Hay Creek Drainage from West End
One of the two gates in the Hay Creek Drainage opened on schedule July 1; the other remains closed for a few more days. The Moran Creek Road (Rd 5241) gate is open, allowing motorized access as far as the Moran Creek Trail #2 trailhead. The gate across Hay Creek Road (Rd 376) at the 5.5. mile point will remain closed for a while due to slide damage about two miles past the gate.
T26-T3-PNT Intersection Sign, July 11, 2020 – W. K. Walker
On August 11, North Fork Trails finished clearing Hay Creek Trail #3. This completes the work started in this drainage about a month ago when we cleared the west end of this stretch of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (PNT).
Brushing out along Hay Creek Trail #3, July 9, 2022 – W. K. Walker
We’ve started work in the Hay Creek Drainage, beginning with a short stretch of the Whitefish Divide Trail and the piece of the Hay Creek Trail west of the bridge at the foot of Hay Lake. We started at the west end because this is where most of the blow-downs hide out (we removed eight of them), posing considerable inconvenience to folks hiking this segment of the Pacific Northwest Trail.
Love Trails? Join Us to Get Outside & Give Back!Join the Pacific Northwest Trail Association, Montana Conservation Corps, and the North Fork Trails Association for a day of outdoor fun, stewardship, and community on the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail!
– Tell me more!: After meeting at Polebridge Mercantile in the morning, we will carpool to the Hay Creek Trailhead, hiking while removing trail brush and obstacles. Be sure to bring your own pack with warm layers, rain gear, and plenty of water and snacks! Long pants and sturdy footwear are a must!
– I’m in! But is there food?: Barbecue lunch provided by Polebridge Mercantile and the Pacific Northwest Trail Association.
– How do I get there and back?: Meet at Polebridge Mercantile @ 9:15am or take a MCC shuttle to Polebridge from Columbia Falls’ Super 1 leaves @ 8:15am. Shuttle back to Columbia Falls from Polebridge leaves at 2:30pm.
For more information contact Stephanie Campbell: scampbell@pnt.org or 765-465-9891.
**If you plan on attending, please RSVP to scampbell@pnt.org.**
View/download the
National Trails Day
event poster
(JPG, 411KB).
Check out the ‘National Trails Day on the Pacific Northwest Trail’ Facebook event page.
Debo Powers’ article covers our recent activity in the west end of the Hay Creek drainage, but I thought it useful to include some additional material here.
Here’s a map of the two expeditions Debo mentions. The red track is the Trail 3-Trail 26 survey conducted on September 13. In yellow is the route of the successful September 18 search for the Trail 26-Trail 14 junction.
Hay Creek Explorations
Randy and I added about a mile to our part of the Trail 3 hike by spending some time investigating Hay Lake.
Hay Lake
Here’s Randy at the Trail 3-Trail 26 junction.
Randy at T26
And here’s a photo of the Hay Creek drainage from the west end that I took on an earlier expedition up Trail 26.
Hay Creek Drainage from West End