Teakettle Spring is a spot where a creek issues forth from the side of the hill on the north end of Benson Plateau in the Columbia River Gorge. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) goes right by it. It is at about 3500 feet in altitude and there is no water for an hour beyond (Ruckle Creek at Hunter Camp) and for well over an hour below.
A few hundred yards before the spring on the PCT, at a switchback, there is a flat spot on the ridge about 10 yards below. I've never seen it marked or named, but I call it Teakettle Spring Camp. I saw it a couple of years ago and this is the first time I camped there. With the low snow this year, there was only patchy snow on the trail in the area, and none above where the PCT first tops out on the northern extension of Benson Plateau. I started at the Herman Creek Trailhead, crossed over the Herman Bridge Trail to the PCT and up from there.
Crossing the bottomlands as you approach Herman Creek Bridge.
Mid-April is the best time to see Herman Creek, here from the bridge that crosses it.
The Herman Bridge trail leading up from the creek is one of the mossiest in a very mossy region.
And here is the campsite
You can see east towards Nick Eaton Ridge, with Mount Defiance barely sticking above
And last but not least, here is Teakettle Spring, about 300 yards past the camp. At this early date, it is going strong enough that you can actually reach in with a cup and get water that isn't collecting in the little pool.
If you want to hear it as well, here you go.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tyrD97l3sQ]