MAPS & AERIAL PHOTOS:

Narrow BLUE FRAMES on the Forest Service Map below identify the following links to TopoZone and TerraServer maps.

Topo maps—| Topo-03 | Topo-04 | Topo-05 | Topo-06 |
Aerial Photos—| Aerial-03 | Aerial-04 | Aerial-05 | Aerial-06 |

HIKING DETAILS for Today:

QUICK LOOK:

Begin—Upper Elk Creek just south of Elk Creek Trailhead
End—Alkali Creek Trailhead tent campsite in Fort Meade Recreation Area
Water Sources—Morning: Possibly NONE, Elk Creek, or bring your own. Mid-day: Possibly shallow water from spring in lower Bulldog Gulch, depending on time of year. Evening: Alkali Creek Trailhead
Food Source—None
Mile Posts—miles 88 to 100 or so.
Mileage—about 12 miles
Accumulated Climb—1050 feet
Energy Miles—about 15.8 on level ground
Possible Campsites—Only Alkali Creek Trailhead, which is closed for three weeks in August, (see our notes under Fort Meade Recreation Area.) IF there is water in Bulldog Gulch, then camping may be an alternative before exiting National Forest and entering Fort Meade Recreation Area. That could shorten this day by up to four miles and lengthen the next day by the same amount. Under the circumstances, that is a major decision that could add one day to the itinerary.
Other Notes—Biggest concerns today are having water near Elk Creek and having a campsite in Fort Meade Recreation Area. Additionally, there may be problems navigating through the higher elevations of the hike. See notes below.

TODAY'S HIKE:

This page is under construction. The notes below for this segment of the Centennial Trail are tentative and may be revised when time allows.

LOGGING AREA AT HIGH ELEVATIONS

From Elk Creek Trailhead proceeding northward, the Centennial Trail climbs from about 4700 feet to around 5200 feet in elevation. Most of that climb is in the first two miles from Elk Creek Trailhead. With another 100 feet of ups and downs, about 60% of the day's climb is in the first two to three miles.

It is in those highest elevations of the hike on Day Nine, that backpackers encounter a logging area. Across the road from Elk Creek Trailhead, a large sign explains the purpose of the logging. Another such sign will be encountered nearly three miles northward, and there it will mark an important location.

Up to the logging area, the trail is easy to follow. Often it follows a closed trail road. Occasionally it ventures along a hillside as a well-trodden path. Where the trail encounters a road, the trail crosses directly to the other side and continues onward.

However, at the northeast portion of the logging area, the trail will not cross directly to the other side of the road it encounters. There it will turn westward, follow the road about 75 paces, and then depart the logging road toward the north. That departure marks the end of possible confusion on the route of the trail, as it exits the logging area and begins the descent into Bulldog Gulch.

Briefly, why is the trail difficult to follow here? When areas such as this are logged to create a fire break and control pine beetle infestation, the ground is inevitably disturbed. When the disturbed ground begins to grow back, transitional species of plants (such as mullein) often grow tall and more bushy that the grasses and herbs that were there. Perhaps some trail markers are disturbed, but also, if trail users avoid the area or resort to nearby trail roads instead of the trail, the transitional growth doesn't get trampled down where the trail is.

Above is a small topographic map of this area. Following are photographs with yellow arrows showing the hikers' progress through the logging area. The photos show the view for backpackers working their ways northward on the Centennial Trail.

The first photo simply marks the western margin of the logging area. The view is toward the east to southeast from the saddle area at the top of Forbes Gulch. The saddle is slightly northwest of the center of section nine. Northbound hikers have been climbing upon a trail road that skirts the west-facing slope of the nearby hills. Finally they reach the higher elevations of this segment of the trail, and it turns eastward at the saddle. Here the hills south and north of the trail show signs of logging. But the trail is still fairly easy to follow as it proceeds eastward upon an old grass-covered trail road.

Hikers soon notice that this grass-covered trail road is approaching a dirt road that descends from the northwest near Veteran Tower. The second photo is taken from near where the trail approaches the dirt road. A sign is visible at the center of the photo. It appears here that the trail continues to follow the grass-covered trail road, but that is not the case. The yellow arrow shows the route of the trail leaving the trail road to pass in front of the sign. The trail road passes behind the sign and leads to the dirt road. This sign is the same type of sign as across the road from Elk Creek Trailhead. And the trail gets easier to follow a few yards northeast of the sign.

If hikers were to go all the way to the dirt road and look down the slope to southeast, they would see that the trail here is simply downhill from the road and remains in that orientation for about a mile. Hikers could even follow the road for that mile, but perhaps that is what some have done, thus leaving the trail not well trampled.

The third photo shows the trail crossing a logging road in the southeast quadrant of section four. This is the one time today that the trail does not proceed directly across the road it encounters. Instead, the trail follows the logging road north and west to the top of a rise about 75 paces from where the trail first encountered the logging road.

Here again the trail is in view of the dirt road it has been running downhill from, and parallel to, for the last mile. But again, the trail does not reach the dirt road from Veteran Tower. As shown in the fourth photo, the trail leaves the logging road toward the north. The first gray-diamond trail marker is on a large fallen tree a few yards from the logging road. This area is on the eastern margin of the logging area which the Centennial Trail passes through. Hereafter, the trail descends through dense forest and is well trampled and simple to follow.

So there are really only two places where a hiker might not see the route of the trail. In both locations, the trail is approaching the dirt road from Veteran Tower. But the trail never actually reaches that road. Instead it remains downhill and southeast of the dirt road. The logging road which the trail crosses is a spur from the dirt road.

ENext Page: Day Ten