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Tackling trail erosion along river canyons

By Kate Ramsayer / The Bulletin

Published: April 24. 2009 4:00AM PST

CROOKED RIVER RANCH —

The trails that anglers have hiked for decades cut straight down the canyon wall, from the plateau of Crooked River Ranch to the Crooked River below, narrow dirt paths skirting boulders, sagebrush and wildflowers.

“I’ve watched the number of trails increase over time,” said John Schubert, a trails specialist with the U.S. Forest Service who has been visiting the area for the past 20 years.

But the steep paths aren’t safe, said Molly Brown, field manager with the Bureau of Land Management. And when storm runoff rushes down the canyon walls, the trails can turn into channels that erode the slopes leading to the federally designated Wild and Scenic River.

“Our hydrologist was concerned about the effect to the watershed (because) people were making their own way down to the river,” Brown said.

So to help prevent erosion, as well as to give people a safer way to explore the gorges carved by both the Deschutes and Crooked rivers, the BLM, along with other agencies and organizations, is building eight miles of new open-to-the-public trails at Crooked River Ranch.

“There’s a lot of different things going on, just to try to connect people with their backyard,” Brown said.

Work progressing

Last fall, with trail-building guidance from Schubert and the Forest Service, crews started work on the Otter Bench Trail system along the Crooked River and the Scout Camp Trail to the Deschutes River. They’ve completed about five of the eight miles, and the BLM has applied for state recreation funds to complete the loop at Scout Camp and extend the Otter Bench Trail, said Tom Mottl, a recreation planner with the agency’s Prineville office.

Mottl and Schubert mapped out the best routes along and into the canyons — avoiding sensitive areas where hikers, bikers or horse riders might disturb nesting golden eagles or elk and deer herds, and avoiding archaeological sites.

“It was a good challenge,” Schubert said.

Much of the Lone Pine Trail, which leads pedestrians from the Otter Bench trailhead down to the river, was stitched together from four or five existing pathways that people had created over the years. The new trail, however, is engineered with periodic dips and ditches, so storm water runoff will disperse down the hillside instead of rushing down the trail and scouring it out.

It’s a scenic path down to the river, with views of Central Oregon’s rock formations exposed on the opposite canyon wall, waterfalls in the distance where the aquifer empties into the Crooked River, and wildflowers like arrowleaf balsamroot and mariposa lilies lining the trail.

But it’s not an ideal walk for the summer season, when temperatures can be 10 degrees hotter than in Bend, Schubert warned.

Rattlers spotted

And hikers should be wary of wildlife as well — rattlesnakes are common in the area, and Schubert spotted two rattlers just off the trail during an hourlong expedition in the warm spring weather earlier this week, one coiled up under a rock ledge just feet from the trail.

The best months to explore the area are from March through May and September through November, he added.

While the steep, zigzagging Lone Pine Trail to the river is open only to hikers, the Otter Bench Trail is designed for pedestrians, horseback riders and mountain bikers.

It takes visitors across a plateau above the Crooked River — the geological bench — and to another trail leading down to the river, which crews will complete this fall if the funding comes through. A return loop road is closed because of nearby nesting eagles from Feb. 1 to Aug. 1, or whenever the young eagles fledge.

On the other edge of Crooked River Ranch in the Steelhead Falls Wilderness Study Area, the Scout Camp Trail is a way for visitors to descend to the Deschutes River.

People had been driving through the wilderness study area on a deeply rutted road, Mottl said, so the agency closed off the road, built a parking lot and, with the help of volunteers, planted grass along the old road to bring it back to a more natural state.

“The grass will grow up, and you’d be hard-pressed to see the difference,” Mottl said.

Work on the trail into the canyon is ongoing — Wednesday, Sean Connelly was hammering notches into a steep, loose gravel trail.

“We’re just trying to get some steps in, to reduce the slippage when we can,” said Connelly, with the Forest Service’s trail crew.

But, Schubert warned, that doesn’t mean the trail is designed for first-time hikers in high heels.

“We’re not trying to make this an easy walk in the park,” Schubert said.

Volunteers with the Oregon Natural Desert Association helped restore the old road, and Brent Fenty, the executive director of the Bend-based organization, said the trail-building effort meshes with efforts to protect the natural features and wilderness characteristics of the unique area, where the Deschutes River and Whychus Creek converge.

“The projects are a great addition to the trail opportunities in the area, and they address some of the OHV issues,” he said.

Off-highway vehicles have damaged some of the native plants in the area, he said, and there is probably still more that volunteers can do to help repair the torn-up trails.

Craig Soule, who lives near the Lone Pine Trail and said he hikes it almost every day, was one of the early advocates for the trails project.

“There was a lot of mischief and nonsense going on down in here — shooting and dumping and partying,” he said. But with the new parking lot, a road closure and the new trails, more people are hiking in the area, and neighbors have noticed positive improvements.

“I’m very, very pleased with it all the way around,” he said. “I imagine as the weather gets nicer, we’ll see more and more people down here ... It’s really kind of cleaned up the whole area.”

New trails

For the BLM, the trail projects at Crooked River Ranch are just one of the trail-building efforts in the area — the agency is also looking at new, official trails at Chimney Rock south of Prineville and Cline Buttes between Redmond and Sisters, Brown said.

Without designated trail systems, visitors often find their own way, which could be unsafe, disturb neighbors or damage the ecosystem, she said. But trails are a way to encourage people to enjoy their public lands.

“Our objective is to build trails that people like, where the grade is acceptable,” Brown said. “This is the first eight miles in quite a while ... This is, I hope, the start of a new era.”

Kate Ramsayer can be reached at 541-617-7811 or at kramsayer@bendbulletin.com.

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