Henderson Gulch and Ryan Creek

McKay Community Forest

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I've been waiting for things to dry out to make another foray into the southern reaches of the McKay Community Forest, this time all the way to the southern edge of the property. On the previous excursion, I only got a little way along the creek and a couple small climbs. It's not end of the summer dry, but there's a distinct containment of the wet areas these days. I decided I have waited long enough and headed to the Northridge parking area beside what is still the only officially open trails in the forest.

00: trail starts and a sign — Those trails that are officially open and signed are mapped at the kiosk next to the area rules.

My first goal of the day was to cross Henderson Gulch and get high on the plateau between it and Ryan Creek. I headed for the Perimeter Trail and Triple C Trail as the most efficient way to get there. That it isn't yet dry showed up early on the road section of the Perimeter Trail as there are several spots of mud, with deep prints and bike tracks showing, that extend completely across making travel difficult without muck boots. The already wide road is widening still with people going a little further around the edge.

01: very wet spot — A minor lake along the road that is Perimeter Trail.

02: tree lined primative road — Most of the Perimeter Trail is much nicer.

03: stalk or purple — Rough hedgenettles are out and blooming.

04: across trees — A little bit of view across Henderson Gulch.

Triple C was much nicer, but it is a little steep and thus has plenty of place for the water to go. I wound my way down its Switchy route.

06: trail among trees — There is a distinct change from deep red surroundings to green surroundings on the way down Triple C Trail.

At the bottom, the solid seeming tree bridge still crosses Bob Hill Gulch to the unknown, at least according to the map at the start. Since I've spent some time trying to map those unknown spaces, there are some clues available. I may have missed mapping some of the most important details, the ones that inspire the sign at the natural bridge.

08: sign by trail — "Trail use not advised" says the sign, attempting to discourage progress of the casual hiker into the unopen areas.

09: water and riparian growth — Nice flow under the muddy tree bridge in Bob Hill Gulch.

On the far side, a bit of old logging road follows along the side of the gulch and creek. Its wide expanse still sits without much growth and like the one above, it doesn't drain very well. There are more mud obstacles on the way. I stopped to listen to the birds, which seemed numerous.

10: old roads — Choices on the far side. By the plan, the one on the right will remain road and accessible, but the one on the left will be removed.

I took the turn right off the road and onto trail, certain I was heading for the living tree half bridge with its living tree barriers to use. It is one of those details it might be good to try to map.

13: tree crossing a narrow but deep gap — There it is, the living tree half bridge with its living tree barriers. Today, there is also a narrow, mildly sloped board, the only thing touching both sides of the gap.

14: bits of living wood — Standing on the tree on my side and looking down the gap of Henderson Gulch. The water is surely only 8-10 feet down, just far enough to be a bit of trouble.

I wasn't having anything to do with the board I found bridging the gap. Only slightly wider than my shoe, I suppose it could be considered a legitimate balance beam, if it were square. It slants off to the side. I didn't even test it to see how far that narrow thing bends under my weight. There's probably someone that bikes right across it. I hugged the barriers. On the far side, I took the right for the lesser used trail. I worked hard at not stepping on banana slugs that were settled halfway down into the mud of the trail.

15: tall leafy trees — Extremely tall alder with another canopy of cascara below marks the riparian area.

16: middling visible trail — Thin trail beside them.

The trail turns suddenly and steeply upward. The dirt shows where people have slipped, but my shoes stayed where I put them. This is one of the climbs I've done. Then, I was disappointed at the top, with the green turning to deep red and then finding an open ridge choked with pampas grass. It's still there, but it turns out it doesn't last long. The far end is getting shaded out by the forest regrowing and then it yields to trees.

18: left a trace — Yes, bears do live here. They don't entirely practice "leave no trace".

20: road and trees and flowers — Old road running through young trees and scattered with patches of monkeyflowers.

21: yellow flower — Coastal monkeyflower, part of a few patches on the road.

22: green and trees and ribbons — Sometimes there's orange ribbons on routes that follow trails in the plan.

I decided to jog to the left to check out one of the minor trails I'd seen in the Strava heatmap along the section of ridge. I passed a poorly hidden plastic rake on the way and found myself winding through a dreary forest on a light track. The result of a selfish trail builder. "I want a trail here," says the selfish trail builder. Perhaps they try to justify it as not selfish because, "Other people will like having trail here too." Implied, but they're probably ignorant of these aspects, is, "I don't need to consult with a hydrologist or biologist or archeologist or any of the historic or current stakeholders because I know so much better than anyone else."

23: thin trees — The chance to wind through a dreary, crowded, young forest in three extra ways doesn't really justify making more work for the real trail builders later.

24: route choices — There's already route choices to be had along those in the plan.

I wound my way further along the wide ridge top in an easy stroll.

25: white flowers — Some fine striping on the redwood sorrel.

26: old track lined with green — Easy stroll on old road.

27: pink stars — Western starflowers are getting quite thick.

28: pink flower — The nicest of the Andrew's clintonia was hiding away in the ferns.

I passed the fenced in water tank of the local Services District and got to thinking how I wanted to get down to Ryan Creek. The roads near the tank are weatherized with big rocks, making a rough and broken cobblestone surface. After turning down at a junction, it smoothed out to dirt again.

30: tree lined dirt — More young trees along an old road.

My chosen route is usually connected to the lower roads by a section of road in the Ryan Creek Conservation Easement (Green Diamond Resource Company), but I was determined to take the once road and future multi-use trail that stays in the community forest. In the time between, it hasn't been much of anything. I could see where the road goes, choked with deadfall. There's a little bit of use where the water flows off the saddle a few feet lower. I followed the use, which soon transfers to the old road bed and then scrambles down along it. Orange ribbons sort of mark the way. The only real challenge was a huge fallen tree of the branching, deciduous sort that required getting around and the thick growing path of a dry stream, both near the bottom. Otherwise, long sleeves and trousers kept the brush at bay.

This is a different, not troublesome, downed tree along a section of path that is actually visible on the rarely used trail.

33: showy flower — A most perfect iris along the little used stretch.

36: unmarked trail — The unmarked bottom end of the trail: what to look for if you'd like to take it from below.

That short section had been difficult, so it was nice to be out on a well used track once more.

37: trail in trees — The nice trail I skipped to push brush and scramble around a big tree.

38: sunnier trees — My way, downhill, is a bit sunnier.

39: project signs — Odd spot for some project signs, but there's recognition of the Ryan Creek Conservation Easement and McKay Community Forest phase 2.

The well used road doesn't last long before turning to the easement once more. Old road and planned multi-use trail turns to follow beside Ryan Creek, and that was my route back. I would like to stay down by the creek for the length back to Henderson Gulch, but having seen how wet things were above made me hesitate about traveling old road below. Also, I'm not entirely sure it is currently passable in the middle. The ends get use, but the middle does not. At least the first part of trail is getting a lot more use than the previous bit of planned trail.

42: green trail — The old road prism does have obvious trail down it.

Early on, I found quite the fortuitous log bridge, even appearing to be flattened for easier walking. How did that get there? It made for a much nicer route than otherwise.

43: two logs crossing a gully — One of a couple fortuitous bridges.

44: creek below — One good look at Ryan Creek.

I had a look in a couple spots the trail might continue beside the creek. Maybe the second one is it? I know the lower section gets some very swampy areas and the part I had just walked had necessary bridges. I decided to keep to the better used track and climb back up.

46: tiny white flowers — Little western bittercress taking over the trail.

A varied thrush was singing its notes and I've been wanting to record some. I decided to give it a try.

47: trail obscured by big leaves of arctic butterbur — Up through much green.

48: spidery yellow flowers — Coastal miterwort with some spidery flowers almost finished.

At the top, the trail was a little obscured by a leaning alder tree, so it might be hard to find from that end. I was on good trail again and expecting to stay on good or familiar trail all the way back.

50: looks like cones — The leaning tree makes the red alder "cones" so easy to see.

51: papery white flowers — Some pretty perfect thimbleberry flowers.

53: old cut from a log — Some random rounds of big trees still sit here.

55: deep cut in the ground — A deep road cut at the top of the other climb I did long ago, so this trail is familiar indeed.

There had been orange flagging marked "truck trail" as well as the unmarked orange trail markers. I followed the creek trail most the way, but then decided to follow these flags across Henderson Gulch. Surprisingly, there was some use to that route and it came to another bridge of sorts. This one felt very rotten as I stepped carefully across it.

56: huge tree — One quite large redwood across Ryan Creek. There was also a great Sitka spruce beside the truck trail markers.

58: things crossing a narrow, deep divide — Many things bridge Henderson Gulch.

So that was a nice find, even if it did require a bit more pushing brush. I decided to head up via Bob Hill Gulch Trail. I might as well complete the largest circuit of officially open trail.