n46 w122 -- Wind River
Ward Cunningham
Steven Newton
September 3, 2000
GOAL
This confluence is in the Wind River
section of the Gifford Pinchot National
Forest. It is sixteen miles southeast of Mount Saint Helens, famous
for the 1980 eruption the resulted in nearly 150 square miles of forest
blown over or left dead and standing and a column of ash that drifted downwind
over eastern Washington and beyond.
TRIP
Our mounts for the journey were to be a 4wd Jeep Wrangler and a pair of
mountain bikes and good old hiking boots.
Here is the route:
From Carson, Washington take Wind River Road North. Drive 13 miles.
Pass Carson National Fish Hatchery. Bear right on Meadow Creek road. Drive
9.4 miles. (1 mile short of Oldman Pass) Turn left on NFD 31. Drive 2.2
miles. Left on NFD 3107. Drive 0.8 miles. Right to continue on NFD 3107.
Drive 0.7 miles. Bear right first unimproved road (before hairpin left
turn). Drive 300 yards. Head northwest. Walk 25 yards.
We left Portland mid morning and followed Washington route 14 along
the Columbia River to Carson, Washington. There we headed north the Wind
River Highway. Once in the National Forest we detoured to a 1500' high
viewpoint Bunker Hill (n45 49.318' w121 56.175') where we could see the
Wind
River Canopy Crane Research Facility.
DISCOVERY
A forest ranger we spoke to by telephone warned us that NFD 3107 would
be gated (the gate is at n46 0.610' w121 59.128') as it is the entry point
to a Disabled
Hunting area. This is the outdoors equivalent of a handicap parking
area. We pushed on with our mountain bikes for the last two miles which
happened to be almost all down hill.
The confluence is located in second growth forest at an elevation of
3100', within sight of the old logging road that defines the boundary between
younger recently cut trees and 30- year old trees.
EXPERIENCE
The Pacific Northwest in September can mean rain, but we hadn't actually
experienced any until arriving at the confluence. The forest grew dark
as the clouds thickened. We found ourselves shooting 400 speed film with
the camera wide open and braced against vibration. The ride back out to
the jeep the sky started to rain and then pelt us with BB-sized hail.
  
See also the official posting of this page.
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