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We were out this way on November 26, 2011. For getting there and trail report
information,
click HERE.
The skinny mound in the center is Munra Point. Table Mountain is to the right and
behind it. It doesn't look like it from this picture but to get to where I'm standing
you have to walk along a fairly exposed ridge spine. It's not terribly risky for
sure footed folks... but the exposure and risk is going to increase as you
continue to travel South.
Just before you get to Munra Point you will have to go up a narrow, steep rocky
feature called "The Chimney". If you've ever been on a rock wall in a climbing
gym, you'll have no problem here. Plenty of good hand holds and foot holds..
but of course you want to take your time because any slip could cause serious
injury. This is not a hike for children or dogs, IMHO.
If you or someone in your party is concerned, there is a solid tree at the top of the
pitch were you can sling a rope around to climb down on and then recover from the
bottom. Personally, I think anyone who's skilled in rope travel is more than
skilled enough to make it up The Chimney without one, but for your risk adverse
companions, a rope might provide needed comfort.
It was a warm (80's), clear, sunny day today so lots of nice views including this
one of Mount Adams. Rain for the next 4 days (at least) so hitting the trails today
was pretty much mandatory for unemployed social burdens like me.
Here's a better picture of the exposed spine you have to hike across. It's certainly
not death-defying (that comes later...) but this 1/2 mile or so segment is definitely
not for the Eagle Creek Yuppie crowd.
Here's another look at the ridge.. this one taken from Munra Point looking towards
where I was standing (close to the forest) when I took the previous picture.
For the next several miles you'll coast along a ridge at about 2,000' elevation.
The severity of a fall in the forest is about the same as it is out here in the
open.
Here's a nice shot of Munra Point.
Another look at the ridge spine. That's Munra Point off in the distance.
A nice view of Hamilton Mountain.
There's still lots of colorful weeds out here....
Once you get past the treeline there really isn't much in the way of views. That's
why there are no more pictures... I went another 5 or so miles South, past Munra
Point. I think I got within a couple of miles at the most from the Wilderness
area cutoff to Tanner Creek.
A Guy (no pun intended) on Portland Hikers posted this really good (clickable) map that
illustrates the Munra/Tanner loop hike. Unfortunately, I only got as far as J1
(I think..). J1 is a STEEP, exposed cliff with no safe (or even an unsafe) descent
route that I could see. Someone said you could swing off to the west (right) and
"easily" get to J2. I looked all over and saw no "easy" routes left or right.
I did find a bushwhack that looked promising but it was VERY steep, VERY exposed
and the soil I was traversing as VERY loose. I knocked a few rocks loose and they
bounced forever before hitting bottom. If I fell (a distinct possibility) it would
have been a looooong time before anyone found me. I dunno... I spent at least an
hour out there, not wanting to give up and turn back and I just saw no reasonable
trail or even a reasonable bushwhack to get me where I wanted to go. So....
reluctantly turned around and went back the way I came.
One option might be to do the Tanner hike first and see if getting past J2 and J1 is
more obvious from that direction. You're at about 2,400' of elevation out there and
a fall would likely result in a 2,400' spill.
The trail along the 2,000' elevation ridge is fairly clear although I did lose it a
couple of times and had to do a scramble to get back on the spine. I think a lot
of people must get confused because there are many scramble trails... some good,
some not so good. And some that are downright dangerous and foolhardy to take.
Traveling south to north, the trail is a lot easier to follow.
I think a lot of people must turn back just before J1 because the trail became a
lot more faint after that.
The GPS track for as far as I got is
HERE.
Please ignore the spurious GPS vector into outer space. My DeLorme PN60 has been
"disappointing" from day one. I have learned to adjust to it's quirks and unreliabilty
but I would definitely not want to stake my life on it. If you're thinking about
buying a DeLorme GPS I would STRONGLY advise against doing so. *HIGHLY* inaccurate
doesn't even begin to describe this expensive but frustratingly poor quality piece
of junk.
UPDATE: Contacted DeLorme about the continuing reliability/inaccuracy problems
I've been having with their $400 PN-60 GPS. After sending them the requested
information I heard nothing for over two weeks. When I inquired what was going
on, here's the response I received:
Thank you for your reply. I apologize for the delay.
The two period which I identified as erratic were time stamped roughly (12:01:08 -
12:08:29) & (1:44:34 - 1:45:26).
First I want to note, that we choose to show erratic points in the data rather than
filter the data. We feel that this shows you the true report of what the device is
reading including outliers and erratic points. Many producers perform this processing
in the device so as to give the illusion that there are no errors, when in reality
they have just been removed by an algorithm. After collection the end user can
perform their own edits to the data to get what they are looking for.
That being said the device appears to have followed the route fairly closely
(compared to the Portland Hikers image from the website link). In total it appears
to experience about 8 minutes of irregular posting out of a track of about 8 hours
10 minutes. To put this in perspective, roughly 1.6 % of the track was erroneous.
This is a fairly small percentage of statistical outliers.
As to why is was erroneous, there are a number of factors. It can be something as
small as blocking the signal with your body, wearing it on a belt, or something as
big as a solar flare. There is not a way to specifically identify the cause for this
case particularly.
- DeLorme Support
Basically, DeLorme is telling people if they want a reliable GPS, go buy a Garmin.
1.6% of the data this GPS displayed was totally bogus but DeLorme thinks this is
a "very small amount" and is a quite acceptable error rate. And they intentionally
chose to display totally bogus data, no matter how high the eror rate is.
The GPS on my 2000 Mercedes has worked PERFECTLY for 12 years... and is ALWAYS
within a few feet of my actual location (whereas this DeLorme has displayed me
as being in the middle of the Columbia River on more than one occasion).
In this economy, it's amazing that a company could have such little regard for quality
or accuracy... especially since an inaccurate GPS really isn't worth much!
As you can see from the Munra Point pictures (the location where this GPS decided to
go stupid), it was a gorgeous, bluebird day. Not a cloud or a tree in sight. The
GPS was on a lanyard around my neck, as it always is. If the DeLorme PN-60 GPS
will not function properly under these *IDEAL* conditions, then it will not
operate reliably anywhere!
Most of my friends have a GPS. Almost all Mazamas carry one. They almost
universally carry Garmins and I have yet to hear a single complaint from
anyone about their Garmin. I have yet to meet anyone who owns a DeLorme
and/or from anyone who has ever had anything good to say about DeLorme
products.
I bought because DeLorme is a USA company and I prefer to support American businesses.
Also, with the DeLorme, the GPS works out-of-the-box without having to purchase
additional maps. However... DeLorme has proven to be a company that manufactures
a poor quality device. Their based-in-the-USA support is mediocre at best. They
are slow to respond to support issues and frequently never respond. DeLorme
support has yet to actually fix anything... usually I get a reply similar to the
one posted above: "The inaccuracy/errors/failures you are seeing with your PN-60
are normal and well within our acceptable failure rate specs". If my experience with
DeLorme is typical, there is obviously very little incentive for you to buy a
DeLorme product since they are likely to be out of business before long anyway.
Buyer beware!
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