Mystery Trail

[cja]

I'm looking for beta on the so-called Mystery Trail (named well, apparently) in the Columbia River Gorge. I know (believe) one end terminates on the Rock of Ages tail, and the other somewhere down near St. Peter's Dome, and a few (short?) rappels are required.

 

I imagine that it may not really be a trail that can be followed easily? Even better if this is the case....but waypoints perhaps. Does anyone have any knowledge of the trail?

 

It's alluded to in the recent (awesome) St. Peter's Dome Trip Report. I had read a post somewhere about it years ago but without any helpful details; the mention in the trip report piqued my interest again.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

[Kesting]

Hi Chris,

Three of us went up the Mystery Trail last Sunday (6/8/2008). We parked at Ainsworth State Park Campground. Take the connector trail up to the Gorge Trail (#400) and head East. After about 0.25 mile before the trail starts heading down hill turn right on a faint track that disappears in about 10 feet. Continue in that direction until you reach a deep gully. Find your way into the gully and climb up it about 200 feet until you can climb out the East side. Hike straight up the East side until you intersect the Mystery Trail. It officially starts down this ridge where most people access it directly up the overgrown streambed from the freeway exit (not the best route). Turn right on this trail and work your way up to the saddle at the South side of St Peters Dome. The trail continues South up a short scree slope and then traverses a ledge to the West. Be careful here as a fall will result in a 100 foot splat. This is where you need to rope up. The next 70 feet are extremely dicey, near vertical mud and deep moss with a you-fall, you-die exposure over said 100 foot cliff. Someone should install a fixed rope here (maybe next time). There is a cable around a large tree at the head of this gully that probably had a fixed rope at one time. We climbed up to the right where there was protection in the form of small trees. The gully itself would require step cutting in 70 degree dirt. You can put away your climbing gear at this point. Head straight up to the top of the ridge from here. At the ridge turn right and skirt obstacles either on the left or right. In most places there is a faint trail. At one point you walk along an awesome knife-edge ridge that terminates in a 50 foot vertical wall with several small cedars that make a convenient tree and root ladder. At the highest cliff impass, skirt around to the left in a slight descent(the right side is another death gully of 70 degree dirt). Once around the cliff, climb straight up to the ridge and proceed to the edge of the plateau (with a great big sigh of relief) where the Rock of Ages Trail is shortly crossed. You can turn right here to return to your car or turn left for several loop options. We hiked up over Nesmith Point where there was still 3-4' of snow and down the standard Nesmith Point trail. Enjoy your climb and don't forget the rope!

[cja]

thanks Kesting,

This is v. helpful...enough to go with. I take it you'd recommend going up the Mystery Trail vs. down? Slings around trees the only pro needed? Should I carry any nuts or cams?

thanks again,

Chris

[fgw]

Mystery Trail TR

 

& thanks for your good word.

[Kesting]

Hello again,

If you knew the route then going down would be easier as there would only be one rappel. (The vertical root ladder has a sling rappel point, but it is easily down-climbable). The problem is that route finding is somewhat difficult (when to go left or right around cliffs and when to hop on knife edge ridges, etc.) Also the route off the ridge to the final rappel would be impossible to follow unless you knew where to go. I think the route finding is much easier going up. You only need to bring slings, there is no rock around that is solid enough to anchor anything! Probably 8-10 large slings would be fine. If you go down the route it would also be difficult to find the start of the correct ridge. The point where the ridge meets the plateau has no indication whatsoever that a trail exists there. When are you planning to go?

Take care,

Chris Kesting

[cja]

Thanks Chris,

I'm thinking either tomorrow (Fri) or Sunday. My brother's flying in tonight for the weekend and I thought this would provide a little excitement for him. Thanks for all your help, and you'd be welcome if you'd care to go again??

[cja]

Thanks Kesting for your beta. It proved invaluable. I finally got up there and got it done, and came down the Rock of Ages Trail to intersect Russ Jolley Trail to the west of of that.

 

It never went last year as my brother ended up with a shoulder injury when he was here and didn't want to push it. It went off my radar but stayed on the back burner. In March I went up there for a survey and got to the saddle behind the Dome.

 

I did this two weeks ago on Wednesday and found it well worth the effort. There's a register up there on the ridge above the cabled tree and only a couple entries in it in the past year since Radek's St. Peter's Dome climb.

 

If anyone's interested in doing this I recommend taking pruning shears for the young forest if you go up directly from the area where the old highway comes back to 84. I went up the Trail 400 just for a couple hundred yards from there and then into the forest from a higher point on the trail. I clipped enough to follow my trail, and left marking tape only where I regained my trail from March, and where I crossed the gully on either side. I also left one other piece of tape, on a tree (near) where the ridge meets the ROA trail, but low enough that one would only find it from above if searching for it along the edge of the plateau. That's somewhere in the area of 2650 feet elevation.

 

Once again, good job to Radek; that's one nasty looking climb on the dome.