see an obvious user path off to the side that follows the ridgetop. On this path is a random bench (In good shape, which for being off trail is weird), an old filled-in well, and a path that eventually follows the ridge all the way back down to the WW. The trail goes through a huge cluster of Oregon Grape (which are prickly) so wear pants. Offers a nice loop option since Holman Lane just sort of terminates.
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| Creepy old well |
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| Completely random bench. Reminder, this is not on an official trail. |
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| The entrance to the secret path (not real secret) at the top of Holman Lane |
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| The bottom of the secret trail on the WW. Look closely, it heads up the hill to the left. |
Between Stone House junction on Balch Creek and the Holman Lane junction at the meadow, you will see a user path heading uphill off the WW. It's steep and tough to follow near the top, but you'll eventually come to an obvious old road grade. Go left and the trail terminates in a bog. Go right (uphill) and you'll pass a creepy lean-to and eventually rejoin Holman Lane at the big 90 degree turn halfway up.
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| Ancient Roadbed |
On some older maps, at the top of firelane 4, you might see what looks like a road connecting LED to the WW, like firelane 4 used to go all the way up. From the top of F4, go north on LED around a turn, and look to your left. You might see the old roadbed (clearly abandoned, no one uses it) heading up to the powerline. Climb this roadbed (Note, it takes a hard switchback near the powerline tower, which might be hard to see thanks to some downed branches) and you end up on top the ridge. You can explore around (it might make a good secret campsite) but there is no access trail (or any semblance of one) going up the ridge to the WW. You can do it, but prepare for a tough .10th of a mile bushwhack.
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| The old access road |
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Middle frame, far right, through trees: LED
Lower left frame: old road
not seen: path up. Road switchbacks at the downed tree. |
At the bottom of Firelane 15 (At the F12 junction), you might see a user path on an old roadgrade across the creek. It has BPA markers on it. Sadly after turning a corner and hopping a creek, the trail becomes more of an idea than a reality.
If you study a map beforehand, you might be aware that the terminus of F12 (in the guy's backyard) is right at the base of the same ridge that F13 terminates at. If you look up, you might even be able to see the powerline clearing where it ends. If you are a loop determined man with long pants and a trekking pole, this ridge is climb-able. After a steep, tough bushwhack scramble to the ridgecrest, there is an easy to follow game trail that goes up the ridge top to the viewpoint at the end of F13. This allows you to walk down F12 and come back up F13 instead of going down and coming back each one individually.
On firelane 10, between the Linnton trail and the detour trail, look for a tree with a cute pot in it (seen above)
At the bottom-ish of F3, a small old road goes up to some old stone foundation of a structure long past
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| Teepee and the stone foundation to nothing |
At the bottom of F9, a very obvious user path goes straight along an old road, marked by two big cement barriers. It looks tempting, but it's folly. After a short distance, the trail drops (I mean DROPS, as in dangerously drops) 200 feet into the creek next to the Linnton Trailhead. It seems like a good way to get back to the Linnton Trail, but trust me, it's not worth it. It was the definition of a mistake.
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| You can see the tracks where I slid down |
At the base of the Waterline Rd, across LED you might see a trail going behind a very old gate, clearly an unused portion of the waterline rd. The trail drops steeply into a creek valley, then climbs back out the other side and ends up on Springville road. Go down the gravel road a small distance, look for a path to the left. Take it, and admire a small campsite on a plateau. There isn't much else to see, so this little excursion isn't really recommended.
At the top of the Cleator Trail, an obvious old roadbed climbs up the ridge, with little to no evidence to human activity for years. It's a powerline access road. At the top of the hill you'll get a mild view of the Lloyd District. To the right the old road continues down a gentle ridge and terminates in the former location of a Powerline tower that is no longer there. You can walk all the way back, but if you bushwhack down a game trail just at the end of the clearing you'll drop right onto the Wildwood. (You can see the WW from the clearing if you look closely, it's just below you)
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| The old road from the Cleator Trail ridge |
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| The mild viewpoint. Mt. Hood just out of frame behind the tree. |
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| The beautiful abandoned road |
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| An old sign on a tree |
Firelane 5 holds two secrets. Right near the top is a old road with an obvious trail to it from both F5 and Saltzman rd (It'll be the first junction you see on either path if you park at the top). It leads to...a clearing of sorts? A good campsite if it was allowed. It's not. From the base of the clearing, a small user path leads past a fallen down lean-to and to another clearing under the powerlines, and a couple of trails that both double back onto F5. The second secret is more useful. On F5, at the first junction, an obvious trail goes north on a ridgetop. It drops and switchbacks down a hill to a creek, where it meets up with the WW. It's not an official trail, but it's clearly used often and can provide a useful shortcut if this is on your route.
Now to finally hike somewhere else.
