Author: derwoodynck

National Creek Falls and Takelma Gorge – 10/15/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 22, 2020
3 Comments on National Creek Falls and Takelma Gorge – 10/15/2020

As the strangest hiking season we’ve experienced winds down we took our final long distance (over 3 hours away) trip of the year for a long weekend of hiking around Union Creek, OR. Recent rains had knocked down the wildfires for the most part but those rains had given way to a sunny forecast which made for promising hiking conditions. We kicked off our hikes with a stop at the National Creek Falls Trailhead.

Located just west of Crater Lake National Park National Creek Falls is spring fed from water absorbed by the Park’s pumice plain. A short .4 mile trail descends from the trailhead to the creek just below the falls.
There was just a little bit of blowdown to navigate on the way down.

National Creek Falls

On a warmer day we would have loved to stay for a bit and possibly wade across the creek to get a full view of these impressive falls but it was in the mid 30’s this morning and with the moisture generated by the falls we quickly became uncomfortably cold. We settled for the view we could get from the creek side and retreated back up to our car and turned the heat on full blast.
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When enough feeling had returned to my hands to grip the steering wheel we returned to Highway 230 following it south to its end at Highway 62 then continued south on that highway past Union Creek to Woodruff Meadows Road (between mileposts 51 and 52). We turned right onto this paved road for one and three quarters of a mile to a small pullout just past the Woodruff Bridge Day Use Area and a bridge over the Rogue River (parking is also available in the day use area).
Signboard at the pullout.

We were here to do Sullivan’s Takelma Gorge hike (#32 in the 4th edition “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California”). In his book he suggests a quick detour to a small fall beneath the bridge so we crossed the road and made our way down to the river bank to view the cascade.

We then recrossed Woodruff Meadows Road and headed south along the river on the Upper Rogue River Trail.

The mile and a half to Takelma Gorge had many river views with lots of fall colors lining the banks. There was also a varied thrush sighting that actually resulted in a few decent pictures (these birds are my nemesis when it comes to getting photos).

As we neared the gorge the river began to be squeezed through channels created by lava flows.

Rogue River emerging from a channel.

Takelma Gorge is also the result of a lava flow where the Rogue turns a sharp corner and blasts down the gorge.

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The trail follows along the rim of the gorge passing a couple of viewpoints over the next .9 miles.

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Rogue River emerging from Takelma Gorge.

Either end of the gorge could have been turn around points but the Upper Rogue River Trail continues and so did we. From the southern end of Takelma Gorge it was just over two miles to the River Bridge Campground which we planned on making our turn around point. The nearly level trail remained close enough to the river to provide plenty of views.

Just under a mile from the gorge we passed the Rogue Baptist Camp.

Ouzel

River Bridge

We turned around at the campground and headed back.

It was a beautiful day and somehow the colors and the gorge were even more impressive on the return hike.

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When we got back to Woodruff Bridge we noticed some flagging and signage along the trail that had not been there earlier. Apparently there was a 50k race scheduled for Saturday (10/17). The race was an out and back starting and ending in Union Creek. The fact that the race would be happening Saturday helped us decide that Friday we would be doing the Natural Bridge hike since that would have us on trail following part of the race course.

We drove to Union Creek where we checked into the Union Creek Resort then after getting settled we walked across Highway 62 to get dinner from Beckie’s Cafe. After a thoroughly enjoyable dinner we decided to check out the area behind the cafe which was actually part of our next day’s hike. We managed to get ourselves turned around in the Union Creek Campground and our little after dinner stroll turned into a nearly mile out and back along Union Creek. It had been a nice start to the long weekend and we were looking forward to what the next day had to bring. Happy Trails!

Flickr: National Creek Falls and Takelma Gorge

Tags Beckie's Cafe, Crater Lake National Park, hiking, National Creek Falls, Oregon, Ouzel, River Bridge Campground, Rogue River, Takelma Gorge, Union Creek, Union Creek Campground, Union Creek Resort, upper rogue river trail, Woodruff Bridge Day Use Area

Bend/Redmond Central Oregon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Wildcat Canyon (Maston Trail System) – 10/11/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 13, 2020
No Comments on Wildcat Canyon (Maston Trail System) – 10/11/2020

A wet weather system arrived with the weekend dropping some much need rain over the wildfires in Oregon and depositing a decent amount of new snow on the Cascades. This was great news and one of the few times that we were more than happy that our original plan was forced to change due to weather. We were going to be in Bend to celebrate the 75th birthday of Heather’s Dad which provided us an opportunity to hike in the rain shadow of the Cascades before heading home Sunday morning. It was a nice celebration and a rare event for all our calendars to align and be together.

Having finished all 100 featured hikes (post) in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Central Oregon Cascades” (4th edition) we turned to his 5th edition of the book and decided to check out Wildcat Canyon (Hike #36). Wildcat Canyon is part of the Bureau of Land Management’s Maston Trail System, a 4,000 acre mixed use network of trails for hikers, bikers, and equestrians. It also happens to be located in my old stomping grounds near Tumalo, OR. The Maston Trailhead (see previous link) is less than 10 driving miles from the my parent’s old house between Bend and Redmond and just over 5 miles from my former elementary school. Way back then the Maston Trail System didn’t exist but I had spent time exploring the Deschutes River Canyon near that area, closer to Eagle Crest Resort, so I was excited to check the trail system out.

We were the second car at the Maston Trailhead that morning.
Sunrise at the Maston Trailhead

Cline Buttes from the Maston Trailhead.

It was a crisp morning with a bit of frost on the ground, the kind of morning that reminded me of a high school job I had moving irrigation pipes at a nearby farm. We set off through the equestrian parking area and passed through an open fence by a trail map.
Equestrain trail at the Maston Trailhead

Maston Trailhead map

This was the Settlement Trail (an equestrian/hiker only trail), named for the settlers who had cleared the land and began constructing farms in the early 1900’s in preparation of the arrival of irrigation water. The water never came and by the 1930’s the farms had been abandoned.
Interpretive sign at the Maston Trailhead telling the story of the settlers.

Old foundations along the Settlement Trail Stone foundation of one of the abandoned buildings along the Settlement Trail.

We followed the Settlement Trail by staying right at junctions for the first 1.5 miles.

Settlement Trail Typical sign at a junction. Not all of the junctions had signs and not all of the signs identified which trail/junction it was so having a copy of the trail system map is a really good idea.

There were a lot of different birds about but most wouldn’t stay still long enough for a picture and those that did perched at the top of junipers distant enough to make identifying them even with a 30x zoom a bit difficult.
Songbird atop a juniper This one may be a sparrow of some sort, it was signing quite a bit.

Bird atop a juniper Possibly another sparrow or a finch or something else.

Bluebird atop a tree Maybe a bluebird?

We took a wrong turn at a junction just over a half mile from the trailhead. We had been expecting to see the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead to our right which our guidebook indicated we should go down to, so when we spotted a signboard along a road less then a tenth of a mile to our right we headed for it. When we got to the little pullout at the road we double checked the map and realized that we had turned right too early so we turned around and returned to the junction. We turned right again and continued on the Settlement Trail another quarter of a mile to the actual Wildcat Canyon Trailhead.
Wildcat Canyon Parking from the Settlement Trail Wildcat Canyon Trailhead off to the right.

We spotted the only non-bird wildlife of the day near this trailhead when a rabbit raced out of the sagebrush and paused briefly on the other side of a juniper.
Out of focus rabbit behind the juniper I managed to snap one photo and of course the camera focused on said juniper instead of the rabbit beyond.

We stayed straight at the trailhead on the Settlement Trail which was now almost directly next to the Rockbar Trail (a mountain bike trail). The Settlement Trail quickly arrived on the basalt cliffs above the Deschutes River Canyon.
Deschutes River and Wildcat Canyon Wildcat Canyon on the right joining the Deschutes River Canyon

The Deschutes River near where the canyons meet.

Grizzly Mountain in the distance beyond the Deschutes River.

The trail turned north along the canyon rim which we followed for half a mile, switching to the Rockbar Trail when the equestrian trail crossed over it.
Deschutes River Another of several viewpoints along the rim.

Some Fall color along the Deschutes River.

Rock dove

Deschutes River Canyon A viewpoint along the Rockbar Trail.

Deschutes River

Deschutes River Looking south up the river canyon.

Deschutes River A calm pool along the Deschutes.

Stellar's jay I could see this one, a Stellar’s jay.

Shortly after the Rockbar Trail turned away from the canyon it crossed a private road.
Coming up to the road.

We followed Sullivan’s instructions and jogged left 100′ picking up the equestrian trail again.
An equestrian continuing on the far side of Necomb Road

We turned uphill on the equestrian trail to a junction with the Headgate Trail, another mountain bike trail, in just 100 yards.

We turned left following this single track through the juniper and sagebrush for approximately 2 miles ignoring side trails along the way.
Headgate Trail

This was Junction 2 (one of the junctions with an identifying sign). We stayed right on the Headgate Trail here.

At a slightly higher elevation than the Settlement Trail the Headgate Trail would have provided a fairly nice view of the Cascades but on this day they were mostly shrouded in clouds although we could see fresh snow on Tam McArthur Rim (post) and on the lowest portion of the South and North Sisters.
View from the Headgate Trail Tam McArthur Rim is left center with South Sister in the center and North Sister to the right center.

We turned down what we believe on the map to be the Maston Tie Trail (it was unmarked) and followed it for a quarter of mile back to the beginning of the Settlement Trail at the Maston Trailhead.
Heather and Dominique on the Maston Trail.

Maston Tie Trail comging back to the Maston Trailhead Coming up on the Settlement Trail.

This wound up being a nice loop, just under 5 miles, with minimal elevation gain (200′ or so). The network of trails provides options for both shorter and longer loops too with multiple starting points available. We hope to come back again in the Spring some year to check out more of the area and see what it looks like during a different season. Until then this was a great introduction to the area. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Wildcat Canyon

Tags Bend, blm, Cline Buttes, Deschutes River, Headgate Trail, hiking, Maston Trail System, Oregon, Rockbar Trail, Settlement Trail, Tumalo, Wildcat Canyon, Wildcat Canyon Trailhead

Hiking Indian Heaven Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Junction and Cultus Lakes – Indian Heaven Wilderness – 10/03 & 10/04/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 8, 2020
4 Comments on Junction and Cultus Lakes – Indian Heaven Wilderness – 10/03 & 10/04/2020

With a September backpacking trip to the Sky Lakes Wilderness having been canceled due to the wide spread wildfires on the West Coast it seemed like our Labor Day trip (post) may have been the last nights in our tent. Fortunately the weather and smoke both cooperated over the first weekend in October and we spent one final night in our tent in the Indian Heaven Wilderness. It appeared that nearly everyone else had that same idea making this trip by far the busiest over night trip we’ve experienced.

We had visited this wilderness on two previous occasions – a 2015 day hike starting at the Thomas Lake Trailhead, and a 2018 day hike to Indian Racetrack via the Pacific Crest Trail. We began this trip on the eastern side of the wilderness at the East Crater Trailhead.

Our plan was to take the East Crater Trail 2.5 miles to Junction Lake and set up camp then make a big loop (with a few side trips) around Bird Mountain using the Pacific Crest Trail, Cultus Creek Trail, Indian Heaven Trail, and finally the Lemi Lake Trail. We started up the East Crater Trail through a mountain hemlock forest with splashes of Fall colors.

The trail climbed gradually entering the Indian Heaven Wilderness.

A little less than a mile and a half from the trailhead we passed the first of several small ponds and the scar of the 2017 East Crater Fire.

Still some fireweed blooming in the fire scar.

East Crater beyond a pond.

Just before the 2.5 miles we arrived at the Pacific Crest Trail and the end of the East Crater Trail near Junction Lake.

Junction Lake

We didn’t want to set up our tent on the vegetation in the meadows around the lake so we looked to the opposite side of the PCT where we found a nice little spot tucked back in the trees.

This crab spider offered to watch our tent for us while we were away.

After getting everything set up we headed north along the PCT past Junction Lake to a junction with the Lemi Lake Trail.

We stayed left on the PCT and reentered the trees on a forested hillside.

A mile from the Lemi Lake Trail junction we came to another junction with the Elk Lake Trail near Bear Lake.

This was our first detour as we turned left and descended to the shore of Bear Lake where numerous tents were set up.

The Indian Heaven Wilderness is famous for its huckleberries but this late in the year most of them were well past edible but along the lake shore there were a few left which had caught the attention of the locals.

We opted not to go the third of a mile further to Elk Lake and after a short break we returned to the PCT and continued north another .4 miles before making another short side trip downhill to Deer Lake.

We continued past Deer Lake meeting the Indian Heaven Trail on the far side where a right turn onto it would have allowed for a shorter loop. We had done that loop on our first visit to the wilderness though so we stuck to the PCT this time. We could hear pikas “meeping” from a talus slope near the junction so when we got closer to the rocks we started scanning for the little guys. We were quickly rewarded as one darted in and out of the rocks pausing long enough for a couple of photos.

The PCT continued to climb gradually along the western side of Bird Mountain passing the Placid Lake Trail approximately a mile from the Indian Heaven Trail before arriving at a 4-way junction after another mile.
Placid Lake Trail on the left.

No pikas in these rocks, that we saw.

At the junction the PCT continued straight while the Wood Lake Trail headed downhill to the left.

PCT at the 4-way junction.

We took the right had path, the Cultus Creek Trail which crossed over a pass.
Cultus Creek Trail heading uphill to the right.

On the far side of the pass we took a use trail out to a rocky viewpoint with a great view of Mt. Adams.

In front of Mt. Adams we recognized Sleeping Beauty which we had hiked up earlier in the year (post).

We took another break on some rocks here and soaked in the view. The forecast for the weekend had been for widespread haze so the blue sky and clear view was a nice surprise. After the break we returned to the Cultus Creek Trail which headed steeply downhill. We were starting to see more and more hikers as it seemed a lot of people had the same idea that we’d had as far as it being a good weekend for a visit. As the trail dropped to the east we briefly got a glimpse of the Goat Rocks and Mt. Rainier beyond Sawtooth Mountain.

Goat Rocks with Mt. Adams hiding behind trees.

Mt. Rainier behind Sawtooth Mountain (and Steamboat Mountain to the right)

Mt. Rainier

After a mile and a half on the Cultus Creek Trail we arrived at the Cultus Creek Forest Camp.

We walked to the right through the camp following signs to the Indian Heaven Trailhead.

We followed this relatively steep trail back into the wilderness and up to an even better viewpoint just over a mile from the trailhead.

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Mt. Rainier had swapped sides with Sawtooth Mountain and was fully visible as were the Goat Rocks and Mt. Adams.

Beyond the viewpoint the trail continued to climb but much more gradually arriving at a junction with the Deep Lake Trail after 1.2 miles.
The Labor Day wind storm had knocked a number of trees down but the trails we took had mostly been cleared already.

There was a bit of a traffic jam at the Deep Lake Trail junction and we wound up on that trail even though we had not planned on this side trip.
Cultus Lake from the Deep Lake Trail.

It was only about a quarter mile to Deep Lake and well worth the trip as it turned out. The top of Mt. Adams was visible across the lake.

We took another break along the shore of this lake (which was also very busy with hikers and backpackers).

We returned to the Indian Heaven Trail and followed it to the far side of Cultus Lake where we turned left on the Lemi Trail.
Lemi Rock beyond Cultus Lake

Cultus Lake from the Lemi Trail.

Beyond Cultus Lake the Lemi Trail passed through a series of meadows with bright red and yellow huckleberry leaves.

After a mile of fairly level hiking the Lemi Trail steepened gaining a little over 200′ in .3 miles.
The climb was up a forested hillside.

The climb offered us the only view of the day of Mt. St. Helens.
Mt. St. Helens

The trail leveled out again on the east side of Lemi Rock at a junction with what appeared to be possibly be a climbers trail on the right.

We continued on the Lemi Trail another quarter mile to a viewpoint above Lake Wapiki where we now had a view of Mt. Hood (and a little more haze).
Mt. Adams as we approached the viewpoint.

Lake Wapiki

Mt. Hood

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The Lemi Trail continued another 1.1 miles down to the lake but the climb up to the viewpoint from Cultus Lake was enough to convince us that we weren’t up for the 400′ climb back up from Lake Wapiki so after resting at the viewpoint we started back. Curiosity got the best of us at the trail near Lemi Rock though as it appeared fairly level so we turned left onto it and began following it to see where it might lead.

We followed this trail past more spectacular Fall colors for .2 miles where it suddenly disappeared in some small trees.

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We maneuvered our way through the trees picking up another mylar balloon (we have come to hate these).

We popped out at a small meadow where we declared victory at headed back toward Lemi Rock.

As we passed a small pool with a clear reflection Heather spotted the second pika of the day.

After watching the pika for a moment returned to the Lemi Trail and took it back to Cultus Lake and the Indian Heaven Trail.

We turned left onto the Indian Heaven Trail and followed it for another .3 miles to a junction with the Lemi Lake Trail.

We turned left onto this trail passing through a series of meadows before arriving at Lemi Lake after a little over half a mile.

Lemi Lake

We had brought our camp stove and dinner and stopped at the lake to get water and eat.

After dinner we followed the Lemi Lake Trail for another 1.5 miles back to Junction Lake and the Pacific Crest Trail.

Pearly everlasting

Lemi Rock from the Lemi Lake Trail.

Junction Lake

Back to the PCT.

Junction Lake from the PCT/Lemi Lake Trail junction.

Things had gotten very crowded at Junction Lake and there were tents all over the grass around the lake shore. We retreated to our little spot in the trees away from the madness and took our camp chairs in the opposite direction and sat for awhile at the edge of a meadow.

We decided that we’d get up no later than 5am and beat the crowds by hiking out in the dark the next morning. We’ve been spoiled with nearly none of our backpacking trips involving many other people at all so this was a bit of an adjustment for us. We wound up waking up at 4:30am and set off under a full moon toward our car.

We had only hiked in the dark one other time, when we thought there might be a fire in the Three Sisters Wilderness, but it was actually 40 miles away (post). That had been quite the adventure as it seemed like we were constantly seeing eyes in the forest or toads in the trail. We were hoping we might have a similar experience here but the 2.5 mile hike back to the car was quick and uneventful. We were back home in Salem a little after 9am though which gave us plenty of time to unpack, do laundry and watch the Seahawks game. Aside from not being used to that many people on an overnighter it had been a good trip. The weather was great as were the views and the Fall colors. Somehow we managed to turn what we expected to be a 14.6 mile hike into 18.2 miles (those side trips will get you every time) but it was worth every step. Happy Trails (and Go Hawks)!

Flickr: Junction and Cultus Lakes

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon Trip report

Lost, Spruce Run, and Bloom Lakes – 09/26/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 28, 2020
3 Comments on Lost, Spruce Run, and Bloom Lakes – 09/26/2020

The tragic wildfires that claimed lives and wreaked havoc on several towns and communities had kept us home since Labor Day. Several forests and parks still remain closed but things have been slowly reopening and some much needed rain arrived to help slow the fires and clear the air. One of the forests that had reopened was the Clatsop State Forest between Portland and Seaside. Hike #12 in William L. Sullivan’s 4th edition “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Oregon Coast & Coast Range” consists of three short hikes to lakes in that forest. We had visited Soapstone Lake on a previous outing (post) With many forests and parks still closed due to the tragic wildfires that claimed lives and wreaked havoc on several towns it seemed like a perfect time to check out the other two lakes, Lost and Spruce Run. We also added nearby Bloom Lake whose trailhead along Highway 26 we’d driven by a number of times.

We began our morning at the Spruce Run Creek Trailhead at Henry Rierson Campground.

The winds that had caused the fires to explode throughout Labor Day night had also toppled thousands of trees across the forests of Oregon so we we weren’t sure what conditions we might encounter. Nearly immediately after setting off on the trail we were met with a jumble of recently downed limbs.

They were passable with care due to the slick condition of the wood which was damp from passing showers. Encountering this so early in the hike made us even more concerned about the conditions further on but as it turned out this would be the biggest obstacle of the day. There were a couple of downed trees which we simply stepped over and the rest was just smaller debris.

The Spruce Run Creek Trail began with a series of ups and downs, sometimes surprisingly steep, as it followed along Spruce Run Creek.

It was a fairly dark morning as passing showers kept the Sun behind clouds but none of the showers lasted long nor were very heavy and the clouds breaking up made for some nice views.

A little over a mile along the trail we were surprised to enter a recently logged area.

The trail was in relatively good shape and easy to follow through this area.

Another small surprise came near the 2 mile mark where we expected to find a short spur trail on the left leading to Lost Lake Road. Instead we arrived at a newer logging road.

We momentarily wondered if we had somehow taken the spur trail without realizing it but after consulting the map it was clear that this was a new road and we were still on the Spruce Run Creek Trail. We turned right onto the road and spotted the continuation of the trail at a 3-way junction after 100 yards or so.

We had actually planned on taking the spur trail to Lost Lake Road and hiking up that road 1.1 miles to Lost Lake instead of driving to the Lost Lake Trailhead after finishing our hike to Spruce Run Lake so at the 3-way junction we turned left. We followed this road downhill approximately .2 miles past a gate to Lost Lake Road where we turned right.
The open gate and Lost Lake Road from a logging road.

As we climbed up the road the alternating showers and blue sky created a nice rainbow behind us.

From the parking lot of Lost Lake we headed clockwise around the lake on a nice trail.

There were several opportunities for views of the little lake along the 1 mile loop.

Hardhack

After completing the loop we returned on the roads to the continuation of the Spruce Run Creek Trail.
Spruce Run Creek Trail on the left.

The trail descended through logged forest for the next half mile before passing the timber sale boundary.

Leaving the logged area.

In another quarter mile we arrived at a pair of benches near the end of Spruce Run Lake.

20200926_094603 Rough skinned newt near Spruce Run Lake.

The lake was created by a landslide that backed up Spruce Run Creek. The water level fluctuates with the season and was little more than a pond at this point of the year.

The rest of the lake bed was a marshy green meadow with Spruce Run Creek flowing through.

One of many damp spider webs in the meadow.

The meadow from the bank of Spruce Run Creek

After exploring the meadow for a bit we headed back to our car under increasingly blue skies.

Bleeding heart

Scouler’s bluebell

A little butterfly

When we had passed through the logged area we got a better look at the forest along the first part of the trail now that it was lighter. It looked and felt like Autumn.

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Combining these two hikes was a little over 9 miles with 1600′ of elevation gain. We drove back to Highway 26 and headed toward Portland stopping at the Bloom Lake Trailhead just west of the Quartz Creek Bridge for a final quick hike.

The blue skies that we had enjoyed on the earlier hike were nowhere to be found at this trailhead even though it was only 3 miles from Spruce Run Lake as the crow flies. The heaviest shower of the day passed overhead as we crossed South Fork Quartz Creek on a footbridge.

Fortunately this shower was like all the rest had been, brief. The Bloom Lake Trail climbed along an old road cut for a mile to the start of a loop around little Bloom Lake. We stayed left at the fork and in another .3 miles crossed an inlet creek on a slick looking piece of wood.

Fall means mushrooms start replacing wildflowers.

Beyond the creek crossing we turned right another another old road bed then right again on August Fire Road (on which one can drive to Bloom Lake).
August Fire Road

We turned right off of this road at another old road bed that was blocked by cut tree trunks.

This led us down to Bloom Lake.

Snail near Bloom Lake.

We continued around the lake on a trail which crossed the outlet creek on an old log.

We completed the loop around the lake then headed back downhill to our car.
Mushrooms

More mushrooms

This hike was 3.2 miles with 675′ of elevation gain making our days tally 12.4 miles and 2275′. It was nice to get back out and this had turned out to be a good choice. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Lost, Spruce Run, and Bloom Lakes

Tags Bloom Lake, Bloom Lake Trail, Bloom Lake Trailhead, Clatsop State Forest, Henry Rierson Campground, hiking, Lost Lake, Lost Lake Trailhead Lost Lake Trail, Oregon, Oregon Coast Range, Spruc Run Creek Trail, Spruce Run Creek, Spruce Run Lake

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Boulder Creek Wilderness – 09/07/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 13, 2020
4 Comments on Boulder Creek Wilderness – 09/07/2020

**Note the 2024 Pine Bench Fire burned over a portion of this hike.**

We woke up at Wiley Camp on Labor Day and got ready to head back to the Hummingbird Meadows Trailhead. Our plan for the day was to drive back to Salem via Highway 138 and stop at the Boulder Creek Wilderness, one of the five remaining Oregon wilderness areas we had yet to visit (post) and one of Sullivan’s featured hikes.

It was the least smokey morning of the weekend which made for a pleasant 2 mile hike back to our car.
Buck Canyon Trail

View from the Buck Canyon Trail

Hummingbird Meadows Trail

West Fork Muir Creek

We drove back to Diamond Lake (post) from the trailhead then took Highway 138 toward Roseburg to milepost 55. There we turned right onto Medicine Creek Road and made an immediate left onto Soda Springs Road following it for 1.3 miles to the Soda Springs Trailhead.

From the trailhead we took the Soda Springs Trail which ducked beneath a large steel pipe diverting water from the North Umpqua River to a nearby power station.

The trail began climbing immediately after passing under the pipe and quickly arrived at a signed junction where the North Umpqua Trail forked to the right.

The trail continued to climb through previously burned woods to another junction .4 miles from the trailhead.

This was the Bradley Trail onto which we turned left following pointers for Pine Bench.

This trail climbed over 650′ in the next mile before leveling out along the broad plateau of Pine Bench. There was an increasing presence of poison oak along the trail which we kept our eyes out for. It was especially bad along the hillside after we entered a more recent (2017) fire scar.

Bradley Trail passing below some cliffs.

A lot of the poison oak was turning color which made it easier to spot.

Entering the 2017 fire scar.

Lizard

Bradley Trail arriving at Pine Bench.

It was a hot climb in the exposed sun so reaching the forest atop Pine Bench was a nice reprise from both the heat and the vast majority of poison oak.

Rock formation visible from the Bradley Trail.

A little over a mile and a half from the Soda Springs/Bradley Trail junction we arrived at the Boulder Creek Trail.

We turned right here looking for a side trail to a spring near a campsite.

Common wood nymph

Illahee Rock Lookout

We passed the campsite after .4 miles but we didn’t take the unsigned spur trail down to the spring due to the GPS map showing the trail further off.

Spur trail to the left.

We quickly realized that the trail we had seen must have been the one we wanted but decided to continue on for now. From the campsite the trail continued to Boulder Creek after 1.7 miles. We were seeing very little poison oak and it was a nice day on the bench so we opted to do Sullivan’s longer described hike to the creek. The trail made a few unexpectedly steep up and downs and it grew fainter with a few downed snags but it was passable and there were signs of recent brushing/trail maintenance.

Just over half a mile from the campsite we passed the very faint Perry Butte Trail.

Trail maintenance and ripe blackberries.

Looking up the Boulder Creek Valley

Looking down at the trail across a side drainage.

Looking across the Boulder Creek valley.

Small fall on Boulder Creek

Final drop down to Boulder Creek.

Boulder Creek

We took a short break on the rocks along the creek before turning back.

The continuation of the Boulder Creek Trail on the far side of Boulder Creek which reportedly becomes even fainter and more wild.

After cooling off a bit we started the process of climbing back up to the campsite and the spur trail to the spring.

When we made it back to the spur trail we turned down it for 100 yards to a wide open area with madrone trees.

The spring was just below some rocks on the left but there wasn’t much water flowing this time of year.

After another short break we continued back to the Bradley Trail junction. We stayed straight here following the Boulder Creek Trail downhill through the 2017 fire scar. While there had been a good deal of poison oak along the Bradley Trail this trail put that one to shame. It was all avoidable but it was thick along the trail as it switchbacked downhill. There was also one switchback near the top where we were forced to walk down a large downed tree.
Fern tree along the Boulder Creek Trail.

This log was the trail.

Another switchback with poison oak on all sides of the trail.

The bright side of going down this way was there was a wilderness sign, or at least most of one (we hadn’t seen one on the other side).

After a approximately 1.5 miles we arrived at a junction with the North Umpqua Trail where we turned left on an old roadbed.

We followed the road another tenth of a mile or so to a gate blocking the road at the Boulder Creek Trailhead.

Not too far from the gate we came to a pair of boulders blocking the road meaning the actual trailhead is inaccessible via car although there was room to park at the boulders. We continued down the road which brought us close to the North Umpqua River near the power station.

We stopped at the far end of the Soda Springs Day Use Area to read the interpretive signs before returning to our car.

We headed back to Salem and when we were back in cell range began receiving alerts about a hazardous wind event. By the time we made it back to Salem strong dry winds from the east had pushed the Lionshead and Beachie Creek Fires into the valley. Later that evening/night those fires would explode along with numerous other new fires up and down the West Coast. A slightly smokey but wonderful Labor Day Weekend turned into a nightmare for thousands. The fires continue to be a huge danger to many but the winds have shifted and rain is in the forecast so hopefully some relief is coming. Happy Trails and stay safe.

Flickr: Boulder Creek Wilderness

Tags Boulder Creek, Boulder Creek Trail, Boulder Creek Wilderness, Bradley Trail, Buck Canyon Trail, hiking, Hummingbird Meadows Trail, Hummingbird Meadows Trailhead, Illahe Rock Lookout, Oregon, Perry Butte, Pine Bench, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Soda Springs Trail, Soda Springs Trailhead, Spring, Wiley Camp, Wiley Camp Trail

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trip report

Rattlesnake Mountain – 09/06/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 12, 2020
4 Comments on Rattlesnake Mountain – 09/06/2020

After spending the night at Wiley Camp (post) we grabbed our day packs and crossed the West Fork Muir Creek on the Wiley Camp Trail.

Smokey skies turning the Sun red.

We followed the cairn and flagging that we had found the day before and picked up the trail on the far end of the meadow.

The Wiley Camp Trail entered the trees where we had to navigate around and over a number of downed trees.

Despite the numerous obstacles the trail was easy enough to follow and it passed a number of huge trees.

Little trees surrounding a giant.

A downed giant.

Three quarters of a mile from Wiley Camp the trail entered a large meadow where we finally lost the tread.

Madia

Paintbrush

We used the GPS to relocate the trail at the upper end of the meadow in a saddle.

The trail then dropped a tenth of a mile to the Wiley Camp Trailhead on Fish Creek Valley Road 870.

On the far side of the road was a pointer for the Whitehorse Meadows Trail.

This trail reentered the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness and dropped into another meadow following a small stream.

Goldenrod and other flowers.

Arnica?

Columbine

20200906_082143 St. John’s wort

Fleabane (or aster) and coneflower

Three quarters of a mile from the road we arrived at Fish Creek where the trail briefly disappeared.

Heather found the trail on the far side of the creek where we turned left along the edge of the meadow before turning right at a tree with another trail sign.

Just beyond the trees we came to the unsigned Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail.

Here we turned left following this trail a quarter of a mile where the Whitehorse Meadows Trail split off uphill to the right.

The trail sign on the left wasn’t particularly descriptive.

The Whitehorse Meadows Trail climbed steadily through meadows and forest for 1.2 miles to a four-way junction at Windy Gap. The highlight of this section was an owl that flew by and landed in a nearby tree.

The owl is in the center of the picture behind the branch with green needles.

Small stream crossing

Chipmunk

Windy Gap

We took a break on some logs at the gap before heading up the Rattlesnake Mountain Trail (which was on the right as we arrived).

The sometimes faint Rattlesnake Mountain Trail gained over 800′ in the next 1.2 miles as it climbed via a series of switchbacks, steeply at times to a large rock cairn. It had been a little smokier than the previous day but as we climbed we managed to get above the smoke.

Along the way we passed an impressive rock outcropping.

Near the upper end of the 1.2 mile section we entered a burn scar with views of Mt. Bailey, Mt. Thielsen and Crater Lake.

Mt. Thielsen

High points along the rim of Crater Lake above the smoke.

A bee photobomb with Mt. Bailey and Mt. Thielsen to it’s right.

Flagging in the burn scar.

Nuttall’s linanthus

20200906_100351 Owls clover

Golden-mantled ground squirrel.

The rock cairn.

The Rattlesnake Mountain Trail continued NE at a much smaller cairn at a switchback below the larger cairn. We missed this on the way up, it appears that it had not been maintained since the 2017 Rattlesnake Fire.

From the large cairn we simply headed uphill through the meadow to a viewpoint on the west side of the mountain.
Nearing the summit.

The air was okay where we were, but the smoke was impacting the views. We were able to make out the top of Mt. McLoughlin beyond Fish Mountain.

Mt. McLoughlin

Hillman Peak and The Watchman at Crater Lake

We tried taking a break amid the trees near the summit but we wound up attracting a number of yellow jackets (and I don’t do yellow jackets) so we decided to instead stroll around the fairly level top of Rattlesnake Mountain where we located the old lookout site.

Butterfly and bees.

We did a small loop around the forested top and dropped back down through the meadow to the cairn and returned to Windy Gap.
For some reason this cracked us up.

20200906_114812 Heather spotted this cricket on my shoulder (I always have some sort of insect on me for some reason).

At the 4-way junction at Windy Gap we went straight following a sign for the “Tie Trail to Castle Creek Trail No. 1576”. (Not a trail name that just flows off the tongue.)

Approximately .2 miles from Windy Gap we passed a sign for a faint unnamed trail leading uphill to the right.

The next .2 miles were interesting as the trail grew faint and then disappeared in a meadow.

This section of trail was not shown on the GPS so we couldn’t use that to stick to where the trail was supposed to be so we wound up crossing the meadow and then heading uphill to the Castle Creek Trail which was shown on the GPS.
We’d lost the trail here and were just heading for the Castle Creek Trail.

We came across this faint tread in the trees before reaching the Castle Creek Trail and started following it.

Apparently it was the actual trail as it popped us out at a trail sign along the Castle Creek Trail.

We turned left on the Castle Creek Trail, which followed an old roadbed downhill for 1.1 miles to the end of Fish Creek Valley Road 877 at the Happy Camp Trailhead

Rattlesnake Mountain

Happy Camp Trailhead

We followed the road to the left 100 yards to the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail.
Rattlesnake Mountain

Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail

The trail dropped into a meadow and crossed Fish Creek. We followed this trail three quarters of a mile to the junction with the Whitehorse Meadows Trail where we had turned uphill earlier in the day.

Snake in Fish Creek

Scarlet gilia

We then retraced our steps to the Wiley Camp Trail and the Fish Creek Crossing where we refilled our water supply.
Fish Creek

Fish in Fish Creek

Frog in Fish Creek

As we climbed past the meadow beyond Fish Creek we spotted several hawks and one deer who crashed off before we knew what had happened.

We recrossed Fish Creek Valley Road 870 and returned to camp on the Wiley Camp Trail.

No sooner had I sat down at camp when a bat flew by and landed on a nearby tree.

I’m not sure why it was out during the day but it stayed on the tree for a minute or two then flew off across the creek. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the creek (which was really cold).
Monkshood

This frog decided that under Heather’s pack was a nice spot to chill.

We didn’t see another person the entire day which was nice but in a way also a shame. The area is beautiful but it clearly sees little maintenance and appears to see most of it’s visitors during hunting season. The lack of visitors likely contributes to the lack of maintenance which in turn discourages visitors. It’s really a shame. We enjoyed the privacy though and had another nice evening alone with the critters. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Rattlesnake Mountain

Tags backpacking, Bat, Castle Creek Trail, Fish Creek, Fish Creek Valley Road, Happy Camp, Happy Camp Trailhead, hawk, hiking, Oregon, Rattlesnake Mountain, Rattlesnake Mountian Trail, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, West Fork Muir Creek, Wiley Camp, Wiley Camp Trail, Wiley Camp Trailhead, windy gap

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Theilsen/Mt. Bailey Area Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trip report

Diamond Lake and Wiley Camp – 09/05/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 12, 2020
8 Comments on Diamond Lake and Wiley Camp – 09/05/2020

As I write up this trip report the Diamond Lake Resort, like many other areas in Oregon, has been evacuated due to a wildfire. The tragic loss of homes and lives happening right now is truly heartbreaking. Right now the Thielsen Fire is moving away from the lake but a shift in the winds could change that in an instant.

We visited Diamond Lake to kick off our Labor Day Weekend hiking the full loop around the 3,015 acre lake. There are numerous possible starting points for the loop and we chose to park at Horse Lake where we could follow the Horse N Teal Trail to the Dellenback Trail which is the paved trail around Diamond Lake. There was quite a bit of smoke from wildfires in California in the air which limited visibility as we set off from Horse Lake on the trail.

Horse Lake

Lesser yellowlegs

We opted not to make the short loop around Horse Lake and turned right at a junction toward Forest Road 4795 and Teal Lake.

The trail crossed the road and then descended a short distance to Teal Lake.

There is also a loop around Teal Lake so we had the choice of going left or right. We had planned on hiking counter-clockwise around Diamond Lake so we went right here and passed around the east side of Teal Lake where there was a hazy view of Mt. Bailey (post).

At the north end of the lake a very short connector trail led to the paved Dellenback Trail where we again turned right.

Northern flicker

A large meadow separates the trail from the lake here.

We followed the path through the forest ignoring side trails for a mile where we arrived at the South Shore Picnic Area.

Mt. Bailey beyond the meadow.

Mt. Thielsen from the South Shore Picnic Area

Diamond Lake underneath the smoke.

Mt. Bailey

Mt. Thielsen from the boat dock.

We had expected the lake to be busy given it was Labor Day weekend and Diamond Lake is a very popular spot and we were right. We utilized our masks as we passed through the picnic area and continued past an RV park and into the Diamond Lake Campground which stretches along most of the eastern side of the lake.
Picnic tables in the picnic area.

Short Creek (it really is short)

Resort buildings between the RV park and campground.

Sign instructing users to follow painted bike symbols through the campground.

Despite passing through the busy campground there were a number of good views of Mt. Bailey across the lake. There were also quite a few ducks in the area.

Common merganser

Goldeneyes

The trail left the campground and then in a quarter mile arrived at the Diamond Lake Lodge area.

Mt. Bailey again.

Arriving at the lodge area.

Seagulls

We passed by the lodge along the grassy lake shore and then returned to the trail on the far side. We were now far enough around the lake that we could once again see Mt. Thielsen.

This section of trail was lined with larger and more diverse trees and is also the side closest to the Thielsen Fire as of this writing.

There were fewer people along this stretch but a steady stream of bicycle riders did pass by. More entertaining though were the birds.
Bald eagle

I’ve been spotted

Chickadee with a seed or nut.

Junco in some fireweed.

The junco with Mt. Bailey in the background.

Looking back at Mt. Thielsen

More goldeneyes

Mergansers

The trail joined FR 4795 again 1.7 miles from the lodge to avoid what appeared to be an old guard station or possibly just a private cabin near Lake Creek.

After crossing the creek the trail continued with the Rodley Butte Trail on the opposite side of the road.

The trail then passed a nice little sandy beach with a view of Mt. Thielsen.

Osprey

We were now heading south along the western side of the lake which provided good views of Mt. Thielsen and Howlock Mountain despite the smoke.

Cormorant

Howlock Mountain to the left and Mt. Thielsen

The mountain views would be interrupted just over a mile from Lake Creek when the Dellenback Trail veered away from the lake to avoid the Thielsen View Campground.

We again crossed FR 4795 and continued through the trees for nearly three miles before recrossing the road.

Back on the lake side of FR 4795.

We were now passing by the large meadow at the south end of the lake, only this time it was Mt. Thielsen not Mt. Bailey beyond the meadow.

Just under a mile after recrossing FR 4795 we arrived at a scenic footbridge over Silent Creek.

A quarter mile beyond Silent Creek we arrived back at the Horse N Teal Trail junction near Teal Lake.

We turned up this trail and passed by Teal Lake on the opposite side from that morning thus completing that loop.
Canada geese at Teal Lake.

We arrived back at Horse Lake after 11.6 miles of hiking. This managed to be a somewhat easy yet hard hike at the same time. The lack of elevation change and obstacles along the trail made for easy, quick hiking, but the paved surface is a lot harder on the feet than dirt. We hadn’t stopped much at all along the way either due to the number of other trail users and our attempting to do our best to stay properly socially distanced.

Our day wasn’t done after the lake loop though. We were planning on spending the weekend in the area with Sunday’s hike being to Rattlesnake Mountain in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness. We left Diamond Lake and took Highway 230 toward Medford to the Hummingbird Meadows Trailhead which was devoid of other vehicles.

We had brought our backpacking gear with thoughts of setting up camp somewhere between the trailhead and Wiley Camp.

We had been to Hummingbrid Meadows before (post) but on that hike we had come in on the Buck Canyon Trail. On that trip we had also not visited Wiley Camp. For this trip we were planning on spending the night in our tent then using the Wiley Camp Trail to hike up to the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail and complete the Rattlesnake Mountain hike described in Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” guidebook. The status of Wiley Camp and the Wiley Camp Trail was a little confusing. The Forest Service websites mention the trail but in almost every instance “area not available” followed the reference. A 2018 trip report from vanmarmot.org though showed that just two years before the trail was still there and passable.

We followed the Hummingbird Meadows Trail into the wilderness where we were quickly met with some downed trees.

The trail then passed through a meadow and dropped to a crossing of the West Fork Muir Creek where we thought we might find a campsite but there really wasn’t anything that caught our eye.

hedgenettle and aster.

Monkeyflower

The trail climbed away from the creek and in 100 yards arrived at the Buck Canyon Trail junction (approx .4 miles from the trailhead).

We turned right onto the Buck Canyon Trail which passed through Hummingbird Meadows before arriving at the Wiley Camp Trail junction in 1.6 miles. There were quite a few downed logs as trail maintenance in the area appears to be way down the Forest Service’s list of priorities but nothing was unmanageable. We had been watching for any campsites but nothing stood out so we decided to just go to Wiley Camp since it was only a little over 2 miles from the Hummingbird Meadows Trailhead.

Wiley Camp Trail on the right.

We turned down the Wiley Camp Trail which was in no worse/better shape than the Buck Canyon Trail arriving at Wiley Camp after a quarter of a mile.

Wiley Camp sign

Unlike the busy Diamond Lake area there was no one else to be seen in this area. We picked a tent site and set up camp on the hillside above the West Fork Muir Creek.

We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening down at the creek and doing a quick survey of the Wiley Camp Trail for the next day. Clear tread led up from the creek into the meadow on the far side where it quickly vanished. After heading too far left (west) into some trees we located a small cairn and some pink flagging leading the way out of the meadow.

Grass of parnassus

Frog

Trail leading up from the creek into the meadow.

Big cedar at the edge of the meadow.

Cairn and pink flagging (small tree to the right) marking the Wiley Camp Trail.

Elder berry

Twisted stalk

No one else ever showed up to Wiley Camp, at least no people. A bright Moon helped light the area where we could see many bats darting about.

Hopefully the forest and features in this trip report will look similar for years to come and this isn’t a memorial of what once was. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Diamond Lake Loop

Hiking Oregon Three Sisters Area Trip report Waldo Lake Area

Erma Bell Lakes and the Shale Ridge Trail – 08/29/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 30, 2020
5 Comments on Erma Bell Lakes and the Shale Ridge Trail – 08/29/2020

With our recent backpacking trip around Diamond Peak (post) leaving us with just one more featured hike yet to do from William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Central Oregon Cascades” (4th edition) the only logical thing to do the following weekend was that last remaining hike. That hike was to the Erma Bell Lakes and as luck would have it late August was a pretty good time to visit, the berries were ripening and the mosquitoes weren’t too much of a nuisance. With a drive time of almost three hours the loop around the 8.5-9 mile loop around the lakes wouldn’t take long enough for us not to break our self imposed rule of the driving time being longer than our time spent hiking so we added a second stop to the day at the Shale Ridge Trail.

We started the morning by driving to the Skookum Creek Campground where the Erma Bell Trail begins.

The trail crosses Skookum Creek on a footbridge.

Soon after crossing the creek the trail enters the Three Sisters Wilderness.

The trail traverses a forested hillside where we found a few ripe thimbleberries to snack on.

A little over half a mile from the trailhead the Irish Mountain Trail splits off to the left toward Otter Lake allowing for a loop past that and several other lakes.

We stayed right choosing to follow Sullivan’s suggestion to complete the loop counter-clockwise. The trail continued along the forested hillside for another mile before crossing a small stream on a bridge near Lower Erma Bell Lake.

Just beyond the bridge we took a short spur trail to the left to visit the lake.

The lake was a pretty blue color and quite deep.

Despite the beauty of the lake our attention had been diverted by the familiar “meep” of pikas, our favorite trail critters. We quickly spotted one of the little fur balls collecting greens along the rocky lake shore.

We watched the pika go back and forth with its greens several times before resuming our hike. We continued on the trail around the lake taking another detour after crossing the lake’s main outlet creek to check out a small cascade.

20200829_083744

Beyond the outlet the trail began a .4 mile climb up toward the Middle Erma Bell Lake.
Lower Erma Bell Lake from the climb.

A short but steep trail to the left just before the high point of the trail led to a viewpoint of a waterfall between the lower and middle lakes.

Above the falls.

After checking out the waterfall we continued up to Middle Erma Bell Lake.

Ouzel

Ducks

We continued beyond Middle Erma Bell Lake passing a small pond on the right before arriving at Upper Erma Bell Lake .7 miles from the waterfall, also on the right.
Pond along the trail.

Spur trail on the right to Upper Erma Bell Lakes.

Paintbrush and aster along the lake shore.

Upper Erma Bell Lake

Lupine and paintrbush

In addition to a few flowers there were lots of ripe berries near the lake which we sampled before continuing. The trail climbed gradually for half a mile to a junction with the Judy Lake Trail which passes Mud and Edna Lakes (but no Judy Lake) before ending at the Taylor Burn Guard Station.
Judy Lake Trail on the right.

We stayed left passing above Mud Lake which was barely visible through the trees below.

Just under a mile from the Judy Lake Trail junction we arrived at another junction, this time with the Williams Lake Trail.
Williams Lake Trail joining from the right.

Again we stayed left continuing for another .4 miles to Williams Lake. Before reaching the lake we encountered a grouse that was less than pleased with our presence.
Grouse giving us the what for from a tree.

Williams Lake

Dry creek bed near Williams Lake.

The trail began to descend beyond Williams Lake passing through some damper meadows where berries were plentiful and some flowers remained (and so did some mosquitoes).

Pearly everlasting

Fleabane

Prince’s pine

Mushroom

Aster

Coneflower

Paintbrush

A little over two and a quarter miles beyond Williams Lake we arrived at a junction with the Irish Mountain Trail which headed uphill to the right.

A short distance from the junction we came to Otter Lake.

Curious dragonfly

The trail descended for another half mile to the Erma Bell Lakes Trail completing the loop.

We turned right and returned the .6 miles to the now busy trailhead. Sullivan lists the hike at 8.4 miles but we both came up with a little over 9 miles, most likely due to the various side trips tp the waterfalls and along the lake shores. We left the trailhead and headed back toward Oakridge on Forest Road 19 stopping at the Shale Ridge Trailhead on the left (south) near milepost 30.

This trailhead serves as the start of the Shale Ridge Trail and the upper terminus of the North Fork Trail (segment 5). We had spent time on the North Fork Trail earlier in the year hiking segment 1 out of Westfir and another short section to Buffalo Rock in May (post).

We weren’t here for that trail today and instead headed south on the Shale Ridge Trail, which according to a note written on the signboard had been partially logged out in June.

The trail quickly entered the Waldo Lake Wilderness.

We followed the trail through old growth forest. The North Fork Middle Fork Willamette River could be heard at time off to our right but not seen.

Ghost Pipe aka Indian Pipe

We were below the ridge that we had been on during the Erma Bell Lakes hike and at the 1.8 mile mark we came to Skookum Creek which was flowing through multiple channels through the forest. This area was the highlight of the hike along the Shale Ridge Trail.
20200829_125709_HDR

We continued beyond Skookum Creek just over a mile to the North Fork Middle Fork River at Cedar Bog. This was as far as we had planned on going and as far as the trail had been cleared to. In theory the trail continues up to the Blair Lake Trail (post) on the far side of the river but the condition beyond Cedar Bog is mostly likely very rough.
Arriving at Cedar Bog.

One of a couple dry channels.

North Fork Middle Fork

Flagging on a downed tree marking the continuation of the Shale Ridge Trail.

North Fork Middle Fork at Cedar Bog

Orange flagging on the far side of the river.

20200829_132354 Monkeyflower at Cedar Bog

Candy flower

We turned back here and returned to our car completing a 5.8 mile out and back. While this hike was short on views there were some impressively large trees along the way and it was fairly level with only a 400′ cumulative elevation gain. The two hikes combined for nearly 15 miles of hiking which ensured that our hiking time was indeed longer than our driving time. More importantly we’d seen some nice lakes, all of which had their own distinct differences and had been gotten to watch a pika doing its thing. On top of it all we could finally say that we had done at least part of all 100 featured hikes in one of Sullivan’s guidebooks. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Erma Bell Lakes and the Shale Ridge Trail

Tags Cedar Bog, Erma Bell Lakes, grouse, hiking, Irish Mountain Trail, Judy Lake Trail, Lower Erma Bell Lake, Middle Erma Bell Lake, north Fork Trail, Oregon, Otter Lake, Pika, Shale Ridge Trail, Skookum Creek, Three Sisters Wilderness, Upper Erma Bell Lake, waldo lake wilderness, Waterfall, Williams Lake

Hiking

Diamond Peak Loop Days 3 & 4 – 08/24 & 8/25/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 29, 2020
2 Comments on Diamond Peak Loop Days 3 & 4 – 08/24 & 8/25/2020

**Note the 2024 208 MF Fire burned over a portion of this hike near Blue Lake.**

Morning of day three was a little less smoky and we were eager to get an early start to try and avoid doing the long climb from Notch Lake to the divide above the Pacific Crest Trail in the afternoon heat. We were up with the sunrise and after coffee and some granola we were back on the Diamond Peak Trail heading north.

Some blue sky again.

The trail lost 500′ of elevation over the next mile including some steeper drops before arriving at a junction with the Happy Lake Trail.
Happy Lake Trail junction.

We detoured left here for the half mile hike down to Happy Lake.

Unlike the Blue Lake Trail the Happy Lake Trail was fairly level losing less than 100′ of elevation before passing by a large meadow and arriving at the lake.
Just a small part of the meadow.

We set our packs down and then followed a path to a hard to see waterfall along the lakes outlet creek.

It might have been hard to see the whole thing but it sounded wonderful. There were also a lot of wonderfully ripe berries in the area.

A viewpoint along the cliffs gave us a look at the rocky pillar of Mt. Yoran which we would be passing on the way to the divide later in the day.

After enjoying the lake and waterfall (and consuming quite a few berries) we returned to the Diamond Peak Trail and continued on. It was a mile and a half to our next trail junction and we were pleasantly surprise to find that this stretch of the trail had seen some recent maintenance which made the going that much easier.

We think this was Bear Creek. Other than the outlet of Happy Creek no other creek beds had flowing water on this side of the mountain.

Diamond Peak from the trail.

At the junction we left the Diamond Peak Trail and turned right onto the Diamond Peak Tie Trail.

This trail had also recently been cleared and was lined with huckleberries. It was also apparent that this was a much wetter area than we’d been in so far along the loop which meant mosquitoes which kept us from stopping for long.

One of several damp meadows.

The creeks were still dry though.

An unnamed lake.

After two miles on the Diamond Peak Tie Trail we arrived at the Vivian Lake Trail. We had been on the other end of this trail when we visited Vivian Lake in 2013 (post).

We turned right onto this trail and in a quarter mile arrived at rock rimmed Notch Lake.
Small unnamed lake just before Notch Lake.

Another little lake/pond near Notch Lake.

Notch Lake

This was a really neat lake and we would have loved to stick around a bit but all the standing water in the area made for a lot of pesky mosquitoes so we unfortunately had to move on pretty quickly.

IMG_4769_stitch

Beargrass

Approximately .2 miles beyond Notch Lake the Vivian Lake Trail veered left and the Mt. Yoran Trail split to the right.

The Mt. Yoran Trail climbed at an increasingly steep grade over the next 1.7 miles before gaining a ridge and leveling out.

Diamond Peak from the trail; the smoke was back.

Textured mushroom

On the ridge.

The trail followed the ridge with some small ups and downs for a mile before dropping to Divide Lake at the base of Mt. Yoran.

Diamond Peak

Lousewort

Mt. Yoran from the trail.

Diamond Peak again.

Mt. Yoran on the left and the divide on the right.

Passing under Mt. Yoran.

Please tell me that’s a seed and not that the ground squirrels have taken up smoking.

Divide Lake

The mosquitoes weren’t nearly as bad here so we were able to take a nice long break before resuming our trek.
Blue sky making a comeback.

Diamond Peak from Divide Lake

Climbers trail to Mt. Yoran.

Thank goodness it was a seed.

When it was time to continue we followed the Mt. Yoran Trail around Divide Lake and past two smaller unnamed lakes before making the steep 300′ climb to the divide.

Beardtongue

Mt. Yoran from Divide Lake

One of the unnamed lakes.

Starting up to the divide.

After crossing the divide the trail dropped down to the Pacific Crest Trail.

We turned left here and followed the PCT downhill for 2 miles.

Along the way we bumped into another backpacker who was doing the same loop in the other direction. We were able to let him know about the trail conditions ahead and he let us know that the Yoran Lake Trail now continued past Yoran Lake all the way to the Pacific Crest Trail. When we had done our Yoran Lake hike in 2014 (post) we had bushwacked from Yoran Lake to Lils Lake and the PCT so this was welcome news.
PCT

Diamond Peak from the PCT.

Lakeview Mountain

New looking sign at the newly extended Yoran Lake Trail.

Huge tree mushroom at the junction.

The Yoran Lake Trail passed by Lils Lake and arrived at Yoran Lake in .4 miles.

Diamond Peak from Yoran Lake.

We had originally intended to set up camp here but there were already a number of people at this lake and we weren’t (I wasn’t) feeling all that sociable so we decided to press on to Karen Lake which was less than a quarter mile away. I don’t have a lot of patience to begin with and my Garmin had quite working at Divide Lake due to the memory being too full (at least that’s what I hoped it was, and it was) and that had put me on edge.
Dry creek bed (this feeds Trapper Creek).

Right hand fork to Karen Lake.

Things were much more solitary at Karen Lake aside from a lone duck patrolling the waters.

We had camp set up by 3pm and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening enjoying the lake (and the decreasingly smoky skies).

Dragon fly visit.

A little bird joining the duck on the rocks.

Is this a tadpole? We first thought it was a newt then a fish but it’s got feet.

While the smoke was clearing there were more clouds coming and going, but we had kept a close eye on the forecast before leaving and there hadn’t even an inkling of a chance for precipitation for the trip or the next couple of days.

The moon was really showing up well over the mountain.

We had just gotten settled in the tent for the night when the light outside turned orange. I threw my clothes back on to try and catch the sunset which was spectacular.

IMG_4983_stitch

IMG_5006_stitch

After a whole lot of picture taking I got back into the tent and we tried to sleep. It didn’t come easy though. I don’t know if knowing we had less than 5 miles the next day before heading home had us excited or if our spot just wasn’t all that comfy but we had a hard time falling asleep. Then just after 4am we both woke up for some reason. Heather was the first to realize why when she asked why her quilt was wet. It took a moment to register but it was raining! Luckily we always carry our rain fly even if there isn’t any rain in the forecast for just such an occasion. We hopped out of the tent and threw it on before it really started to come down which kept everything pretty dry. We heard a couple of rumbles of thunder in the distance and I never could fall back asleep. The showers had mostly stopped by 5:30 am when we decided to start packing up.
Rainfly deployed

Diamond Peak a little after 6am.

Another light shower passing over as we were leaving.

After some coffee we were on our way. It was before 6:30 so it wasn’t very light but it was plenty light for hiking.
Some funny looking beargrass along the trail.

A half mile from Karen Lake we crossed the dry bed of Karen and Yoran Lakes outlets.

In another half mile we passed a small unnamed lake.

We encountered a little blowdown along this trail but nothing too bad.

Two miles from the little unnamed lake we were passing a large meadow on the left when we noticed another lake at it’s end. I decided to go check it out and left the trail. As I neared the meadow a deer jumped up and splashed off into the grasses.
The lake doesn’t show a name on the map but West Bay Creek flows out of it (of course it too was dry at this time of year).

Over the next three quarters of a mile we encountered two little girls hats laying in the trail. We picked them up and left them at the junction with the Whitefish Creek Trail not knowing if the owners were still at one of the lakes and if so which way they’d come from.

We turned left at this junction following the pointer for the Trapper Creek Trailhead. It was just under half a mile to the closed bridge over Trapper Creek.

While the bridge didn’t appear to be in that bad of shape we honored the posted closure signs and made our way down to the ford.

The water was cold but it was an easy ford and with only .2 miles left to get back to the car we didn’t have to deal with wet feet for long. We completed our loop having covered 13.1 miles on the third day and 4.7 on the final day for a grand total of 48.4 miles. The trip allowed us to cross the Diamond View Lake, Marie Lake and Diamond Peak, Corrigan and Blue Lakes, and Divide Lake hikes off of our featured hikes to-do list leaving us with just the Erma Bell Lakes hike to complete the 100 featured hikes in Sullivan’s Central Cascades book. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Diamond Peak Loop Day 3 & Day 4

Hiking

Diamond Peak Loop Day 2 – 08/23/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 29, 2020
15 Comments on Diamond Peak Loop Day 2 – 08/23/2020

**Note the 2024 208 MF Fire burned over a portion of this hike from Marie Lake to Blue Lake.**

We woke up early on the second day of our loop around Diamond Peak and as the Sun was coming up we realized that it had gotten a little hazy overnight.

Diamond Peak in the morning.

Our plan for the day was to leave camp and hike to the summit of Diamond Peak then come back, pack up, and continue on our loop. We hoped to make it as far as Blue Lake but were also ready to stop at Corrigan Lake if necessary. We took breakfast with us as we set off to the north on the Pacific Crest Trail.

We followed the PCT for approximately 1.2 miles to a rocky viewpoint where we stopped to cook breakfast.
The viewpoint from below on the PCT.

We should have been able to see Summit Lake and Mt. Thielsen to the south from the viewpoint but after a smoke free hike the day before our luck ran out.
Summit Lake and a lot of smoke.

At least the sky above Diamond Peak was still fairly blue.
The north flank and route up Diamond Peak.

After eating we continued 50 feet up the trail to a bunch of cairns marking the summit path.

Fireweed catching the morning sunlight.

Cairns on the left side of the trail marking the route.

Chipmunk inspecting some bleeding heart.

We turned up the well worn path and began to climb steeply through the trees and then onto rocks.
Summit Lake and the route up through the trees.

Here come the rocks.

The path soon split into multiple user routes with cairns, flagging, and green paint marking the way.
Cairn on top of the big rock on the right.

A carin and paint on a rock along the route and some pink flagging on the tree down to the left.

It was approximately a mile between the PCT and the false summit of Diamond Peak and over 1800′ of elevation gain. After leaving the trees the climb got even steeper. Through the loose rocks a few flowers could be found.
Looking up at the false summit.

Paintbrush

Buckwheat

Patches of penstemon.

Seed heads of Drummond’s anemone

As we climbed we passed a couple of small snow patches and gained more views which were all dominated by smoke.
Dark smoke to the SW

A snow patch below the false summit.

Final pitch to the false summit, still pretty blue.

At the false summit we were at 8421′ and could finally see Mt. Thielsen, at least the very top of it’s spire at least.

We had been backpacking there just two weeks prior (post) and were thankful that it hadn’t been this weekend. Looking around, it wasn’t just smoky to the south.
Looking west to a wall of smoke.

Smoke to the east.

Smoke to the NE too.

NW also equals smoke.

20200823_090207 Smoke starting to drift in from the east.

We were still .4 miles and 350′ from the 8777′ true summit of the mountain and to reach it we would need to pass three gendarmes that block the ridge between the summit and false summit. Sullivan describes having to use your hands and “lots of caution” to work around them to the clear path on the other side. We started out and got to the first gendarme where I got up too high following a path. I had to back track and work my way down to Heather who had taken a different track but we still seemed too high. By this point the uncertainty of the best line to take had given us time to really think about where we were and the nerves kicked in. We wound up listening to them and headed back to the false summit deciding that it wasn’t worth the risk on such a smoky day where we wouldn’t get much in the way of views. We expected the view north that we would have had from the summit to be just as smoky given the fact that from the false summit we could see the top of the South Sister which was also appeared to be surrounded by wildfire smoke.

After making the decision to turn back we were able to relax and enjoy the jaunt back down to the PCT focusing on flowers and critters along the way.
One of several Clark’s nutcrackers.

Buckwheat

Paintbrush

Penstemon

Basin with a number of flowers.

Mountain heather

Partridge foot

Another paintbrush

It was slow going but we made it back to the PCT where we noticed the smoke a little more than we had earlier that morning.
A little smoke in the trees.

When we got back to camp we packed up and realized that we’d consumed quite a bit of our water already so we decided to stop by Rockpile Lake again to refill our reservoirs before continuing on our loop.
Slightly smokier Rockpile Lake.

After refilling our water supply we continued to the junction with the spur trail to Marie Lake (.5 miles from the PCT) where we turned left to stay on the Rockpile Trail (at a pointer for the Diamond Peak Trail) and climbed steeply up the side of Diamond Rockpile.

It wasn’t as much of a rockpile as the named implied as it was mostly forested with a single viewpoint near the high point along this portion of trail.

Summit Lake out there in the smoke.

The trail then dropped a bit on the west side of Diamond Rockpile to a 4-way junction with the Diamond Peak Trail 1.2 miles from the Marie Lake junction.

While there were plenty of signs along the trails they often didn’t identify the trail itself but rather pointed you in the direction of other trails or features. This junction was a good example as one sign identified the Rockpile Trail while another directed you to Rockpile Lake and Road 2160.

There were no signs naming the Diamond Peak Trail but there was a pointer to the south for Ruth Lake and a pointer to the north for the Pioneer Gulch Trail (which we thought was the name of this trail at first).

We need to go north so we followed the pointer for the Pioneer Gulch Trail and headed north.

The Diamond Peak Trail rolled up an down for nearly 1.5 miles before arriving at a junction with the actual Pioneer Gulch Trail on the left.
One of the uphill sections.

Note again that the sign is letting you know what is in the different directions but not identifying the trail name.

We stayed on the Diamond Peak Trail heading for the Corrigan Lake Trail which was just over 2 miles further along. These two miles had not been maintained so there were a few obstacles to get around but nothing too difficult. We also regained a view of Diamond Peak along this stretch which was now behind a thin layer of smoke.
Typical obstacle for this stretch.

We turned left down the Corrigan Lake Trail when we arrived at the junction.

It was a little over half a mile and 300′ down to the lake which had a nice view of Diamond Peak.

Lots of insect husks on the plants along the lake.

We took a nice long break at the lake where another couple of groups of backpackers appeared to be planning to spend the night. Our plan was to push on and try and find a spot for our tent near the Diamond Peak Trail junction with the Blue Lake Trail. We were hoping to get down to that lake in the evening but didn’t want to haul our full packs up and down the steep 400′ of elevation change.

We left Corrigan Lake to the other backpackers and climbed back up to the Diamond Peak Trail and continued on our clockwise loop around the mountain. This next section of trail was clearer and in just under a mile we came to the Bear Mountain Trail junction.

Fleabane

Bear Mountain Trail junction.

Look a named trail!

From the junction the Diamond Peak Trail climbed a ridge before leveling off above Blue Lake which was hidden in the trees.

The Blue Lake Trail was .8 miles from the Bear Mountain junction and just before reaching it we spotted what we had been hoping for, an open flat spot for our tent. We set up camp between the Diamond Peak and Blue Lake Trails and then headed down to the lake for dinner and to get more water.

There was a decent amount of blowdown along the upper portion of the .9 mile stretch to the lake which followed a ridge crest (with a view NW down to Happy Lake) before dropping steeply down the opposite side of the ridge via a series of switchbacks. The hillsides had quite a few wet areas and several flowers were still in bloom.
Starting to drop off the ridge.

Arnica

Fleabane

Pearly everlasting and fringed grass of parnassus

Aster and fringed grass of parnassus

Scouler’s bluebells

The trail brought us to an open hillside on the east side of Blue Lake where a landslide left a large meadow.

Lots of coneflower

Fireweed and coneflower

Owl’s clover

We appeared to be the only humans at this lake but we were greatly outnumbered by a legion of little frogs.
20200823_182113

Dragon fly and a bunch of frogs

Chatty squirrel

We spent most the evening at the lake before heading back to the tent when the Sun started dropping.

Despite not making it up to the summit of Diamond Peak, and it being too smoky to get any views even lower, it had been a good day. It had also been a long day. We had been planning on it being somewhere in the 14.5 to 15 mile range assuming that we made it all the way to the summit but our GPS units put us just over 16 miles for the day without the extra .8 out and back between the false summit and summit. We slept well apart from me waking up for a moment when I heard some coyotes followed by a couple of hoots from owls. They weren’t bothering me I just stayed up to listen to them for a bit until they stopped. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Diamond Peak Loop Day 2

Tags backpacking, blue lake, Blue Lake Trail, Corrigan Lake, Diamond Peak, Diamond Peak Loop, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Diamond Rockpile, Frog, hiking, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, Rockpile Lake, Rockpile Trail, Rockpile Trail. Pioneer Gulch Trail