Category: Old Cascades

Fish, Buckeye, and Cliff Lakes – 09/03-04/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 5, 2022
6 Comments on Fish, Buckeye, and Cliff Lakes – 09/03-04/2022

For Labor Day Weekend we continued our focus on featured hikes from the Southern Oregon area and headed for the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness to visit several lakes. Our goal was to finish hikes #6 & 7, Fish Lake and Buckeye & Cliff Lakes respectively. To do this we planned hiking into Fish Lake from the Beaver Swamp Trailhead, setting up camp there, and then taking the Lakes Trail from there to the Buckeye and Cliff Lakes for a loop described by Sullivan visiting Grasshopper Mountain. We planned on hiking out the next day one of two ways, either by Rocky Ridge which Sullivan described as a rough route requiring route finding skills or back the way we’d come via the Beaver Swamp Trail.

We made an unscheduled stop on the drive to the trailhead at South Umpqua Falls (We used our NW Forest Pass to cover the $5 day use fee). My Mom had mentioned a water fall along the South Umpqua River that they had not made it to during their explorations and when I saw the sign for the South Umpqua Falls picnic area I thought this might be the falls she was talking about so we pulled in for a quick peek.

We had the popular swimming area that often draws large crowds all to ourselves. We began by visiting the base of the falls then hiked up above the falls.

Ouzel

In all our wanderings here came to 0.4 miles, a good leg stretcher after having driven for a little over 3 hours. We then continued on our drive to the Beaver Swamp Trailhead which we arrived at shortly after 9am.

We set off downhill on the Beaver Swamp Trail which promptly entered the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness.

It was surprisingly overcast and a light drizzle was falling as we hiked through a mixed forest with madrone trees and sporadic poison oak. When I’d checked the forecast the night before it simply called for “widespread haze” with Sunday showing as sunny.

After 1.4 miles on the Beaver Swamp Trail we arrived at the Fish Lake Trail where we turned left.

This trail followed Fish Lake Creek for 0.3 miles to Fish Lake.

Small cascade on Fish Lake Creek.

Logs at the outlet of Fish Lake. The Indian Trail can be seen on the far side. This junction was unmarked and you would have to cross the logs to reach it. In theory one could take this trail to the Lakes Trail near Buckeye Lake, but as we understand it the trail does not receive regular maintenance so we did not include it in our plans.

Arriving at Fish Lake

We continued around the northern shore of the lake for three quarters of a mile passing the one other family camped at the lake along the way (more on them later). Before reaching Highrock Creek we followed a use trail uphill to locate a suitable campsite. When we passed by the campers we caught the distinct smell of campfire smoke which, as of 7/22/2022 had been prohibited in Wilderness areas within the Umpqua National Forest. (Not a good start with this group.)

The clouds began burning off before we’d found our campsite.

We set up camp on a little knoll near an old stone foundation. We’re interested to know what used to be there but so far haven’t found any information on it.

After setting up camp we returned to the Fish Lake Trail which appears to have been rerouted through a large and elaborate campsite.
A little too developed for Wilderness standards.

From the large campsite the trail followed Highrock Creek for 0.6 miles to a fork. The Fish Lake Trail actually veered uphill to the left and the Lakes Trail picked up to the right.
A dry channel along Highrock Creek.

Crossing an unnamed creek.

The trail junction.

Just beyond the junction the Lakes Trail crossed Highrock Creek and began a steady climb along a hillside above Fish Lake.
Highrock Creek. There were several nice pools here which we utilized to replenish our water on our way back to camp.

Foam flower and a few ripe thimbleberries, Heather’s favorite.

This trail was well maintained and after approximately 2 miles we arrived at a junction with the Grasshopper Trail. A couple of things to note about this segment of the Lakes Trail. Sullivan showed it as 1.7 miles so this was a little longer than we’d expected, but more importantly the trail alignment shown our GPS unit’s topographic map had the trail quite a bit higher on the hillside. (CalTopo agrees with our actual track so it appears to be accurate.)
The junction with the Grasshopper Trail

We decided to make the climb to Grasshopper Mountain before visiting the two lakes so we turned right onto the Grasshopper Trail and trudged uphill gaining 860′ in the next 1.25 miles before arriving at a junction near Grasshopper Spring.

Pine white

Sign for the Gasshopper Mountain Trail.

Grasshopper Spring is out there somewhere.

We turned right onto the Grasshopper Mountain trail. This three quarters of a mile trail climbed another 350′ to the site of a former lookout. The climb was surprisingly gradual and passed through a variety of scenery along the way.
We had to go around this big tree.

A few aster

There were some good sized cedars up here.

A fritillary

Another big cedar.

Fritillary on pearly everlasting.

The final stretch to the summit passed through a fire scar.

Highrock Mountain to the left, Hershberger Mountain in the middle, and the Rabbit Ears to the right (post).

Rabbit Ears closeup.

Fish Mountain (back left), Weaver Mountain, Highrock Mountain, and Hershberger Mountain with Grasshopper Meadow below.

Highrock Mountain

Owl’s clover.

Arriving at the old lookout site.

We spent some time enjoying the view but a lack of shade (and places to comfortably sit) kept us from taking a longer break at the summit.

Buckeye (left) and Cliff Lakes below Grasshopper Mountain. The broad hump beyond to the left is Twin Lakes Mountain. We had visited a viewpoint on the north side of that mountain back in June of this year (post).

Buckeye and Cliff Lakes

Smoke on the horizon to the NW. The Cedar Creek fire to the NE, Rum Creek Fire to the SW or several fires in Northern California could be the culprit(s). The peak with the white spot to the center right is Quartz Mountain which we recognized from our Hemlock Lake hike in August (post).

To the NE we got a glimpse of Rattlesnake Mountain (far left) which we’d climbed during Labor Day weekend in 2020 (post).

Rattlesnake Mountain behind Standoff Point.

We headed back down toward the Grasshopper Trail but instead of simply retracing our steps we veered right after 0.6 miles on a spur of the Grasshopper Mountain Trail that brought us to the Grasshopper Trail on the opposite side of a saddle from where we’d left it.

A skipper

We veered right here which kept us from dropping below the saddle that we otherwise would have had to climb over on the Grasshopper Trail.

Descending to the Grasshopper Trail.

Trail sign at the other junction.

We turned right again and continued on our loop following the Grasshopper Trail downhill to Grasshopper Meadow.
Grasshopper Meadow through the trees.

Sign for a (faint) spur trail to a spring above the meadow.

The Grasshopper Trail skirted the meadow and a half mile from the saddle arrived at a signed junction with the Acker Divide Trail.
Highrock Mountain from Grasshopper Meadow.

A few flowers hanging on to the last days of Summer.

Common wood nymph

The trail got pretty faint just before the junction but we could see the trail sign so we just headed for it.

Fleabane? and paintbrush.

Acker Divide Trail pointer.

Pointer for Cripple Camp (we visited the shelter there on our Hershberger Mountain hike) and the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail.

We turned right onto the Acker Divide Trail following this trail for a total of 3.2 miles (per our GPS, Sullivan had it as 3) passing a spur to the Acker Divide Trailhead at the 1 mile mark, Mosquito Camp at the 1.4 mark, and a pond labeled Little Fish Lake in the guidebook after 2.8 miles. This appeared to be the least utilized trail that we’d been on. It was fairly well maintained but there was a lot of debris on it and vegetation crowding the trail. It also left and reentered the wilderness area a couple of times.

This fuzzy caterpillar was in a hurry.

The trail along an old log.

Passing through a small meadow near the spur to the Acker Divide Trailhead.

Yarrow and goldenrod

The area was really well signed.

Sign for Mosquito Camp on the tree to the right. There was zero sign of any established campsites here.

Meadow at Mosquito Camp, it came complete with mosquitos (not too many though).

First of two times reentering the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness.

Scat on the trail, at least we knew something used it.

One of several very small bodies of water along Skimmerhorn Creek which may or may not be Little Fish Lake.

Overgrown trail near Skimmerhorn Creek.

Looking down at the pond? lake?

As we neared the Lakes Trail we began seeing more signs of what appeared to be an ancient lava flow.

Last of the lupine blooms.

Lots of these insect tents on the madrones in the area.

Arriving at the Lakes Trail.

At the Lakes Trail we again turned right following it briefly through a fire scar before reentering unburnt forest and arriving at Buckeye Lake after 0.4 miles.

First glimpse of Buckeye Lake

At this fork we detoured right to visit the lake shore.

A good reminder that far too many people tend to forget.

Grasshopper Mountain from Buckeye Lake.

We were surprised to find that there was no one at the lake given that it’s just a mile from the Skimmerhorn Trailhead. While there were no people to be seen we were not alone.
Lizard

We had to really watch our step because these little guys were everywhere.

There is an smaller, unnamed lake just West of Buckeye Lake that we did not take the time to check out closer.

From the far end of Buckeye Lake we followed the Lakes Trail 0.2 mile through the old lava flow to a spur trail on the right that led to a large campsite along Cliff Lake. Someone had left (placed) a small BBQ and tarp here but we never saw anyone.

The spur trail to the campsite.

Attempted panorama.

The campsite provided a nice shaded place for a break free of mosquitos. After a nice long break we returned to the Lakes Trail and continued another 0.3 miles to the junction where we had earlier turned onto the Grasshopper Trail. We turned left at the junction and headed back toward Fish Lake.
Footbridge over the outlet creek which flows into another small unnamed lake that we did not attempt to find.

Unfortunately the lighting made this tree very hard to photograph but it was the coolest tree/rock combination that we’ve encountered.

Fritillary on thistle.

Short climb back up to the junction.

We had considered having our dinner at Cliff Lake since it was close to 5pm but we had decided against it due to being low on water and preferring to refill from one of the creeks over the lakes. We followed the Lakes Trail back to Highrock Creek where I worked on dinner while Heather refilled our water. After enjoying some Mountain House creamy macaroni and cheese we hiked the final 0.6 miles back to our campsite.
This slug was heading our way while we finished dinner.

The Sun was getting pretty low as we ended our hike.

A big nest atop a tree and the Moon above Fish Lake.

Zoomed in on the nest and Moon.

Fish Lake just before 7:30pm.

We were again surprised by the lack of people, it appeared that it was still just us and the campfire family. We turned in a little after 8pm to the welcome sound of crickets. Just before 9pm someone with the campfire family decided it was the perfect time to repeatedly fire a small caliber gun. It was both jarringly startling and disconcerting. We were not sure which direction they were firing in and we had no idea if the even knew we were camped there. As the shooting continued we began to consider our options. We couldn’t hike out because we’d need to pass them and that didn’t seem safe in the dark plus we guessed that whoever it was had been drinking. (Based on the four Coors cans we passed the next morning cooling in a stream we think that was probably the case.) The other option was to move camp further back, there was a site near Highrock Creek that was closer to the water than we would normally choose but given the choice of being struck by a stray bullet of camping closer than 200′ to water we were going to pick the water. During a break in the gunfire I quickly retrieved our bear bag and moved it downhill where we could easily access it if we needed move to the creek. We settled on moving camp if the shooting started again but fortunately it did not and we were able spend the rest of the night in relative peace.

The next morning we discussed our plan for the day. Neither of us were too keen on passing by what we were now referring to as the “mouth breathers” but we also both had the sneaking suspicion that the previous days hike was longer than the 13 miles we had come up with adding the distances in Sullivan’s book together. In the end though we both felt like we’d regret not trying the longer (and more elevation gain) return via Rocky Ridge. We decided that we would go ahead and give it a try knowing that we always had the option of turning around and hiking out the way we’d come in on the Beaver Swamp Trail given it was less than 2.5 miles to the trailhead from our campsite that way. We packed up camp and headed for Highrock Creek to top off our water.
Campsite after packing up in the morning.

Passing our planned route for the day on the left. Highrock Creek was just a 20 yard detour to the right.

After replenishing our water supply we started up the Fish Lake Trail which climbed nearly 2200′ in three miles to its end at the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail near Highrock Meadows. This section of the trail had many signs of the 2017 Pup Fire scar which is the main reason we were uncertain whether or not we would be able to make it back to the trailhead this way. There were some signs of post fire trail maintenance, but we weren’t able to even make it a half mile before encountering a very large downed snag blocking the trail. It was too tall and at too steep of an angle to safely climb over and there wasn’t enough clearance to go under (we’d already done both options on other downed trees). The steep hillside was covered in downed trees and the fire had left the ground unstable making scrambling around too risky for our taste so we called it there and made our retreat.
I think this was the third obstacle, one of several that was easy enough to get over.

Prior maintenance, the second log may have been cut post fire?

End of the line for us. Even if we somehow got around this one there was still 9.5 miles of burned trail from the trailhead and who knew how many obstacles like this one we might encounter or how long it would take us if we somehow were successful.

We had the privilege of navigating this one twice. Heather is on the other side coming through.

Back at the junction.

From the junction it was just under three miles back to the car. We hustled past the mouth breathers who seemed to still be asleep and said goodbye to Fish Lake.
No clouds this morning.

Highrock Mountain behind Fish Lake. Seeing the vine maples turning colors reminded us that despite the heat Autumn was just around the corner.

Hiking along Fish Lake Creek.

Highrock Mountain from the Beaver Swamp Trail.

Leaving the Rogue-Umpqua Wilderness for the last time this trip.

Our suspicions about the length of our hike on Saturday were confirmed by our GPS showing a distance of 16.4 miles with approximately 3200′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Our tracks for the weekend. The solid light blue line was our attempt to reach Rocky Ridge

Given the previous days hike and how warm it was by 9am it was probably for the best that we were turned back from the longer return as quickly as we had been. It had been a bit of a mixed bag with some good weather, nice scenery mixed in with the gunfire and not being able to hike out via Rocky Ridge but overall it had been enjoyable. (Click here for a look at the Rocky Ridge route pre-fire courtesy of Boots-on-the-Trail.)

At the trailhead we encountered a Forest Service employee who had just arrived for a two night stay at the trailhead. They were there to perform a survey of recreation users so we spent about 10 minutes answering the questions before heading home.

Unfortunately for us our adventure wasn’t over. If you’ve been following our blog this year you’ll know that we’ve had the low tire pressure light come on three different times, each one a long way from home (Siskiyou Gap, Black Butte Trail, and Russian Lake) due to a nail, a screw, and a rock. The latter leaving us with a flat tire near Callahan, CA and requiring a purchase of four new tires. This time just outside of Roseburg instead of the low tire pressure light half our dashboard lit up. All at once the check engine light came on, the X-mode indicator began blinking, and the Eye Sight unavailable lights all came on. After further review it appears that when the check engine light comes on those other systems are disabled prompting those indicators to come on. Regardless it was a Sunday and we were over a hundred miles from home. We kept a close eye on all the gauges for the rest of the drive and will have to wait until the Tuesday after Labor Day to make an appointment to have the car checked out. What I wouldn’t give for a Star Trek transporter. Happy Trails!

Flickr: South Umpqua Falls, Fish, Buckeye, and Cliff Lakes

Tags Acker Divide Trail, Beaver Swamp Trail, Beaver Swamp Trailhead, Buckeye Lake, Cliff Lake, Fish Lake, Fish Lake Trail, Grasshopper Meadow, Grasshopper Mountain, Grasshopper Mountain Trail, Highrock Creek, Highrock Mountain, hiking, Lakes trail, Little Fish Lake, Mosquito Camp, Oregon, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trip report

Yasko, Hemlock, and Grotto Falls with Hemlock Lake – 08/06/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 11, 2022
2 Comments on Yasko, Hemlock, and Grotto Falls with Hemlock Lake – 08/06/2022

We’ve unfortunately entered fire season which means we are keeping a close eye on current and new fires as well as any associated closures. At the time of writing the Cedar Creek Fire has closed the Waldo Lake Wilderness, part of the Three Sisters Wilderness as well as some of the surrounding forest and other fires have closed part of the Diamond Peak Wilderness. We had reservations at the Ideyld Lodge for August 6th and luckily our planned hikes for the weekend were not impacted by any of the current wildfires so we left Salem a little before 5am and headed south on I-5.

Like our earlier trips south this year we were continuing to work on checking off featured hikes from William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” guidebook (post). This time we planned on completing hike #3 – Little River Waterfalls (edition 4.2) as well as another waterfall from hike #2 – Fall Creek Falls. Due to those hikes combining for just 8 miles of hiking we had also planned to add Hemlock Lake (hike #103) onto Saturday’s outing. Sullivan’s Little River Waterfalls hike includes three stops to visit four waterfalls: Wolf Creek, Grotto, Yasko, and Hemlock Falls. The last two both starting from the Lake in the Woods Campground. The Hemlock Creek Trail also begins at this campground and climbs up to the Yellow Jacket Loop Trail which is the trail that Sullivan has you take for his Hemlock Lake hike. We planned on parking at the campground and taking all three of the trails and then time permitting stopping at Grotto Falls on our way to the lodge.

We arrived at the campground and couldn’t tell exactly where the day use area was (we missed the small sign) and wound up driving around the lake through the campground. Instead of trying to figure out where the day use area was (It was immediately to the right as you start counter-clockwise around the loop.) we exited the campground and turned right (east) on FR 27 for a tenth of a mile to FR 421 where we turned right for another tenth of a mile to a pull out where the Hemlock Creek Trail crossed the road.
Hemlock Creek Trail heading uphill toward Hemlock Lake.

Trail sign for the Hemlock Creek Trail heading down to Lake in the Woods from FR 421.

We opted to do the two short trails to the waterfalls first hoping for less crowds (spoiler alert we saw no one) and hiked a tenth of a mile down to the campground round where we turned right.
Hemlock Creek Trail at Lake in the Woods Campground.

Lake in the Woods (a 4 acre man made lake).

We exited the campground and crossed FR 27 to a hiker symbol marking the start of the Yasko Falls Trail.

The trail led gradually down hill for three quarters of a mile to Yasko Falls.

Ghost plant

We had heard this particular waterfall was one that was best viewed when the water flow wasn’t too strong which is one reason that we’d chosen August for a waterfall trip. The other reason was mosquitos are reportedly bad here and fierce at Hemlock Lake earlier in the year, in particular July. The 50′ waterfall did not disappoint and we spent some time admiring the cascade before returning to the campground.

A rare photo of me for scale.

At the campground we turned right following the path we’d driven earlier and now spotting the day use sign.
We mistook this for another campsite having not noticed the small sign on the tree.

A tenth of a mile from the day use area we left the road and turned onto the Hemlock Falls Trail.

This half mile trail descended 300′ to Hemlock Falls.

We again returned to the campground and completed the loop around Lake in the Woods then took the Hemlock Creek Trail back up to FR 421 and continued on uphill.
We both noticed that the sign said Hemlock Lake was 4 miles away. Sullivan’s map showed that it was 3 miles from Lake in the Woods to the Yellow Jacket Loop which raised the question was the hike going to be 2 miles longer than we’d expected or did the 4 miles include some of the Yellow Jacket Loop? Based on the mileage in Sullivan’s book I had come up with 16.6 miles so an extra two miles would be pushing us close to 19 (we always find reasons to wander).

Sleepy bee

Same mileage on the sign on the other side of FR 421. The fact that Road 2759 showed 2 miles when Sullivan had 1.5 on his map was a pretty good indicator that we were in for more than 16.6 miles.

The Hemlock Creek Trail climbed at a reasonable grade through a nice forest and passed several waterfalls. While the falls were partly visible from the trail, use trails led steeply downhill to better views. Gluttons for punishment that we are we took advantage of these trails to visit the falls.

Tributary Falls (unofficial name) was just below a footbridge approximately a half mile from FR 421.

Middle Hemlock Falls was just two tenths of a mile further along.

Small cascade below Middle Hemlock Falls.

Leopard lily

Another drop with no way to get a view of the fall from above.

Typical use trail.

A small slide that was fully visible from the trail.

Clover Falls was a quarter mile above Middle Hemlock Falls.

Clover Falls

More leopard lilies

Moth hanging out around the falls.

Use trail to Clover Falls.

Heather coming up from the falls through a huckleberry bush that I may have been using for snacks.

All of these falls were before the trail reached Road 2759. Beyond Clover Falls the hillside steepened and the trail veered away from the creek as it climbed via a series of switchbacks to the road crossing.
Skunk cabbage leaves in a wet area.

Curious stellar’s jay.

FR 2759.

The trail leveled out quite a bit on the other side of the road crossing Hemlock Creek a couple of times on footbridges.
Again with the 2 miles.

A much more reserved Hemlock Creek.

More snacks

Frog

We started to encounter some open meadows as we neared the junction with the Yellow Jacket Loop Trail.

Coneflower and paintbrush

Fleabane

The wildflowers were already on the way out but on the positive side we didn’t have much trouble at all with mosquitos.

At the junction, which was only marked by a post we turned right.
Hemlock Lake was to the left but Sullivan’s hike description called for doing the loop counter-clockwise. He typically has a reason for the direction he suggests so we’ve learned to stick with his recommendations.

The trail passed through a couple of meadows where pollinators were busy visiting the remaining flowers.

Busy bee

A lone columbine

Dragonfly

Mountain owl’s clover

Damselfly

Bee on rainiera

Butterfly on hyssop

Oregon checkermallow

Coneflower

Fleabane and paintbrush

Brief forested section.

Hedgenettle

Northern phlox

Flat Rock beyond a meadow.

Large boykina

From the junction it was a mile to the Flat Rock Trail where a three quarter mile detour led up to a viewpoint atop Flat Rock. Heather had been feeling a little “off” since a little before reaching the Yellow Jacket Loop so as we were climbing up from the meadows she decided to skip the out-and-back and instead would continue on the loop and I could catch up to her after visiting the viewpoint. I went on ahead and turned right at the signed junction.

After dropping a bit to a saddle the Flat Rock Trail leveled off which meant that the 500 plus foot climb that was needed to reach the top was all going to be packed into the last quarter mile or so.
There was an opening at the saddle where Diamond Peak (post) was visible through a bit of haze.

The all too familiar Summer “smoke” filter on the mountains.

The trail was a bit overgrown in places.

Starting to climb.

The climb was indeed fairly steep and it was probably a good thing Heather decided to skip it, although that decision had other repercussions. While the view from Flat Rock was pretty nice it wasn’t as nice as the view above nearby Twin Lakes had been when we visited in June (post).
Heading out to the viewpoint.

Hemlock Lake from Flat Rock with Mt. Bailey (post) and the spire of Mt. Thielsen (post) in the distance.

Quartz Mountain in the foreground with Hillman Peak and The Watchman (Crater Lake Rim) in the distance.

Diamond Peak in the distance to the right and the smoke plume from the Cedar Creek Fire center-right.

Smoke from the Cedar Creek Fire 😦

I returned to the Yellow Jacket Loop Trail and turned right and started to play catch-up with Heather. Beyond the Flat Rock Trail the loop passed through more meadows and some forest that had been impacted by the 2021 Smith Fire.

Parnassian on hyssop

Grand collomia

Swallowtail on hyssop.

Just over three quarters of a mile from the Flat Rock Trail I came to a sign for the Cavitt Mountain Tie Trail which didn’t show up on the GPS map or on Sullivan’s map.

Heather had placed an arrow using sticks to show that she had turned left here sticking to the Yellow Jacket Loop and I followed. A tenth of a mile later the trail came to a viewpoint at an old roadbed.
Mt. Bailey and Quartz Mountain.

Quartz Mountain

If Sullivan’s map hadn’t indicated that the trail followed a roadbed for a short distance I might not have known that this had once been a road.

Union Peak. To the left is Highrock Mountain and to the right of Highrock Mountain are the Rabbit Ears (post), a rock outcrop sticking up over a ridge.

The end of the old road section.

The only blooming lupine I saw all day.

I still hadn’t caught up with Heather when I came to a lone post which caused me to stop and ponder our decision to split up. I had realized we’d made the mistake of not setting a meet point where she would stop and wait for me, or I her if I somehow wound up in front of her. At this unsigned post the trail appeared to go straight but the maps showed the trail veering to the left. I looked for an arrow or even footprints to indicate which way Heather had gone. She also carries a GPS and had Sullivan’s map and hike description so I thought there was a good chance she went the right way, but it was a confusing enough junction that going straight wasn’t out of the question.
The actual trail to the left was very overgrown here and hard to pick out at first glance.

The map showed FR 625 in the direction of the right hand fork and it also showed the trail nearly touching that road two time further along the ridge it was on so I decided that even if she had taken a wrong turn here she would hop back onto the trail at one of those other two points so I went left and kept my eyes out for her.

The first convergence with FR 625.

Signpost at the second meeting.

The further I went the more concerned I became because I knew she hadn’t been feeling great when we split up and I had been moving at a crisp pace and had expected to catch up to her by now. I talked myself into think she might have started feeling better and with the trail being more level and starting to go downhill she may have been moving faster than I’d expected and I wasn’t sure quite how long my detour up to Flat Rock had taken. I continued on passing a sign for the Snowbird Shelter Trail and coming to Dead Cow Lake where I optimistically thought she might be waiting.
There were a lot of different types of signs along the loop.

Dead Cow Lake turned out to be a bust, not only was Heather not there but the lake was more of a slime filled pool. At least from what could be seen from the trail, there wasn’t any visible way to the lake itself.

Monkshood

It was a little under a mile from Dead Cow Lake to the next trail junction where I thought I might find her. This end of the loop was steeper than the other which made doing the loop counter-clockwise the better option.
I was moving rather quickly now and not stopping for much but I did pause for these sugar sticks.

When I didn’t find Heather at the next junction another possible scenario popped into my head. The right fork led 0.8 mile to a picnic area near the Hemlock Lake boat ramp and I suddenly wondered if Heather thought I had planned to loop around Hemlock Lake that way.

That hadn’t been the plan but now I couldn’t remember if we had really discussed that part. The left fork led back to the Hemlock Creek Trail in 0.7 miles and had been my intended route. I decided to go that way hoping that Heather hadn’t gone to the picnic area and was waiting there for me (if only we had agreed on a meet point).
The trail never got very close to the lake.

I passed the day use parking area looking for any sign of Heather but didn’t see her and then didn’t find her at the junction with the Hemlock Creek Trail.
Signboard at the Hemlock Lake Day Use Area.

Loop complete, no Heather.

Again not having set a meeting spot meant that I didn’t know for sure if she was somehow still ahead of me or if she was at the picnic area or if I had somehow passed her without knowing it. I decided my only choice was to double time it down the Hemlock Creek Trail and if she wasn’t at the car I would leave a note and drive up to Hemlock Lake to search the picnic area and campground for her. I half jogged half double timed it down to FR 2759 and was pretty sure she wasn’t in front of me as I crossed that road. My suspicion was confirmed when I ran into a trail crew near Clover Falls and asked if they’d seen a woman go by. (These were the only other people I’d seen on trail all day.) That cinched it so I jogged the majority of the way down to the car. I wrote two notes letting her know that I was driving up to look for her and to stay there if she happened to come down behind me as I would come back if I didn’t find her at Hemlock Lake. I stuck the notes on a tree limb near the trail sign and under a rock in the fire pit near where we’d parked and drove up to the boat ramp. No one there had seen her so I drove through the campground to the day use parking area. As I stepped out of the car I spotted her coming up from the trailhead signboard where she had just left a note for me.

It turned out that she had indeed gone right at the unmarked post and gotten on FR 625. She realized her mistake pretty quickly and turned around but we’d timed it just right and I had passed her during that time. Fortunately she took several breaks thinking that there was a chance I might still be behind her so she was just getting ready to head down the Hemlock Creek Trail when I pulled up, prayers answered. The whole debacle was a good reminder of how important it is to make clear plans before splitting up.

Despite the anxious ending it had been a nice hike but it was too long, especially if you’re jogging a good portion of the final 3.5 miles. My hike wound up being 18.2 miles with over 3700′ of elevation gain. Heather’s was a bit shorter having skipped Flat Rock and the return trip on the Hemlock Creek Trail.

So how do you follow something like that up? With another hike of course. It was just after 4pm and since Grotto Falls was on the way and only about half a mile round trip we detoured to that trailhead. We were mostly motivated by the thought of not making the drive the next day so we could get home a little earlier.

There were two other cars at this trailhead and we set off behind a family with a couple of youngsters.
The trailhead is right after crossing Emile Creek.

The setting for Grotto Falls was impressive. There wasn’t a lot of water flowing in the creek this time of year but there was enough and we were treated to a pair of small rainbows which added to the beauty.

The trail lead behind the falls giving us a chance to cool off in the water.

Cave behind the falls.

This was a perfect short hike to end the day on allowing us to relax a bit. We returned to the car and drove to the Idleyld Lodge and checked in. Then Heather ran across the street Idleyld Trading Post where she picked up some tasty post hike burritos. The historic lodge narrowly escaped the 2020 Archie Creek Fire and recently changed owners. It was obvious that the new owners had been putting a lot of work into the lodge and the room was quite comfy. What wasn’t were all the blisters on my feet, apparently jogging downhill at the end of an 18 mile hike isn’t something that they appreciated. In any event the day had ended on a high note. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Yakso, Hemlock, and Grotto Falls with Hemlock Lake

Tags Clover Falls, Dead Cow Lake, Flat Rock, Flat Rock Trail, Grotto Falls, Hemlock Creek Trail, Hemlock Falls, Hemlock Lake, hiking, Idleyld Lodge, Idleyld Trading Post, Lake in the Woods, Little River, Little River Waterfalls, Middle Hemlock Falls, Oregon, Yasko Falls, Yellow Jacket Loop

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Roseburg Area Trip report

Illahee Rock & Twin Lakes – 06/14/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 22, 2022
7 Comments on Illahee Rock & Twin Lakes – 06/14/2022

Our original plan for this vacation was to do a pair of hikes on the way down to Roseburg on Monday, Illahee Rock and Twin Lakes but the weather hadn’t cooperated with that plan. Monday was cloudy so doing two viewpoint hikes didn’t make sense. Instead, we had spent Monday visiting various waterfalls along Highway 138 (post). The plan for Tuesday had been a hike along Cow Creek on the way south to Ashland but during one of the many drives between trailheads on Monday we had decided instead to do the Illahee Rock and Twin Lakes hikes on Tuesday, weather permitting, and to save Cow Creek for another year. There were two reasons for this change. First Twin Lakes is one of Sullivan’s featured hikes while Cow Creek is not. The second reason was that we were both still dealing with blisters from our 17.5-mile outing at the Columbian White-Tailed Deer Refuge three days earlier (post) and with at least four creek crossings on the Cow Creek Trail the probability of us having to ford the creek and soaking our feet didn’t sound like the best idea. Before going to sleep Monday, we checked the forecast which was “Becoming Sunny”. I don’t think we’d ever come across that particular forecast, but it sounded hopeful so Tuesday morning we packed up the car and headed east once again on Highway 138.

Our first stop was at Illahee Rock, a former featured hike that was hit with fires in both 2017 and 2021. Two lookout towers sit atop Illahee Rock and the Umpqua National Forest website listed the Illahee Lookout Trail as open but gave no update on conditions. We wound up cutting the drive short by three quarters of a mile due to a decent amount of debris in the road due to damage caused by the fires.
We parked in a pullout just before this section.

The “becoming sunny” forecast was obviously not for the morning as we found ourselves in heavy fog as we hiked along FR 100.
The Boulder Creek Wilderness (post) under the slowly rising clouds.

After 0.75 miles on FR 100 we came to FR 104 on the left which led to the Illahee Rock Trailhead. Before heading up to the lookouts though we wanted to make an attempt to reach nearby Wild Rose Point which Sullivan described in his book.
FR 104

We passed FR 104 and continued on FR 100 for another 0.2 miles to a fork.
Rabbit on FR 100

Lots of fawn lilies along the road and trails.

Red flowering currant

Is this an apple tree? Whatever it is it seemed very out of place.

FR 105 on the left and FR 100 on the right.

We could see a post for the trail on the hillside in brush but had a bit of trouble figuring out where the trail began at the fork. We first looked for it right at the fork then a bit down FR 100 but it was actually just up FR 105 next to the post for the road.

This little path brought us to the post in the brush where it was already obvious this was going to be an adventure.

The 2021 fire had burned over this area as well and it didn’t appear that any maintenance had been done aside from some occasional flagging and cairns. We decided to give it a go though since it was under 1.5 miles to Wild Rose Point. We picked our way uphill and found some decent tread in some trees that had been spared by the fire.

Another uphill through a burned area brought us to another short section of better trail before fallen trees began to be a problem. A little over half a mile in near Illahee Spring we decided to turn back. Several larger trees blocked the trail head and looked like more trouble than it was worth to try and navigate around and even if we did manage there wasn’t going to be a view due to the fog.
A cairn on the left.

Damp trillium

Downed trees across the trail near Illahee Spring.

We returned to FR 100 and walked back to FR 104 which we now turned up.

Gooseberry

Two tenths of a mile up FR 104 we came to the Illahee Rock Trailhead.

This trail was in much better shape and we had no problem following it the three quarters of a mile up to the lookouts.

The tread was a little faint but otherwise in good shape.

Lots of cool rock outcrops along the trail.

Fawn lilies

Typical trail condition.

Ragwort and blue-eyed Mary covered hillside.

Blue-eyed Mary

Ragwort

Rocky hillside below the lookouts.

Larkspur

1925 Cupola style lookout.

1956 L-4 tower lookout

Paintbrush

We spent some time exploring the summit and checking out the lookouts while we waited for it to become sunny. We eventually gave up on that and headed back down.

Illahee Rock

A sliver of hope for blue sky at some point.

It wasn’t more than 10 minutes after we started down before the blue sky started appearing.

Back at the trailhead.

On FR 100

Wallflower

The Boulder Creek Wilderness

We’d missed out on a view from Illahee Rock but we had another opportunity coming up on our hike to Twin Lakes. We drove back down FR 100 to Highway 138 and turned left (east) for 2.25 miles to FR 4770 where we turned right at a sign for the Twin Lakes and North Umpqua Trail. We followed FR 4770 to the Twin Lakes Trailhead . (The east trailhead not the west.)

The same 2017 fire that burned Illahee Rock affected the Forest here as well although many large trees did survive. We followed the Twin Lakes Trail for 0.6 miles to a junction.

Meadow along the trail.

Trillum

Becoming sunny in action. From this viewpoint Diamond Peak, Mt. Thielsen, and Mt. Bailey are visible sans clouds.

A carpet of blue-eyed Mary at the viewpoint.

Illahee Rock was visible from the viewpoint despite the clouds.

The lookout tower on Illahee Rock.

Indian plum

Hellbore starting to sprout in a meadow.

Waterleaf

Nearing the junction.

At the first junction we stayed right then veered left at the next, avoiding the Deception Creek Trail, and descended through a meadow to the Twin Lakes Shelter.

Woodpecker

Gray jay

The second junction where we turned left.

Mushroom near the shelter.

After a short break at the shelter we started around the bigger of the two lakes going counter-clockwise. We passed a walk in campground and continued along the lake shore.

The lake was very colorful and it was easy to see into the water which allowed us to watch fish as they swam around.

No fish but it was easy to see them when they were present.

This big rock added to the scenery.

We couldn’t decide if that was an old bridge or dock in the water.

Passing behind the big rock.

The rock turned out to be split.

There was a lot of water in the section between the two lakes. Fortunately there didn’t seem to be any mosquitos which was really surprising but in a good way.

We weren’t entirely sure where the trail between the two lakes was and we started thinking that we’d missed it so when we saw an opportunity we headed cross country toward the smaller lake.
This looked like it could be a trail.

How were there not any mosquitos in here.

A local wondering what we were up to.

We spotted more large rocks with a bit of a shelter underneath and were headed for it when we spotted an actual trail running by the rocks.

We followed this trail to the second lake and made our way around it counter-clockwise as well.

The outlet creek.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Red-breasted sapsucker

Stellar’s jay

There was still snow in the basin on the south side of the lake making this side very wet.

A 1995 log shelter used to be located on this side of the lake but was lost to the 2017 fire. A small outhouse and a whole lot of garbage (people are awful sometimes) is all that was left.

After completing the loop we followed the trail back toward the larger lake passing the boulder shelter and a balancing rock.

This cracked us up, someone just nailed the planks into the tree that broke the bridge.

This trail led back to the trail around the larger lake.
A small sign at the junction.

We finished the loop around the larger lake and stopped again at the shelter.

A 1.1 mile climb from the first junction that we’d come to earlier would take us to a viewpoint above the lakes.

We had been waiting to see if it really did become sunny before deciding on this optional side trip but now that there was quite a bit of blue sky overhead we decided to head up.
Another meadow along the 1.1 mile section.

The 2017 fire hit this section pretty hard.

There was a bit more snow over 5400′ but not enough to cause any problems.

A well established use trail led out to the viewpoint where we met another pair of hikers enjoying the view.

The larger lake.

The smaller lake.

Illahee Rock from the viewpoint.

The lower flanks of Howlock Mountain, Mt. Thielsen (post), and Mt. Bailey (post).

We chatted with the other hikers long enough that we could almost see all of Mt. Thielsen and Mt. Bailey by the time we were headed back.

Bee on an anemone.

Glacier lily

Moth and a violet.

When we passed by the lower viewpoint the views had improved even more.

Mt. Thielsen and Mt. Bailey

Black Rock on the right.

Highrock Mountain

Howlock Mountain

Cowhorn Mountain (post)

It truly had become sunny and was supposed to stay that way at least for the next couple of days. After driving back to Highway 138 we followed it east to Diamond Lake then took Highway 230 south to Highway 62 and followed it into Medford to I-5 and took the freeway south to Ashland where we would be staying for the next four nights. We’d hoped to stop by Becky’s Cafe in Union Creek but when we drove by it was closed so instead we wound up with Wendy’s after another long day (sigh) of driving.

The hikes were 5.2 miles and 6.2 miles with 650′ and 850′ of elevation gain respectively giving us an 11.4 mile 1500′ day.

Tags Boulder Creek Wilderness, hiking, Illahee Rock, Illahee Rock Lookout, Oregon, Twin Lake Shelter, Twin Lakes, Twin Lakes Trailhead, Umpqua National Forest, Wild Rose Point

Cottage Grove Hiking Oregon Trip report

Row River Trail – Mosby Creek TH to Harms Park -12/18/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 20, 2021
5 Comments on Row River Trail – Mosby Creek TH to Harms Park -12/18/2021

A combination of a busy December both at work and home and uncooperative weather left us with one final day to get our December hike in before the holiday weekend. Short of an ice storm we planned on hiking somewhere but the exact hike would depend on the weather forecast. As we got closer to the day, rain was the consensus everywhere within our day hiking radius. I looked through the hikes we hadn’t done yet for options for this time of year where a day of rain would have least impact on the hike. After coming up with a couple of possibilities, each a different direction from Salem a I looked again at the forecast for each area to see if any looked better than the others. The Row River Trail just East of Cottage Grove was the clear winner with just a chance of showers in the morning increasing to rain as the day went on.

A converted rail road, the Row River Trail is a 14 mile long paved National Recreation Trail. We hiked a portion of the trail last June during a multi-stop day (post). On that day we started at Bake Stewart Park which is on the eastern side of Dorena Lake and hiked west to Rat Creek which is just beyond Harms Park. Our plan for this outing was to park on the other side of Dorena Lake at the Mosby Creek Trailhead and hike east to Harms Park. It was overcast but not raining when we pulled into the trailhead parking area.

The trail begins in Cottage Grove approximately 3 miles to the west of this trailhead it passes through town then closely follows Mosby Creek Road to the trailhead. While the trail beyond Mosby Creek crosses several roads and follows Row River Road around Dorena Lake it is more scenic than the first 3 miles would have been. Starting at the Mosby Creek Trailhead also offers the chance to make a quick 50 yard detour to the 1920 Mosby Creek Covered Bridge which was restored in 1990 and is still in use.

The Row River Trail crosses Mosby Creek on a nearby trestle bridge.

The trail is basically as straight as an arrow for 1.3 miles from the Mosby Creek bridge to a second bridge over the Row River. The scenery along this stretch is farmland and trees.

Ivy disguising itself as a tree.

Mallards and Christmas lights.

Layng Road crossing. The lights on the signs were activated when sensors picked up something approaching.

Currin Covered Bridge on Layng Road.

Cormorants flying overhead.

Approaching the bridge over the Row River.

Row River

Lesser scaup. I would have liked a better picture but it was still early and not very light and the little guy was a ways away on the river.

A short distance beyond the river we passed under Row River Road.

20211218_113536_HDR This was a new sign to us.

Shortly after passing under Row River Road the trail began a small climb above some farms as it made a sweeping curve to the right.
Row River Road with some snowy hillsides in the distance.

Arrows and other yellow markings identified bumps and holes in the trail for equestrian and bike users.

Jelly fungus

Hamblen Creek

Turkeys in a field.

Sign along a private driveway.

Not very many mushrooms but these were good sized.

The trail crossed Row River Road again as it passed along the shoulder of Cerro Gordo, a 2112′ butte.

From the road crossing We descended slightly passing the unmarked site where the campfire scene was filmed for the 1986 movie Stand By Me before arriving at the Dorena Lake Dam.

Do squirrels jog?

Madrone along the trail.

Row River Road was overhead to the left along this rocky section.

Nearing a bench along the trail facing Dorena Lake Dam.

Interpretive sign near the bench.

A short distance beyond the bench we took a short detour down to the reservoir.

Snow in the Calapooya Mountains.

White pelicans on the other side of Dorena Lake.

We returned to the Row River Trail and continued another half a mile to a small parking area at Row Point where we again detoured to the reservoir.
Still no rain despite the clouds.

Red-tailed hawk

A kingfisher and a great blue heron.

White pelcians and other waterfowl Pelicans and other waterfowl on the move.

Cerro Gordo from Row Point.

After visiting Row Point we continued east on the trail for another 1.3 miles before arriving at the Rat Creek Bridge which had been our turn around point on our previous hike.
Not much water at all in the eastern end of the reservoir.

A great blue heron on the far left with a bunch of white pelicans and cormorants.

Actual sunlight hitting the dam.

Spotted towhee

Rat Creek Bridge

Rat Creek

It was a very different view from the bridge versus last time.
Dorena Lake June 2020 from the Rat Creek Bridge.

We continued the short distance into Harms Park to use the facilities and take a short break at a picnic table and then started back.

Gold tree in front of Cerro Gordo.

When we were nearing the dam again we could see a number of cormorants lining the boom.

I decided to detour over to the dam itself to check out the view.
The little hill to the left provides access to the north end of the dam.

Heather had semi-reluctantly followed me but as it turned out we were both very happy we’d made the short side trip. Along with the group of cormorants making use of the boom were 4 river otters.

Just drying out.

Trying to play.

No luck.

After not having seen any otters during our hikes prior to 2021 this was now the 4th time we’d seen one but the first where we were able to watch them for any extended period. It elevated what had already been a good hike into the great category. After watching the otters for awhile we headed back to the Mosby Creek Trailhead keeping our eyes open for other wildlife along the way.

Rabbit

American wigeons

Nature slowly reclaiming an old farm truck.

Red breasted sap sucker.

Mosby Creek

The hike came in a 12.4 miles after all of the little side trips with only about 150′ of elevation gain.

There are numerous possible starting/turnaround points which make it possible to break the trial up into several smaller sections and we passed a few people doing just that with their dogs/children. The rain showers never materialized making it a much more pleasant day than we’d expected to have and the variety of wildlife, especially the otters, was a great way to finish off our 2021 hikes. Happy Trails and Merry Christmas!

Flickr: Row River Trail – Mosby TH to Harms Park

Tags Cerro Gordo, Cottage Grove, Currin Covered Bridge, Dorena Lake, Dorena Lake Dam, Harms Park, hiking, Mosby Creek, Mosby Creek Covered Bridge, Mosby Creek Trailhead, Oregon, River Otter, Row Point, Row River, Row River Trail, spotted towhee, Stand By Me, White Pelican

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

McKenzie River Trail (Blue Pool TH south to NF-610) – 11/21/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 22, 2020
3 Comments on McKenzie River Trail (Blue Pool TH south to NF-610) – 11/21/2020

A combination of a day off, a favorable forecast and a need to drive to Bend to pick up some Christmas items provided the perfect excuse to check out a section of the McKenzie River National Recreation Trail. This would be our third hike on this 26.4 mile long trail, all on different sections (Tamolitch Pool and Clear Lake).

We started our hike at the popular Tamolitch Blue Pool Trailhead where we had also started our hike to the Blue Pool.

This time though we headed south (left) on the McKenzie River Trail away from the Blue Pool and the crowds that would surely be arriving later in the day (we were the 2nd car at the TH on this morning).

The Sun wasn’t quite up yet, and it was still under 30 degrees, as we set off on the trail.

The trail climbed a forested hillside and crossed a forest road above Trail Bridge Reservoir (2 miles from the TH).

Forest road crossing.

The trail then descended to Forest Road 730 and a crossing of Smith River which feeds into the reservoir.

Another brief climb followed before dropping down to the Trail Bridge Dam.

The top of Three Fingered Jack is visible in the distance.

We continued on the trail which now began to follow the McKenzie River more closely.

Fall means mushrooms.

There were a couple of opportunities to get down to the river bank which we took advantage of and just over a mile and a half from the dam we stopped to admire Olallie Creek joining the river.

Anderson Creek joining the McKenzie.

Olallie Creek across from the trail.

A half mile beyond Olallie Creek the river split leaving a large forested island briefly in its center.

Beyond the island the trail passed some rocky cliffs where icicles dripped before dropping to a crossing of Deer Creek at the 5.5 mile mark of our hike.

Turning up Deer Creek to reach the footbridge.

Shortly after crossing the creek the trail arrived at Deer Creek Road (NF 782) where there is parking for the trail and Deer Creek (aka Bigelow) Hot Springs. We knew the hot springs were somewhere along our route but we didn’t know for sure where until we got home after the hike. There was no sign for the small hot spring that sits along the river bank but we did see an obvious trail heading south down to the river here. Not knowing that the hot springs were down there we visited the bridge over the McKenzie and then continued on the McKenzie River Trail.
Up river from Deer Creek Road.

Deer Creek Hot Springs would be somewhere along the right hand side of the river.

The trail briefly climbed above the river before switchbacking down and arriving at Frissel Creek just over a mile from Deer Creek Road.

We had to go around this bridge due to frost and it being at an angle.

Footbridge over Frissel Creek.

We had planned to turn around between 10 and 10:30 at either the hot springs or Forest Road 610 which the trail briefly follows. Since we didn’t realize we’d passed the hot springs we wound up making FR 610 the turnaround which was approximately three quarters of a mile beyond Frissel Creek. We arrived at the road just after 10:30.
Sun over the McKenzie River

FR 610

We turned around at the road and headed back keeping our eyes open for any sign of the hot springs and any other things we missed on the first pass. We still didn’t realize that the hot springs were where they were but we did spot a lot more mushrooms and the tops of the Middle and North Sister on the way back.

We missed this sign for slough creek the first time by.

Missed this survey marker too.

We also completely missed this sign at Deer Creek.

Still cold

Without the use of the zoom on the camera they are hard to make out but the tops of the North and Middle Sister are visible over the hills.

The Garmin showed 14.6 miles for this out and back (Google maps had indicated it would be 13.4 miles) and there was between 800 and 1000′ of cumulative elevation gain. What climbs there were weren’t ever steep and didn’t last long. We encountered a half dozen other trail users but when we arrived back at the trailhead it was full and cars were stretched all they way down the road with people heading for the Blue Pool. It has become one of “those” hikes and is getting loved to death. After changing we drove to Bend for a quick visit with Heather’s parents and then headed back over the pass to Salem. Happy Trails!

Flickr: McKenzie River Trail

Tags Bigelow Hot Springs, Blue Pool, Deer Creek, Deer Creek Hot Springs, Frissel Creek, hiking, McKenzie River, McKenzie River National Recreation Trail, McKenzie River Trail, mushroom, Olallie Creek, Oregon, Smith River, Tamolitch Pool, Trail Bridge Reservior

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trip report

Abbott Butte and Union Creek Falls – 10/17/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 24, 2020
3 Comments on Abbott Butte and Union Creek Falls – 10/17/2020

The third day of our long weekend in Union Creek was supposed to be a single hike to Abbott Butte and Elephant Pond in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness. The day started as planned as we drove from Union Creek to the Abbott Butte Trailhead.
Union Peak and Mt. McLoughlin on our drive to the trailhead.

The peaks of Crater Lake National Park

Abbott Butte Trailhead

The Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail begins here at Huckleberry Gap near the southern end of the wilderness. Much of the area burned in a 2017 fire and there was a profuse amount of fireweed present which had gone to seed and left the ground looking as though it had received a dusting of snow.

Just after taking the preceding photo which Heather had stepped to the side of the trail for, we resumed the hike and I immediately heard a ruckus behind me. I turned around to see Heather laying on the trail next to a log. She had gotten tangled some branches and fallen. While nothing was broken she twisted her foot awkwardly. After taking inventory she decided to continue on.

The trail spent the first mile and a half loosing approximately 300′ as it wound around Quartz Mountain before arriving at Windy Gap.

Huckleberry bushes

A section of green trees along the trail.

Quartz Mountain

Passing below Quartz Mountain

Abbott Butte from the trail.

Along the way my camera decided to malfunction giving me a lens error when trying to use the zoom function. I eventually had to give up on using the zoom and am now looking for a replacement :(.

At Windy Gap the trail entered the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness.

Prior to the fire the trail paralleled an old road bed on the hillside above it but that tread has been mostly lost so we stuck to the road bed.
On the roadbed

Pearly everlasting

The road arrived at Sandy Gap .4 miles from Windy Gap.

The peaks of Crater Lake were visible from this gap.

We continued on the road bed form this gap as well. Between the gaps we had at least been able to see where the trail had been on the hillside above but at Sandy Gap the tread had all but vanished.

Approximately .7 miles from Sandy Gap we passed a trail sign for the Cougar Butte Trail. The sign was the only evidence that the trail had ever existed from what we could see.

Another tenth of a mile brought us to what in theory was a 4-way junction below Abbott Butte.

Sign indicating the non-existent trail is not suitable for horses.

We followed the old road up an open hillside switchbacking three times to the summit of Abbott Butte after a mile. Along the way we spotted a pair of deer near the tree line.

There were also some spectacular views.
IMG_7727_stitch Mt. McLoughlin and Mt. Shasta and a whole lot of other peaks that I should know.

Mt. Thielsen

Nearing the summit.

The Abbott Butte Lookout has seen better days. While the stand is still upright the lookout was not and the old sleeping quarters beneath looked near collapse as well.
The old lookout on Abbott Butte

Regardless whoever the idiot was that used wood from the lookout for their precious campfire should be ashamed.

The old outhouse?

There view south was limited by trees but there was a good view to the east.
Mt. Thielsen and the peaks of Crater Lake.

After a nice break at the summit we headed back down the road. After .7 miles at the 3rd (lowest) switchback we turned right toward a post.

This was the route to the continuation of the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail. Our plan was to follow it another 1.3 miles to Elephant Pond. In typical Rogue-Umpqua Divide Fashion the trail alternated between good tread and non-existent as it passed through meadows, green forest and burned forest.
Flagging marking the route.

A cairn along the tread ahead.

We passed another sign for the Cougar Butte Trail .4 miles from the switchback and at least this time there was a visible trail.

Just beyond this junction the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail crossed a cinder field, turned east and headed steeply downhill.

The trail eventually leveled out a bit passing through a series of overgrown meadows. For the first time since early in our first hike in this wilderness we nearly saw other people. We heard someone calling for Tyler but we never saw that person or Tyler.

This meadow is where we heard the voice.

Another late flower

Before we reached Elephants Pond we spotted the rock formation known as Elephants Head.

Fireweed that hadn’t gone to seed.

An owl’s clover

It’s hard to tell from the photo but this mushroom was big.

We declared victory at the pond as the trail was growing increasingly faint and entering another section of snags plus Heather’s foot was feeling a bit sore.

We returned the way we’d come only this time when we had reached Sandy Gap I decided to follow the old trail alignment above the road bed.

I rejoined Heather on the road near the wilderness boundary and we continued back to the car. Just before reaching it, near where she had fallen earlier we spotted a very pretty butterfly.

This was another enjoyable hike in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, even with the faint tread and our other mishaps. At 10.3 miles it was a good days worth of hiking and we drove back to Union Creek for another round of dinner and pie from Beckie’s Cafe.

During the return hike and drive we had been discussing possible scenarios for the next days hike given Heather’s tender foot. Our planned hike was an 8.2 mile out and back from the Union Creek Resort along Union Creek to Union Creek Falls. We came up with a few different options making use of the upper trailhead which was only a seven minute drive away. Unfortunately by the time we’d driven back to Union Creek and finished our late lunch/early dinner her foot had swollen and stiffened signaling an end to her hikes this weekend.

While we were waiting for our food I had been checking up on the condition of the Union Creek Trail which as of 2018 was overgrown with quite a bit of blowdown in between the resort and falls. Trip reports as recent as August 2020 confirmed this. The temperature in the morning was going to be just under 40 degrees and an overgrown trail meant wet foliage which wasn’t exactly an enticing combination so a new plan was formed. It was just after 4pm when we finished dinner so with Heather’s blessing I took my leave and drove to the upper trailhead.

It was a little after 4:30pm when I set off and I gave myself a turn around time of 1 hour (or sooner if the trail conditions warranted). The trail began by descending 100′ in the first quarter a mile to the creek near Union Creek Falls, a small but scenic cascade.

IMG_7892_stitch

From the falls the trail continued downstream and was in relatively good shape with just a couple of small trees to step over. The creek was lively at first so I made frequent stops to check out several small cascades and chutes.

IMG_7924_stitch

Approximately 1.7 miles from the trailhead the trail conditions really started to deteriorate. I had been encountering a little more blowdown and now I was facing nearly chest high ferns.

It was passable but I had to watch out for hidden obstacles so my pace slowed as had the creeks.

I continued another quarter mile or so before calling it good, 45 minutes into my self-imposed 1 hour turn around time. The wilder show from the creek was over as it continues to calm the closer it gets to the resort. I double timed it back to the car stopping less frequently (an ouzel caught my attention at one point).
The broken zoom function didn’t let me get a good shot but the ouzel is on a rock in the middle of the creek.

I managed to get 3.9 miles in so almost half of the trail and I got to see a number of nice little cascades along the way. I was however a little damp from the vegetation so I was really glad I hadn’t tried to do the hike first thing in the morning.

I drove back to the resort and found heather sitting by the creek reading. Before turning in for the evening we picked up a cinnamon roll for us and two pieces of pie from Beckie’s to take to my parents the next day. Heather is currently on the mend and will hopefully be back out there hiking and running shortly. Until next time, Happy Trails!

Flickr: Abbott Butte and Union Creek Falls

Tags Abbott Butte, Abbott Butte Lookout, Abbott Butte Trail, Beckie's Cafe, Crater Lake, deer, Elephants head, Elephants Pond, hiking, Huckleberry Gap, Oregon, Quartz Mountain, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Sandy Gap, Union Creek, Union Creek Falls, Union Creek Resort, windy gap

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trip report

Hershberger Mountain, Rabbit Ears, and Natural Bridge – 10/16/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 24, 2020
3 Comments on Hershberger Mountain, Rabbit Ears, and Natural Bridge – 10/16/2020

We had a full itinerary scheduled for the second day of our Union Creek trip with three stops planned. We had originally planned on stopping first at the Rabbit Ears which are about 10 miles from Union Creek along Forest Road 6515. From Union Creek we drove north on Highway 62 to Highway 230 where we continued north on that highway for .9 miles before turning left and crossing the Rogue River on Forest Road 6510 (Hershberger Road). After 1.6 miles we forked right onto Forest Road 6520 and in another half mile turned left onto Forest Road 6515 (shown on Google Maps as Road 299). DO NOT rely on Google maps to get you to either Rabbit Ears or Hershberger Mountain. Not only is the road number incorrect but after approximately 4.5 miles it is misidentified on Google maps which shows the road making a hairpin turn to the left and shows no other existing roads. In reality this is a 4-way junction with FR 6515 continuing as a slight left. A total of 5.6 miles after turning onto this road we came to an actual hairpin curve to the left around a small meadow. To the right was a small parking area for the Rabbit Ears, but it was still a bit dark out to start hiking so we decided to change our plans and head up to Hershberger Mountain first. To reach Hershberger Mountain we needed to continue another mile on FR 6515 and turn right onto FR 580 for what Sullivan described as 1.8 steep, rough miles. We originally missed the part about the right turn after a mile and wound up passing FR 580 which was also marked as an OHV trail. After going more than 1.8 miles the wrong way we turned on our GPS unit to confirm our location then reread the book and found our error. We turned around and drove back missing FR 580 again thinking it was strictly an OHV trail and not an actual road but this time we quickly caught our mistake, turned around again and were finally back on track. A 2017 wildfire burned much of this area and along most of FR 580 which was in pretty bad shape with a number of large waterbars, some deep enough that the front bumper our our Subaru Outback scrapped the ground ever so slightly so passenger cars probably shouldn’t try it. When the 1.8 miles was up we came to a parking area on the left side of the road with some trails signs and a truck.
Sunrise from the parking area.

Two trails left the parking area, the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail and the Acker Divide Trail.

We would be taking the Acker Divide Trail but first we wanted to visit the lookout on Hershberger Mountain so we continued up FR 580 toward the lookout.

We could have driven the .8 miles up to a parking area just below the lookout but 1.8 miles of FR 580 had been enough. This stretch may actually have been in a little better shape but then again we were only walking on it and not trying to drive.

The lookout tower is available on a first come first serve basis and with the truck at the parking area below we weren’t sure if someone was using it so we didn’t go in but we did explore the area around it.

The views were great which was a nice change to our Labor Day trip to Rattlesnake Mountain where smoke ruled the views. (post)

Mt. Bailey, Howlock Mountain, and Mt. Thielsen

Arant Point, Union Peak, Goose Egg, Klamath Point, Lee Peak, Devils Peak, Pelican Butte, Lucifer Peak, Venus, Rabbit Ears, Mt. McLoughlin, and Mt. Shasta (among others).

Mt. McLoughlin and Mt. Shasta

Rabbit Ears

Sun over Crater Lake National Park

While up near the lookout I noticed a sign along the rocky ridge to Hershberger Mountain’s summit.

I headed for the sign and then continued onto the summit on a user path.

From the summit I could make out Rattlesnake Mountain (post) behind some burned snags.

Weaver Mountain just to the left of the snags with Rattlesnake Mountain behind to the right and Fish Mountain the furthest right.

Survey marker at the summit.

The sign, lookout, Rabbit Ears, Mt. McLoughlin, and Mt. Shasta coming back from the summit.

As I was coming back the unbelievable happened. For the second day in a row a varied thrush held still long enough for me to get decent picture.

I rejoined Heather near the lookout and we hiked back down to our car and after taking a few more sips of the coffee we’d left in it we started down the Acker Divide Trail.
Acker Divide Trail leaving FR 580.

The trail quickly entered the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness.

The trail dropped quickly losing nearly 300′ in the first .4 miles where the trail crossed a small stream at the edge of a meadow.

The meadow was what we have come to picture when we think of this particular wilderness. Faint tread with a few cairns led us through the meadow and into a section of green trees.

Another cairn to the right of the tree ahead.

Beyond the meadow the trail leveled out a bit and just over a mile and a half from the trailhead we passed a sign for the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail.

I believe that the 2 mile section beyond this sign may be abandoned. On the map it leads to the edge of the wilderness near the junction of FR 6515 & FR 580 but according to the Forest Service and a sign we saw at a horse camp along FR 580 the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail follows FR 580 between that horse camp and the trailhead we were parked at. In any event we stuck to the Acker Divide Trail arriving at a meadow below Toad Lake in another .4 miles.

A lonely flower along the Acker Divide Trail

Mushroom near the meadow.

Toad Meadow

Another .4 miles brought us within view of the Cripple Creek Shelter at the edge of the fire scar.

We made our way to the shelter where we took a nice break and enjoyed the surroundings.

Tis the time of year for Mushroom to replace flowers.

We returned the way we’d come keeping our eyes out for mushrooms and any lingering flowers that might yet be blooming.

Candyflower

Our hike here came in at 6.8 miles and approximately 1200′ of elevation gain. After successfully navigating FR 580 again we stopped at the Rabbit Ears pullout and followed a path into the trees.
Pullout along FR 6515

Trail to Rabbit Ears

In a tenth of a mile the patch split and we chose to go right which brought us to the base of the rock formation.
The split

The trail then turned uphill on some loose rock which made us happy that we’d chosen to go this direction because we felt going up it would be easier than coming down.

We were surprised to find these phlox blossoms still looking good.

From the high point we had a pretty good view of Mt. McLoughlin and Mt. Shasta to the south.

Continuing on the trail brought us a view of Fish Mountain to the north before the trail dropped back down into the trees to complete the loop.

20201016_114550_HDR Smaller rock formation along the trail.

The half mile loop was really nice. Getting to see the Rabbit Ears up close was interesting and the added bonus of mountain views and surprise phlox was icing on the cake. We then drove back to Union Creek and parked at the lodge where we were staying since our next hike started just across the highway.
Beckie’s Cafe across Highway 62.

The lodge, store, and gift shop at Union Creek Resort.

We crossed the highway to the seasonally closed ice cream shop and followed a path on its right side to the Rogue Gorge Viewpoint parking area.
The Ice Cream shop and to it’s right the sign for the trail to the Rogue Gorge Viewpoint.

Interpretive signs at the parking area.

A .2 mile paved loop offers a short but spectacular option for a quick tourist stop with several viewpoints of the Rogue Gorge. We did the loop counter-clockwise heading first to viewpoint 4.

Viewpoint 4

Rogue River at viewpoint 4.

Viewpoint 3

View upriver from viewpoint 3.

Downriver from viewpoint 3.

Interpretative sign at the viewpoint.

The lava tubes.

Viewpoint 2

Viewpoint 1 above the end of the Rogue Gorge.

From viewpoint 1 the paved path crossed a footbridge before arriving at the interpretative sign boards at the parking area. The Rogue Gorge Trail, which we took, continued as a dirt trail descending to the riverbank and continuing downstream.

For the next 1.2 miles the Rogue Gorge Trail followed the river closely as it passed a number of cabins and a portion of the Union Creek Campground. This section of the Rogue River flowed quietly past a wonderful display of Fall colors.

Union Creek Campground

At the end of the 1.2 mile stretch we arrived at Union Creek (the actual creek) and crossed it on a footbridge.
The orange sign and flagging was for a 50k being run the following day.

Union Creek

Beyond the footbridge was a 1.7 mile stretch of trail passing more of the campground and some other cabins before arriving at a footbridge spanning the Rogue River.

As we neared the bridge the river became wilder as it passed over and through more lava flows.

A Clark’s nutcracker

The footbridge to the upper left.

The footbridge offered an opportunity for a 2.2 mile loop using the Upper Rogue River Trail and passing Natural Bridge. For now we stuck to the Rogue Gorge Trail and continued past the footbridge.
Rogue River on the other side of the footbridge.

About a mile from the footbridge we came to a sign at what looked like a fork in the trail.

We took the right hand fork sticking to the river bank where a gentleman was walking his dog. The trail petered out on some rocks along the river.

It was easy enough to walk over the rocks though so we continued on not realizing that we were very close to Natural Bridge which in the past had been the way across the river but has been closed and replaced by another footbridge.

We turned inland on an old road bed still not realizing we were off course until it petered out and we discovered we were on the wrong side of a fence.

When we saw the fence we realized that we should have forked left at that sign so we made our way to the correct side of the fence and quickly picked up a paved path coming from the Natural Bridge Day Use Area.

The paved path brought us to the Upper Rogue River Trail which we took to the footbridge across the river.

The Rogue Gorge had been spectacular but Natural Bridge added the element of oddity to the mix as the river disappeared under the lava rock only to reappear a short distance later.

The inlet

Beyond Natural Bridge the Upper Rogue River Trail decided to gain some elevation as it climbed steeply gaining 300′ before dropping back down to the other footbridge. The climb did provide a brief glimpse of Llao Rock along the rim of Crater Lake.

We turned off the Upper Rogue River Trail to cross the footbridge and return to the Rogue Gorge Trail.

We turned left on the Rogue Gorge Trail and followed it back to Union Creek. Instead of crossing the creek this time we turned right onto the Union Creek Trail.

The Union Creek Trail followed the creek closely for .7 miles through the Union Creek Campground. The trail actually passed through some campsites but this section of the campground was closed for the season so all of the sites were empty.

The trail crossed Union Creek on a footbridge near the campground entrance.

On the far side of the bridge was a parking area near the Union Creek Amphitheatre where they were setting up for the 50k.

Just up the road from the parking area here a short path led to another parking are near Beckie’s Cafe where we simply walked up to the take out window and ordered dinner and a piece of pie.

The pie was as good as I had hoped it would be having read about it from Boots on the Trail. After dinner we walked across the highway and into our room at the Union Creek Resort Lodge. It had been another day of nice hikes in this area. We were growing more and more impressed with the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness (despite the lack of trail maintenance). There was something about that wilderness that just felt peaceful. We went to bed looking forward to another visit to it the following day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Hershberger Mountain and Natural Bridge

Tags Acker Divide Trail, Beckie's Cafe, Cripple Creek Shelter, Hershberger Mountain, Hershberger Mountain Lookout, hiking, natural bridge, Oregon, Rabbit Ears, Rogue Gorge, Rogue Gorge Trail, Rogue River, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Toad Lake, Toad Meadow, Union Creek, Union Creek Resort, Union Creek Trail, upper rogue river trail

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trip report

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

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 22, 2020
2 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.
20201015_090114

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.

20201015_104837

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

20201015_110653_HDR

20201015_111815_HDR

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.

20201015_123000_HDR

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

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Boulder Creek Wilderness – 09/07/2020

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

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
3 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