The next day we woke up to a little less smoke and most importantly, a rest day! Unfortunately, we were entering a fairly complicated logistical situation. We needed to be back at the Chamberlain Airstrip in a few days for our flight out. We also needed to bump our camp farther down McCalla Creek because our daily commute was approaching one and a half hours each way. If we bumped camp, we could get more work done but we would be nearly a two day hike back to the airstrip. One option was to bump camp and take a cutoff trail to Chamberlain Creek which would dramatically reduce our hike back to the airstrip.
We needed more information! How much work was below us in McCalla Creek and how bad was the old cutoff trail to Chamberlain Creek? We would also need to cross Chamberlain Creek…… How was that crossing with full packs and tools? While the rest of the crew took it fairly easy, Pam and I volunteered to do what was going to be a 16 or 17 mile scouting hike.
We got an early start and were soon past where we stashted the tools. For the last couple of days we had been hearing wolves in the distance. We then ran into a spot where they had been having a wolf rendezvous. I did not know that was a thing but apparently it is a spot where wolves packs congregate.
A bit further down the trail, I noticed the density of the timber had changed and we were now entering a Ponderosa Forest which is typical of lower elevations in this area.
We also entered a more meadow type of creek bottom which would make a great spot to camp.
Gentle open slopes and less downfall…. mental note to self!
As Pam and I hiked our way down McCalla Creek, we were approaching our work goal of the McCoy cutoff trail which leads to the Chamberlain Creek Trail. We both noticed that there was far less work in this section of trail but neither one of us wanted to say anything for fear of jinxing it!
Cool rocks and down timber but check out the brush! Yes, that is Pam down there!
We got to the cutoff trail and we discussed the situation. We both figured it would only be about a half day’s work to complete the trail clearing to the cutoff trail. We could easily to do that from our base camp at Moose Meadows. We could also bump camp and pack back to the airstrip over the cutoff trail but what would that be like? We needed more information so up and over the cutoff we headed.
The cutoff trail proved to be fairly open at this point but it was a hard steep 1000 foot climb to the ridge. It would be a tough grunt with full packs and tools…. it was a tough grunt in the heat and direct sun with just our day packs!
We got to the top and the trail completely disappeared. However, it was fairly open and easy going. Using our gps and map, we were able to occasional see tree blazes or old cut logs which gave us clues on the trail route.
We sat at the top of the ridge and discussed our options. A few minutes later a helicopter flew over nice and low. Pam waved but we were not sure if they saw us….. Following in the Platt tradition of bushwhacking and preferring loop hikes over out and backs, I proposed we drop straight into McCalla Creek which would cut off about 1.5 miles and save us about 500 extra feet of elevation gain. This route later became know as “Dave’s Cutoff”. We scouted for another hour or so and found the trail dropping into Chamberlain Creek. It was getting late in the day and we were now pretty tired. Unfortunately we had no idea what the trail would be like into Chamberlain Creek nor what the creek crossing would hold for us.
The drop into McCalla Creek was pretty straight forward then on our commute back to base camp we talked and formulated options for the crew.
- Keep our base camp at Moose Meadows, take a day to work the trail to the McCoy Cutoff trail, then hike back the way we came past Lodgepole Creek to the airstrip. This was the easiest, most straight forward, and had the fewest unknowns.
- Bump camp lower into McCalla Creek, finish the trail work, then the next day drop to the McCoy Cutoff Trail then up and over to Chamberlain Creek and the Chamberlain Creek Trail. This required a hard effort up and over the cutoff trail and lots of unknowns between the ridge and the Chamberlain Creek Trail.
- Bump camp, take the off trail route to the ridge on “Dave’s Cutoff”, then drop into the Chamberlain Creek Trail. This required a little bushwhacking and downfall dancing but saved a bunch of elevation and still had the unknowns on the other side of the ridge.
Armed with lots of intel and fairly wiped out from our all day hike, we arrived back at camp and had a long group discussion about our options. Stay tuned for our decision!
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