The O'brien trail

Approach

Start from the O'brien TH. See directions to the TH on the main page.

Route Description

The O'brien Creek TH is where the hike starts from. The trail gains elevation rapidly and after about one mile, it crosses a small creeklet prior to coming to a sign that indicates a fork in the trail with the O'brien trail and the Boundary trail going to the right. The left will take you to the Krause cabin (see hut inscribed at bottom of the sign). We did the side trip to the cabin (worth a look) and checked it out before we made our way back up the trail to the sign again and took the Boundary trail. A windstorm had done tremendous damage to the forest and trees were down across the trail in unbelievable numbers. Where the trailswitched backed, we continued on and went directly up the hillside to get to the summit which is achieved a by a relatively easy scramble (see pics below) Map one, shows the TH at the 4700 foot mark and Map two shows the trail to the summit (which we ended up not taking by going directly up the hillside) . The overall hike / scramble was about 5 miles by not taking the trail and had an elevation gain of about 2400 feet.

The trail has since been cleared of all blow downs all the way to Windy Pass north of Grayback. This was as of May 2005. Thanks to
SP member woodyoforegon for that beta.

Essential Gear

Nothing needed for summer and fall hiking. Early in the season when snow is present, it may be helpful to have an ice axe. Crampons most likely not needed and snowshoes might be helpful when snow is present.

Miscellaneous Info

If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.

Images

View The O'brien trail Image Gallery - 3 Images