Battle Ax Creek shelter is long gone, yer right. Geronimo is steep as hell but gets you up in a hurry.
I remember reading somewhere that the trail up past Scorpion was an old indian route but I don't have any more info. Think it was in that Sullivan wilderness book.
Check this out, a numeric list but this one isn't on it:
A trail east from Battle Creek Shelter shows up on this USGS topo map. Someone has recently done some exploration in this area, as this summer I noticed some flagging in the trees just across Elk Lake Creek from one of the campsites there. I crossed the creek and found a trail of some kind where the flagging was and spent a little time following it, but there was more blowdown than I wanted to deal with and I didn't really know where the trail was headed. Next time I'm in that area I'd like to check it out a little bit more.
From Bill: "The other trail is the Janus Butte trail that connects with Elk Lake Creek near Knob Rock Creek. It goes off my map and it isn't clear where it goes on the map with the Hidden Wilderness book but that map shows more roads in that area than the '02 Clackamas District map.
I suppose that Janus Butte would have been a shortcut between Breitenbush and points north rather than taking Scorpion Mtn. to Elk Lake and then down Elk Lake Creek to Oh Boy and the Collawash road-trail. I will have to put this on my trails to find list."
Interesting. An old hiking book I have mentions the Janus Butte Way Trail, as well as Oh Boy Forest Camp. Also mentions a "weathered old sign at the trail junction" but the book is from '74 so it's long gone! Think the camp is gone too, Terraserver shows a big clearcut in the area. I hope to be out there in a few weeks, I'll check it out and let you guys know.
Shows on this map still: http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=44.8642&;lon=-122.0139&datum=nad27&u=4&layer=DRG100&s=50
You're right, the weathered old sign is gone, although there was a remnant still clinging to the tree at the junction up to a couple of years ago. The segment of the Janus Butte trail from Elk Lake Creek trail down to the creek is still there, though. The FS says the junction is 1.6 miles from the Collawash trailhead, which seems about right. Just watch your odometer and turn left when it gets to 1.6. The trail is faint, but the forest is fairly open at that spot, so if you're really looking for it you'll spot it. It's a little more than halfway between the Pine Cone Creek crossing and Knob Rock Creek, just as the trail begins a gradual descent towards Knob Rock Creek. There's a campsite or two down by Elk Lake Creek.
I wonder if you are looking at the same 1974 book that I am (Don and Roberta Lowe's 70 Hiking Trails in the Northern Cascades). They mention "the junction of the faint Janus Butte and East Fork trails..." At first I thought that this meant that there were two trails at this junction, but looking at other maps I see that the old Janus Butte trail went across the slopes of Janus Butte to connect with the East Fork Way trail near the East Fork of the Collawash.
That's the one! Yes, the same book too. Have you explored the trail? Wondering if it's blazed and how the hell does one cross Elk Lk Creek, that's usually pretty high flow by Autumn....
Funny I've hiked that trail numerous times and never knew about the Janus trail. Looks like it goes thru some real wilderness too, no logging or roads in the area at all, just solid tree cover for many miles. The trail does not show on the 1935 Mt. Hood NF map but does on the '46 one.
Thanks for the input, appreciate it.
All I've done is to follow the trail from the Elk Lake Creek trail down to the creek itself. I don't remember seeing an obvious spot where the trail would have crossed the creek to pick up the trail on the other side. It's been several years since I've been there, so I can't say for sure, but I would guess that the creek at this location is wide and relatively shallow enough so that it can be crossed safely on foot most of the time if you don't mind getting wet. I'd like to explore across the creek one of these days, but just haven't gotten around to it.
The Janus trail shows up on an older USGS topo map. I don't have the actual quad map. What I have is the map insert that was included in the "Oregon's Hidden Wilderness" book. That map is compiled from USGS quads, but it's undated.
Well if this nice weather holds up I hope to camp down there with some friends at the end of October so I'll be sure and check it out, and cross the creek if I can. I did notice that right east of there where the trail gets close to the creek someone has carved on a tree "Camp No. Survey Crew 6", probably before the trail was built because it looks very old and partially overgrown with bark.
Looks like a good place to hide from the Chinese after the invasion of 2025! I'll build a shack out there somewhere.
I hiked up Elk Lake Creek today to the Battle Creek shelter, and went across Elk Lake Creek to check out the flagging over there. Someone has been over there doing a lot of work locating and flagging the abandoned trail which Rob referred to as Trail 563 (map). About 1/8 mile in from the creek crossing there is a metal FS sign on a tree with an arrow pointing to Hawk Mountain and gives a mileage of 12 miles. The sign is in pretty good condition so it couldn't be that old (some rust, not a lot). I followed the trail as far as the first small stream crossing. It's well-flagged and easy to follow. Also noticed some blazes along the way. I don't suppose the trail goes all the way to Hawk Mtn. these days, but I'm real curious to know how far it does go. A funny thing about that sign, though. It had an arrow pointing in the opposite direction to Elk Lake, which is correct except that the mileage said 8 miles. It's only about 4 miles from Battle Creek to Elk Lake on Trail 559, so I don't understand the 8 mile designation.
Now here's something for you trivia buffs. On the way back to my truck I decided to look for old telephone line insulators along the trail. From Battle Creek shelter to the Collawash trailhead (5 miles) I counted 63 insulators plus 8 wires which had held insulators at one time. This really surprised me because I have hiked that trail a couple of dozen times but have only noticed one or two insulators. But when I started looking for them there were lots of them to be found. When I think of all the times that I have walked down that trail wasting my time looking at the creek or the wildflowers along the trail when I could have been looking at insulators instead, boy, do I feel foolish!