Upper Wenaha River Trail

After hiking the Lower Wenaha River Trail back in 2009, the time had come to try the upper end. The goal was to get at least as far as a place called the Wenaha River Forks, where a number of major tributaries join the Wenaha River. It was not to be.

The trailhead is at Timothy Springs in the Umatilla National Forest. There were many mosquitoes here, but they decreased as I went downhill.

The trail at first was well marked and after a couple of miles I crossed the young Wenaha River (a local I met near here insisted that this was not the Wenaha River and that the map was wrong)

Father down the trail climbed a bit above the river

After 4 miles I reached Milk Creek and fortunately there was a huge log across it just below the trail, though it would not have been hard to ford

After Milk Creek, the trail condition got worse. There was extensive areas of heavy brush like this for the next mile.

Later, after Trapper Creek, the trail got better for a while, but then I hit a washout where the creek was against a steep slope and had washed away the trail below. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the washout. I saw no way across this so turned back and camped at a nice spot next to Milk Creek.

The next morning it was two hours back to the trailhead.