Author: derwoodynck

Winter Ridge – 07/19/2020

After a night in Bend we continued on our way to Lakeview making a stop along the way to hike the Fremont Trail at Winter Ridge to do the first of seven planned featured hikes from Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon” book.

The Fremont Trail traverses the Fremont National Forest at a distance of almost 150 miles. We had hiked a short section of the Fremont Trail on our visits to Hager Mountain (2013, 2014). For this hike we drove Highway 31 south from Highway 97 for 87 miles turning right on Forest Road 29 at milepost 87. FR 29 climbed from Summer Lake 9.5 miles to Government Harvey Pass. Our excitement started when a bobcat ran across the road right in front of the car. This was one of the animals left on our “yet to see” list. Granted it was from the car but it was on the way to a hike so we still sort of count it. When the road leveled out on Winter ridge at the pass we turned right at a “T” junction onto FR 2901. We parked along the shoulder of this road after a tenth of a mile near a sign on the right marking the crossing of the Fremont Trail.

Some cows up the road were watching us closely as we prepared to set off on the trail.

There was a bit of blowdown along the early portion of the trail but nothing too difficult to navigate.

Sullivan indicates that the wildflowers are best here in June but that is also when the mosquitos are at their worst. We were pleasantly surprised to find a number of wildflowers blooming and mosquitos were not an issue.
Prairie smoke (old man’s whiskers)

Yarrow and Oregon sunshine

Pussytoes starting to go to seed.

Paintbrushes

Scarlet gilia

Lupine

Buckwheat

Orange agoseris

Paintbrush

20200719_073911 Sticky purple geranium

Sticky sandwort

Nuttall’s linanthus

Fireweed

Hyssop

The trail spent a good deal of time close enough to the edge of Winter Ridge to allow for short detours to check out the scenery below.
Golden mantled ground squirrel also enjoying the views.

Looking down at Summer Lake

20200719_115435 FR 29 coming up the hillside to the right.

In addition to the views and flowers there was some wildlife, but no bobcats, along the way.
Woodpecker

Swallowtail

Fritillary butterfly

Just under 2.5 miles from FR 2901 we arrived at junction with a side trail to Currier Springs.

We turned down this sometimes faint trail which led slightly downhill for .3 miles to the Currier Springs Horse Camp Trailhead on FR 3221.
Passing through a grove of quaking aspen.

California corn lily

Chipmunk

More cows at the horse camp.

We walked past the large sign for the horse camp to the spring on the left side of the road.

Brewer’s blackbird

Near the spring we encountered some musk thistle which as far as thistles go was pretty impressive but unfortunately not native.

In the meadows nearby were some native wildlfowers though.

20200719_090205 White triteleia

20200719_090226 A checkermallow

We returned to the Fremont Trail and continued north past more viewpoints for 1.4 more miles to a sign for another spring, Mud Springs. Here there was no obvious trail and we did not attempt to visit the spring.
A view north along the ridge.

Looking NE from Winter Ridge.

Grand collomia

Hummingbird

Rosy pussytoes

Scouler’s woollyweed (maybe)

Wildflowers along the Fremont Trail

Another viewpoint

Looking south along the ridge.

More musk thistles.

Fremont Trail along Winter Ridge.

Buck watching us through the trees.

The buck heading off.

Sign for Mud Springs.

Western tanager near the junction.

Here Sullivan’s description no longer matched what we were seeing. We had expected the Fremont Trail to continue faintly along the ridge to a point where Sullivan described a “Landside Viewpoint”. Our GPS maps showed the trail following this alignment but not far beyond the Mud Springs sign the trail veered away from the ridge passing through snowbrush that was covering much of the hillside below the point.

Snowbrush along the trail.

We stayed on the clear trail expecting it to eventually lead us up to the point, but instead after a half mile it turned away from the point heading downhill another quarter mile before reaching the rim of Winter Ridge well below the viewpoint which was to be our turnaround point.
Where we wound up along the rim of the ridge.

Looking up toward the viewpoint.

We decided to bushwhack our way up to the viewpoint and began a hot and tedious .7 mile cross country adventure. I stayed closer to the edge of the ridge which provided some decent views but became nearly impossible to navigate.
I made it to this rock outcrop which wasn’t the viewpoint I was looking for.

A second rocky viewpoint (with the first down the ridge a bit), still not the viewpoint I was looking for.

Looking up the ridge from the second rock outcrop. The number of snags and thicker snowbrush caused me to abandon the ridge here and follow the line that Heather was taking just a bit in from the rim.

We eventually managed to reach the viewpiont.
20200719_105548 Looking north across the landslide to Summer Lake.

Looking south

Balsamroot near the viewpoint.

After taking a break we debated what route to take back. We weren’t keen on going back down the way we’d come up but we also weren’t certain what the conditions would be if we attempted to follow the rim back toward the Mud Springs junction. In the end we decided to use our GPS and aim for the closest point on our track from earlier when we passed below the viewpoint. This worked out well as it was only a little over a quarter of a mile back to the Fremont Trail and there were far less obstacles to navigate. We followed the Fremont Trail back to where it had veered away from the ridge and looked to see if we had missed something. There was no obvious trail tread but there may have been a cairn (or it might have just been rocks).

Regardless we had made it to the viewpoint so the hike had been a success. We returned the way we’d come, looking as always for wildlife and things we missed on the first pass. In this case we had missed a large number of Orobanche that we hadn’t noticed earlier.

Becker’s white on subalpine fleabane.

Slender cinquefoil

It was around 90 degrees by the time we got back to the car. This hike turned out to be a little longer and more difficult than we had expected due to the bushwhacking. My GPS read 11.3 miles instead of the 9.6 we had planned on. We drove into Lakeview where the temperature nearly hit triple digits. It promised to be an interesting week of hiking and this first hike let us know that it was going to be a challenging one as well. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Winter Ridge

Tags Currier Springs, Fremont-Winema National Recreation Trail, Government Harvey Pass, hiking, Oregon, Summer Lake, wildflowers, Winter Ridge

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

The Three Pyramids and Parrish, Riggs & Daly Lakes – 07/18/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 26, 2020
6 Comments on The Three Pyramids and Parrish, Riggs & Daly Lakes – 07/18/2020

When we scheduled our vacation weeks back, in January, we had no idea the issues that Covid-19 would create. We’ve been doing our best to socially distance and wear masks when that isn’t possible, but was going on a trip different? Fortunately for us we’ve stayed healthy and our plans for this vacation had been a trip to the Lakeview, OR area where the number of Covid-19 cases has been low and the likelihood of encountering many (if any) other hikers was low. Before heading to Lakeview we planned on stopping to visit Heather’s parents in Bend. On our way to Bend we stopped for three short hikes.

Our first stop was at the Pyramids Trailhead to check off one more featured hike from William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Central Oregon Cascades”.

We had been to this trailhead once before but that was for a backpacking trip to the Middle Santiam Wilderness (post) when we took the South Pyramid Creek Trail. This time after we crossed Park Creek we turned right on the Pyramids Trail.

The trail climbed along Park Creek passing a series of small falls before crossing the creek.

The trail then passed a meadow filled cirque.
20200718_070954

The trail climbed from the cirque via a series of switchbacks to a ridge where the trail turned left heading for the Middle Pyramid. There were several nice wildflower displays along the climb.
20200718_071555 Coneflower

Death camas

Penstemon

20200718_091211 Larkspur and penstemon

The trail followed the ridge to the cliffs of the Middle Pyramid and wrapped around its north side to a junction 2 miles from the trailhead. Several mountains could be seen from this stretch of trail.
Middle Pyramid from the ridge.

Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters

Mt. Jefferson

Valerian and columbine

Mountain bluebells

The junction was with the Old Cascade Crest Trail coming up from the North Pyramid Trailhead three and a half miles away.

We turned left continuing toward the Middle Pyramid climbing to a saddle just below it’s summit which was to the right.

Looking up toward the summit from the saddle.

We clambered up a rocky path to the former lookout site atop the peak where a 360 degree view awaited.
Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters

South Pyramid with snowy Diamond Peak to the left in the distance.

Cone Peak and Iron Mountain (post)

Mt. Hood framed between Coffin Mountain and Bachelor Mountain (post) and Mt. Jefferson.

A faint Mt. Adams to the left of Mt. Hood

Meadow from the summit.

We returned the way we’d come and headed for our second stop of the day which was originally going to be the Riggs Lake Trailhead. We had planned on making three more including Riggs Lake (Parrish and Daly Lakes being the other 2) but FR 2266 had a number trees over it beyond the Parrish Lake Trailhead so we decided to park there and walk the 1.2 miles up FR 2266 to the Riggs Lake Trailhead.

Since we were already at the Parrish Lake Trailhead we started by hiking down the Parrish Lake Trail .6 miles to the lake.

North Pyramid

Rough skinned newts

After visiting Parrish Lake we headed down FR 2266 to the Riggs Lake Trailhead. It wasn’t too bad as far as road walks go. It appeared that someone had attempted to do some road maintenance at some point.

The trailhead was well signed including what appeared to be a fairly new trail sign.

The condition of the trail left much to be desired. It was only a half mile to the lake, and after having walked the 1.2 miles on FR 2266 we weren’t about to let some blowdown stop us (it almost did though).

We managed to make it to Riggs Lake which was actually pretty nice.

Crab spider on prince’s pine

Once upon a time the trail continued uphill to Don Lake but has been abandoned for some time. Given the condition of the trail up to Riggs Lake we had no thoughts of trying to continue on.
The trail used to continue on the other side of the inlet creek.

We picked our way back through the blowdown and along FR 2266 to the Parrish Lake Trailhead then drove to the nearby Daly Lake Trailhead.

We had seen three mountain bikers on the Pyramids Trail and four hikers on the Parrish Lake Trail and no one along the Riggs Lake Trail, but there were plenty of people at Daly Lake. We readied our masks as we set off on the short loop around the lake.

There were a number of tents set up and quite a few people floating on the lake but we didn’t encounter anyone along the loop except for at the end when the trail passed through the campsites.

Washington lilies

The trail was in need of some maintenance but nowhere near as bad as the Riggs Lake Trail had been.

Crossing on the outlet creek.

Marsh at the outlet creek.

Bog orchid

Most of the trail lacked views and with the best being closest to the campsites.

The North Pyramid from Daly Lake

After completing the loop we drove on to Bend and had a nice visit with Heather’s parents before getting up early the next morning to continue our trip. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Three Pyramids and Parrish, Riggs & Daly Lakes

Tags Daly Lake, hiking, Middle Pyramid, Oregon, park creek, Parrish Lake, Pyramids Trail, Riggs Lake, Three Pyramids, wildflowers

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

Hunchback Mountain – 7/11/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 12, 2020
7 Comments on Hunchback Mountain – 7/11/2020

We extended our streak of 3000+ feet elevation gains and checked off another of Sullivan’s featured hikes with a visit to the Hunchback Trail in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness. We started our hike at the trailhead just off Highway 26 at the Zigzag Ranger Station.

This trailhead is almost directly across Highway 26 from our previous hike, West Zigzag Mountain (post). Based on the forecast there was a really good chance that we’d get to see similar views of Mt. Hood that we’d missed the week before. Similar to that hike the Hunchback Trail began with a steep climb via a series of switchbacks which brought us into a wilderness area.

Pink pyrola

Unlike the Zigzag Mountain Trail, which was well graded and rarely felt steep, the Hunchback Trail felt quite steep at times.

Switchback below a rock outcrop.

Looking down the hillside from the trail.

Trail dropping to a saddle.

After nearly 1.75 miles of switchbacks the trail gained the ridge and turned SE following it for the remainder of the hike. After an up and down we gained our first limited view of the day to the south.
Little Cheney Creek drainage across the Salmon River valley Looking south across the Salmon River valley. The Bonanza Trail (post) climbs the ridge to the right up to Huckleberry Mountain (hidden behind the first tree on the right).

The ridge was a little more open than the forest below allowing for a wider variety of flowers.
Beardstongue (penstemon)

Washington lily

Tiger lily

Penstemon

Sub-alpine mariposa lily (cat’s ear lily)

Yarrow

The first really good view came after just over two miles when the trail climbed steeply up to a catwalk along rimrock cliffs.
Starting the steep climb.

Coming up to the cliffs.

Cliffs along the trail.

Huckleberry Mountain

Salmon Butte (tallest peak on the left and Tumala Mountain (pointy peak furthest back and right) Salmon Butte (post) (tallest peak on the left and Tumala Mountain (post) (pointy peak furthest back and right)

While Mt. Hood was visible through tree branches to the north there wasn’t enough of a view for photos. There were however plenty of flowers to take pictures of.
Blue-head gilia

Blue-eyed Mary

Oregon sunshine, blue-head gilia, penstemon and yarrow.

There was also quite a bit of clarkia present but it was too early in the day for the blossoms to be open so they would have to wait until we came back by later.

At the end of the cliffs the trail dropped back into the forest then almost immediately climbed steeply again arriving at a sign (on the opposite side of a tree) for the Rockpile Viewpoint.
Trail dropping toward the forest.

Trail starting to climb again.

Sign for the viewpoint.

The side trail headed steeply uphill and quickly devolved into a web of possible paths.

We followed what appeared to be the “best” route uphill for about 60 yards to the base of the “Rockpile”.

I scrambled up through the rocks enough to see that while it was a great viewpoint for Mt. Hood it was still a little too early for it as the Sun was right above the mountain.
The top of the rocks.

Washed out view of Mt. Hood

I let Heather know it probably wasn’t worth the effort to scramble up right now and we decided to stop on our way back instead.

After scrambling back down to Heather we returned to the Hunchback Trail and continued SE along the ridge. The next mile was the gentlest section of the trail as it continued to do some ups and downs but they were only little rises and drops with some level trail mixed in.

The forest here was home to a number of flowers that rely on their relationship to fungi to survive.
Pinesap

Pinedrop

Pacific coralroot

We also got a brief glimpse of Mt. Adams at one point through some trees.

Approximately 1.1 miles from the side trail to the Rockpile Viewpoint another side trail split off to the right. This one was much fainter and there was no sign where it left the Hunchback Trail but it headed uphill to the right toward some rocks.

We suspected that this trail led to the Helispot Viewpoint, but we weren’t positive and Sullivan described the view as overgrown so we decided not to follow this path just in case it wasn’t to the viewpoint. A hundred or so feet down the trail we wound up passing a sign (again on the opposite side of a tree) for the Helispot Viewpoint. There didn’t appear to be an actual route from the sign though as it was simply pointing at a hillside covered with rhododendron bushes.

We decided that on the way back we would take the route we’d seen above and continued on. Over the next mile the trail spent quite a bit of time on the east side of the ridge where the tread was wearing and rhododendron were beginning to encroach on it a bit. There was an short interesting walk on a narrow rocky spine and then there were two steep climbs which brought the trail to a bit over 4000′ in elevation.
Passing a rock outcrop on narrower tread.

Paintbrush

Rocky spine

Columbine

Climbing up the Hunchback Trail.

Heather coming up the trail.

Beargrass near the 4000′ elevation.

After reaching the high point the trail began a steep 400′ drop to another saddle, but luckily our turnaround point was only about 50′ down. That turnaround point was the third signed viewpiont along this stretch of the Hunchback Trail, the Great Pyramid.
Heading down to the viewpoint sign.

Side trail to the Great Pyramid.

The short side path led passed an obscured view SE and some wildflowers along a rock outcrop.

Unfortunately the whole area was overrun with thatching ants. After a few steps out along the rocks there were numerous ants climbing our legs and although their bites aren’t as painful as the all red harvester ants they aren’t fun either so we left the viewpoint to the insects and retreated back up the trail.

We followed the Hunchback Trail back to where we had planned to take the side trip to the Helispot Viewpoint and headed uphill on the faint path.

A short distance up we noticed a fairly distinct trail coming up from the left which we assumed was the trail that the sign had originally been pointing too. The viewpoint was just as Sullivan had described it, overgrown. Probably not worth the tenth of a mile side trip but there were a few flowers present.

We returned to the Hunchback Trail happy to be on the gentler mile section. We detoured back up to the Rockpile Viewpoint just as some other hikers were leaving it which allowed us to take a nice break there all by ourselves with the improved view of Mt. Hood.
The cliffs of West Zigzag Mountain to the left of Mt. Hood where we’d been the week before (post)

20200711_113107 We weren’t entirely alone as Heather was visited by a butterfly.

After a nice break we made our way back to the rimrock cliffs which were now fully in sunlight opening the clarkia and making for even nicer views.

20200711_120358

Looking down into the Salmon River valley

Looking west toward Highway 26

20200711_120439 Blue-head gilia

20200711_121116 Penstemon

Nevada deervetch

20200711_120246 Tiger lilies

20200711_120332 Oregon sunshine

Cat’s ear lilies

As we descended the 1500′ from the rimrock viewpoint to the trailhead our knees and feet were letting us know that they were done with three and four thousand elevation gain hikes for awhile. We’ll have to see about that :).

Both Sullivan and the Oregonhikers.org field guide put this hike at 9 miles roundtrip. They vary on elevation with Sullivan showing a 2900′ gain while the field guide showing 3270′. Our Garmin’s came in at 10.1 and 11.2 miles and we never pay attention to the elevation numbers. We were actually running an experiment on this hike regarding the distances shown on the GPS units. We both carry a Garmin GPSmap 62s unit. We’ve looked at the settings and they seem to be the same, but for the majority of hikes Heather’s Garmin reports a noticeable amount more mileage than mine (mine is typically closer to what the information for the hike states). For this hike we swapped units so I was carrying the one she normally does and vice versa. Sure enough the one she carried registered the higher 11.2 mile total. We are at a bit of a loss to explain what causes the discrepancy. On rare occasions the totals have been the same or within a tenth of a mile or two but more often than not the difference is at least a mile and sometimes a couple. Any thoughts out there as to what might cause this? I tend to hike faster, especially uphill but then I spend more time stopped waiting for Heather.

If you couldn’t tell the GPS thing is driving me a bit crazy, so much so that that night as we were going to bed I wondered aloud what would happen if one of us carried both GPS units on a hike? These are the things that keep me up at night :). Happy Trails!

Flickr: Hunchback Mountain

Tags Great Pyramid, Helispot Viewpoint, hiking, Hunchback Mountain, Hunchback Mountain Trailhead, Hunchback Trail, Mt. Hood, Oregon, Rockpile Viewpoint, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, wildflowers

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

West Zigzag Mountain – 7/04/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 6, 2020
3 Comments on West Zigzag Mountain – 7/04/2020

We continued our 4th of July tradition of hiking by checking off another of William L. Sullivan’s featured hikes, West Zigzag Mountain (Hike #68 “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington” 4th edition). He actually describes two hikes, a 1.8 mile round trip to Castle Canyon and an 11+ mile round trip to the former West Zigzag lookout site. We chose the longer hike for this visit which starts from Zigzag Mountain Trailhead.
Parking area is just a wide spot in the road.

Two trails start at the trailhead, the Zigzag Mountain Trail heads uphill to the left while the Road 19 Trail follows the closed road to the right. The Road 19 trail connects with the Castle Canyon Trail in 1.1 miles.

After a short steep climb the Zigzag Mountain Trail arrived at a wilderness permit box and Mt. Hood Wilderness map.

After filling out one of the self-issue permits we began to climb. Our last two hikes had cumulative elevation gains right around 4000′ so today’s 3100′ was a little better. It also helped that unlike the trails on our previous two climbs the Zigzag Mountain trail utilized a number of switchbacks to keep the grade much more manageable.
Zigzag Mountain Trail entering the Mt. Hood Wilderness.

The climb was forested with a few flowers present at the lower elevations.
Washington lilies

Tiger lilies

Self-heal

Salal

Candy sticks

Queen’s cup and bunchberry

Anemone

As we climbed we began to see a fair amount of rhododendron in bloom.

The trail made 15 switchbacks over the first two miles before straightening out for a bit along a ridge.

We passed a small rock garden with some penstemon along the ridge.

The ridge was a bit more open and here we found some beargrass and lupine blooming. There were also opportunities for views but it had clouded up overnight and those clouds weren’t burning off very quickly.
Beargrass

Lupine

The trail spent little time on the ridge top and instead rose up and down switching sides of the ridge as it passed under rock outcrops.
Trillium along the north facing side of the ridge.

Mushroom

Pinesap

Passing a rock outcrop.

West Zigzag Mountain from the trail.

Back to the north facing side.

Now on the south facing side.

Near the 2.5 mile mark we came to a rocky viewpoint where we had a nice view of West Zigzag Mountain ahead but not of much else due to the clouds.

Sub-alpine mariposa lily at the viewpoint.

Another series of switchbacks followed before the trail straightened out following the ridge of Zigzag Mountain near the 3 mile mark. After another three quarters of a mile of climbing the trail began a series of ups and downs along the ridge. This lasted for the final 2.5 miles to the former lookout site although none of them were very long or too steep. While there weren’t any wildflowers meadows on this hike there were quite a few flowers to be seen along the way.
Lupine and paintbrush

Beargrass and rhododendron

Huckleberry

Cliff beardtongue

Larkspur

Phlox

More cliff beardtongue

Penstemon

20200704_095101 Larkspur

On the ridge just before reaching the lookout site.

Around the 5.25 mile mark we came to what would have been a great view of Mt. Hood if not for the clouds.

After crossing the ridge the trail emerged from the forest near some rock outcrops that framed the forest below.

We followed a short path led to the top of the southern outcrop where we had a view over to the former lookout site.

Former lookout site in the tress to the left.

We sat on the outcrop and watched the clouds pass by.

With the limited views outward we focused our attention down picking out a few flowers that we hadn’t seen on other parts of the hike.

Tufted saxifrage

Arnica

Lousewort

Some of the rocks in Castle Canyon

When we started to get a little chilly we decided to head back, but first we had to visit the former lookout site to ensure that we connected this hike with our 2012 hike.

View of the outcrop from the lookout site.

Raceme pussytoes

We returned the way we’d come spotting a few flowers that we’d missed going the other direction.
Valerian

Salmonberry

Bleeding heart

Violet

Monotropa uniflora aka ghost plant

Despite the clouds never burning off (we did eventually see a couple of slivers of blue sky) it was a good day for the hike. The flowers were good and the clouds kept the temperature down and the gradual grade of the trail kept the 11.4 miles from feeling difficult. We wound up passing 8 other hikers on our return trip which is a pretty low number for a Saturday hike on a trail as close to Portland as this one is so that was also a plus as we are still doing our best to practice proper social distancing. We capped off our 4th by watching the fireworks in our neighborhood with our son and my parents. Happy Trails!

Flickr: West Zigzag Mountain

Tags hiking, Mt. Hood National Forest, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Oregon, West Zigzag Mountain, wildflowers, zigzag mountain trail

Hiking Mt. Adams Trip report Washington Cascades

Monte Carlo – Monte Cristo Loop – 6/27/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 29, 2020
1 Comment on Monte Carlo – Monte Cristo Loop – 6/27/2020

After ending a five day stretch of hiking with a 13 mile, nearly 4000′ elevation gain hike we chose a longer hike with even more elevation gain for our next outing. I found the the Monte Carlo – Monte Cristo Loop while working on our future hiking plans in the off season. A recent trip report indicated that the wildflowers were near peak and a mostly sunny forecast for Saturday made it seem like a good time to check it out. In addition this hike is not particularly popular so social distancing most likely wouldn’t be a problem.

There are numerous potential starting points for this loop (or shorter hikes to one or both of the peaks) we chose to start at the Monte Carlo Trailhead. The reason was twofold. First this was the starting point for the hike described in the Oregonhikers.org field guide and secondly the drive was almost entirely paved.

We missed the parking area for the trailhead which was directly across FR 18 from the start of the trail mistaking it for part of the Oklahoma Campground. We wound up turning up the next little forest road (I believe it was 752) on the right and parking at a pullout along it and walked down FR 18 to the trail. This really didn’t add any extra distance as the loop ended by walking approximately 2 miles along FR 18 between the Lower Monte Cristo Trailhead and the Monte Carlo Trailhead.

We followed the field guide entry closely for this hike due to numerous logging road crossings, a couple of road walks and a few odd junctions. The field guide was spot on (despite being a bit off on total distance which we’ll get to later) so I won’t reinvent the wheel here and try and describe every twist and turn of the route. A tenth of a mile up the trail we came to a forest road which was the same one that we parked along. There was no signage at this junction but we knew from the field guide (and our GPS) to turn right. After our hike some hikers came by our car having turned left at the junction. After following the road for approximately 450′ we came to a trail on the left which quickly began climbing.
20200627_072718

The designer of the trail apparently had little use for switchbacks as the trail went just about straight uphill. A little over three quarters of a mile in we came to an old logging road which the trail followed to the right where it leveled off a bit.

This road ended at FR 1840 where a sign pointed to the left for the Monte Carlo Trail.

At another road junction after just 500′ on FR 1840 another segment of trail launched uphill. In the forest here we found a large number of phantom orchids.

20200627_075240

One of the phantom orchids to the right of the trail.

Just over a quarter mile after leaving FR 1840 we came to another logging road which we turned right on briefly to pick up the continuation of the Monte Carlo Trail.

Another .3 mile climb was followed by another short walk to the right on a road followed by yet more climbing.
A rare level section of trail.

There were thimbleberry bushes along the roads/trails all day long.

Just over 2 miles into the hike we came to a small hillside meadow.
Bumble bee working on some clover.

Penstemon

A few wildflowers.

Yarrow

Popcorn flower and strawberry plants.

After rounding a corner we came to a bigger meadow with more wildflowers and some views.
Timberhead Mountain

Little Huckleberry Mountain

Nightblooming false bindweed

The trail managed to steepen as it headed uphill and entered the upper portion of the meadow.
Wallflower

The meadow was full of Oregon sunshine and a few other flowers.
Tall buckwheat

Closer look at the tall buckwheat.

Oregon sunshine

Yarrow, lupine and penstemon

At the top of the meadow the trail leveled out a bit and entered some trees before arriving at a trail junction.
Many of the signs along the route were no longer in the ground so it was important to make sure they really were pointing in the correct directions.

Honeysuckle

The junction consisted of the Monte Carlo Trail which we were on and the Buck Creek Trail which is managed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources whose land we were now on. We kept left on what was now a combination of the Monte Carlo and Buck Creek Trails which crossed and old logging road then arrived at the Buck Creek No. 2 Trailhead. We picked up the Monte Carlo – Buck Creek Trail here at a sign for the Middle Fork Grove and Monte Carlo Viewpoint.

The Monte Carlo-Buck Creek Trail dropped to a crossing of Buck Creek before climbing for almost a mile (crossing one logging road) to a 90-degree right hand turn. Much of the time was in previously logged forests.
A few trees that were spared.

Bunchberry

Footbridge over Buck Creek.

Salsify

Streambank globemallow

Silverleaf phacelia

Logging road crossing.

The trail had reentered forest a bit before the 90-degree turn. After turning the trail dropped just over 200′ to Road B-1500 where we encountered the first other hikers of the day. A couple had parked along this road and were getting ready to head up to Monte Carlo for the wildflowers.
Starting the descent.

The trail set off from B-1500 amid a lot of lupine.

The trail climbed steeply gaining over 600′ in the next three quarters of a mile to a junction atop Monte Carlo. A bit below the summit the trail enters an open hillside with wildflowers and some actual switchbacks. There is also reportedly an excellent view of Mt. Hood but there were enough clouds present that we could not verify that.
Entering the meadow.

Pollinator on wallflower

Bee heading for some penstemon.

Clouds to the south.

Penstemon

Lots of Oregon sunshine again.

Taper tip onions

Penstemon and lomatium seedheads.

Warning for mountain bikers going down the trail.

After briefly reentering the woods (and leveling out for a bit) the trail reached the summit junction.

At this point the trail is back in the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest. A jeep track to the right heads down Eton Ridge while the Buck Creek Trail also drops to the right down Penny Ridge. The Monte Carlo Trail turned left and began a mile long traverse of the Monte Carlo Ridge.

The ridge walk was a delight. First it was relatively level and better yet it was covered in wildflowers.

Balsamroot

Ladybug on a flower.

20200627_103428 Cat’s ear lily

Lupine

Phlox and Oregon sunshine

Buckwheat

Paintbrush

20200627_104543 Sunflowers

20200627_104416

Grouse in the flowers.

20200627_104926 Columbine

Despite the clouds having hidden Mt. Hood from the meadow below there were plenty of views from the ridge.
Little Huckleberry Mountain to the left and Lemi Rock to the right.

Lemi Rock in the Indian Heaven Wilderness

Looking SE into Eastern Oregon.

By far the best view was of Mt. Adams.

There were various penstemons in the area with the view of Mt. Adams.

The level trail ended at the ridge end where the Monte Carlo Trail dove down toward a saddle and FR 1840. The trail dropped nearly 800′ in .7 miles before reaching the road. Worse than the steepness of the descent was knowing that we would need to gain all of the lost elevation back to visit Monte Cristo.
Starting the drop.

There were huge amounts of Arnica in the forest.

Monte Cristo from the trail as we dropped….further, and further.

The trail arrives at the Monte Carlo Upper Trailhead on FR 1840.

To complete our loop we would eventually need to start down FR 1840 to the left but to reach Monte Cristo we needed to head uphill to the right on FR 1840-100 following pointers for the Monte Cristo Trail 53.

FR 1840-100.

Shiny beetles

After .6 miles of gradual climbing the road ended at the an old trailhead.

It was time to gain that elevation back and the Monte Cristo Trail did it with gusto. Despite the presence of actual switchbacks the concept seemed to escape the designer and instead of tight turns and gradual grades the trail went from a moderate grade to nearly straight uphill before turning back along the hillside at a moderate grade. We gained over 800′ in the next .8 miles.
A “switchback” turning directly uphill.

About a tenth of a mile below the summit the trail entered a spectacular wildflower meadow.
Sunflowers at the edge of the meadow.

Approaching the meadow.

Sunflowers

Scarlet gilia

After having missed out the view of Mt. Hood earlier there was just enough of a break in the clouds to see the mountain from Monte Cristo.

A lookout tower once sat atop the peak.

A much shorter ridge than on Monte Carlo ran north from the summit where the Monte Cristo Trail continued eventually reaching the Monte Cristo Upper Trailhead. Our second encounter with hikers came along this ridge when a group of three people were coming up from this upper trailhead.

The short ridge was covered with wildflowers including quite a bit of white-stemmed frasera which we haven’t often encountered.

Pussytoes

White-stemmed frasera

Phlox

Taper tip onions

20200627_122010 White-stemmed frasera

Wallflower and paintbrush

A white lupine

Paintbrush and phlox

We took a short break at the summit which was just long enough for Mt. Hood to sort of reemerge from clouds that had hidden it. This happened at the same time a hawk decided to ride an updraft straight up in the sky.

After admiring the hawks flight abilities we started back down through the meadow.
20200627_123542

The trail was just as steep going down as it had been coming up and our knees were starting to protest this whole adventure. We made our way back to FR 1840-10 and followed it back to the Monte Carlo Upper Trailhead, pausing briefly to watch some swallowtail butterflies.

We followed FR 1840-100 a few yards downhill to it’s junction with FR 1840 and turned left for 20 yards to the signed Monte Cristo Trail on the right.

Our knees would not be getting a break just yet as the Monte Cristo Trail descended over 1000′ in just over a mile to the Monte Cristo Lower Trailhead along FR 18.
Presumably letting you know that you’re a mile from the road. (It could also be that this tree is “Number 1”.)

Twinflower in the forest.

Our first blooming prince’s pine of the year.

20200627_134001_HDR Not nearly the steepest section.

FR 18 finally!

We turned left on FR 18 the nearly 2 mile road walk back to our car. The good news was that the road surface wasn’t too hard and better yet it was nearly level the whole way!

The field guide lists the hike as 11.8 miles but a trip report from 6/20 that I’d seen said that the hike came in closer to 14 miles for him. My Garmin came in at 13.6 miles so keep that in mind if you’re considering this hike. It was certainly challenging but the wildflowers and the views made it a worthwhile endeavor. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Monte Carlo-Monte Cristo Loop

Tags Buck Creek Trail, Butterfly, Gifford-Pinchot National Forest, hiking, Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo - Monte Cristo Loop, Monte Carlo Trail, Monte Cristo, Monte Cristo Trail, swallowtail, Washington, wildflowers

Hiking Mollala Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Table Rock Wilderness West Meadows – 6/21/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 26, 2020
2 Comments on Table Rock Wilderness West Meadows – 6/21/2020

**Note the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire burned a portion of this hike.**

For the final hike of our vacation we were looking for something relatively close to home that we had not done before. While we had visited the Table Rock Wilderness twice before (post) both of the previous hikes started from the Table Rock Trailhead. Two of our guidebooks contained hikes starting at the Old Bridge Trailhead which would allow us to do a predominately new hike in the BLM managed wilderness.

One author (Sullivan) suggested a 6.4 mile loop utilizing the High Ridge and Bull Creek Trails as well as Rooster Rock Road while the other author’s (Reeder) suggested hike was a 10.8 mile out and back to Rooster Rock on the High Ridge Trail. We decided to combine the two and visit the meadow below Rooster Rock and then return via the Bull Creek Trail/Rooster Rock Road route described by Sullivan. We parked at the Old Bridge Trailhead which had it’s pros and cons.

Trailhead sign at the Old Bridge Trailhead.

On the pro side the entire drive to the trailhead is on paved roads. On the con side the trailhead is at a gravel pit used for target shooting and there were a lot of empty shell casings as well as litter in the immediate vicinity.

The first few feet of the trail were nearly hidden by thimblerry bushes but after passing through them the trail was obvious and well maintained.

A second signboard just up the trail from the trailhead.

There was a chance of showers in the forecast that never materialized, but it was foggy and the fog left the vegetation wet which in turn made us increasingly wet as we brushed against the leaves.
Wet leaves around an iris.

One thing that we’ve come to expect from hikes in this wilderness is a good climb and this portion of the High Ridge Trail was no exception. Starting at an elevation just over 1200′ the trail climbed 1800′ in 2.5 miles to a junction with the Image Creek and Bull Creek Trails. The majority of the climb is through a mature forest but at the 2.4 mile mark a small wildflower meadow awaits.

Rhododendron

Coralroot

The small wildflower meadow.

We’d timed it fairly well for the flower display but the fog made it a little hard to get the full effect of colors.

Paintbrush, Oregon sunshine, and plectritis

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Death camas

20200621_074119 Paintbrush

Blue-eyed Mary

A penstemon

The trail briefly reentered the forest before coming to a second, larger meadow in .1 miles.

Balsamroot at the edge of the meadow.

20200621_074643 Penstemon

Larger meadow

This meadow was quite a bit larger with a few additional types of flowers present but it was also disappointingly foggy.

Honeysuckle

Larkspur amid the paintbrush and Oregon sunshine

Tomcat clover

Possibly a milk-vetch or some sort of vetch.

On the far side of the meadow we arrived at the wide 4-way junction with the Image Creek Trail on the left, the Bull Creek Trail on the right, and the continuation of the High Ridge Trail straight ahead.
Image Creek Trail and the High Ridge Trail.

We stuck to the High Ridge Trail which launched uphill. The trail gained the ridge and leveled out for a bit before another steep climb. There were a few dips along the way as the trail was forced to leave the ridge to drop under rock outcroppings which just increased the amount of climbing needed.
One of the sets of rocks along the way.

In the middle of one of the climbs.

The trail leveling off a bit.

Approximately 2 miles from the junction we came to the first of a series of small meadows, each with a slightly different feel.

Oregon sunshine

Mountain sandwort

Penstemon

Olympic onion

Back in the trees.

20200621_093033 Fawn lilies

The next little meadow.

Larkspur and blue-eyed Mary

Groundsel

Trees again.

Another meadow

Phlox

Chickweed

Just under 3 miles from the junction we arrived at the meadow below Rooster Rock. This was the first part of the hike that was familiar to us having visited Rooster Rock on both our previous trips to the wilderness.

We were just a week or two early for the full false sunflower display but a few of the blossoms had opened and there were plenty of other flowers blooming.

Larkspur

Lupine

Wallflower

Paintbrush

Bistort

20200621_100025 Sub-alpine mariposa lily

We turned left at a “Y” junction with the Saddle Trail and climbed to, wait for it…. a saddle between Rooster Rock and Chicken Rock. With the fog we couldn’t really see either rock formation but we knew they were there. While Rooster Rock is taller there is no trail to it, but there is one up to Chicken Rock and we headed up despite knowing that there would be no views of Mt. Jefferson today. There was a lot of colorful clumps of purple and pink penstemon though.

20200621_100938_HDR

The rocks were at least a good spot to take a short rest and have a bit to eat. We were occasionally able to make out the shape of Rooster Rock across the saddle as we sat.

Mt. Jefferson to the left and the Three Sister to the right of Rooster Rock For comparison.

After our break we explored a little more of the meadow along the High Ridge Trail looking for any types of flowers that we might have missed earlier.
Sticky cinquefoil

We headed back along the High Ridge Trail to the junction with the Bull Creek Trail. The three miles back to the junction were pretty uneventful except for startling an unexpected hiker who we thought had seen us but hadn’t. He was in the middle of the trail and when he didn’t move we noticed he had ear buds in. I said hi and he about jumped off the trail. He wasn’t expecting to see anyone else on the trail he said. We wished him luck with the view as it was supposed to clear up at some point during the day and continued on our way.

By the time we arrived at the junction the fog had at least lifted so we took a faint user trail out to the edge of the big meadow from the Bull Creek Trail to take another look.

After returning to the trail we noticed a smaller meadow on the opposite side that was bursting with color.

It was mostly plectritis and Oregon sunshine but Heather managed to spot a couple of yellow monkeflowers.
Plectritis and Oregon sunshine

20200621_120104 A monkeyflower by some plectritis.

The Bull Creek Trail dropped fairly steeply along an old roadbed to a crossing of a branch of Bull Creek.

In a cruel twist the trail climbed away from this crossing. We had hoped that we were done climbing for the day but not quite. We then dropped to a second branch of the creek.

After a brief smaller climb form this crossing the trail dove downhill in a hurry to the Bull Creek Trailhead along Rooster Rock Road.
Iris along the trail.

It was 1.6 miles from the junction to the trailhead and now we faced a 2.3 mile road walk back to the Old Bridge Trailhead.

As road walks go this one wasn’t too bad. We could hear (and occasionally got a glimpse of) the Molalla River and there was finally some blue sky overhead.

The butterflies were coming out to pollinate the flowers so we watched them as we shuffled along.
I didn’t see the beetle until I was uploading this photo.

We spotted a colorful bird flying back into some trees but couldn’t quite figure out where it had gone of what it was. I took a bunch of pictures of the branches though hoping to at least get an idea of what it was which actually sort of worked. It was a western tanager.
Where’s the western tanager.

The highlight of the road walk came as we neared the trailhead. Several cedar waxwings were in the trees nearby.

Instead of 12.4 miles my GPS showed 13 but that’s to be expected when we wander around exploring things. 🙂 This was a tough hike with nearly 4000′ of elevation gain up some steep climbs but it was a good one. Having already gotten to experience the views from Chicken Rock helped alleviate any disappointment about the foggy conditions and we got to see a very different set of flowers in the meadow on this trip. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Table Rock Wilderness West Meadows

Tags Bull Creek Trail, Butterfly, cedar waxwing, Chicken Rock, High ridge trail, hiking, meadow, Oregon, rooster rock, Saddle Trail, table rock wilderness, Western Tanager, wildflowers

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Green Ridge – 6/20/2020

**Note the 2020 Green Ridge Fire burned a portion of this hike.**

After three nice days the weather turned on us again and what had been a pleasant forecast for Saturday turned to rain everywhere I looked on the west side of the Cascades so we swapped a planned hike in Washington’s Trapper Creek Wilderness for a trip over Santiam Pass to Green Ridge where there was just the slightest chance of showers.

The Green Ridge escarpment sits at the eastern edge of the High Cascades graben along the Green Ridge Fault. With the ridge being the transition zone between the High Cascades and the High Desert the area is an interesting mix of trees and vegetation. The trail is popular with equestrians and mountain bikers as it connects with various longer loop options.

To reach the trailhead that we began at we drove Highway 20 to FR 11 also known as Green Ridge Road (2 miles east of Black Butte Ranch or 5.8 miles west of Sisters). We turned north onto FR 11 at a pointer for Indian Ford Campground and followed this paved road for 4.3 miles to an unmarked junction with FR 1120 at a curve. We turned left on the red cinder FR 1120 for 0.9 of washboard road to the trailhead on the left.

The Green Ridge Trail began on the far side of FR 1120 at a sign.

The trail passed through a forest of mostly ponderosa pine and a few scattered flowers.
Paintbrush

Balsamroot

A phacelia, Oregon sunshine, and a little pink diamond clarkia.

20200620_071037 A penstemon

Washington lily

I couldn’t get a good shot of this western tanager but he was really colorful.

Buckwheat

Bird with breakfast

The trail soon began climbing gradually up the ridge via a long switchback. As we climbed we began to get views of the nearby Cascade peaks.
Three Fingered Jack

20200620_071856 Pinedrops

We also began to notice 3-inch long Pandora moth larva crawling across the trail.
20200620_072554

The larva spent spring feeding on ponderosa pines and are now burrowing into the ground where they will transform into pupae. They will then emerge next summer as adult moths. Based on studies of ponderosa pine tree rings up to 22 Pandora moth outbreaks have occurred in the last 600 years. When I was at Redmond High School in the late 80s/early 90s one of the outbreaks occurred and the number of the large moths was amazing.
20200620_072554

Many of the larva we saw would not be making it to adulthood as they seemed to be of particular interest to the resident ants of the area.

Three Fingered Jack was clear of clouds but the same couldn’t be said for Mt. Washington when it came into view over the shoulder of Black Butte (post).

While it was still climbing the trail began to level out as it followed the ridge south.

As I was watching the drama at my fleet playing out between the larva and the ants I spotted something in a hole in the middle of the trail.

We shared a moment then the lizard scurried off into the sagebrush and we continued on. Mt. Jefferson soon joined the view and it too was relatively free of clouds for the time being.

20200620_075846

We spotted another familiar prominent feature along the Cascade crest as well.
South Cinder Peak (post)

As we continued along the ridge the forest transitioned from the ponderosa pines to higher elevation furs and pines.

The flowers transitioned too and we were soon seeing a lot of purple larkspur red scarlet gilia, and white California stickseed as well as a few other flowers.
20200620_090342

California stickseed

Lupine

Columbine

A moth but not a Pandora moth. 🙂

20200620_092042 Sticky cinquefoil

20200620_091818 Salsify

Tortoiseshell butterfly

Around the 5.25 mile mark we came to a bend in an old roadbed that the trail had been following since the 4 mile mark. Past the bend the road headed downhill a bit to dip around a knoll and continue on another 4.3 miles to the Green Ridge Lookout.

This knoll was our goal for the day. We were using Matt Reeder’s “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region” guidebook and he described a faint trail leading up past a campsite to a viewpoint. We couldn’t identify the faint trail so we simply set off cross-country up the knoll. We did pass a fire pit which we assumed was the campsite and then noticed what might have been a faint trail.

Just .2 miles from the trail/roadbed we arrived at the rocky viewpoint where we found a lot of penstemon.
20200620_094627

There was also a view of several mountains from the North Sister north to Mt. Hood.
Black Butte and the North Sister

North Sister

Three Fingered Jack

North Cinder Peak and Forked Butte (post)

Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Hood

We could also make out just the slightest bit of the Metolius River (post) below the ridge.

After a nice break we headed back along the ridge. We took one side trip on the way back down just over 2.25 miles from the knoll to check out what looked to be quite a bit of balsamroot to the east of the trail. It turned out to be a wide open area that had a high desert feel in the center with lots of buckwheat while balsamroot surrounded it near the tree line.

Buckwheat in the center.

Balsamroot near the trees.

20200620_110114

After the brief side trip we continued down the trail which was now quite a bit busier with several mountain bikers and a couple of hikers making their way up the trail. Going in this direction there were times where we were looking straight at Black Butte and in so doing we noticed that Broken Top was visible over the left shoulder of the butte.

Tam McArthur Rim (post) and Broken Top

There was a moment when a bit of blue sky opened above the cascades giving us a good look at Mt. Washington and Three Fingered Jack.
A sliver of blue sky over Black Butte and Mt. Washington.

Mt. Washington

Three Fingered Jack with some blue sky.

The blue sky quickly disappeared and it sprinkled ever so briefly before we arrived back at the trailhead. Our hike came in at 11.2 miles with approximately 1200′ of elevation gain which was spread out fairly well along the trail so that it never felt very steep at all. Given all the rain forecast for the west side of the cascades we felt fortunate to have gotten the mountain views we did. The best part of the hike for us though was the different vegetation and scenery along the ridge. The mix of high cascades and high desert made it a truly interesting place. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Green Ridge

Tags black butte, Deschutes National Forest, Green Ridge, Green Ridge Trail, hiking, Metolius River, Oregon, Pandora Moth, Pandora moth larva, wildflowers

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Hackleman Grove, Echo Basin and Fish Lake – 6/19/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 25, 2020
4 Comments on Hackleman Grove, Echo Basin and Fish Lake – 6/19/2020

Our vacation week had a theme going, multiple stop days, and we continued that on Friday with a three stop day to check off another of Sullivan’s featured hikes – Echo Basin. Actually the hike was no longer one of Sullivan’s 100 featured hikes in the most recent edition of his Central Oregon Cascades guidebook, but it was a featured hike in the 4th edition which is the one that we are using in our attempt to hike all of his featured hikes (post).

We began our day by stopping at the Hackleman Old Growth Grove Trail for a short 1 mile loop. The convenient trailhead is right off of Highway 20 near milepost 67. There is also a loop option that is marked as wheelchair friendly although on our visit there were a number of downed trees that said otherwise.

The wide trail led into the forest and quickly split.

We stayed right here and soon encountered our first downed trees.

The trail descended a bit toward Hackleman Creek to a junction where two trails joined from the left. The first was the wheelchair accessible continuation and the second was not.

The wheelchair friendly path.

The hiker path.

It was at this point that we realized that we probably shouldn’t have stayed right at the first junction. As we turned onto the hiker path we began seeing numbered posts for an interpretive trail. (There were no brochures or anything to tell us what the numbers represented.)
The hiker trail.

A short side path took us to the bank of Hackleman Creek.

20200619_071852 Western meadowrue

Mushrooms on a log.

We met back up with the middle trail at another signpost and could see more numbered posts down that trail which reinforced the idea that we should have taken the middle trail and returned on the hiker trail (based on the numbers of the posts we passed).

In any event it was a nice little hike and a good leg stretcher/warm up for our next stop at Echo Basin.

The Echo Basin Trailhead was 2 miles up Forest Road 055 which was just .3 miles east of the Hackleman Grove Trailhead. There was a fairly deep channel in the road a tenth of a mile or so from the actual trailhead that could prove difficult for lower clearance vehicles (we saw one car parked at a pullout just before it on our drive out).
Echo Basin Trail at FR 055.

This hike is a lollipop climbing an old logging road for a half mile then starting the loop at the .7 mile mark at a foot bridge over Echo Creek.
Rocky start to the trail.

Trillium

Just before the start of the loop we arrived at a green meadow that wasn’t very far along with most of the plants still early in their growth cycle.

We worried that we had come too early for the wildflowers higher in the basin.
More trillium along the meadow.

Swallowtail on salmonberry blossoms.

Start of the loop.

We crossed the creek and spotted a rabbit hiding in the brush.

The trail climbed and entered the start of the meadow that fills Echo Basin.

Orange tip butterfly

We were starting to see a few more flowers as we began to get into the meadow.
Bleeding heart

Violets

Fairybells

20200619_082454 Royal Jacob’s ladder

Western meadowrue

The further into the meadow that we got the wetter the ground became. Near the first of a series of short boardwalks there was a great display of shooting stars and buttercups.

There were also a number of elephants head beginning to bloom.

The boardwalks helped a bit but in between the gaps the ground was muddy and wet. A perfect mixture for frogs.

Paintbrush

20200619_084050 Frog

Looking back at the route through the meadow.

We left the meadow and dropped down to the footbridge to complete the loop then returned to the car. We passed a few hikers on their way up to the basin and these would be the only people we would encounter all day.

From the Echo Basin Trailhead we returned to Highway 20 and continued east 2.2 miles to Hackleman Creek Road (FR 2672) on the right for our third stop of the day along the Old Santiam Wagon Road. The wagon road crosses FR 2672 about a hundred feet from the highway and there is an unmarked trailhead down a short dirt road on the left.
The trailhead off of FR 2672.

There was an amazing patch of coral root at the trailhead.
20200619_094029

We walked past a green gate and found a post indicating that this was the Old Santiam Wagon Road.

This was a deviation for Sullivan’s hike description as he would have you start at the Fish Lake Day Use Area but the entrance to the day use area remains gated due to COVID-19. From this trailhead we could follow the wagon road 2.2 miles to the Pioneer Grave and Fish Lake. There wasn’t a lot to see along the way, a few scattered flowers was about it. The road was in fairly good shape with a few downed trees near the beginning but as we got closer to Fish Lake it was obvious that there had been some clearing done.
Iris

Beargrass

Santiam Wagon Road

Bunchberry

Musk monkeyflower

We stopped at the grave site where there is a semi-obstructed view of the Three Sisters.

Just beyond the grave site is the Fish Lake Remount Station which served as the headquarters of the Santiam National Forest in the 1910’s. Two cabins are available for reservations in Winter. We were not entirely sure of the status of the area as I mentioned before the Forest Service website mentioned that the Day Use are gate was still closed, but the Day Use Area was .4 miles from the grave site and there were no signs indicating that the remount station was off-limits. We followed the wagon road through the station but avoided using or touching any facilities.
Hall House

Commissary Cabin

Commissary Cabin innkeeper?

Memaloose Lake and Milo McIver State Park – 6/18/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 23, 2020
4 Comments on Memaloose Lake and Milo McIver State Park – 6/18/2020

**Note the 2020 Riverside Fire burned the trails for the Memaloose Lake and South Fork Mountain hike.**

We had the rare opportunity to have company on one of our outings on our vacation. Four of Heather’s running buddies (we won’t name names but you know you you are) were open to our 5am start time so we swung by and had them follow us to the first of two stops at the Memaloose Lake Trail.

The trailhead is along Forest Road 45 which runs between Highway 242 and Highway 211. The 2014 36 Pit Fire forced the closure of FR 45 at Highway 224 after damaging a section of the road. This was the recommended way to the trailhead as the fist 11.2 miles were paved and the final mile was good gravel. While the repairs are nearly finished FR 45 was still closed 3.5 miles from Highway 242 meaning we would need to take FR 45 from Highway 211. From that highway it was 23 miles to the trailhead and although most two digit forest roads are paved or at least good gravel FR 45 was not. There was a short section of pavement before turning to a pothole filled mess. For their part the Forest Service was in the process of clearing brush and debris along the road but there was still quite a bit of work to do as some downed trees had been worked on just enough to allow vehicles to get by. We picked our way slowly around (and sometimes through) the obstacles and eventually made it to the trailhead.

The Memaloose Lake Trail starts uphill into the Mt. Hood National Forest and quickly enters the Clackamas Wilderness.

The 1.4 mile trail gained 700′ as it climbed through a lush green forest.

Bunchberry

Salmonberry

The trail crossed a couple of small streams before climbing to a more substantial crossing of Memaloose Creek.
First little stream crossing.

Another stream crossing, this one with skunk cabbage.

Memaloose Creek crossing.

Memaloose Creek above the crossing.

The crossing was made just a bit tricky by a downed log in the middle of the creek which required some awkward steps on potentially slick rocks.
20200618_082225_HDR

Beyond the creek the trail made a long switchback up to Memaloose Lake.

Skunk cabbage, shooting stars, and marsh marigolds across the lake.

There were some rough skinned newts in the water that we watched for a bit.

After a short break at the lake we continued on crossing the outlet on some logs.

The Memaloose Lake Trail ends at the lake, but a user maintained trail continues uphill for a mile to the summit of South Fork Mountain.

The trail was in good shape for an “unmaintained” trail. There were a few trees down including a spot where we were forced to dip down on a hillside to get around one. The footing wasn’t bad but it could become an issue if not addressed.
Typical obstacles for the trail.

I was hoping for a few flowers on the summit but aside from some trillium a bit below the summit and some small parsley up top there weren’t any.
Trillium

What there was though were views of volcanoes. It was pretty much cloudless and we had unimpeded views of the Cascades from Mt. Rainier down to the Three Sisters.
Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams (with Goat Rocks the snowy patch just to the left), and Mt. Hood

Mt. Rainier

Goat Rocks to the left with Mt. Adams

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson, Three Fingered Jack, Broken Top, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters.

Mt. Jefferson

Three Fingered Jack

Broken Top, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters

I am often surprised by views of Broken Top forgetting that it is quite a bit east of the Three Sisters. I hadn’t clued into the fact that it was visible behind Mt. Washington until I was writing this post.

After exploring the summit and taking another short break we headed back down to the trailhead and prepared to drive back down through the potholes to Highway 211.

The hike to Memaloose Lake and South Fork Mountain was 4.75 miles so when I was planning our outing I was looking for another hike in the 6 to 8 mile range in the area. Luckily Milo McIver State Park offered a couple of loop options that fit the bill.

I had chosen the Riverside Loop Hike described in the Oregonhikers.org Field Guide.

We parked at the Riverside Day Use Area near the Clackamas Fish Hatchery and set off on the Dog Creek Loop Trail at the far end of the parking lot.

We took a quick detour to visit the Clackamas River and watch a duck on a rock.

The trail crossed Dog Creek twice on footbridges before arriving at the fish hatchery after .2 miles.

We stayed right here and continued to stay right at junctions for 1.2 miles to the start of the Vortex Loop which we had originally considered taking, but the junction with the trail on the right was simply marked with a hiker symbol and no trail name. It appeared to be heading back down to the trail we just came up so we continued on until coming to a viewpoint of the Clackamas River below.

Red elderberries

Youth-on-age

A phacelia

Hedgenettle

Tiger lily

Fringecup

Beyond the viewpoint we arrived at a meadow with a grassy track joining on our right we reread the description and realized that this was the other end of the Vortex Loop and we had missed the turn.

We decided to save the 2 mile Vortex Loop for another time and stayed on the Rivermill Trail which skirted the meadow before crossing a pair of roads, the second of which was near a horse staging area.

The horse staging area was located at another meadow which we turned right at skirting the edge on a wide track which was the Bat Trail (the Rivermill Trail was further to the right in the trees).

This led us to the Bat Barn and had a view of Mt. Hood which was now sporting some clouds.

It was too early in the day for bats but we did see a hawk with lunch.

Beyond the barn the Bat Trail rejoined the Rivermill Trail where we turned left and descended along a row of blackberry bushes.

This section of the Rivermill Trail hosted a horse training circuit which the six of us took turns training on.

The park had a serious issue with identifying trails. Most of the junctions indicated whether or not they were open to horses or just hikers, but the vast majority didn’t give the name of the trails or any indication of what might be down the trail. There was a sign for the Estacada Lake Trail though which we turned onto when we arrived at it.

We were now descending back down toward the river through a forest where a pileated woodpecker was busy working on a log.

When we arrived at a muddy pond we wondered if this could be the lake.

Dragonfly near the pond.

A quick look at the hike description let us know that this was indeed just a pond and that Estacada Lake was actually on the Clackamas River behind a dam. The Estacada Lake Trail dropped us onto South River Lake Road where we turned left along the river to the lake.

We picked up the Rivermill Trail again just beyond the dam viewpoint and followed it back to the Riverside Day Use Area and our cars. This loop came in at 6.5 miles giving us a nice 11.2 mile day. It was an interesting day in that the first hike had been in a wilderness area and we had seen no other people while the second hike was in a developed state park where there were other people and horses about. The scenery was very different but both hikes had their place.

It was also nice to share a hike with some other people. Most folks balk when they hear what time we leave in the morning (and sometimes when they hear how far we’re planning on going). Happy Trails!

Flickr: Memaloose Lake and Milo McIver State Park

Tags Bat Barn, Bat Trail, Clackamas River, Clackamas Wilderness, Dog Creek Loop, Estacada Lake, hiking, Memaloose Lake, Memaloose Lake Trail, Milo McIver State Park, Oregon, Rivermill Trail, South Fork Mountain

Cottage Grove Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Spirit, Pinard, & Moon Falls with the Swordfern and Row River Trails – 6/17/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 23, 2020
2 Comments on Spirit, Pinard, & Moon Falls with the Swordfern and Row River Trails – 6/17/2020

Our knack for picking vacation weeks that coincide with wet weather was on display once again as we started a week of day hikes. In January the plan had been to travel to the Pendleton and John Day areas for this vacation but in February Umatilla County experienced severe flooding which damaged many roads and trails and then COVID-19 began shutting everything down so we settled on day hikes from Salem instead. Our vacation got off to a rocky start when Saturday’s forecast was for a lot of rain and so was Monday’s with less on Sunday and Tuesday then it looked like the rest of the week would be better. We bumped our hike to Henline Falls and Mountain (post) from Saturday to Sunday and planned our next hike for Tuesday.

By Monday afternoon the Tuesday forecast had gone from partly sunny to showers and a chance of thunderstorms so we adjusted our plans again bumping Tuesday’s hike to Wednesday. Wednesday morning we set off for Cottage Grove, OR to visit three waterfalls in the Umpqua National Forest. The hikes to Spirit, Pinard, and Moon Falls were one of Sullivan’s featured hikes that we still needed to do but for various reasons we had not been able to work them into our schedule yet.

We started our day at the Spirit Falls Trailhead.

A short but muddy .4 mile path descended to the 40′ waterfall.

The one positive of the recent rains was that there was plenty of water feeding the falls.

Our next stop was the Pinard Falls Trail.

The Pinard Falls Trail is just over a half mile long following an old road bed for the first .3 miles before turning into a true trail.

Pinard Falls is a 65 foot tall horsetail waterfall.

20200617_075801

Our last waterfall for the day was Moon Falls. The road to that trailhead was blocked by a large downed tree a little less than 100 yards from the trailhead.
Downed tree across the road.

Like the trail to Pinard Falls the Moon Falls Trail was also just over a half mile long and followed an old roadbed for the first .3 miles.

We had unintentionally done the hikes in order of waterfall height from smallest to largest. Moon Falls is an 80′ fan which turned out to be our favorite of the three.

The three waterfall hikes were excellent but short so by the time we were done with them we had hiked just a little over 3 miles. We took the opportunity to add a couple of additional stops to the day starting with the Swordfern Trail located at Rujada Campground. This 2-mile loop was on our way back from the waterfalls so we thought we’d give it a try.
The Forest Service website said the trail was open but the conditions were unknown as of 5/8/2020 but a sign at the trailhead cautioned about severe winter damage.

We figured if it was still open it couldn’t be that bad and since the loop was only 2 miles a few obstacles wouldn’t hurt. The trail set off along Laying Creek and passed by a picnic area.

It wasn’t long before we got a taste of the severe damage.
Looking back at some of the obstacles.

More obstacles ahead.

When there wasn’t nearly constant obstacles the trail was nice.
Ferns along the Swordfern Trail.

When the trail began to loop away from the creek we completely lost the tread under forest debris.

We used the GPS to attempt to relocate the tread but to no avail which was probably for the best given the return would have been on the same hillside just a little higher up. We cut down from where we were to relocate the portion that we had already hiked and made our way back to the trailhead. Instead of a 2-mile loop we did a 1.8 mile out-and-back.

Knowing that even if we had done the 2-mile loop as planned we would still have only been around 5 miles for the day we had planned on a fifth and final stop on the way home at Bake Stewart Park.

A wide path led through a meadow (with a little poison oak) to the Row River Trail, a converted rail line.

Self heal

Pale flax

20200617_114902 Poppy

Looks like something in the mallow family.

Red beetle

20200617_115015 Sneaky poison oak

The .3 mile path brought us to the paved Row River Trail where we turned left.

The trail passed several fields with flowers and butterflies before arriving at Dorena Lake, a reservoir created by damming the Row River.

Approaching Dorena Lake

20200617_120844 Bachelor button

No idea what this is, possibly non-native.

There seemed to be a good amount of water in the reservoir which made it look more like a lake than reservoirs often do.

At the 1.5 mile mark we came to Smith Creek.

Beyond Smith Creek there were good views across a marshy wetland popular with geese, ducks and herons.

Canada geese

A great blue heron with at least one duck in the grass.

The trail then passed through a few forested sections and past one rocky cliff where a viewpoint looked out across the lake.

You can see a bit of the rocks on the opposite side of the trail.

A mix of flowers, mostly non-native brightened the viewpoint.

Brodiaea

Poppy

20200617_124801 Scarlet pimpernel

We had decided to make Rat Creek our turnaround point which was 3.5 miles from the parking area in Bake Stewart Park. Just before reaching Rat Creek we passed through Harms Park, another possible trailhead.

Dorena Lake from Rat Creek

Bug on the Rat Creek bridge.

We returned the way we’d come keeping our eyes out for anything new on the way back. In Bake Stewart Park we spotted some really tall bluehead gilia and a nice little clarkia.

With the 7+ miles on the Row River Trail we had finished our day with a total of 12.4 miles. The three waterfalls were great short hikes and each would be a worthwhile stop on its own. If the Swordfern Trail receives some much needed maintenance it also seemed like it would be a nice short hike although not as impressive as the falls. For a paved trail near town along a reservoir we were pleasantly surprised by the Row River Trail. We will certainly be keeping it in mind for another visit. Most likely when the higher trails are inaccessible. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Spirit, Pinard, & Moon Falls, Swordfern Trail, and Row River Trail

Tags Bake Stewart Park, Dorena Lake, hiking, Moon Falls, Oregon, Pinard Falls, Row River Trail, Rudaja Campground, Spirit Falls, Swordfern Trail, Umpqua National Forest