Roman went backpacking May 12 to May 14, 2012 27.5 miles 3,750 feet gained 2 nights

Mill Creek Wilderness Loop

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Did 3 day 2-night loop in Mill Creek Wilderness. The trail has been repaired in its entirety last year, and even though there's some new blowdown from this winter, it's much easier to follow now. Unlike my 2011 trip there, got lost zero times! This time got there before the best of the flowers, but beat mosquitoes in parts of the hike. Met Water (Matt) at the end of first day past Twin Pillars - he was doing the loop with his wife. I didn't catch up with them on the second day since I didn't break camp until 10:30 am - went past the ridge section and camped about a mile before Belknap junction, found a pond and a beautiful ponderosa grove just east of the trail. On day 3 I stashed a pack at Belknap jct, went to White Rock campground to the end of the trail, back to Belknap and took it down to S Twin Pillars TH where I began. It's great conditioning hike with a lot of camping opportunities. It was hot down the canyon today!

Cougar warning at the trailhead Beautiful pine grove at lower Belknap junction Beautiful pine grove at lower Belknap junction After the last creek crossing, you enter an area burned by 2000 fire First good view of Twin Pillars This clearly shows an incredible job trail crews have done... Last year I had to look for flagging to follow the trail in the brush (and negotiate invisible blowdowns), this year it's clear 7-feet wide path Looking over Brogan Creek valley (foreground) and Mill Ck valley (further back).The green mountain in the background is Wildcat Mtn From this angle both pillars are visible The view of Desolation Canyon, not far from my first camp Brogan Prairie was a nice mix of young pie forests, open meadows, and clear streams. The mosquitoes I saw last year didn't materialize yet. There were still a few snow patches Picture of water on the trail... guess who drew it Last year I took a wrong trail at some point and missed N Twin Pillars trailhead by about half mile. This time the trail was easy to follow. Pepper had fun at the little pond, while I filled water at the large stream for the 3-mile road section Meadow at N Pillars trailhead The road section is easy, but that sign cost me some confusion last year. There is no trail on the right at the sign, instead hike straight about 1/5 of a mile and turn right on side road (signed as Rd 500) - Wildcat trailhead will be 5 min down that road Some more burned areas near upper Mill Creek Somewhat hazy view of Three Sisters and Bachelor New life is coming back Could see the Pillars and the hill we climbed a day before Once on the east side of the ridge, it became much greener Could see as far as Lookout Mountain - still with some snow near the summit Balsamroot is only getting ready to bloom ...but some other flowers were nice Wildcat trail is faint in places but isn't hard to follow Some evidence of trail's namesake We stayed in a nice pine grove a mile short of Belknap junction There was a nice boggy meadow with a tiny stream nearby and a nice little pond. I thought about setting a camp near the water, but the frogs were so loud I thought they wouldn't let us sleep if we did - so I set a camp several hundred yards uphill Flowers near the camp These two deer were very curious about us - they approached a camp 3 times, then turned around when noting us seeing them, only to repeat 5 minutes later I ditched the pack at upper Belknap junction and hiked to White Rock campground and back. It's a beautiful trail & it almost completely escaped the recent fire I like White Rock campground - it only has 2-3 spots, about half-acre each (no joke), the restrooms, and plenty of shade from old-growth ponderosa pines. I never see a soul in it, but maybe it's because I always plan it on workday (that time an original p There was some great trail work on a steep Belknap Trail. BTW, while the trail is waterless, there is a good stream a mere 10 yards from the trail, about half way down. There is a side trail going down to it. that stream will dry in the summer, I guess Back at Mill Creek, it was hot enough so I took 6 fords without taking my boots off. The water was almost knee-deep at the deepest ford; but usually only half as deep I will come to Ponderosa Land again next spring, if not before :)

Trail Talk

4 people have hearted this trip.

Water (Matt) · May 15, 2012

nice to meet you Roman--and pepper! I didn't see it before but I think the trail crew did an absolutely phenomenal job. The groves just north of the Belknap junction with Wildcat were incredible--I would go back to camp there sometime.

Sorry my wife didn't come over to say hello, she was getting the fire ready. Next time!

Roman · May 16, 2012

It was nice to meet you Matt! I'm glad you liked the area (or at least a part of it?), those trails are definitely harder than average and so much of the wilderness got burned... i'm cautious to recommend it and even decided against taking my family on the whole loop. But I myself come there 3rd year in a row (bailed out in 2010), I like that hike. Was it your picture on the trail just before N Twin Pillars TH?

Roman · May 16, 2012

BTW with the trails repaired I think of doing a family hike next year... Everybody liked the pictures :)

Kyle Meyer · May 16, 2012

This is bar far the best photo documentation of the area I've seen. That looks incredibly beautiful! For some reason, I had it in my mind that this was mostly a desert hike, not a sparsely forested meadow walk with ponds and rushing cool creeks.

Thanks for taking the time to upload all of these photos—I'm working on multifile uploading as we speak and will have it up in a week.

Water (Matt) · May 16, 2012

kyle: YAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY to multi-file. Last time I tried to upload pics I got some errors outright and nothing went up, so I stopped, but I'll backfill if you get that working :)

Roman: Was it a bunch of lines drawn in the trail? My wife...waiting from me while I took pictures. I will try to process mine tonight. I liked all of it, but especially wildcat trail side..that was just awesome over there. The NW corner didnt have much Ponderosas and I just love those trees. The camping area over at whistler rock seemed very nice too.

Water (Matt) · May 16, 2012

Now I looked at the pictures (have some similar ones, such as of the deer bones). Anyways yes Kara/Bucket drew that picture! :)

Nat Turner · May 17, 2012

This Place Looks Amazing. Great TR Def gonna check this one out soon, before it gets too hot hot hot out there. Looks like your dogstar had a great time, any rattley snakes? For some reason they make me nervous regarding the hounds.

Roman · May 17, 2012

Nat - good question on rattlesnakes. In my 3 spring hikes (2 were during very warm weather) I saw no snakes at all, but when I did a short hike last October - just about 3 miles in - saw a rattlesnake and 2-3 rubber boas. I don't know if snakes get out later in a season (the nights still kind of cool) or it was a mere chance... I'd say though there's almost no ticks, saw only one in spite of taking many rest breaks and a couple of naps on the grass. Yes Pepper had a great time, now she don't agree to let me go to work ;)

Shane · May 20, 2012

Thanks for sharing! I'm definitely going to have to get down there soon.