by jack_glendening » Tue Aug 03, 2021 12:07 pm
Date Hiked: August 2, 2021
General Condition: Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
More info on what is left of Mill Creek Trail. The original trail remains until ~0.5 miles from the trailhead, where it has descended to creek level. Thereafter some helpful flagging, cairns, and saw cuts follow a route, not tread, weaving between downfalls until ~0.7 miles from the trailhead. Beyond that there is some occasional flagging but not frequent enough to follow continuously - you essentially follow the creek as best you can, departing from it as need be to get around downfall. I had to cross to right (south) side of creek at ~1 mile and thereafter saw no flagging.
But this is now a route - not a trail. Essentially the old Mill Creek Trail along the creek is gone. What I remember as a path winding in shade below redwoods is now a wide gash created by mudflow, with packed mud remains and rocks and fallen trees and other debris under an open sky and a creek trickling through. To me not very attractive and not much of a destination. Will take years to recover some beauty.
Jack
PS: have now made most of former Mill Creek Trail a "lost trail" on my Big Sur Trailmap, replacing western-most part of "lost" section with a use trail. Will be interesting to see how much "use" that route incurs in future.
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[b]Date Hiked:[/b] August 2, 2021
[b]General Condition:[/b] Clear (no obstacles and tread well defined)
More info on what is left of Mill Creek Trail. The original trail remains until ~0.5 miles from the trailhead, where it has descended to creek level. Thereafter some helpful flagging, cairns, and saw cuts follow a route, not tread, weaving between downfalls until ~0.7 miles from the trailhead. Beyond that there is some occasional flagging but not frequent enough to follow continuously - you essentially follow the creek as best you can, departing from it as need be to get around downfall. I had to cross to right (south) side of creek at ~1 mile and thereafter saw no flagging.
But this is now a route - not a trail. Essentially the old Mill Creek Trail along the creek is gone. What I remember as a path winding in shade below redwoods is now a wide gash created by mudflow, with packed mud remains and rocks and fallen trees and other debris under an open sky and a creek trickling through. To me not very attractive and not much of a destination. Will take years to recover some beauty.
Jack
PS: have now made most of former Mill Creek Trail a "lost trail" on my Big Sur Trailmap, replacing western-most part of "lost" section with a use trail. Will be interesting to see how much "use" that route incurs in future.
