Wednesday July 23, 21.4mi/34.4km

Warm Springs Bar (498.0/3890ft) to Grouse Creek (476.6/4690ft) (ID)

It was a damp night camping down by Running Creek, I knew I would be drying my tent again at lunch today. I packed up and walked through the outfitters camp, searching for the trail. I forded the creek, and searched the forest on the other side, but only found a few animal trails. A few past hikers also had trouble finding the trail, and I really wanted to find it but after 20 minutes I gave up. I walked the road around, which added about a mile.

I saw where the missing trail met the road on the other side, it was a clear and well- used trail. Definitely harder to find for southbound hikers, and the guidebook wasn’t any help either since it’s written for the northbound direction. I had another pleasant hour of hiking a gradual ascent on the dirt road, eventually I turned off on the Lynx Creek Trail.

I knew it traveled through several large burn areas so I was expecting some fallen trees and brushy undergrowth, much to my pleasant surprise, I found little of either.

There were even a few pockets of green forest, which was a nice break from the hot sun.

After 3 miles I got to Lynx meadow, and a hunters’ camp.

It was a cool little spot and I spent some time checking out the old artifacts.

There was even a metal sign nailed to a tree with a bunch of names signed on it from 50 years ago.

But when I went to leave the camp that’s when things got confusing. There was a web of mediocre trails leaving the camp, the only good trail was the one I entered on. The guidebook was no help again, so I had to try each faint trail, one led to an old privy, one led to a woodshed, the other led nowhere, and the last one turned out to be the correct trail. After I left the brushy meadow, it was actually a decent trail.

The ICT is known for having some sections of rough and overgrown trail, but really its main issue is lack of good trail data. With a good GPS track and some waypoints, I could avoid all the navigation confusion. The Lynx Trail did have one section for about a mile with young pine trees trying to take over the trail in a burn area.

But the trail was easy to follow, and pretty soon I was at the other end where it joined another dirt road.

The whole forest is pretty burned, so when I stopped for lunch I didn’t even try to find a shady spot. Fortunately up at 6,800 ft it’s not very hot. After a couple easy miles on the road I turned off onto Bargamin Creek Trail.

Basically the entire trail was in a burn area except the very end, and it was mostly in good shape. Much better than I expected given the amount of burn it traveled through.

It was a hot afternoon and I was glad to be hiking downhill, gradually dropping off the ridge to Bargamin Creek.

I arrived at Poet Creek campground, and I spent awhile chatting with a very nice group of bikers, who are also riding the BDR, just like the group I met at Lochsa Lodge. Their route basically parallels mine but it takes dirt roads, and it will only take them about 1.5 weeks. They had a similar sense of humor as me and after sharing some beers (that cold Deschutes tasted so good!), I gave one of them a trail name. They were even nice enough to take my trash, since I won’t have a way to dispose of it at Campbell’s ferry (where I pick up my next resupply box). As I was saying goodbye and leaving, a group of three mountain bikers rode up who are also doing a similar route. Popular campground!

I crossed the Magruder corridor Road, which means I finished the Selway-Bitterroot section. That moment felt good. It was a tough 100 miles. The Bargamin Creek Trail continued across the road, following the creek in its descent to the Salmon River.

It was a pretty decent trail too, I hope that continues all the way down to the Salmon River.

I’ll follow the Bargamin Creek for 13 more miles tomorrow and then I’ll hike along the Salmon River a day. I’m in the Frank Church Wilderness, it’s massive!