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  • Abbot Road & Hambone Butte

    I'd like to echo the comments on the excellent essays on the About page - the Abbot Road history is the best I've seen on the subject! I particularly enjoyed the photos - some of the finest meadows in the Mount Hood region are tucked into this area, but still little known and rarely visited.

    The photo of the cliffs as the headwaters of Iron Creek is spectacular - was this taken from Hambone Butte? I've long wondered if there are abanoned trails in this area, given the proximity to the Hambone Springs camp. One shows up on the 1924 and 1927 USGS Mount Hood 30-minute quads, curving away from Hambone Springs camp (not on these maps) to a spring at the eastern headwaters of Iron Creek, southwest of Hambone Butte. I'll have to search for this one next time I'm on Abbot Road!

    These maps also show the alignment of Abbot Road as a trail, from Black Wolf Meadow to The Plaza (where the 30-minute Estacada quad begins - I don't have this one). Is this accurate? Was there a trail that pre-dated the construction of the USFS road? With the road continuing to fall apart in the slide area just west of Hambone Springs, perhaps this will devolve into a trail again, who knows?

    The tidbit about old routes to Salmon Lake are also interested - more to add to my list! Thanks!

    Tom Kloster
    Abbot Road & Hambone Butte
  • Re: Abbot Road & Hambone Butte (#)
  • 4/26/06; 5:05:56 PM ¦ by Donovan
  • Yes, photo taken from Hambone Butte.
    A trail leaves from the delightful Hambone Springs Campground (primitive) on the left before the last site.  The trail beyond on the right goes down to the spring.
    The Hambone Trail is fairly good to the saddle before Hambone Butte.  Beyond this point it is easy to see but very littered, not having been used for forty years.  It connects with the Salmon River Trail at Bighorn Creek.
    The earliest route was like Abbot's, north of and along the divide, the Indian route.  A trail appears to have been built about where the road is around 1905.  The road in the 20's.  The trail can be seen running over the road in places.
    • Re: Abbot Road & Hambone Butte (#)
    • 4/27/06; 9:48:27 AM ¦ by Robert Koscik

    • Any idea when the Hambone area thaws out?  That's pretty  high up...

      I simply MUST go there this season, as my alter-ego's name is Hambone.  Long story.  It's destiny, man.

      P.S. I really like your commentary about gettin' out.  Yes!

    • Re: Abbot Road & Hambone Butte (#)
    • 4/28/06; 10:50:57 AM ¦ by Tom Kloster
    • Thanks for the Hambone details. I've pulled out a fragile USFS topo map that a MHNF old timer named Howard Rondthaler marked up for me in 1983, as the Salmon-Huckleberry boundaries were being drawn up for the 1984 wilderness bill. He was a walking encyclopedia, and basically sketched out all of the abandoned trails in the Salmon-Huck that were still somewhat passable (at the time). He didn't mark the Hambone Trail, but I suspect that was because the lower terminus would be difficult to reach without a bridge over the Salmon. I think he also said that the South Fork Salmon and lower portion of the Salmon Mountain trail never existed, despite being mapped over the years.

      I also worked with him to nail down the exact locations of the Salmon River waterfalls - a group of us visited all but Hideaway Falls in 1983 as a "20th Anniversary" trip commemorating the original naming party that visted in 1963. I remember that he sent a sketch map I had drawn off to the USGS to help in preparing the (then) new 7.5 minute coverage of the area, and was quite interested in the photos from our trip. I've posted most of them on the followiing web pages, if anyone is interested:

      http://www.splintercat.org/SalmonRiver/SalmonRiverMainPage.html

      Look for the link to Oregon Kayaking at the bottom of the main page - there you can read a riveting account of the first few kayak trips down the Salmon in the late 90s. Makes our earlier canyon crawls pale in comparison!

      Tom Kloster
      • Re: Abbot Road & Hambone Butte (#)
      • 4/28/06; 4:29:22 PM ¦ by Donovan
      • I have noticed occaisionally a trail blazed but not "built".  You will find the Hambone Trail to be quite substantial.
      • Re: Abbot Road & Hambone Butte (#)
      • 4/29/06; 6:13:31 PM ¦ by Pete Giordano
      • Tom,

        I've got a picture of Hideway Falls from a hike I took last year. 3 mile bushwack from the Abbott Rd. Nice falls but not nearly as impressive as the Salmon Falls. I'm planning on taking a hike into all the Salmon falls this summer. Maybe I'll see if I can get some GPS points.

        I liked your trip report from your earlier trips to the falls. Good stuff.

        pete
        • Re: Abbot Road & Hambone Butte (#)
        • 4/29/06; 9:32:53 PM ¦ by Tom Kloster
        • I'd love to see that picture of Hideaway Falls, Pete - I've got a copy (somewhere) of a very old b/w image that was labeled "Hideaway Falls" by the USFS, but have never braved the brush to go and see that one. I'm amazed at the bushwhacking that you've done!

          Just got back from a trip into Bridal Veil canyon to photograph the upper falls - a very nice drop! Reminicent of Middle North Falls on Silver Creek - stately and very photogenic.

          On my waterfall "to do" list are several in the Clackamas drainage - near the top of the list are Squaw Creek Falls and an unnamed/unmapped falls below Old Baldy that I spotted several years ago from the rock outcrops along the Douglas Trail (just west of the quarry on the north rim of Eagle Creek).

          I photographed a nice little 40-foot falls on the outlet from Hideaway Lake last year that is located just below the road crossing, and within earshot of the Shellrock Lake trailhead. You've probably seen this one, as well.

          Thanks for the info on Hambone and South Roaring, Donovan - interesting!

          Tom Kloster
          • Re: Abbot Road & Hambone Butte (#)
          • 4/30/06; 8:21:46 AM ¦ by Rob Williams
          • One place you might want to visit (if you haven't already) is Pup Creek Falls on the Clackamas River Trail.  I didn't know it existed and how pretty it was until I actually went into it.  I've done both ends of the Clackamas River Trail, and must say the
            south end is nicer.  The north is pretty barren due to the fire damage.

            I did a little looking for the "Tales of High Clackamas Country", but it appears to be out of print, and none of the bookstores I found have used copies.  I'll try some of the area libraries next. It sounds interesting.....I love all these little tidbits of info and history of the area!  In fact, one of my favorites things on these hikes is to actually see history - Old roads, old buildings, etc.

            I'd love to get out today, but work around the house calls louder.....