Mt Adams Killen Creek vs Divide Camp Trial???

[mbiundo]

Hey Folks,

I have climbed the North Cleaver route to the summit of Adams many times. I have always used the Killen Creek trail to get to elevation. This season, I would like to try the Divide Camp trail instead. Has anyone used this trail to access to the North Cleaver? Does it have those god awful stair steps like Killen Creek???? Can you easily access or trek to the pond at 7,500 ft?

Thanks in advance.

 

-Marc

[Mtguide]

I haven't been up the Killen Creek trail for many years; what "stair steps" are you talking about? Did the FS actually install wood or concrete steps in the trail, like the park service idiots did on Mt. Hamilton in the Gorge? Jesus, I hope not. I hate that kind of shit.

[mbiundo]

The "Steps" seem to be put in to prevent erosion since there is a lot of horse traffic. Going up is not so bad but coming down is a knee killer. Sometimes you can walk around them.... I was hoping the Divide camp trail did not use them.... But I have never hiked it....

-marc

[Mtguide]

The proper method for erosion control on backcountry trails is to install water bars, which can be made of logs up to about 6" or 8" in diam., laid across the trail at an angle, with just enough of the log protruding above the trail surface to catch and divert water to one side off the trail.You usually dig a small runout trench at the very end where the log goes past the edge of the trail to help water down and off the trail.A water bar can also be made of large stones if anything long and narrow is handy. The basic idea is to prevent water from running down the middle of the trail and trenching or gullying it out.

 

At any rate, the water bar is not supposed to look like or function as a step, and should be dug into the tread of the trail so that it can easily be stepped OVER. It's a water bar, not a hiker bar. If what they've wound up with is like large steps, then it was done wrong and needs to be redone. It may seem to be something any dummy could do, but it actually takes some pretty fair skill with an axe or crosscut saw, pick and shovel or Pulaski tool and taking some time and attention, to put in a water bar that works the way it's supposed to,that won't wash out, and that will last for many seasons. It's wilderness engineering, and just because it's logs and rocks and dirt doesn't mean you can do a half-assed job and expect it to work. Like anything, you have to know what you're doing.

 

Of course this is probably the result of Republican defunding of the USFS, so that recreation budgets are starved, therefore unskilled volunteers with no knowledgeable supervision have been given a hasty description of a water bar and then sent out to do it with about as much idea of what they're doing as how to buttfuck a moose.

[jordansahls]

I have been in via the Divide creek trail at the end of July, about 2 years age (Here is the TR)

 

There was snow on the trail the entire way so I can't tell you anything about the actual trail. I really enjoyed the way in. It was straight forward and it starts a little bit higher than the Killen creek trail. The comments section of the TR has more info.

[WillK]

Yes, divide camp trail is an enjoyable way to access both the adams glacier and the north cleaver routes. The trail meanders along the south side of adams creek until hitting the pct. Crossing adams creek can be interesting, but generally speaking the higher you go the easier it gets. We did a rising traverse after the creek crossing cross county in open terrain, to gain the tarn at 7500. I love that side of the mountain....more goats than people.