Author: derwoodynck

Starway Trail to Silver Star Mountain

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 25, 2022
9 Comments on Starway Trail to Silver Star Mountain

The late snow melt in in SW Washington had prompted us to push a planned hike to Silver Star Mountain at the end of June to next year but when we found ourselves in need of a substitute for another hike we took the opportunity to pull it back into this year. This would be our fourth visit to Silver Star Mountain having previously taken Ed’s Trail in 2013 (post), the Bluff Mountain Trail in 2015 (post), and the Grouse Vista Trail in 2019 (post). Those hikes had taken place on July 1st, June 27th, and June 24th respectively so this was a later visit for us, but we knew that the late snow melt had delayed the wildflower display so we still expected to get to experience that.

Our inspiration for this visit came from Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” (2nd edition) which was printed in 2019. Reeder calls the hike to Silver Star Mountain via the Starway Trail as “by far the most difficult….”. He also mentions that the last two miles of driving on FR 41 to reach the trailhead are “potholed and rocky” while the Forest Service states “Trailhead is best accessed by high clearance vehicles due to rough road conditions.” The Washington Trail Association also mentions that “…most of the roads accessing the trailhead have been severely degraded…” This last description was probably the most accurate description of what we encountered for the final 3 miles on FR 41. The road didn’t have pot holes, it had craters. Our Outback scrapped the ground twice emerging from said craters and I can’t imagine how a low clearance vehicle could make it given the current condition of the road. In fact there was a sign at the Sunset Falls Campground with slash going through a low clearance vehicle. We parked at a pullout near a gate at the FR 41/FR 4107 junction. Reeder mentions that you can drive 4107 approximately a half mile to the start of the actual Starway Trail at Copper Creek but if the gate gets closed your stuck. Looking at the gate we weren’t sure if it even still closed but we were more than done with driving at that point.

We headed down this one lane road approximately a half mile to a small parking area near a bridge over Copper Creek.

It was an overcast morning which was a welcome sight for this hike. Reeder had recommended not attempting this hike on warmer days due to the steepness of the climbs. The forecast for Silver Star was for a high in the low 60’s with partly sunny skies. We hopped that by the time we reached Silver Star we’d be greeted by those partly sunny skies, but the low 60’s temperatures were what we were really after. Beyond Copper Creek the trail followed an old road bed as it gradually climbed for a little over a quarter of a mile to a fork.
Overgrown roadbed that is now the Starway Trail.

The fork with the Starway Trail to the right.

The trail began to steepen here but didn’t really pick up steam until reaching a couple of switchbacks 0.4 miles from the fork.

Scouler’s bluebells

Beardstongue

Paintbrush

Taken from the first switchback this gives a little reference for how steep the trail was.

The switchbacks only lasted a tenth of a mile and then the trail shot almost directly uphill. The grade varied between steep and really steep for three quarters of a mile where it finally leveled out for a bit on a bench along the ridge we had been following.
Pictures never do justice to just how steep trails are.

Almost to the bench.

Level trail!

A section of trail on the bench passed through a carpet of foam flower. We’d never seen so much of that flower in one area.

Inside out flower

For about a half mile the trail avoided any overly steep climbing and then it once again headed uphill in earnest.
The trail starting to steepen again.

Every website I checked agreed with Reeder that the Starway Trail didn’t see a lot of use. They all mention the steepness of the trail and that the trail was faint and could be difficult to follow. After having hiked the trail we can confirm the steepness but it appears that someone or some agency has put a good deal of work into improving the trail. We had no trouble following the tread and there were a couple of places where a series of short switchbacks appear to have replaced sections that went straight uphill.
The first set of what appeared to be fairly recently built switchbacks.

At the top of the switchbacks the trail emerged in a small meadow where it once again leveled out.
Approaching the little meadow.

A little bit of blue overhead through the fog.

Tiger lily

Paintbrush

Wood rose

Thimbleberry

I had gotten to this level section first and looked for a place to sit down and wait for Heather but the meadow was too wet so I found a log in the trees at the far end and had a seat.
Into the trees to look for a log.

For a little over a half mile the trail climbed gradually alternating between forest and small meadows before arriving at its high point just below the wildflower covered Point 3977. Along the way we emerged from the clouds and got our first glimpses of Silver Star Mountain and Mt. St. Helens.

Silver Star Mountain

Bunchberry

Our first view of Mt. St. Helens

Zoomed in on Mt. St. Helens.

Arriving below Point 3977.

Point 3977

Pollinator on catchfly

The pink vetch was very bright.

Silver Star Mountain from the trail below Point 3977.

Rose

Wildflowers on Point 3977.

Bluebells of Scotland

Sub alpine mariposa lily

Checkerspot on Oregon sunshine

Lots of purple larkspur amid the other flowers.

A few columbine were hiding in the mix.

Violet

We surprised a fellow hiker as he rounded Point 3977 from the other side. He said he hadn’t expected to run into anyone on the Starway Trail. He’d started at the Ed’s Trail Trailhead and was doing a big loop using the Starway Trail and then road walking FR 41 & 4109 back to his car. He climbed up Point 3977 and we continued on planning to do that same thing on our way back. On the far side (south) of the point the Starway Trail suddenly dropped heading steeply downhill through a meadow.
Starting down.

Looking back up.

For nearly the next three quarters of a mile the trail alternated between steep descents and more gradual downhills losing a little more than 500′ in the process. Then the trail shot back uphill gaining over 300′ in the next 0.3 miles before arriving at a junction with the Bluff Mountain Trail.
Stars on the trees marked the Starway Trail at times.

Pinesap emerging from the ground.

A cairn at the end of this brief level section marked the start of another steep descent. By this time we’d lost enough elevation to be back in the clouds.

Part of the elevation loss was to drop below some interesting rock outcrops.

Fully back in the fog.

Time to climb again.

Big root balls.

Trail sign near the Bluff Mountain Trail junction.

Final pitch to the Bluff Mountain Trail.

On the Bluff Mountain Trail at the junction.

We turned right on the Bluff Mountain Trail which steadily climbed for nearly three quarters of a mile to a fork.

Lots of nice wildflowers along the Bluff Mountain Trail.

Another checkerspot

Paintbrush

Penstemon

We just couldn’t quite shake the fog.

First sighting of Mt. Rainier.

Mt. St. Helens to the left with Mt. Rainier to the right.

Coiled lousewort

Lupine

Getting closer to Silver Star.

Crab spider on fleabane

Spirea along the trail.

Bistort and mountain goldenbanner

First Mt. Adams sighting.

A crescent on bistort.

Penstemon

Wallflower with beetle.

Passing below Silver Star Mountain.

Mt. Hood

Rock arch below Silver Star’s summit.

At the fork we turned uphill to the left leaving the Bluff Mountain Trail.

This short connector trail climbed 0.1 miles to an old roadbed.

Fading avalanche lily.

The old roadbed.

We turned left and followed the roadbed 0.2 miles to a saddle.
The summit to the left with Mt. Adams in the distance.

Mt. Hood to the right at the saddle.

We headed for the summit to start and met a couple with a cute puppy named Hazel, the same name as our cat that we’d lost a year ago nearly to the day (post). The puppy even shared similar colored fur to our Hazel’s.

The view from the summit was a good one on this day. The clouds were low enough that we could see all five of the Cascade volcanoes: St. Helens, Rainier, Adams, Hood and Jefferson.
Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams.

Goat Rocks (between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams)

Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Jefferson. If you enlarge and look closely you can also make out Three Fingered Jack and the North Sister to the far right.

Swallowtail

Sturgeon Rock

Wildflowers at the summit.

Bug at the summit.

After a nice break at the summit we dropped back down to the saddle then climbed to the southern high point just to say we did.
Point 3977 is the the island surrounded by clouds.

There was a lot of butterfly action here.

After tagging the southern point we headed back the way we’d come.
The only beargrass bloom we saw all day.

As we were passing below Silver Star we kept our eyes out for our favorite trail animals, pikas. We’d heard a few from the summit and we were rewarded with spotting one of the little rock rabbits in a talus slope.
The talus slope.

Pikas are not easy to spot.

On alert.

As always we kept our eyes out for other things we’d missed on the first pass.
Orange agoseris

Ladybug

Making the steep climb back up to Point 3977.

We did wind up making the short climb to the top of Point 3977 even though the clouds had risen enough to effectively block most of the views.
Looking toward Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.

Looking toward Silver Star.

The views weren’t great but the wildflowers were.
Possibly a Native American vision quest pit.

Bluebells of Scotland with at least three visible insects.

Some bright paintbrush.

Larkspur

A brief appearance by Silver Star’s summit.

After a short break on Point 3977 we began the relentless descent to Copper Creek. The long steep descent was not a friend to the knees but we managed to make it down in one piece. Just before reaching the bridge we passed just the second hiker on the Starway Trail for the day.

Sorry knees.

Mock orange

A little blue sky in the afternoon.

We walked back up FR 4107 to our car and began the tedious drive back down FR 41 and made our way safely home.
Salmonberries along FR 4107. I may have eaten a few as well as some red huckleberries along the lower portion of the Starway Trail.

Both of those berry types are too sour for Heather who prefers thimbleberries but alas those were only beginning to show signs of ripening.

Looking back at the hillside the Starway Trail climbs from FR 4107.

In my research I’ve seen several different distances listed for this hike. In Reeder’s book he lists the hike to Silver Star as 10.2 miles. Our GPS units recorded 11 miles though. Some of that may be due to going to both ends of Silver Star and some additional distance may be due to the newer switchbacks (assuming they really are new). Regardless of the actual distance I think everyone agrees that the total elevation gain is right around 4200′.

I’m not sure we could have asked for a better day to do this hike on. We got some big views and lots of wildflowers while the temperature remained mild thanks to the low clouds and we saw our first pika of the year. I don’t know that either one of us would ever want to try that drive again but the hike itself was worth the effort. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Starway Trail to Silver Star

Tags bluff mountain trail, Butterly, FR 41, hiking, mountains, Off the Beaten Trail, Pika, Point 3977, Silver Star Mountian, Starway Trail, Starway Trailhead, Sturgeon Rock, Washington, wildlfowers

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Bear Creek and Wallowa Homeland – 07/14/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 22, 2022
4 Comments on Bear Creek and Wallowa Homeland – 07/14/2022

Our first night in the small town of Wallowa had been great. Our room at the Mingo Motel was extremely comfortable and we’d gotten ice cream sundaes from the Little Bear Drive-In. We were also conveniently located less than 10 miles from the Bear Creek Trailhead which was our destination for Thursday’s planned hike. This meant we could get an even earlier start in order to avoid as much heat as possible. A quick check of the forecast the night before had shown that it was again going to be in the 90’s in Wallowa and it also showed that there was another slight chance for thunderstorms Friday morning when we were hoping to do our final hike of the trip at the Wallowa Homeland. As we set off from the Bear Creek Trailhead a little after 5:30am we left open the option of doing that last hike when we got back to Wallowa if we felt up to it.
The Bear Creek Trail at the trailhead.

This was a fairly straight forward hike following the Bear Creek Trail 4.6 miles to a junction with the Goat Creek Trail then continuing another three quarters of a mile to the Bear Creek Guard Station. The relatively level trail crosses Bear Creek a quarter mile from the trailhead.

Footbridge over Bear Creek.

Milk-vetch

Mountain lady-slippers

Bug on a thimbleberry leaf.

There were a couple of ups and downs where the trail got above Bear Creek.

Baker Gulch

Cliffs on the opposite side of Bear Creek.

Trail sign marking the junction with the Goat Creek Trail. By this time we had crossed into the Eagle Cap Wilderness but there hadn’t been any signs
indicating that.

Prairie smoke a.k.a. old mans whiskers

A fleabane

The Bear Creek Trail crossing Goat Creek.

Footbridge over Goat Creek.

Goat Creek

The unmarked but obvious spur trail to the (locked) Bear Creek Guard Station on the right.

We took a brief break at the Guard Station and headed back. On the way back we spotted a new to us (at least we think) flower.
Moneses uniflora – one-flowered moneses

We also spotted several bugs and insects.
Hairstreak

Crab spider

Moth

Swallowtail on a bog orchid

Lorquin’s admiral

A fritillary butterfly with some sort of spider on the underside of a leaf below to the right.

The 10.8 mile hike here only gained 900′ of elevation, by far the least amount of any of our hikes during the trip. The lack of elevation gain combined with the cool morning temperatures allowed us to move at a quicker pace completing the hike under 5 hours and 15 minutes.

On our way back we had decided that we would indeed do the Wallowa Homeland hike today too instead of risking having to skip it if thunderstorms did develop in the morning. As convenient as our motel had been for the Bear Creek hike it was even more so for the Wallowa Homeland which started just a couple of blocks from the Mingo Motel at the Nez Perce Visitor Center.
First time we’ve started a hike from a motel room.

Passing the Visitor Center on 2nd Street.

From the Visitor Center we turned north on Storie Street and followed it nearly 3 blocks to a dirt path that crossed rail road tracks then crossed the Wallowa River on a bridge with interpretive signs.

The trail here is on land purchased in 1997 & 2000 but that is also the former site of the Nez Perce’s Winter camp. In one of the more shameful events in U.S. History the Army ordered the Wallowa Band of Nez Perce to leave their home and relocate. This led to a 6 month saga that saw the Nez Perce attempt to flee to safety in Canada with the Army in pursuit for over 1100 miles. Ultimately they were capture or dispersed and their homeland lost. We were visiting a week before the 30th annual Tamkaliks Celebration.

Dance arbor

After crossing the bridge we turned left on a gravel road heading toward the basalt cliffs of Tick Hill (an unsettling name but we did not actually see any ticks during this hike).

We followed the road as it bent to the right below the cliffs for half a mile where a trail pointer sent us climbing uphill via a series of switchbacks.

Marmot

Approaching the pointer uphill.

While it was still before noon it was heating up fast and the exposed hillside allowed the Sun to beat down on us. We distracted ourselves by looking at the different wildflowers that were still blooming amid the tall grasses.
Scarlet gilia

Dustymaidens

Skullcap

Heading up Tick Hill

Yarrow

Lupine

Mock orange and wild rose

Dragon fly

Moth mullien

Blanket flower

Checker-mallow and vetch

The Wallowas from the trail.

Sagebrush mariposa lily

After a steep half mile climb the trail leveled out a bit. We turned left at a post and descended slightly to a viewpoint next to a scraggly juniper tree.

A buckwheat

The Wallowa River and dance arbor from the viewpoint.

The Wallowa Mountians

We returned to the trail which continued to be level for 400 more feet before heading uphill again for a third of a mile to a junction with a spur trail to a gazebo.
Heading back to the post from the viewpoint.

About a quarter mile from the post we crossed this road leading to some radio towers.

Elkhorn clarkia

The gazebo ahead.

Shade!

Plaque near the gazebo.

View from the gazebo.

From left to right: Point Joseph, Hurricane Point, Ruby Peak, and Sawtooth Peak.

We cooled off in the shade of the gazebo before continuing on.

From the gazebo the trail descended slowly recrossing the road after 0.2 miles and passing by the radio towers.
At the junction with the spur trail to the gazebo. We came up from the left and continued on to the right.

Recrossing the road.

Western meadowlark

Heading toward the radio tower.

A fleabane

There were several plaques along this stretch.

Various wildflowers

Cinquefoil

Lots of blanket flower.

Sticky geranium

A little over three quarters of a mile from the gazebo the trail turned steeply downhill descending via another series of switchbacks.

Grand collomia

Scarlet gilia

The last line is great advice.

At the bottom of the switchbacks we turned left on a road bed following the Wallowa River.

Swallowtail

Dragon fly

Bachelor buttons

Swallowtail on hyssop.

Wallowa River

Goldenrod

We followed this road half a mile to the gravel road we’d been on earlier.

We retraced our steps back to the Mingo Motel completing a 4.5 mile lollipop hike with 600′ of elevation gain.

It was now a little after 2pm so after cleaning up and cooling down we headed back to the Little Bear Drive In for burgers, tots, and milkshakes. It was a good ending to what was overall an excellent trip (abdominal pain aside). With all our planned hikes completed we got a really early start on our drive back to Salem on Friday and made it home before Noon giving us plenty of time to unpack and relax. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Bear Creek & Wallowa Homeland

Tags Bear Creek, Bear Creek Guard Station, Bear Creek Trail, Bear Creek Trailhead, eagle cap wilderness, goat creek, Goat Creek Trail, hiking, Little Bear Drive In, Mingo Motel, Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland, Oregon, Tamkaliks Celebration, Tick Hill, Wallowa, Wallowa Mountain

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Minam River via Rock Springs – 07/13/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 21, 2022
1 Comment on Minam River via Rock Springs – 07/13/2022

No Summer trip to Eastern Oregon is complete without at least one thunder storm and ours came early Wednesday morning. When we awoke at 4am in La Grande one was passing overhead nearby. I pulled up the weather forecast for the hike we had planned that day and much like the forecast had been for Mt. Ireland on Saturday there was a slight chance of a thunder storm. We packed up and headed for the Rock Springs Trailhead which was between La Grande where we had been staying and Wallowa where we had reservations for the next two nights. We were following the storm as it passed over the Wallowas but it stayed ahead of us and things looked pretty good when we parked along the shoulder of FR 62 where the Rock Springs Trail headed downhill toward the confluence of the Minam and Little Minam Rivers.
We parked about 200′ north of the actual trailhead per a suggestion by Sullivan in his guidebook.

The Rock Springs Trail at FR 62.

The trail loses approximately 2500′ in the first 3.5 miles, sometimes steeply, passing viewpoints at the 0.7 and 2.0 mile marks. There were views along other stretches of trail though as the trail alternated between open wildflower filled hillsides and forest. It was the least maintained trail that we were on all week with quite a bit of grass and brush encroaching on the trail. It was also the only trail on which we encountered multiple ticks, about a half dozen, during the trip. (The only other tick we saw all week was one on my pants at Mt. Ireland on the first day (post).
The trail passed a large rock field just below FR 62 and then entered the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Lupine

Coralroot

The edge of the storm clouds.

Scarlet gilia along the trail.

Oregon sunshine and tapertip onion

Nettle-leaf giant hyssop

View from the trail before the first “viewpoint”.

Oregon checker-mallow

Assorted wildflowers

Blue sky following the storm clouds.

Scabland penstemon

Penstemon near the first “viewpoint”.

Yarrow

Douglas dustymaiden

Looking back from the viewpoint.

Buckwheat

The Point Prominence Lookout atop the high point to the left.

Ballhead sandwort

Heather coming down from the viewpoint.

Blowdown over the trail.

Nookta rose

Wood rose

View to the SE deeper into the Wallowas.

Mountain parnassian?

Back in the trees.

Some pale columbine. At first we thought it might be yellow columbine but it definitely had a red tint.

Thimbleberry crowding the trail. The storm had left a lot of water on the vegetation which in turn wound up on our legs and shoes.

Heading down into the valley.

Elkhorn clarkia

Approaching the second viewpoint.

Backbone Ridge which separates the Minam and Little Minam Rivers. We had crossed over that ridge further south on Tuesday when we took the Horse Ranch Trail from Moss Springs to the Minam River (post).

Grand collomia

Prairie smoke

Mock orange along the trail.

Twin flower and foam flower

Sign marking the junction of the Rock Springs and Little Minam Trails.

Possibly a wasp of some sort near the junction.

We turned left at the junction and descended another tenth of a mile where we spotted the first of several structures that used to be part of a lodge.
The first cabin ruin.

Almost looks okay from this angle.

Not so good from this angle.

The lodge was at the edge of this meadow.

The lodge

The fireplace seems to have held up well.

This cabin didn’t hold up.

Beyond the lodge several faint trails led off into the meadow.

The map in Sullivan’s book appeared to show the main trail turning left after passing the lodge with a spur continuing straight to the Little Minam River and a drinking hole for horses.

We had intended on taking the left hand fork but we wound up at the watering hole instead.
Wildflowers near the watering hole.

The Little Minam River. We couldn’t quite see the confluence of the two rivers from here despite being very close.

We headed north using our GPS units in an attempt to locate the actual trail which should take us to a dangerous ford three quarters of a mile from the old lodge. After a bit of searching we picked up the faint trail.

The dangerous ford.

According to Sullivan, horses are able to cross later in the Summer but hikers should follow the Little Minam Trail south to the Horse Ranch Trail and cross the Minam on the footbridge that we had crossed on near Red’s Horse Ranch.

We sat on the rocks along the Minam for a bit before heading back.

On the way back it was a little easier to follow the faint trail which led us to some campsites above the old lodge.
Here we tried looking for horse hoof prints to stick to the trail.

Butterfly on yarrow.

We think this was the trail.

The campsites where we picked up the Rock Springs Trail again.

We made the 2500′ climb back up, watching for things we missed (and ticks) as we went.
Lorquin’s admiral

Looking across the gully we could see the trail cut climbing up the far hillside.

Pincushion plant

Resting moth

A plane taking off from Minam Lodge.

A popular thistle.

A skipper of some sort.

We both missed this yellow columbine on the way down.

View from the upper viewpoint on the way back up.

A final view from the Rock Springs Trail.

The cloud cover that moved in turned out to be a blessing as it kept the temperature reasonable as we made the long climb back up.

Our hike here came in just a tad over 9 miles to go with the 2500′ of elevation gain.

The ticks had been a bit of a distraction but the views had been good and there were a lot of wildflowers along the way. At the end of the day it was our least favorite hike of the trip but there was still plenty to enjoy. From the trailhead we drove to Wallow and checked into the Mingo Motel which turned out to be a surprisingly nice room. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Minam River via Rock Springs

Tags cabin, eagle cap wilderness, hiking, Little Minam River, Minam River, Mingo Motel, Oregon, Point Prominence Lookout, Rock Springs Trail, Rock Springs Trailhead, Wallowa, Wallowa Mountains, wildflowers

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Burger Pass – 07/12/2022

I’d spent all of Monday hiking with abdominal pain so I was very happy to wake up Tuesday feeling fine. On tap for today was the highest elevation hike in the Wallows for this trip (Mt. Ireland on Saturday (post) was higher but that peak is part of the Elkhorns.) and we weren’t sure how much snow we might encounter. We did have our microspikes with us just in case.

The hike to Burger Pass begins at the Buck Creek Forest Camp and Trailhead.

The Elk Creek Trail (Trail 1944) leads from this trailhead to 7848′ Burger Pass near the 4.5 mile mark then down to Burger Meadows and eventually on to the Minam River. Sullivan’s featured hike is to Burger Pass which was our goal for the day but we had also left open the possibility of visiting the meadows if conditions were good.

At the 0.7 mile mark the trail briefly followed an old road bed to an old clearcut.

Trail sign in the old clearcut.

Sullivan describes the second mile of this trail as one of the dustiest in Oregon but on this morning there was enough moisture in the ground to keep the dust at a minimum.

Rock Creek Butte (post) in the Elkhorns from the clearcut.

The trail climbed steeply following an old roadbed out of the clearcut following a ridge before leaving the ridge and bending SE near the 2 mile mark.

Shortly after leaving the ridge we encountered the largest obstacle on the way to the pass.

The Elkhorns in the distance.

The trail made a long switchback and entered the Eagle Cap Wilderness as it rounded the same ridge that we’d been following earlier.
Granite at the switchback.

Entering the wilderness (photo from the way back).

The trail then traversed a granite hillside to a large slide below Burger Butte.
Valerian along the trail.

View from the trail.

Burger Butte

Rosy paintbrush

Tributary of Middle Fork Catherine Creek.

Looking down the creek over the slide.

Yellow columbine

After reentering the forest we began to encounter the first patches of snow.
The snow began around 7200′.

Snow over the Elk Creek Trail.

China Cap from the trail.

The trail crossed another tributary of Middle Fork Catherine Creek below a beautiful pair of cascades.

Small meadow below the trail.

Approximately 3.5 miles from the trailhead we came to an unsigned junction with the China Ridge Trail.
The China Ridge Trail joining from the left.

We stayed on the Elk Creek Trail as it climbed for another scenic mile to the pass below Burger Butte.

The Elkhorns to the right beyond Burger Butte.

Lyall’s Rockcress

The few patches of snow were just melted enough to allow us to avoid having to walk over them.

Burger Pass

The view from Burger Pass was great. There was a large snow patch over the trail but it was fairly level and soft so it didn’t require the microspikes.
Burger Butte from the pass.

Looking deeper into the Wallowas.

The snow patch below Burger Butte.

I decided to go ahead and attempt the 350′ descent to Burger Meadows while Heather opted to stay at the pass. From Burger Pass the Elk Creek Trail descends three quarters a mile to a junction with the Sand Pass Trail.

There were several patches of snow and some downed trees to navigate but I soon found myself at the junction.

I turned right on the Sand Pass Trail to see more of the meadows.

The Sand Pass Trail can be seen climbing out of the basin in the sandy gap to the center left.

Meadow lookout.

View from the meadow.

Buttercups were about the only flowers blooming in the wet meadow.

The rocks along the ridge were really interesting.

Marmot? in the meadow.

I followed the trail about four tenths of a mile before stopping at Elk Creek where a large snow drift lingered on the far side.

I climbed back up to Burger Pass and once Heather got my attention we started back down arriving at the car a little before 12:30pm.
Golden mantled ground squirrel watching us from the granite.

Butterfly

Mountain heather

Mushrooms near the Middle Fork Catherine Creek cascades.

Jacob’s ladder

Penstemon

Mushroom

Pacific coralroot

Including my visit to the meadows this was a 11.5 mile, 2800′ elevation gain hike which turned out to be our favorite of the trip (Mt. Ireland (post) being a close second.)

We picked up a late lunch/early dinner from Yia Yia Nikki’s which turned out to be a wonderful choice on what was the hottest day of the week. We packed up as much as possible that night in preparation of moving from La Grande to Wallowa for the next two nights. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Burger Pass

Tags Buck Creek Forest Camp, Buck Creek Trailhead, Burger Butte, Burger Meadows, Burger Pass, China Cap, China Ridge Trail, eagle cap wilderness, Elk Creek Trail, hiking, La Grande, Middle Fork Catherine Creek, Oregon, rosy paintbrush, Wallowas, yia yia nikki's

Hiking Oregon Wallowas

Minam River via Moss Springs – 07/11/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 19, 2022
2 Comments on Minam River via Moss Springs – 07/11/2022

Following a great first two days of hikes (Mt. Ireland & Catherine Creek Meadows) on our visit to Eastern Oregon Monday’s hike was set to be the longest in the trip, a visit to the Minam River via the Moss Springs Trailhead. We’d set our alarm for 4am in order to try and get as much hiking done during the cooler morning hours as possible. We’d left our motel at 5am and I started having abdominal pain as we drove to the trailhead. We think it was a side effect of my having preemptively taken some over the counter heartburn medication the previous nights since we had been eating richer foods than we typically do. Whatever the cause the my stomach seemed constantly cramped which was affecting my lower back and hips as well. I hoped that whatever was ailing me would subside soon as we set off on the Horse Ranch Trail (Trail 1908).

Entering the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

The trail descended from the trailhead 1.4 miles to a bridge over Horseshoe Creek. Going downhill was particularly painful for me as my cramped muscles protested each time I stepped down.

Scarlet gilia along the trail.

Tapertip onion

Scarlet gilia

Lewis flax, we were hoping to see it opened up on the way back up to the car but somehow we both completely missed it.

Arrowleaf groundsel

Bog orchid

False sunflowers

Paintbrush

Sticky geranium

Footbridge over Horseshoe Creek.

Horseshoe Creek

Shortly after crossing Horseshoe Creek the trail came close to the Little Minam River.

The trail gradually descended along the river for approximately three miles to a bridge crossing it.

Spotted coralroot

Mountain lady slipper

Little Minam River

Coral fungus

Huckleberry Creek

Bridge across the Little Minam River.

Little Minam River

I had been forced to take a number of breaks due to the abdominal discomfort including several bouts of dry heaves. Other than my core though I felt good and being just a tad stubborn we continued on from the bridge. On the far side of the bridge we stayed left at a junction with the Jim White Ridge Trail.

The Horse Ranch Trail briefly descended then climbed to a pass a little over 2 miles from the river crossing.

The only area that we encountered showing signs of having burned in the not too distant past.

Elkhorn clarkia

Junction with the Little Minam Trail (left) just below the pass.

At the pass the trail turned left and began to descend along a ridge.

Soon the trail left the ridge and began a steep descent to a meadow along the Minam River.
The meadow from the trail.

Arriving at the meadow.

The U.S.F.S. owned Red’s Horse Ranch is located in the meadow. This historic ranch was acquired by the Forest Service in 1994 and still has a caretaker. Due to how I was feeling we didn’t actually visit the ranch but instead continued past it to the Minam River where we crossed on another bridge and took a long break across the river from the ranch.

Horses at Red’s Horse Ranch.

Minam River

I was hoping the long break would finally help my stomach relax but alas it wasn’t to be; so after our break we began the 8 mile trek back up to the car. We stopped at a spring on the way up to the pass to top off our water. For whatever reason I felt way better going uphill than I had downhill or even on level trail which was nice.
Landing strip near Red’s Horse Ranch.

A plane coming in for a landing at the nearby Minam River Lodge.

Lousewort

Diamond clarkia

Grand collomia

Millipede

The pain was back as we descended from the pass but alleviated again every time we climbed. It was the first time I was happy to be climbing on a trail. We missed the flax on the way back up to the car but we did spot several white mariposa lilies which we hadn’t noticed that morning as well as a large patch of broomrape.
Pink pyrola

Little Minam River

Coral fungus

We saw a bunch of these black moths? but they seldom sat still long enough to get a photo.

An Orobanche

Penstemon

Butterfly

White mariposa lily

Large-flower triteleia

Arriving back at the trailhead.

We arrived back at the car around 3:15pm after the long hike. It was a nice hike but admittedly my issues were a distraction for both of us which kept us from appreciating it as much as we should have.

Heather drove us back to La Grande where I tried taking a bath and eating half a sandwich was the only thing other than water and Gatorade that I’d had all day. Neither helped immediately so I laid down in bed and soon fell asleep. We kept the alarm set in hopes that I would be feeling better in the morning but if I didn’t we’d have to delay our planned hike to Burger Pass. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Minam River via Moss Springs

Tags eagle cap wilderness, hiking, Horse Ranch Trail, Horseshoe Creek, Huckleberry Creek, Jim White Ridge Trail, Little Minam River, Little Minam Trail, Minam Lodge, Minam River, Moss Springs Trailhead, Oregon, Red's Horse Ranch, Wallowa Mountains, white mariposa lily, wildflowers

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Catherine Creek Meadows – 07/10/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 18, 2022
1 Comment on Catherine Creek Meadows – 07/10/2022

We’d spent the night in Baker City following our hike to the Mt. Ireland Lookout (post). Our plan for the next six days was to do five more of the “featured hikes” (post) from Sullivan’s 3rd edition “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon” then before heading home on Friday do the Wallowa Homeland hike which is featured in Sullivan’s most recent 2022 edition of “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon”. Because the hikes were spread out along the western and northern sides of the Wallowas we would be moving our base of operations a couple of times during the week starting with a move to La Grande for Sunday through Tuesday nights.

Sunday morning we packed everything up and headed for the North Fork Catherine Creek Trailhead. After navigating the pothole filled FR 7785 we pulled into the large trailhead parking area.

A $5 fee is required here and at several other trailheads we visited during the week. (An annual NW Forest Pass can be used instead.)

The trail doesn’t start at the parking area but rather another tenth of a mile up the road so we road walked to the official trailhead.

The trail initially climbs above the creek to an open hillside, that was putting on a pretty good wildflower display, before descending to a bridge a little after 1.5 miles.
Lots of purple venus penstemon.

There were also some white scabland penstemon on the hillside.

Buckwheat

Venus penstemon

Lupine and stonecrop

Paintbrush

North Fork Catherine Creek

Douglas dustymaiden

Spreading dogbane

The trail crossed several side creeks, all of which were we were able to cross dry footed.

A brief stretch along North Fork Catherine Creek.

Queen’s cup

Another side creek.

Bog orchid

Spotted coralroot

A fleabane

One of the more interesting things we’ve witnessed was watching carpenter ants removing sawdust from a dead log and dropping it in a pile below.

They’re a little blurry but you can see the ants in the cracks where they would drop their sawdust. It was fascinating to watch and we paused for quite a while.

Columbine

Mountain lady slippers

Large-flower triteleia

Back above the creek.

The bridge over Catherine Creek.

Bluebells next to the bridge.

The trail climbed gradually for the next three and a half miles before reaching Catherine Creek Meadows.

Crab spider

Another type of penstemon

Rosy pussytoes

A side creek running down the trail.

Yellow columbine

Entering the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Jim Creek, this was one of the trickier crossings.

Hound’s tongue

Nettle-leaf giant hyssop

One of several smaller meadows along the trail.

Jacob’s ladder

California corn lily and bluebells.

Boot Hill Creek was also tricky as it had taken over the trail.

A large patch of coralroot.

A few remaining balsamroot blooming above North Fork Catherine Creek.

Arriving at Catherine Creek Meadows.

Up until this point we had been very lucky this year with mosquitos but the meadows were very wet and the recent warm weather had the bugs out in decent numbers so we couldn’t linger in any one spot too long but we did take a short break at a campsite near a side creek.

All the black dots in the blue sky were gnats flying over the stream at the trail crossing.

Heart-leaved bittercress

Our goal for the day lay about a half mile away, an early 1900’s log cabin at the far end of the meadow. After our break we set off across the creek following what became an increasingly wet trail to a junction where we forked left.

Looking back at the sign post in the meadow marking the trail junction.

Another dry section of trail.

It wasn’t dry for long.

Yellow buttercups and pink elephant’s head.

Elephant’s head, one of our favorites.

Ladybug

Nearing the cabin.

Ground squirrel

Squatter running from the cabin.

We checked out the inside of the cabin before heading back.

It was only 9:45am when we started back so we took our time and kept an eye out for anything we’d missed on our first pass.
Beetle

Another beetle and Nevada bitterroot.

Brunch

A comma of some sort.

Big mushroom

Something from the Lycaenidae family.

Coneflower

Swallow-tail on red clover.

Fritilary on clover

Mourning cloak perched overhead.

Lorquin’s admiral

A tortoiseshell

Skullcap, one of the hardest flowers to get a decent picture of for some reason.

Tapertip onion

Yarrow and other wildflowers up the hillside.

Our hike came in at 11.8 miles with approximately 1450′ of elevation gain.

From the trailhead we drove to La Grande and checked into our Motel, after hanging out at a park for about an hour because we’d arrived a bit too early, and then headed to Side A Brewing for an early dinner. It was going to be a warm week so we turned in early planning on another 4am wake-up the next morning to beat as much of the heat as we could. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Catherine Creek Meadows

Tags Catherine Creek Cabin, Catherine Creek Meadows, eagle cap wilderness, hiking, La Grande, North Fork Catherine Creek, North Fork Catherine Creek Trail, North Fork Catherine Creek Trailehad, Oregon, Side A Brewing, Wallowa Mountains, wildflowers

Blue Mountains - South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Mount Ireland – 07/09/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 17, 2022
8 Comments on Mount Ireland – 07/09/2022

As we continue to work toward our goal of completing the 100 featured hikes (post) in each of the five areas covered by William L. Sullivan in his “100 Hikes” series we headed for Eastern Oregon for a week hoping to check off 6 more hikes from that area. The first hike on our list, Mt. Ireland, had become something of a white whale for us. We had tried to do this hike during a September 2017 to Sumpter, OR but an early round of snow forced us to change that plan (post). We tried again on the way home from backpacking the Elkhorn Crest (post) but a round of severe thunderstorms stymied that plan.

We hoped the third time would be the charm but a little doubt crept in when I checked the forecast Friday night before leaving and saw it called for a slight chance of thunder storms the next day. We left at 5am to make the five and a half hour drive to the trailhead. Our plan was to watch the weather on the way there and if all looked good to try the hike but if it looked like thunder storms were imminent we would drive straight to Baker City where we had reservations for that night and try the hike again on our way home. There were a few clouds in the sky as we approached but none looked threatening so we followed Sullivan’s driving directions to the small, poorly marked, parking area.
A small sign post was all that marked the trailhead.

The trail begins along a closed roadbed which climbs steeply for the first 0.3 miles to a junction with other old roadbeds a view of Mt. Ireland.

Mt. Ireland from the junction.

Hound’s tongue

There were several old roads/skids in the area but the trail was well flagged (we later learned that flagging had been recently placed by folks manning the lookout).
Flagging on the left marking the “trail”.

After another mile we came to FR 142 where a trail sign marked the continuation of the the trail.
Another flag hanging on the tree to the right.

Another glimpse of Mt. Ireland.

Small meadow near FR 142 along a tributary of East Fork Boundary Creek.

Trail sign at FR 142.

The trail climbed for nearly another mile from FR 142 to a junction on an open ridge.

Jacob’s ladder

This was one of three trees across the trail, all of which were easily navigated.

Ironside Mountain in the distance.

Phlox

Brown’s peony

Nearing the junction.

The trail to the right led 1.3 miles downhill to Downie Lake a possible side trip but one we decided to skip given our late start, the warm temperature, and we had another six straight days of hikes planned after this. We turned left and headed uphill, steeply at times (most times) toward Mt. Ireland.
Heading uphill.

Pussy paws

Mt. Ireland ahead.

Rock Creek Butte (post) and Elkhorn Peak along the Elkhorn Crest.

Paintbrush

Goosefoot violet

Vinegar Hill in the Greenhorn Mountains (post) with a few snow patches.

It was just over a mile from the junction to the lookout and as we neared the lookout we began noticing signs of mountain goats.
Mountain goat fur on the trail.

I was a little ahead of Heather reaching the tower and when I arrived there were goats at a salt lick placed below the tower to keep the goats from disturbing the tower itself.
Just to the right of the silver stump in the center of the photo is one of the goats.

One of the goats below the lookout tower.

Zoomed in shot of one of the goats leaving upon my arrival.

I rested at the saddle below the lookout tower next to a helipad and took in the view of Baldy Lake below.
Arriving at the saddle.

Baldy Lake below Mt. Ireland.

The tower from the saddle.

The helipad.

Being watched.

The tower is typically staffed from late-June thru late-September and as I waited for Heather I was waved up to the tower by the current staffer, Warren. Warren and his wife Chris(sp?), who are from Arkansas, welcomed me to the tower where they offered me a chair while I waited for Heather to arrive. Heather soon joined us and we spent almost an hour in the tower visiting. We learned the tower is a bit of an anomaly being steel framed and that the day before 23 goats had been at the summit. Warren also informed us that under the right conditions Mt. Rainier was visible from the tower over 200 miles away. Another interesting tidbit of information was that dietician was the most common occupation of visitors to the tower in 2021 which was Warren’s first year staffing the tower. Apparently they don’t get a lot of visitors which was surprising to us given how great the view was from here.

While we were visiting a nanny and kid came to the salt lick.
The kid was on the other side of mom.

After our visit we returned to the saddle for a few more photos and then headed back down the trail to the car.
The Elkhorns from the tower.

The snowy Wallowa Mountains beyond a gap in the Elkhorns.

Milbert’s tortoiseshell

Vinegar Hill with Dixie Butte to the left and Strawberry Mountain (post) the high point to the far left in the distance.

Clark’s nutcracker

Butterfly on pussy paws.

A comma?

Beetle on arnica.

Hookedspur violet

After returning to the car we drove into Sumpter and stopped for hand dipped corn dogs at a small stand that is only there typically between July 4th and Labor Day. The owner of the stand had stayed later in September of 2017 and we’d had several of the corn dogs (and cheese sticks) then which were delicious. The next year the stand wasn’t there but it was this year to our delight.

After a couple of corn dogs (w/jalapeno mustard) and a cheese stick each we continued to Baker City and checked into our room for the night. The hike came in at a little over 7 miles with just over 2300′ of elevation gain.

We really enjoyed this hike and getting to visit with the staffers made it even more enjoyable. It’s really hard to understand why this hike isn’t more popular except that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information out there about it. It felt good to finally be able to check this one off our to-do list but we would happily do it again if the opportunity arose. Happy trails!

Flickr: Mt. Ireland

Tags Baldy Lake, Blue Mountains, elkhorns, Greenhorns, hiking, Mount Ireland Lookout, mountain goat, Mt. Ireland, Oregon, Sumpter

California Hiking Klamath Mountains Siskiyou mountains Trip report

Siskiyou Wilderness Days 3 & 4 – Raspberry Lake and Black Butte Trail 07/03-04/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 9, 2022
6 Comments on Siskiyou Wilderness Days 3 & 4 – Raspberry Lake and Black Butte Trail 07/03-04/2022

After the long hike to Devil’s Punchbowl the day before (post) we were looking forward to a shorter hike on Sunday and having time in the afternoon to relax around camp before hiking out on the 4th. Our goal on this day was Raspberry Lake which sits below Preston Peak, the highest peak in the Siskiyou Wilderness. It had started to cloud up the day before but it hadn’t rained. A layer of fog however had settled over the meadow in Youngs Valley by early morning.
Fog at 5:30am

We hadn’t heard the bear overnight but we were still on high alert keeping an eye out for it. In fact I was so focused on looking for black fur that I didn’t notice a buck near where our food was hung and when he jumped it startled me half to death because I was less than 10 yards away from it.
After he jumped he started to run off but quickly stopped to eat just a few yards later.

The fog was burning off quickly as we ate breakfast and we did not see the bear again that morning.

Deer in the meadow.

Snail near our breakfast spot. It’s amazing how quickly these guys can get from one place to the next.

After breakfast we secured our food and garbage and headed for the lake. We walked up the old road bed to the junction with the Raspberry Lake Trail and turned right.

We followed the trail/old roadbed past the junction with the Poker Flat Trail which we had come down on our first day (post) and continued on the road for 2.5 miles to a fork near the former Cyclone Gap chrome mine.
Lupine and beargrass along the road.

Lupine

Beargrass

Waterfall on cliffs below El Capitan.

Waterleaf

Stream crossing.

At times the old roadbed looked like you could drive on it but other times it looked like this.

Small meadow along the trail.

Western azalea

The clouds burned off quickly.

Penstemon

At the 1.5 mile mark we detoured slightly to a view point overlooking Youngs Valley near a ridge end.
Youngs Peak with the meadow barely visible to the right below.

Rocky Knob to the left.

As we rounded the ridge we got a good view up Clear Creek to Bear Mountain where we had been the day before visiting Devil’s Punchbowl.

We ignored a side trail for Cyclone Gap shortly after rounding the ridge but when we reached the fork at the 2.5 mile mark we did detour to the right along a level roadbed to visit some of the mine ruins.

Sign at the Cyclone Gap junction.

Back into the 2018 Natchez fire scar.

Preston Peak

Paintbrush along the trail.

Streambank bird’s-foot trefoil

Musk monkeyflower

Raspberry Lake Trail to the left.

Ruins from the chrome mine.

More mine ruins on the hillside below.

We returned to the trail and followed it uphill above the old mine where the roadbed ended. The trail became narrow and rocky as it rounded another ridge end. Here we ran into the couple that we had spoken with at Doe Creek the day before. They had hiked up the Rattlesnake Meadow Trail which they reported was quite overgrown and then followed a ridge cross-country up to Raspberry Lake which they did not recommend.

Nuttall’s sandwort

Bear Mountain and Rocky Knob.

Chipmunk

Getting closer to Preston Peak.

Ragwort

Small stream crossing.

A short steep rocky section where cairns were helpful.

Rounding another ridge with Preston Peak on the left and Bear Mountain to the right.

First view of Raspberry Lake in the trees below to the right.

A series of steep switchbacks led down to the lake.

There were a few tents set up around the lake so we didn’t do a lot of exploring. Our timing wasn’t great as the Sun was positioned slightly to the left behind the lake which still lay in the mountains shadow which made it very difficult to photograph.
Big rock along the shore.

It was a nice lake but not nearly as dramatic as Devil’s Punchbowl had been. After a short break here we headed back looking forward to some extra rest and relaxation at the less crowded meadow in Youngs Valley.
Bell catchfly

Douglas’ Dustymaidens

El Capitan on the right. To the left I think that is Bear Cub with Polar Bear Mountain behind.

Western azalea

This squirrel gave us a stern talking to.

Western tanager pair

Twin Peaks

We believe this is what Sullivan shows as Slow Echo Camp on his map. We wondered what the stones in the foreground had been a part of?

The waterfall we had seen was near the camp and I set off into the brush to see if I could get a better view. It partially worked.

Near the other small campsite we encountered a buck which may have been the same one that startled me back near our camp earlier based on how comfortable he was with us being there.

When we arrived back at the meadow our neighbors had moved on but we did run into a grouse.

The hike to the lake and back came in at 8 miles even with approximately 1750′ of elevation gain.

After putting things away we set up our lightweight chairs near the meadow and watched the ever changing clouds. It wasn’t long before we noticed other hikers/backpackers across the meadow following the road down from the Youngs Valley Trailhead. We also spotted Buster (the name we’d given the bear) lumbering through the meadow again.

In fact Buster passed through the meadow twice going in the same direction which led us to wonder if there was more than one Buster in the area (or a glitch in the Matrix). The bear didn’t seem to care that another group had set up a tent on the opposite side of the meadow and was similarly unimpressed when another couple arrived with their dog. We heard the dog bark and wondered if it was at Buster and when the couple passed by us on their way to finding a site they confirmed that the dog was barking at the bear and that it didn’t phase it one bit. They also mentioned that a friend of theirs had stayed there the week before and seen the bear around. Fortunately it appeared that everyone had proper bear proof systems in place, i.e. bear canisters, ursacks and/or bag hanging systems. Hopefully people continue to be responsible because it only takes one careless person leaving food out or in their tent for the bear to figure out that people have food. So far even though it wasn’t nearly as wary of people as most black bears are it didn’t show any signs of equating people with having food (not being food, those are grizzly bears lol). If that happens it typically means the bear will be put down.

This butterfly did discover people=salt.

Maybe a flycatcher of some sort near camp.

Common buckeye

Turkey vulture checking out the meadow.

We did do a little exploring in the area and found a few flowers nearby that we’d missed the day before.
White rush lily

Ginger

Snow plant

Both of the new groups of backpackers had dogs but aside from the initial barking at Buster we didn’t hear either of them again which we took to mean the bear kept its distance overnight. In the morning we got an extra early start for our hike out managing to have coffee and breakfast, pack up and still be on the trail by 6:15am.
Another low cloud morning.

Heading out

We followed the old road bed past the Raspberry Lake Trail junction half a mile to another trail junction, this one with the Black Butte Trail.
Passing around the meadow, we didn’t see Buster this morning.

Black Butte Trail junction.

We turned right onto this trail which was also an old road bed and followed it a little over half a mile to the East Fork Illinois River.

Bear Cub under the clouds.

Vanilla leaf along the trail.

Jessica sticktight

The headwaters of the East Fork Illinois River are just up from the trail so the river isn’t much more than a trickle at the trail crossing.

On the other side of the river we ignored the East Fork Illinois Trail to the left and continued on the old road bed.

The edge of the clouds to the NW.

Passing below Bear Cub.

Being an old road bed in unburt forest made for easy hiking.

Going into the weekend there had been a chance of showers both Sunday and Monday. Sunday had remained dry but today a light mist was falling and there were a couple of brief showers which were enough to prompt us to put the rain covers on our packs but not enough to don our rain gear.

When we had made it to the north side of Bear Cub (Sullivan refers to it as Polar Bear Cub) we were momentarily confused by the number of trails our GPS units were showing. Sullivan’s map only showed an unmaintained use trail heading right toward the mountain while our paper Forest Service map didn’t show any other trails, but the GPS topo showed Sullivan’s user trail and another trail heading slightly downhill to the left. What we were seeing was the old roadbed curing right toward Bear Cub and a trail with cairns on both sides heading straight.

The existence of the third trail on the GPS had us questioning whether the trail marked by cairns was the Black Butte Trail or the left most trail showing on the Garmin. After some debate we decided that it must be the Black Butte Trail and passed between the cairns. This turned out to be the right choice and we soon found ourselves climbing through the 2020 Slater fire scar.

Swtichbacking toward Bear Cub.

Black Butte

We were a bit disappointed when we realized that to reach the junction with the Black Butte Tie Trail below Black Butte we had to lose about 100′ of elevation first.
Heading downhill so we could go up.

Creek crossing in the basin below Black Butte.

Looking back into the clouds where we’d come from.

Steep climb up to the junction.

We made it back to the junction! Only 1.8 more miles to go.

We turned left at the junction, now following the route that we’d come in on from the Black Butte Trailhead on the first day. We had both convinced ourselves that this stretch would be mostly downhill, but we had been deceived.
Spirea

Pair of woodpeckers

Why is there more uphill?

Black Butte from the trailhead with Heather coming down the trail.

It was 5.6 miles from our camp to the trailhead but after some challenging hikes it felt harder than that. The nearly 1400′ of elevation gain didn’t help that, but it had been a great trip none the less.

The most significant rain shower started as we were changing at the trailhead so the timing there was pretty good. The trip had been challenging but it was worth it to have the chance to experience a new area with such diverse plants and great scenery. The wildlife was a bonus although a little less bear would have been okay.

What wasn’t good was the low tire pressure light that came on almost immediately after starting our drive. We had the same light come on in June driving up to the Siskiyou Gap Trailhead (post) and taken the car to Les Schwab in Ashland for an air check. The two left side tires were just a little low then so they added some air and we were off. Today was the 4th though and the Les Schwab stores in Grants Pass (the closest to where we were) were closed for the holiday so we pulled into a gas station and checked the air at their self-serve station. The same two tires were again a little low so I topped them off and we drove home. The light was back Tuesday morning when I started my drive to work prompting a trip to Les Schwab in West Salem where they removed the tires and discovered a screw in the rear tire and a nail in the front. Luckily both were small leaks and repairable. Hopefully we’re done with that light for a long while now. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Raspberry Lake / Youngs Valley To Black Butte Trailhead

California Hiking Klamath Mountains Siskiyou mountains Trip report

Siskiyou Wilderness Day 2 – Devil’s Punchbowl 07/02/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 8, 2022
3 Comments on Siskiyou Wilderness Day 2 – Devil’s Punchbowl 07/02/2022

Our first morning at Youngs Valley turned out to be rather exciting. Per usual I was up early (before 5am) and we were eating breakfast by 6am. We were sitting at the edge of the meadow away from camp enjoying our Mountain House biscuits and gravy when I spotted a black bear passing between some trees in the meadow. Heather had commented during our hike in the day before that we were due for a bear sighting and there it was. I think I said “that’s a bear” and then we watched as it entered a stand of trees around a large boulder in the meadow a little less than 100 yards from where we were.
There still wasn’t a lot of light in the valley but the bear was in with the tall tree in the middle of this picture.

We lost sight of it for a time and thought maybe it had continued on away from us behind the trees but then it reappeared as it scrounged for things to eat.

We were downwind so I don’t think the bear realized we were there until it poked it’s head out of the trees and stared at us.

We had stood up but hadn’t been making noise but now that we were spotted I let out a “HEY BEAR!” which in our past experience (12 bears on trail and 2 driving to trailheads) would have been enough to send the bear running, if it hadn’t already sped off when it first spotted us. This bear did head off but it was about as non-nonchalant as it could have been.

Heather watching the bear leave through the gap in the trees.

We made sure that we really did have every bit of food that we weren’t taking with us for our day hike in our Ursack bear bags and secured them. Then we re-familiarized ourselves with our bear spray. I had been seeing alerts from the Forest Service about a rise in bear encounters due to a delay in the berry crop this year so we had at least come “Bear Aware“.

After the exciting breakfast we threw our packs for the day on and headed to the Clear Creek National Recreation Trail where we turned right off the old road bed at a small sign.
The sign for the Clear Creek Trail on a tree to the right.

From Youngs Valley it was 5.1 miles to the Doe Flat Trail then another 2.8 to our goal for the day, Devil’s Punchbowl, a lake in a granite bowl carved by glaciers. The Clear Creek Trail passed by a series of small meadows before entering a forest that had been spared by the recent fires.

Clear Creek below the trail.

A little under a mile and half from Youngs Valley we found ourselves back inside the scar of the 2018 Natchez Fire though.

While there wasn’t much blowdown on the trail to navigate it was faint in places and overgrown with thimbleberry, trailing berries, currant and roses (those last three all have thorns) in places which made for some slow going.
Anemone and star flowers

Honeysuckle

Rocky Knob

One of several creek crossings. This one was a bit tricky to stay dry on but we both managed to do so on the first pass. Heather wasn’t so lucky on the way back though.

Rayless arnica

Pacific ninebark

Streambank bird’s-foot trefoil

Sign for the Rattlesnake Meadows Trail which looked to be in much worse shape than the Clear Creek Trail.

White-vein wintergreen

There were occasional pockets of green trees, typically near creeks.

Queens cup

There was a small stream in the middle of the trees here.

About a mile and a half after entering the fire scar the trail left it again for a bit.

A colorful pea.

The mornings second round of excitement came when we spotted the first of what turned out to be many California lady slippers.

These beautiful orchids found only in the Siskiyou Mountains of SW Oregon and northern California are endangered in part due to thoughtless people who pick or attempt to transplant the fragile plants. We took many, many photos.

Just under three and a half miles from Youngs Valley the trail came to a beautiful pool along Clear Creek. The pool was so nice that we failed to notice that the trail continued on the far side.

We took a break on the bank of the creek before continuing on and realizing that we needed to cross the creek. There was no way we were staying dry on this one so we forded the barely calf deep water. More excitement ensued when we came to the first of several patches of California pitcher plant – Darlingtonia californica.

This carnivorous plant native to northern California, SW Oregon and the Oregon Coast is considered uncommon and one we don’t often see. Many more pictures followed. We continued south along the trail hoping for more exciting sightings.
The western azaleas smelled wonderful.

Another side creek.

Another fire scar, this time from the 2017 Young fire.

Silver-spotted skipper

Chipmunk

White-stemmed frasera

Bolander’s lily, another exciting find for us and the first time we’ve seen them.

Washington lily with a crab spider.

One and three quarters beyond the crossing we came to Trout Camp near the Doe Flat Trail junction where we saw the first signs of other humans since the people with the goats near the Black Butte Trailhead the day before. There was a hammock and a tent set up at a campsite there but we didn’t see any people.
Trail sign near Trout Camp.

Our original plan had been to move our tent here, hike up to Devil’s Punchbowl then take the Doe Flat Trail to Buck Lake before returning to the tent. Then in the morning we would pack up and move the tent back to Youngs Valley before hiking up to Raspberry Lake. After comparing Trout Camp to Youngs Valley we were happy that we’d changed our plan. It would have been fine but the scenery was a lot nicer at the meadow.

We left the Clear Creek Trail at Trout Camp and followed the Doe Flat Trail downhill to a crossing of Doe Creek where we once again got our feet wet.
Sign for the Doe Flat Trail at Trout Camp.

Doe Creek, we probably could have made it dry footed (I was able to on the way back.) but since we were already wet why bother.

We finally ran into people on the far side of Doe Creek. They were trying to get their bearings and we were able to point them in the direction of the Clear Creek Trail and Raspberry Lake where they were hoping to spend the night.

From Doe Creek the trail launched steeply uphill climbing via a series of switchbacks.

Twin Peaks in the distance.

Pacific coralroot

Phantom orchid

After a mile and over 700′ of elevation gain the trail appeared to be leveling out but it was also the junction with the Devil’s Punchbowl Trail.
The Doe Flat Trail continuing on from the junction.

The only sign at this junction was a small pointer for the trailhead and clear creek.

Opposite the little sign the Devil’s Punchbowl Trail climbed steeply uphill behind a log that someone had scratched the trail name into.

Another half mile and 600′ plus of elevation brought us to a viewpoint at a ridge end where we got our first good look into the granite basin where we would find Devil’s Punchbowl.
The flat top of Black Butte in the distance.

Bear Mountain

At the ridge end we were just under 200′ below the elevation of Devil’s Punchbowl but after rounding the ridge the trail descended almost 150′ to a crossing of the lakes outlet creek.
Blue-head gilia

Oregon sunshine

There was a nice pool below the crossing where we planned to refill our water on our way back by.

Beyond the creek the trail became more of a scramble over the granite following occasional cairns over the rocky landscape.

Buckwheat

Siskiyou lewisia

Preston Peak

Before reaching Devil’s Punchbowl the trail passed a smaller but scenic lake.

It was pretty obvious why this is the most popular spot in the wilderness and draws crowds. We however were fortunate enough to be the only people here when we arrived.

Pussypaws

It wasn’t long before another couple arrived followed by a pair of backpackers but we appreciated the solitude nonetheless.
Beetle on a pussypaw

Swallowtail on azalea

Silver-spotted skipper on Siskiyou lewisia

Phlox

After a nice long rest we headed back down stopping at the outlet creek for water.
There is a rock arch atop the ridge near the left hand side.

Mountain heather

Green beetle

Ground squirrel

Clouds gathering around Preston Peak.

Fleabane near the pool.

Waterfall along the outlet creek.

Clouds over Devil’s Punchbowl.

A duskywing

More clouds to the north.

We returned the way we’d come passing a number of groups heading up to Devil’s Punchbowl. We felt even more fortunate about having had the lake to ourselves for a bit. After recrossing Clear Creek we cooked our dinner at a small camp site before continuing on.
Bee in bindweed with a little ant observing.

Back at the ford.

Ouzel at the Clear Creek ford.

Doe in the forest.

This little guy had a pretty song.

Arriving back at Youngs Valley.

It was after 7:30pm and there was another couple setting up camp near ours and I stopped briefly to chat with them. When I started to continue down the road bed to our site I spotted what was probably the same bear from the morning standing on its hind legs watching us from the brush.
The bear in the middle of the photo behind a small leaning tree.

I gave another “HEY BEAR!” yell and he again moved on but a short while later when I was heading to re-secure the bear bags I ran into it again. This encounter was quite a bit closer but this time the bear hustled back into the brush. After securing the bags we put the rain fly up due to the increased presence of clouds. A little while later we heard our neighbor yell at the bear to run it off yet again. The bear hadn’t bothered our camp and there was no evidence that it had tried to get to our food and it was too late and we were too tired to move camp. We kept the bear spray and a whistle close at hand and turned in for the night.

With some side trips and wandering the GPS registered a 16.5 mile day with just over 4000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

It was an exciting day for sure but also another tough one. We were looking forward to a shorter day on Sunday followed by a 5.5 mile hike back to the trailhead on the 4th. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Devil’s Punchbowl

Tags Bear Mountain, black bear, California, california pitcher plant, Clear Creek, Clear Creek National Recreation Trail, Devil's Punchbowl, Doe Creek, Doe Flat Trail, hiking, Rattlesnake Meadow, Siskiyou Wilderness, Trout Camp, Youngs Valley

California Hiking Klamath Mountains Siskiyou mountains Trip report

Siskiyou Wilderness Day 1 – Polar Bear Gap 07/01/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 8, 2022
4 Comments on Siskiyou Wilderness Day 1 – Polar Bear Gap 07/01/2022

For the Fourth of July weekend we took an extra day off and headed to the Siskiyou Wilderness in California for our first backpacking trip of the year. This would be our first visit to the 179,847 acre wilderness after having had to cancel planned trips several years in a row due to weather, fire, and smoke. All of the previously planned trips had been on the schedule for late Summer and since that didn’t seem to be working out we decided to try an earlier time of the year. Sullivan features three hikes in the wilderness: Polar Bear Gap, Raspberry Lake, and Devil’s Punchbowl and our plan was to check them all off our to-do list on this trip.

Friday morning we made the long drive back into California to the Black Butte Trailhead near the northern end of the wilderness area. The 2020 Slater Fire burned over the road to this trailhead and into the wilderness.
Black Butte from the Black Butte Trailhead.

There was one other vehicle at the trailhead and it had a small animal trailer with hay attached to it. Heather guessed goat and was proved correct when we ran into a couple and their three goats not a quarter mile up the trail. Those would be the only people we encountered on this first day. As for the Black Butte Trail it was in pretty good shape to start considering the fire as it led uphill toward the shoulder of Black Butte.

Penstemon

Narrowleaf blue eyed Mary

Siskiyou mountain ragwort

Wedgeleaf violet

Sanger Peak

More penstemon

Phlox

After cresting below Black Butte the trail made a slight descent to a junction with the Black Butte Tie Trail 1.8 miles from the trailhead.
Youngs Peak

It turned out to be a beargrass year, at least in the northern part of the wilderness.

Clustered broomrape

Paintbrush

Lizard

El Capitan with the snow behind Bear Cub. Bear Mountain is the high point in the center distance with Rocky Knob to the right front of it. Youngs Peak is the high point to the far right of the frame at the end of the ridge.

Looking up at Black Butte.

Rayless arnica

Big deervetch

The junction with the tie trail.

We would be coming up the tie trail on Monday on the way back to our car but for now we forked left sticking to the Black Butte Trail. Our Forest Service Map indicated that the next 2.5 miles of trail was “infrequently maintained” but the first three quarters of a mile to Polar Bear Gap were fine.

Polar Bear Mountain ahead.

Azalea

A sulphur butterfly

Thimbleberry blossoms

A tortoiseshell on thimbleberry.

Wallflower

The trail steepened considerably as it made the final climb to the gap.

Lupine

Lewis flax

Lookout Mountain

Paintbrush

A carpet of narrowleaf blue eyed Mary at Polar Bear Gap

Nuttall’s sandwort surrounded by blue eyed Mary.

Serpentine phacelia

Polar Bear Gap

Polar Bear Gap sits between Lookout Mountain to the north and Polar Bear Mountain to the south and provided us our best view eastward of the entire trip.
Lookout Mountain

Polar Bear Mountain

Looking east toward Mt. Shasta.

Mt. Shasta

Looking west toward Sanger Peak.

Sickle-leaved Onion

There were lots of lizards in the area.

After a much needed rest at the gap (we aren’t used to carrying full backpacks) we headed down the opposite side of the gap toward Twin Valley.

On this side of the gap we traded the 2020 Slater fire scar for the 2018 Natchez fire.
Heading down into Twin Valley

Paintbrush and penstemon along the trail.

Queen’s cup

Frog

As we neared the first of two meadows in the valley the infrequent maintenance became obvious. The good news was that there were a good number of cairns set up but it was slow going at times trying to locate the next one.

Larkspur

The yellow is a cinquefoil I believe but I don’t know what the other dark flower is.

Meadow in Twin Valley.

The trail passed between the smaller upper and larger lower meadows and continued a slight descent along the lower meadow where we began looking for a junction with the Poker Flat Trail.
Heading down to a stream crossing between the two meadows.

Scarlet gilia

Beargrass

Creek crossing.

Shooting star and marsh marigold.

A hairstreak butterfly

Columbine and cinquefoil

With the trails being faint we were also keeping an eye on our GPS units which both showed that we had gotten below and past the trail junction. Heather decided to strike off cross country first to see if she could find the trail and I soon followed. We lost sight of each other for just a moment and wound up crossing paths without realizing it. She wound up finding the trail junction and turned up the Poker Flat Trail before getting my attention. I made my way over to her and we were back on track.
Cut logs helped identify where the trail was supposed to be.

Wolley-head clover

Oregon violet

Polar Bear Gap from the Poker Flat Trail.

Sullivan describes the climb out of Twin Valley as being “as graceless as a bobsled run in a quarry”. That was an apt description and making the climb with full packs didn’t help. We were very relieved when the trail crested a ridge end after three quarters of a mile.
Looking up toward the ridge end.

Iris at the ridge end.

Red Buttes (post) to the NE.

Red Buttes

Lookout Mountain from the ridge end.

Bee visiting penstemon.

After another break at the ridge end we sallied forth. The trail descended for approximately a mile before climbing fairly steeply again for half a mile to Private Lake. We took a short side trail down to the small lake where we again rested.
The Lieutenants and El Capitain

Clustered broomrape

We were starting to see a lot of bear sign.

An as-of-yet unidentified flower.

This may be sticky blue eyed Mary.

Mariposa lily

More faint trail.

Time to climb.

Anemone

Meadow along the Poker Flat Trail.

Approaching Private Lake.

Siskiyou lewisia

Private Lake below The Lieutenants.

After we’d eaten and rested we resumed our trek and climbed steeply for a half mile to a pass between The Lieutenants and Bear Cub.

Scarlet gilia and penstemon

Heather heading for the pass.

Arnica

Nearing the pass.

Bear Cub

Youngs Peak just to the left of the snag.

The trail descended to a small snow melt tarn then continued down a rocky ridge.

Bear Cub on the right.

Youngs Peak behind the tree.

Approximately 1.4 miles from the pass we arrived at an old road bed that is now the Raspberry Lake Trail.
Finally out of the fire scars.

Snow plant

We should have turned right here for two tenths of a mile then taken a left onto another old road bed but after the long drive and challenging hike we weren’t thinking all that clearly and mistook this junction for the next and turned left. We realized our mistake after a little more than 100 yards and backtracked past the junction to the correct left hand turn onto the road bed that doubles as the Clear Creek National Recreation Trail near a large meadow in Youngs Valley.
Sign for Raspberry Lake at the Raspberry Lake Trail/Clear Creek National Recreation Trail junction where we correctly turned left.

At the southern end of the meadow the Clear Creek Trail leaves the road bed and continues south following Clear Creek ending almost 20 miles later at No Mans Trailhead. We stayed on the road bed as it continued around the meadow. After crossing a branch of Clear Creek we started looking for a campsite.
Footbridge over the creek.

Bear Cub from Youngs Valley.

Camp

There were plenty of open sites as we appeared to be the only people around. There were other creatures about though.
Dragon fly

El Capitan

Bucks in the meadow.

Caterpillar

We did a little exploring to check out the wildflowers in and around the meadow.
Spotted coralroot

Wedgeleaf violets

Maybe a cinquefoil

Bistort

Shooting star

Monkeyflower

There were quite a few of these tiny flowers. I haven’t been able to identify this one yet.

After getting water, eating dinner, and setting up the tent we were plenty tired so we turned in early. The hike had been a little over 9 miles with approximately 3000′ of elevation gain spread out over several steep climbs.

It had been a great start from a scenery standpoint but we were not used to carrying the larger packs so before bed we decided that we were going to tweak our plans just a bit and instead of packing up camp in the morning and moving 5+ miles to the south just to pack up again and come back to Youngs Valley for the last night this would be our base for the entire trip. We were looking forward to seeing what else this wilderness had in store over the next three days. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Polar Bear Gap

Tags Bear Cub, black butte, Black Butte Trail, Black Butte Trailhead, California, Clear Creek National Recreation Trail, El Capitan, hiking, lookout mountain, Poker Flat Trail, Polar Bear Gap, Polar Bear Mountain, Private Lake, Raspberry Lake Trail, Siskiyou Wilderness, The Lieutenants, Youngs Peak, Youngs Valley