The Shellrock Mtn off I-84...

Another scouting mission for a longer hike I've planned for 2008. I needed to know if the ridge south beyond the summit of Shellrock Mtn lent itself to a loop hike with either Wyeth or Mt Defiance. Looks like I'm good to go although icy conditions prevented me from going back as far as I wanted.

I thought locating a place to park and finding the trailhead would be difficult as I read a couple of articles giving conflicting mile marker information about where to park. Turned out to be very easy. If I may be so bold, here's the definitive set of directions. Go east on I-84 going around Shellrock Mtn until the retaining wall ends at which time you need to prepare to pull onto the fairly broad shoulder. The best place to park is at the west end of the guardrail that starts up about a 1/4 mile beyond the end of the retaining wall. There'll be a sign proclaiming this property to be owned by Oregon DOT, so I guess it belongs to us. Go over the guardrail and follow it east for three hundred feet or so - look off to the right for the trail heading up the hill. I'm not sure what the poison oak status is but I expect there is some.

Looking east from near the end of the retaining wall, park at the start of the guardrail where the little red truck is.



Shellrock Mtn has enough interesting parts to make it an attractive destination of which the 19th century wagon road is most notable. Has distinctive geology as seen here.

The trail to the viewless summit can be broken into 3 parts. The lower part is up a talus slope much like the Elevator Shaft only the trail is in better condition, better graded, and would be suitable for most hikers. The second part beyond the talus is a bit harder to follow but nicely graded and would be suitable for those with an eye for the trail. The third part to the summit is for adventure hikers comfortable with making their own way through light brush and a trail that is sometimes there and sometimes not. This top part has some easily avoided exposure but is a very steep hike up a narrow ridge.

First part with the wagon road section, just up from the freeway.



Top of the talus slope. The switchbacks on this first part take full advantage of the width of the slope to make for a nice grade.



A section of the trail beyond the talus slope, the trail runs down the center of the photo. There is some blowdown to negotiate.



The second segment ends at what might have been a weather station on a rock outcropping with a view. On a better day probably pretty nice, not much to see on this day. No doubt  had to be above 3000' feet to get any sunshine this day in this part of the gorge. There are 'DANGER' signs, cabling  and some mild exposure at this abandoned station.



From the abandoned weather station the trail goes rustic with some widely spaced ribbons to mark the way. The ground was frozen and had a dusting of snow making it quite slick. There are some cliffs along this part but easy to avoid. Quite steep until near the summit. Got the rock cairn. I went a bit south beyond the summit to scout the connector to the ridge south.



I backtracked out and once on the wagon road I followed it east to it's terminus at a rock slide and then west until I saw no more existing segments. The section used by the trail looks to be in the best shape of the 4-5 segments I saw.

BTW, I'll make an attempt to turn this report into a Field Guide entry.

< 4 miles total, ~2000' vertical.

Track map

If you hiked this today (as opposed to just having the chance to post it today) it's kind of amazing that if measured in a straight line , we probably didn't hike that many miles apart  (maybe a guess of 15 or 20) today. But it looks like two completely different worlds.. There wasn't a cloud in the sky near Mt Hood...

I just read your report, beautiful photos by the way, yes, the Gorge was socked in today - an inversion or some such thing. I was thinking how much sun people at elevation were getting while I slogged it out in the mist and an east wind.

--Paul

Cool pics there -- the old wagon road along the base is a classic.  The Shellrock ridge is quite doable as a loop out of Wyeth -- although I don't recommend following the powerline trail which traverses right across the rockfields around the base of Shellrock.  The old powerline trail is has a couple of metal ladders along the way for maintenance workers to get up and down rock bands which are interesting, but is also wiped out in sections by rock slides & extremely loose (found a dead deer up there).  It's safer & faster (despite the elevation loss/regain) to drop down to I-84 and traverse around the base and climb back up to the wagon road and then take the trail up to the USGS survey marker.  (Beware poison oak all over Shellrock.)  From the cairn on Shellrock's summit, head down the ridge and continue on up. It's steep in couple spots, but relatively easy thrashing until you get much higher up.  Several short stretches of thick 'schwacking around the rockfields high up on the Wyeth ridge;  I'd recommend staying in the rockfields as much as you can.  In one spot the crest of the ridge is extremely thrashy but one can avoid it by staying low & climber's left in the open talus.  Terrific 180-degree views and a rocky ridge high up just before the ridge reaches the top of the forested plateau.  At the top bear right into the trees and keep traversing to pick up the Wyeth trail for the descent.

Thanks for the info - looks like it's gonna be fun...

--Paul

That'll make a great Field Guide entry since there is not a lot of great information out on the web right now on Shellrock.  Looks like Shellrock and Devil's Rest can compete for 'least attractive summit in the Gorge'.   Boy Dean you sure keep busy!  EDIT:  Oops!  I meant Paul!  sorry about that.

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Jeff - Site Admin

Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
S. Chapman

Excellent report and photos - 'bout time someone posted a Shellrock Mt. report! Agreed, too, it probably wins the "least attractive summit" prize.

BTW, the wagon road continues to the east and I tracked it a couple of years ago beyond the rock slide after coming back down from climbing the mountain. (The wagon road was built in1876.) Here's a map of where the road goes.  It's amazingly steep in a few spots and must have been a hard pull for the horses or oxen. Rock slides have obliterated some of it around the point or perhaps wooden trestles were used to get around the point and they've simply decayed away over the years. 

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"If I had known I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself" - anon

That wagon road intrigues me. I think there's another piece of it on McCall Point.

How's the old road to walk on?  Is the waterfall on the map visible from the road?  What's in the "Old Wagon Road Historical Area"?

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What do you suppose is around that next bend?

It's possible to do a bit of a somewhat scrambly/thrashy loop from the main Shellrock trailhead east over into the Old Wagon Rd area visiting a few waterfalls along the way:

Lower Summit Falls:
From the same parking area off of I-84, one can head east along the Old Columbia River Hwy, then follow a faint deer trail up the east side of the drainage from Summit Creek.  Scramble and thrash your way up to a small fan falls (20-30' drop).  This waterfall is not marked on the USGS.

Lindsey Falls:
Back out at the mouth of the drainage of Summit Creek, locate a very short stretch of slightly sketchy trail (east side of the creek) that gets you up behind a large area blasted out to prevent rockfall onto I-84.  Continue eastward and desend a bit to get back on the Old Columbia River Hwy.  Follow the highway eastward until you reach a four-way junction.  Bear right/south here up to the access road under the powerlines.  Follow the powerline trail left/east until you get to the top of the rise and then locate an old wagon road heading south into the woods.  Follow south until you see a descending route dropping down into the drainage of Lindsey Creek.  Follow the creek south, staying on the west side -- bit thrashy/scrambly but not bad;  one sketchy log crossing -- up to impressive Lindsey Falls.

Upper Summit Creek Falls:
Head back to the powerline trail and continue west to the last tower before Summit Creek (the powerline route cuts south into the woods briefly).  Bear left up over a rise to reach Summit Creek.  Follow the creek upstream -- you may need to cross a couple of times to reach Upper Summit Creek Falls - another 20-30' drop (this is the falls marked on the USGS -- note it's well south of the powerline). 

Backbone:
Return to the where the powerline trail crosses the creek and continue on west.  A short distance ahead the trail used to traverse below the Backbone Ridge to the next tower on the powerline route.  The trail has been totally washed out here and would be dangerous to cross.  Instead, thrash upwards and left through the trees wherever is easiest heading up to the highpoint above the tower marked as "Backbone" on the USGS -- it's a narrow exposed ridge and a good viewpoint of the area.  Head south down the ridge and bear right/west, scrambling over another ridge to enter the rockfield and pickup the main Shellrock Mtn trail.  Descend to the trailhead and your car.

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Lower Lindsey Falls:
As an extra bonus you can also visit Lower Lindsey Falls -- it's tricky to get near the waterfall and requires a lot of poison oak thrashing from the Old Wagon Rd area;  this one's easier to reach from I-84 and as you're heading east anyhow from Shellrock...   Continue east about 1-2mi from the Shellrock parkign area and park in a large pullout juts on the east side of Lindsey Creek.  Make your way down to the creek, cross and head up a user/deer trail on the far side up a steep bank for a view of the falls.  The creek drops through a narrow gorge here with one large drop and several subsidiary cataracts.  Return the way you came.