Soap Creek hike

My original plan for today's walk was to begin at Lewisburg Saddle and walk to the top of Dimple Hill and back. By the time I arrived at the Saddle, however, 25 or so cars and who knows how many people were already there (at 8:30 am!). Not wanting to face the hoards of runners, hikers, bikers, etc, I headed down the hill and ended up following Sulphur Springs Road to the gate at FR700. I rarely spend any time in this area but that may change given the great walk we enjoyed today.

The first thing you may notice about the route map is that the route and the roads don't agree. The route was drawn using the topo map and satellite views which seem to be somewhat more accurate. In any event, you'll climb roughly 640 feet in elevation from the parking area to the end of FR 762 which was my destination today.

The walk begins by crossing Soap Creek which flows beneath FR700 via an enormous culvert. The creek was loud and strong today and temps were in the low to mid-30's with overcast skies. The forest road parallels the creek pretty closely for about the first half mile before veering away and starting up the first climb. By bearing right at all the forks, you'll experience moderately steep grades all the way out. FR700 branches off to the left at roughly the three-quarter mile point. If you want a really challenging climb, stay left on FR700--it's a doozy. I'd never explored FR760, however, so I stayed right.

FR760 continues to climb through stands of fairly large trees and many ferns. By continuing uphill you'll eventually cross a smaller stream in a broad ravine and climb up a switchback to a great overlook facing east. Despite the clouds, the ceiling was low enough that I could see the snow-covered Cascades to the east as well as great views of the forest and a big ridge to the south-southeast. I turned right on FR762 and followed it to its conclusion, a deadend that will probably serve as a timber harvest pad sometime in the future.

This area is riddled with unmarked, unmapped, but well traveled trails. The mountain bikers and horse folks probably know were all these extra routes go to and from. I saw several such unofficial trails crossing and running into the roads I walked today. Today's out and back was more than enough for me, though, at approximately 4.1 miles in total.