I was the first to pull into the Horsetail Falls parking lot Sunday morning. A party of 7 or 8 pulled up in three cars just as I was getting on my way. My plan was to follow the Russ Jolly trail up to the Rock of Ages ridge then come back down the ridge and maybe check out the Arch viewpoint. Here is the obligatory Horsetail Falls shot:

After 20 minutes or so I started peeling my eyes for the start of the Russ Jolly trail. Within about 150 yards I spotted 4 possible starts. Here is the one I randomly picked:

Unfortunately, that led to the West side of the ridge and then nowhere. There was a nice low viewpoint though:

I backtracked to the East of the ridge. There were countless animal trails but seemingly no human one. I stayed off-trail for about an hour, making my way South and following the terrain. Then, finally, I spotted the trail crossing a saddle below (it's right at the center of the photo):

The trail was in very good shape. Here is the Horsetail Creek crossing:

A long-abandoned firepit:

The trail became fainter past the crossing. Soon there was another crossing of a smaller creek, not sure which it is. Not sure either if this log "bridge" was accidental or man-made:

Soon after this crossing the trail vanished altogether. I tried to look for it for a few minutes, then gave up and decided to just follow the terrain. Here is the only reminder of modern civilization I saw on this leg of the trip, a kid's popped balloon caught in a branch:

Finally the sun came out! I was able to orient myself at last and I realized I had veered farther South than I had thought, so I turned East and started straight up the slope:

It was pretty tough going, very steep and tough underbrush at lower elevation. I could swear that every few minutes I was spotting traces of a trail, but it was extremely faint and every time it seemed to go nowhere, so I just continued up the slope. After a good 20 minutes I reached the base of a big rock outcropping:

After much internal debate I decided to climb up the North side. Soon I crossed the faint but unmistakable outline of a trail, which I followed up. By the time I reached the ridge, there was a good 6" of snow on the ground, and in the snow a lot of fresh hiker tracks heading towards the plateau. It might have been the party I had seen in the parking lot; I thought they might be heading to Horsetail Creek Trail and doing the Oneonta Creek Trail loop. I figured it would make a nice hike as well as add a little exercise to my day, so I started following their tracks. And if they were heading to Nesmith Point instead, then it would add yet a bit more exercise, wouldn't it? At any rate, after a couple of miles it became clear they were heading the Horsetail Creek Trail way. I think they took a shortcut across the plateau rather than following the trail, but I didn't have a map so I'm not sure. Here is a small creek emerging from the snow:

Such a cute creek crossing... You would almost expect reindeers and sleigh bells:

There followed a long slog across the plateau. Snowshoes would have been a good idea. Here is a larger creek, I think that might have been Horsetail:

A nice viewpoint, with sunshine peeking through the clouds far in the distance:

We were losing elevation steadily now and the snow was getting thinner. Soon we started down on the Horsetail Creek trail:

After a rather long descent I arrived at the Oneonta Creek crossing. There was a LOT more water than I expected in there, and it was fast:

I went up and down the creek bed looking for a safe crossing spot but I couldn't find any. At this point I am 7 hours into my hike, I am getting a little tired, and turning around is out of the question. I'm here solo, no one knows where I am since I switched routes midway through, and my cell phone is out of range. So my best option appears to be this log that fell across the riverbed. It looks nice and solid but it is angled up rather steeply and, of course, pretty slick since it's been raining on and off the whole day:

It looks about 80 ft long. I start crawling across, very slowly. There is no traction whatsoever and the trunk is slippery as ice, but I am inching my way across and it's going well enough. I'm just afraid I might start cramping; it's been a long day, after all. And then: I start cramping. Badly. First one leg, then the other. So I can't use my legs, and my right shoulder is injured so I'm pushing my entire weight up the darned log, inch by inch, with my left elbow. It takes 45 minutes, but finally I make it across to the other side, and soon after I get started again I see my first sign of the day:

For once I can't say I'm unhappy to be on a big, wide, popular, well-maintained trail... And, not 1/4 mile down from the log crossing... The trail crosses the creek back over to the other side, on this very nice bridge this time:

So I could've saved myself all this trouble by bushwhacking just 1/4 mile down the creekbed... Argh! Anyway the rest of the hike from that point on was uneventful. Here is another obligatory shot of Triple Falls, which had a lot of water in it:

And a shot of Ponytail Falls which rather well echoed my mental clarity at this point in the day:

Stats: 9 1/2 hrs, approx. 12 miles, 3,300 ft

 

Wow! Hey Fredo, I know some tough folks out there but you are vying for the lead position!

Man, that trek in the snow across the top had to be a real workout - even with snowshoes, that's a fair distance given the heavy, wet snow we've had this past few days and without them, well, I'm impressed.

From your pictures, I think you lost the Russ Jolley trail in some blowdown where it takes a hard left and climbs a ridge. It's easy to miss given the downed timber and branches from this winter's storms. I think the route you took was one ridge south of the old trail. That "bridge" was a man-made thing from several decades ago and a very rough and now overgrown trail leads to a small cabin above where it levels out.  I don't know if any effort was ever made to complete a regular route to the ridge above that. Looks like your route worked, more or less.

Anyway, sincere congratulations for getting this done and surviving. You can come hiking with me anytime!

Don

 

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

Fredo,

            I dont know why some people don't build a rudimentary trail to get you down- stream to where the bridge is, or at least install a good sign. I was on a Sierra hike there a few years ago and a few people would not cross the creek. Our leader was aware of the bridge down- stream so we all bush whacked down-stream. Also A few years ago a Father and Son got stuck up there for a night. They did not know about the down-stream crossing either. Search and rescue had to come in and get them.

 

 

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Jim Daly

Very cool to see and read about your trip.  I can really get a sense of all those miles you covered.  Nice work!  And yeah that is a pretty cute creek crossing. :)

Don, the snow was actually not that bad up on the plateau, as long as I kept my boots in the other people's footsteps. As for the last leg of the Russ Jolley trail, I think there must have been a trail going all the way to the ridge at one time, because right past that rock outcropping I connected with what was unmistakably a human trail that led from there up to the ridge. But I also think it was farther South than your map indicates, because my route reached Rock of Ages where the ridge blends into the plateau. Could it have been a different trail altogether?

My position with regard to hiking the Gorge has always been, it's easy to make the wrong turn but it's hard to get lost, so I think I treat nature a little casually at times. The crossing incident was a good reminder for me that you don't have to get lost to get yourself into potential trouble.

 

Nice report Fredo. You're right about that one photo coming right out of a Christmas card!   Yeah the water on that crossing was pretty high!  I understand the sentiment of being "happy to see the wide popular trail" after the adventure you had!  So you never did find the Rock of Ages arc?

I had heard of the Russ Jolly trail wasn't sure where exactly it was.  You've peaked my interest.  Also peaking my interest is the "short cut" from the Rock of Ages trail across to the Oneonta trail, because I have to admit that stretch up to the top of Yeon platteau is pretty unstimulating.

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Jeff - Site Admin

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

I have never heard of the Russ Jolly trail either and I've hiked the Rock odf Ages loop numerous times.  I'm curious if anyone knows who started calling it that and when?

I believe some folks refer to it as the Mindolovich Trail after the mysterious sign on the tree up in there.

slogger:

I have never heard of the Russ Jolly trail either and I've hiked the Rock odf Ages loop numerous times.  I'm curious if anyone knows who started calling it that and when?

All I can say is that Gorge hikers even older than I know it by that name and tell me that it was Mr. Jolley who is credited as its builder. I will be going up there in two weeks and anyone interested is invited. My plan is to find the two old cabins, so some clean-up work and return via Oneonta Creek.

Anybody interested?

Don

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

Good to hear the trail has a name.
The Horsetail creek valley is a fascinating secluded forest of tall fir, cedar, hemlock and ground cover plants such as Oxalis.
An old sign nailed to a tree a short distance past the old campsite is nearly illegible and half covered in moss, but looks like it is composed of about 8 letters.
The entire lower trail to the upper campsite is a nice Spring hike once the snow is gone and plants leaf out. The upper campsite is used yearly. The trail gets a bit thin beyond the old sign. From the old sign on the tree continue east a very short distance in a small sunny lightly forested flat area, then angle up left onto a minor sub-ridge using a faint deer track. Follow this minor ridgelette directly up using the deer track till it merges with the ROA at about 2000' just below a small rock outcrop on the ROA trail.
Locating the old cabins sounds like a great adventure!

Hi Fredo,
Nice hike description, and great photos! I did the same route - minus the Russ Jolly trail - in early May. Beautiful country up there! We had an (apparently) almost identical snow cover then (a month later) as you had (it's a great year if you like snow...!), especially seeing your footprints/tracks at the plateau creek crossing, and at the start of the descent into Oneonta Creek valley on Horsetail Creek trail. We also saw no reindeer.
- Peter