The Two Lost Firelanes of Forest Park

So last post I went into massive detail about Forest Park, and I ended it with "Now to finally hike somewhere else."Yeah, so, about that. Either Forest Park has simply ENCHANTED ME, or I'm an OCD nutjob who needs to explore every possible nook and cranny. (Hint: it's the latter)

In my research for Forest Park in the past few months, I tried to find out some history. Basic history was easy. Used to be a planned development, plans fell through, the park was bought by the city piece by piece thanks to the efforts of certain conservationists. That wasn't the history that interested me. I wanted the trail history. It was tough to find a definite reason for the existence of the Firelanes outside a vague mention of a large fire in 1951. On top of that, why do some not exist? (Namely 6,11,& 14, and what the hell is up with 8). One book kept getting mentioned from the small snippets I could gather. One City's Wilderness, Portland's Forest Park, by Marcy Cottrell Houle.

I went to Powells and managed to find it, even though it's out of print (it was published in the late 80's). I found a single copy tucked away on a bottom shelf for 6 bucks. On top of that, it was Autographed!

The Autograph reads:
Dec 1991:
To Fran,
Happy Hiking!
Marcy Cottrell Houle.

So either Fran is dead or shamelessly gives away books even when the author signs it for you.

The book brought me lots of interesting facts about the park, and the trees and animals who live there. It's an interesting snapshot of a park from 20 years ago. For one thing, the Wildwood trail only existed to Germantown road. the upper reaches were untouched outside the firelanes and BPA road. So between '87 and now, the Wildwood from Newberry rd to Germantown road was built. The book even came with a map in the back! And that was when I saw it.

FIRELANE 14?!?! WHAT? WHAT? WHAT

If you recall in my last post, this is all I had to say about Firelane 14:
"Firelane 14 does not exist, and literally has no place it could have ever existed."Screw you, book. Proving me wrong. But this actually answered three big questions I had.
1. Did these 3 firelanes exist, or did they not get past the planning phase?
2. Did Firelane 14 exist specifically, and where?
3. What the hell was that side path I noticed last time?

I actually already explored F14. It was the side path I noticed at the bottom of Firelane 15 and 12 with the survey marker. The trail that "turns a corner and hops a creek", then basically vanishes. Well, now I know why. It was Firelane 14, and F14 basically just terminates on a small plateau. Not enough reason to go back out and see for myself, but now I have an answer.

The "entrance" to F14. It's the faint path on the left, over the creek. 

On F14

F14 in April. Already basically vanished undergrowth

Something else got me out there again. And this was far more interesting. I was studying my google map with "Terrain" view turned on, and I noticed a thing.

This is just a hair north of the F12 junction on the BPA road. Could this be the elusive Firelane 11?

So I was on my way. It's amazing how different FP is in spring compared to winter. A month and a half ago, this area was a pristine eerie mystical place. Now it's a buggy, humid mess. Fall/Winter is definitely when to hike FP. It didn't help I had long pants on because I knew I'd be offroading. I re-explored F14 (It's pretty lame, to be honest. It was abandoned long ago and it's impossible to tell where it ended). I can see why F14 was abandoned. It doesn't go anywhere, and it's really short. There wouldn't be much reason to keep it maintained when it has nothing to offer.

I got up to the BPA road and began my search. Then I saw the faintest hint of a hole in the brush, and I could see a flat-grade path through the trees. If you have no idea this exists, you'd never find it. I was lucky I did find it. But find it I did. And it was glorious.

The "Entrance" to F11. It's that shadowy hole on the right side. Yeah. 

Once I got past the brushy entrance, it was clear I'd found something. The old road-grade is plainly obvious, even without a hint of a boot trail. I can't say for sure if it is indeed the lost Firelane 11, but judging from the location on the map (Between 10 & 12) and the general feel of the road, I'm going to say with 99% certainly it is F11. It has the unmistakable air of a classic firelane. The road travels gently down a ridgeline, and you can see old mounds of dirt that where obviously shoveled away to make a path. The ridge goes into a fairly open area of Forest park that offers no other types of foot traffic, between the BPA and Newton road ridges. I have no idea how long this road has been abandoned (if it wasn't on a map from 1987 then likely well before then), but exploring it felt magical, like I'd stumbled on an old secret mayan temple road. It was at least neat to consider the mild history.

At some point someone decided this Firelane wasn't worth the upkeep. It's strange, because it's significantly longer than F14 and really nice. It doesn't offer a view, or a connection to anything, but it is still worth a hike. The lane becomes less and less visible the further to go. For about a half mile, it's pretty obvious where the old lane was and following it is easy. Then the lane sort of dissipates, its fate long forgotten, but an obvious game trail continues down the ridge. Eventually, near the bottom, it vanishes entirely. I only pushed on because I knew I'd hit the Newton Road at the bottom. The final 10th of a mile was a complete no-trail at all bushwhack. If I go back, I'd turn around well before I got to this point. So that was it. I discovered an explored a lost secret of Forest Park. I don't even think it's outrageous for me to assume I have been the only person on that trail for quite some time.

I didn't take any pictures of F11 because I was 1. Too enthralled with my discovery and 2. Dumb. I kept expecting to come back up and do it then until I ended up at the bottom.

I had to climb up the BPA road to get back home, which really ruined everything. But at least I found some answers.