Huckleberry Mountain via Boulder Ridge

Karl, you know we have immense respect for you but I am frustrated. Any "normal" person as well as every hiking guide would consider that difficult to very difficult due to elevation gain and distance. All of these trip reports (you know who you are PH'ers) need to stop making very fit hikers feel like their lacking (which is discouraging) and making less experienced hikers think they can do things they are not prepared for (which can be outright dangerous).

That being said we loved that hike, multiple gorgeous viewpoints and varied landscapes all the way up with lots of good shorter turnaround spots if you don't want to do the whole 12+ miles. And after 3 years and well over 1000 miles of hiking that trail still totally wiped us out, not as bad at Kings Mtn but we were done ay the end.

Sorry for the rant Karl... Those red-winged blackbirds sure love the marsh, don't they. :)

Hey TR, y'know, I've read and reread what I posted, and I can't quite extract the same vibe that seems to have come across? Thought my opening couple sentences hinted at a bit of work involved? Which, without question, there was!

Let's apply the stats to something everyone's familiar with. The trail to the top of Multnomah Falls climbs about 700 feet in just over a mile, right? This trail averaged about 600 feet gain per mile if you exclude the 3/4-mile portion in Wildwood. So it's not unlike stacking 4-5 of those MF climbs back to back. Except that the ground is far more forgiving, and you're enjoying 100% solitude! :-)

I got a late start on Friday. Actually started wandering through Wildwood at noon! Was back to the jeep by 6, and wanted to go explore that Streamwatch Trail on the south side of the Salmon River, but had a dinner date I had to make back in the city. Despite creaky-old failing knees, I really didn't want to leave the woods at that point.

Sure don't want to discourage anyone! I remember well, before I found PH, thinking that "normal people" would never hike more than 10-12 miles a day. Chose to be inspired by what others were doing, and did what I could to accomplish some of the same feats. I still question my own capabilities, though.

I've been following the PCT discussions a bit lately. One phrase I hear over and over, which I really take to heart, is "Hike your own hike!" Seems like the best outlook one can take?

Gonna try embedding an image into a comment here. No promises this'll work! :-)

This is the track profile from the hike, with stats highlighted at the start and end of the climb.

If that doesn't work, here's a link to the image.

Totally an experiment. No luck, so far, editing these comments, so we'll see how this goes. ;-)

LOL! Wow, well that totally f'd up the page, didn't it? Good to know the Markdown syntax actually works, though.

And in case the "View all photos" link is obscured in some browsers, there's another one that ought to stay visible. Ai yi yi...

:) Karl, I REALLY didn't want to harsh the mellow and this isn't about you. And I didn't mean to start a text oriented hike spec hashing but I REALLY appreciate seeing your side and you are absolutely correct, your difficult is not mine and mine is not someone else's. However you are just seeing this from a different perspective. if you go by Loraine or Sullivan' s hiking guides Boulder Ridge is Very Difficult. It just seams that all of the loony hikers have lost touch with the fact that your hikes are extreme. There are posted examples of things less-loony hikers have done based on what they think REAL hikers do that have resulted in dangerous experiences. It is just the pervasive mindset of that group and I know a few people that don't use PH anymore because this is the norm on that site.

Here is how I look at it. We go to hiking sites to find interesting and inspirational trip reports, but reading report after report after report of people doing 20+ mile hikes, hikes that go to precipitous locations and sketchy trails, and then referring to 8-12 mile hikes as "recliner" or "training" it just makes me feel like a wuss and not a REAL hiker. There is a LOT of attention payed to mileage and elevation gain which I don't see as having anything to do with a good hike unless you are into it for the workout. So we just get inspiration from different things. You are amazing and obviously love the environments you hike into and don't just run through the wilderness. But I was hoping not to run into this issue here...

Yeah, I hear ya. I don't want to be contributing to that myself. You might've noticed I haven't been posting as many trip reports over there, either. Not entirely for this reason, but it played a role.

Agree too on differences in perspectives making huge differences in perceptions. I do see a real distinction between a "recliner hike" (casual jaunt) and a "training hike" (real work!) though. That's how I use them, anyway. Falls Creek Falls might fall into the first category, while carrying snowshoes 17-miles through the blast zone the second. Kinda opposites, eh?

Also, I am in it for the workout! Often, anyway. Getting a workout and going to these awesome places? Unbeatable, in my book! I spent a quarter-century sitting, being reponsible, and am enjoying the heck out of having the opportunity to do otherwise now. I simply cannot tolerate indoor exercise, either, so this is pretty much it for me. That does seem to put me in a different category from most, I know.

Mileage and EG are objective measures that offer perhaps the clearest comparison between two adventures in terms of effort. I'm sure it comes across as boastful, to some, but aren't they some of the more important things you want to know when considering a hike? Everyone needs to decide for themselves where those lines lie between moderate, difficult and too difficult.

This is a good discussion! I'm really glad you raised these points. Last thing I want to do is discourage anyone. At the same time, I can't be responsible if someone else isn't having fun doing things that bring me pleasure. :-)

Thank you for the pleasant discourse, you are one of my hiking heroes and I hope I didn't offend too much. You are a gentleman hiker to be sure. :)

Absolutely no offense, TR! Thanks...

And I promise not to be so sensitive in the future.

S'okay! Good to get on the same wavelength. :-)

::munching popcorn:: Say Karl, when are you gonna try some "REAL" hikes? :)

::ducks::

Seriously though, I did this hike a few months back right as the summit melted out, and after Brad had done it in the rain in snowshoes a few weeks earlier. ;) Wildwood was a real treat! No clue it was even there.

LOL! :-)

I remember one point in this hike, where it was going along a 45° slope through a forest with no understory (8th picture down, in left column), thinking that to snowshoe this route would be seriously insane! At least by my own woeful standards. (It was your and Brad's trips that prompted me to go check this one out, btw.)

They have done so many good things with Wildwood, I was really impressed! Been stopping in there, ever so occasionally, for decades. Each time back, it's just better. Sure wish the USFS would take a few lessons from the BLM!