The Blue Mountains, Mill Creek Watershed

The Blue Mountains Mill Creek
	When basalt cools quickly it forms a small random shaped crystal that crumbles with time off of the main structure.
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What: A lower and upper trailhead that are rated "most difficult" by CCCC national forest officials. Advanced Mt Bike ride or advanced hike. Don't even think about doing this with a mountain bike unless you are an advanced masochistic thrill seeker or it will turn into the biggest hike-a-bike nightmare of your life. These mountains are so beautiful that we were satisfied with just the drive up. The trail was absolutely exhilarating. The trail was very faint in places. The boundary signs for the watershed are marked nearly every 100 feet so you can't get lost, but leave lots of time for the full 3 mile trail which may take you all day since there is 3000 feet elevation gain. You will feel alone. We combined this trip with the Whitman Mission trip.

Where: From downtown Walla Walla take Isaacs Avenue east out to Mill Creek Road. Take Mill Creek Road out about 12 miles until you run into a dead end and bridge with the sign #65. Take the #65 road by going over the bridge and continue up two more miles and you will see a faint trail going steeply up a ridge. This ridge is called Indian Ridge and it is on the south edge of the Mill Creek Watershed which is absolutely off limits. This trail gives panoramic views of the watershed. I would suggest driving up to the upper trailhead which is about four miles further up where there is a major trailhead sign and parking area. This way there is more downhill than up, but still the difficulty is incredible. To shorten the trail some, downhill from the upper trailhead you will see the yellow signs of the boundary a short way above the road. You can climb the short path to the trail here and go down hill where your car hopefully is waiting. Along the trail you will notice a pile of rocks stacked to hold a boundary sign. Notice near here is a deer trail that will take you down to the road if you need to bail out on the hike or ride as I had to when I realized how long it was going to take to complete.
N 45° 59.2' W 118° 2.50' Topological Map

Cautions: I wouldn't do this before June as a light rain would be snow making the faint trail slippery and bone breaking dangerous. Be aware that you cannot bail out on this hike/ride anytime that you want because there are cliffs above the road almost everywhere, and therefore it would be too dangerous to go down to the road except where noted above.

List: Water, binoculars, picnic, walkie talkies. Email Us