Category: Middle Santiam

Coffin Mountain and Bugaboo Ridge Trail – 06/07/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 11, 2026
No Comments on Coffin Mountain and Bugaboo Ridge Trail – 06/07/2026

The X-rays on my back came back clear and the new stretches/exercises that PT assigned almost immediately improved my range of motion. Enough so that I felt up to giving another outing a try. We were heading into several days of precipitation, but there was a dry window on June 7th which worked out well for us since we had plans to attend my cousin’s daughter’s senior recital on the 6th.

For the hike Heather had wanted to find some wildflowers, and I was still limited to 6-8 miles, so we decided to give Coffin Mountain and the Bugaboo Ridge Trail a go. We’d last visited this area in 2016 (post) on July 4th.

We started our morning from the Coffin Mountain Trailhead.

We weren’t sure how many flowers would be blooming given we were visiting almost a full month earlier than on our previous visit, but the timing for the flowers is off this year due to the mild winter and dry spring. We were a little early, but there were still quite a few flowers blooming along the lower portion of the trail.

Beargrass at the trailhead.

Sticky currant

Yellowleaf iris

Paintbrush

A yellow paintbrush

Starry false Solomon’s seal

The morning clouds were giving way to some blue sky.

Wildflowers along the ridge.

Phlox

Onion and larkspur

Lupine and a little snow from the night before.

Oregon sunshine, larkspur, and tiny white flowers might be slender phlox.

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Arrowleaf buckwheat

Bindweed

We knew that there had been a possibility of snow overnight, but we hadn’t expected any of it to stick but as we climbed, we began seeing more and more of the white stuff.

Trillium fading out.

Bluebells

False sunflowers

Penstemon

The large meadow below the summit of Coffin Mountain was covered with a thin layer of fresh snow.

Beargrass

Columbine

Snow covered lupine

The trail traverses uphill through the meadow toward the Coffin Mountain Lookout.

First view of the lookout.

Bleeding heart

The radio towers on the southern end of Coffin Mountain.

The lookout is staffed in the summer, but it was still empty today.

The helipad on Coffin Mountain.

The lookout tower and to the right the radio towers at the other end of the mountain.

Heather had detoured to the southern end, so when I arrived at the lookout she was arriving at the radio towers.

I pulled my Z Seat out and sat down on the helipad and had a snack while I waited for her to make her way over.

The view north which includes Mt. Hood when the clouds aren’t in the way.

Detroit Lake to the NW.

Heather joined me and we stayed a little longer enjoying the snowy summit before heading back down. It was just before 8:30am when we began our descent and much of the snow had already melted.

Junco and bleeding heart

The meadow was rapidly melting out.

Bastard toadflax

Paintbrush

Violet

Silverleaf phacelia

Yarrow

Cinquefoil, sandwort, and penstemon

Ragwort

Oregon sunshine and paintbrush

Larkspur

Violet

The trailhead signboard in view.

Roundtrip this hike comes in just under 3-miles, but with over 1000′ of elevation gain. The snow was a fun surprise and while we were a bit early to see the wildflowers at their peak, we were not disappointed. It did appear that this was not going be a huge beargrass year though. Every few years the big meadow is packed with beargrass, but conditions have to be just right.

On our two previous visits we had road walked from the Coffin Mountain Trailhead to the Bachelor Mountain Trailhead. That is a 1.2-mile walk one-way so to avoid adding unnecessary miles to my back we drove this time.

Rabbit along the road.

Bachelor Mountain Trailhead at the end of the road.

Instead of hiking to the summit of Bachelor Mountain our plan was to take the Bugaboo Ridge Trail out to a rocky viewpoint where we hoped to get a view of Mount Jefferson and see some wildflowers. We headed up the Bachelor Mountain Trail admiring the flowers and some more snow.

Lupine and paintbrush

A cloud had overtaken Coffin Mountain.

Cardwell’s penstemon

Valerian

The trail climbs steeply via switchback through the forest before rounding a ridge to more open terrain.

There were about a half dozen trees down along the trail, but none were too difficult to get over/around.

Bleeding heart

Vanilla leaf

Baneberry and arnica starting to bloom.

Rounding the ridge.

Coffin Mountain

Scarlet gilia

The trail continued to climb but less steeply as it traversed the hillside.

Three Fingered Jack hidden by clouds.

Three Fingered Jack.

Paintbrush and wild rose

Paintbrush along the trail.

Yellowleaf iris

Scarlet gilia, Oregon sunshine, and paintbrush.

A patch of false sunflowers that were just starting to bloom.

False sunflowers

This trail is a stark contrast to the Coffin Mountain Trail.

Stonecrop

Cinquefoil

Penstemon

Buckwheat and a yarrow.

The trail arrives at a large flat area where we spotted a lone rhododendron that hadn’t quite started to bloom.

These may be northern microseris (Microseris borealis).

Cloud over the summit of Bachelor Mountain.

At the far end of the flat area we reached the junction with the Bugaboo Ridge Trail.

Trail sign at the junction. It is approximately 0.8-miles (and 550′) to the summit of Bachelor Mountain. The viewpoint along the Bugaboo Ridge Trail on the other hand was 0.7-miles away with minimal elevation change.

We headed out on the Bugaboo Ridge Trail which was a little rougher and more overgrown than the Bachelor Mountain Trail. It was however mostly free of blowdown to the view point.

Coralroot

The extent of the blowdown.

Anemones

The trail actually passes through several openings along the hillside with views of the Cascade Range, but not of Mt. Jefferson.

The really snowy patch of forest is below Three Fingered Jack. Mt. Jefferson is north (left) of this and hidden by the hillside until the viewpoint where we would be turning around.

Mt. Jefferson is straight ahead hidden behind the hillside.

Jessica’s stickseed

Waterleaf

False sunflower

Jacob’s ladder

Larkspur and a butterfly

Columbine

Serviceberry

Three Fingered Jack still hiding in the clouds.

Diamond Peak was visible in the distance to the south.

Penstemon and paintbrush

Larkspur and monkeyflower

We arrived at the viewpoint for Mt. Jefferson to find it partially hidden by clouds.

We took a break here hoping for a break in the clouds and in the meantime studied the flowers in the area.

Larkspur and Oregon sunshine

Cliff beardtongue

Arrowleaf and sulphur flower buckwheat with some Oregon sunshine and stonecrop.

A sub-alpine mariposa lily hiding in arrowleaf buckwheat.

Paintbrush, larkspur, and arrowleaf buckwheat

Sticky cinquefoil

The clouds were being stubborn, but we did eventually get a little better view of Three Fingered Jack.

Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters also made an appearance.

Snowy Diamond Peak in the distance to the left with peaks of the Old Cascades closer including the nearby Three Pyramids (post) and to their right Iron Mountain where I’d been the week before (post).

We started back but before we’d left the open area the clouds revealed the top of Mt. Jefferson.

After getting our view we headed back. We were treated to some better views of the other Cascades along the way.

Wallflower

Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters.

One of the few Jacob’s ladder blossoms that was open.

Mt. Jefferson from the flat area.

Coffin Mountain from the Bachelor Mountain Trail.

Catchfly

Three Fingered Jack

Heading back into the forest for the descent to the trailhead.

A couple cars had joined us at the trailhead.

To hike to the viewpoint and back came in at 3.8-miles with approximately 700′ of elevation gain giving us 6.7-miles and 1750′ of elevation gain on the day.

This was a great hike despite being a little early for the peak wildflower bloom. The overnight snow more than made up for that. By the end my hips were feeling the hike a little but overall I felt better than I have for the past few months. I still have a way to go but it was encouraging. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Coffin Mountain and the Bugaboo Ridge Trail

Tags Bachelor Mountain, Bachelor Mountain Trailhead, bugaboo ridge trail, Coffin Mountain, Coffin mountain lookout, Coffin Mountain Trailhead, hiking, Oregon, wildflowers

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Cone Peak Meadows – 05/31/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 4, 2026
7 Comments on Cone Peak Meadows – 05/31/2026

I suffered a setback in my rehab coming out of Memorial Day Weekend. My back stiffened up going into the week and by late Thursday night I could barely turn my head to the left. Sleeping was also difficult and I was relegated to back only due to the amount of discomfort laying on my sides was causing. By Friday night I had pretty much given up on thoughts of hiking during the weekend and was instead looking forward to my next PT appointment Monday afternoon. Heather went on a solo hike Saturday to Ramona Falls while I stayed home and rotated between an ice pack and heating pad on my back. Since she isn’t writing up her solo outings here is a link to our 2013 visit to the falls (post). By Saturday night I was feeling quite a bit better, still stiff and limited to back sleeping, but improved enough to be considering an outing to see the wildflowers in Cone Peak Meadows the next day. I woke up the next morning, did my PT stretching and felt good enough to give it a go. I did a lot of praying on the drive to the trailhead that God would grant me the wisdom to know if this was a bad idea and not to overdo anything.

I had been wanting to get back to Cone Peak Meadows in late Spring to look for a particular wildflower, Longhorn steer’s-head (Dicentra uniflora). It is at the top of my most wanted list of wildflowers within day hiking range. I wasn’t sure about timing though given that blooms are early this year due to the lack of snow this past Winter. I had seen reports from other years of these flowers blooming during the first couple of weeks of June. Our two previous visits had been on July 25th & July 4th (post) which was much too late. I spent some time online familiarizing myself with the size and look of the flowers so that I would know what I was looking for. Spoiler alert I did not spot any. It may have been too late this year or I might have simply failed to notice any of the penny sized blooms. Regardless it was an excellent hike which I will finally get to.

I began at the Tombstone Pass Trailhead shortly after 5:30am and set off on the loop counterclockwise.

The trailhead just off Highway 20 at Tombstone Pass.

The start/end of the loop on the left and right of FR 60.

I turned left onto the loop and descended through the forest to Tombstone Prairie.

Valerian along the trail.

Bunchberry and starry false solomon’s-seal

Salmonberry

The Tombstone Prairie Nature Trail is an optional short loop that can be done around the prairie. I opted to skip the loop this time.

Tombstone Prairie

The other end of the Tombstone Nature Trail.

I forked left at this junction, crossed a branch of Hackleman Creek then climbed to Highway 20.

The Cone Peak Trail picks up across the highway to the west near some road signs.

The Cone Peak Trail climbs gradually through the forest before coming to increasingly large openings.

Trillium, fairy bells, Solomon’s seal, and starry false Solomon’s seal.

There were a few trees that needed to be stepped over.

Valerian starting to bloom in a meadow.

Vanilla leaf

This was the only beargrass bloom I spotted on the hike.

Northwestern twayblade

Larkspur was the most prevalent of the flowers that were currently blooming.

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Larkspur and maiden blue-eyed Mary

Larkspur and paintbrush

Solomon’s seal

Another patch of larkspur.

Larkspur and monkey flower

Strawberry patch

Ball-head waterleaf

Baneberry

Phlox and maiden blue-eyed Mary

Biscuitroot and phlox

Olympic onion

Sandwort

Cone Peak as the trail enters Cone Peak Meadows.

Buckwheat

Death camas

Littleflower penstemon

Paintbrush, larkspur and sandwort?

Iron Mountain

Oregon sunshine

Smallflower woodland star

The lupine was just getting started.

Heading toward Iron Mountain.

Another buckwheat

The trail left Cone Peak Meadows and descended slightly as it passed through the forest on the way to Iron Mountain.

Columbine

Jessica’s stickseed

Bleeding heart

Bluebells

Arrowleaf groundsel

Scarlet gilia

Sticky cinquefoil and bastard toadflax?

Not sure what this tiny flower is.

Wormleaf stonecrop

Silverleaf phacelia

Wallflower

Another one that I’m not sure of.

The trail eventually began climbing to a saddle between Cone Peak and Iron Mountain.

Violets

Vetch

The Three Pyramids (post) to the right and the flat top of Coffin Mountain (post) straight ahead.

Mt. Hood behind Coffin Mountain.

After the saddle viewpoint the trail begins to traverse along the flank of Iron Mountain where it comes to a junction with the Iron Mountain Tail.

Arnica

This was the worst of the blowdown.

Fairy bells and trillium

Flax

Yarrow and larkspur

The Iron Mountain Trail forking off to the left.

I hadn’t originally planned on taking the side trip up Iron Mountain as it adds a little over a mile and a half, and 600′ of elevation gain to the hike. From the junction I only had another 1.5-miles to get back to the Tombstone Pass Trailhead, and I was feeling really good. I been continuing to pray that I would know my limitations and was at peace with the decision to try the climb. I turned up the trail behind a couple of other hikers and climbed through the frosty meadows to the former lookout site atop the mountain.

Frosty paintbrush

Larkspur

The Three Sisters from the Iron Mountain Trail.

The Three Sisters

Diamond Peak (post)

Lupine

Chickweed

Saxifrage

The final climb to the top.

Viewing platform

Mountain locator

The view to the north includes Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson.

Mt. Hood behind Coffin Mountain.

Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Washington

The Three Sisters and Diamond Peak to the SE.

I’d passed the three hikers ahead of me and had the platform to myself long enough to send a video to family and take a snack break on the platforms bench. Shortly after the next hiker arrived I headed down to give her a few moments alone at the summit.

While climbing up always feels like it requires effort it is descending that is harder on the body. I was reminded of this on my way down the trail when my right Gluteus Medius announced its presence. It wasn’t much more than a slight burn letting me know it was having to do some extra work on the way down. I kept a slower pace and took several breaks one the way back to the junction where I then continued my loop.

Rock wren

Cliff beardtongue. One of the brightest wildflowers we see.

The view on the way down.

The trail junction ahead.

The final 1.5-miles back to the Tombstone Pass Trailhead was mostly a gradual descent.

I stayed left at this junction with the connector trail to the Iron Mountain Civil Road Trailhead.

Alpine knotweed

The trail recrossing Highway 20.

Spotted coralroot

At a junction, I turned left on the Santiam Wagon Road Trail.

Wild ginger

The Tombstone Pass Trailhead below.

Back on FR 60.

Today’s hike tallied 7.2-miles with 1740′ of elevation gain.

This is a great hike for both flowers and views. We’ll be heading back, possibly next year, to try once again to spot a Longhorn steer’s-head (Dicentra uniflora).

From a purely hiking standpoint I felt better during this hike than I had on a hike since February. My middle back however was still tight and giving me problems at night. Since then, I’ve had another PT visit, a doctor’s appointment, and x-rays (no results yet). Hopefully it is just tight muscles but if not, we’re working on getting to the bottom of it. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Cone Peak Meadows

Tags Cone Peak, Cone Peak Meadows, Cone Peak Trail, hiking, Iron Mountain, Iron Mountain Trail, Oregon, Santiam Wagon Road, tombstone pass, Tombstone Prairie, wildflowers

Corvallis Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report Willamette Valley

McDowell Creek Falls and Cheadle Lake – 02/28/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date March 3, 2026
No Comments on McDowell Creek Falls and Cheadle Lake – 02/28/2026

We woke up to the news of military action in Iran, a somber reminder of the state of the world today. Our prayers are with all the families across the globe impacted. We’re thankful to still have the opportunity to step away and enjoy the outdoors.

We had picked a pair of hikes near Lebanon, OR McDowell Creek Falls and Cheadle Lake. We had visited the former in February 2014 (post) while the latter would be new for us as a hike. (We had run part of this route in the early 2010’s as part of the Runaway Pumpkin half marathon races.)

We started our morning at McDowell Creek County Park for the relatively short loop that visits four named waterfalls. We parked in the lower (western most) parking lot which is referred to as the Royal Terrace Falls Trailhead in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide.

There are restrooms and picnic tables available at the trailhead.

After double checking the map, we set off on the trail across McDowell Creek.

After 0.2-miles we came to the start of the loop and opted to go left for a view of Royal Terrace Falls from the footbridge across Fall Creek.

The start of the loop.

Royal Terrace Falls

Bench of the far side of the bridge.

Beyond Royal Terrace Falls the trail recrossed McDowell Creek then crossed McDowell Creek Road before arriving at Crystal Falls aka Crystal Pool a third of a mile from Royal Terrace Falls.

McDowell Creek

McDowell Creek Road from the crossing.

Crystal Falls ahead through the trees.

A use trail led down to the creek for a better view of the falls.

Just over a tenth of a mile past Crystal Falls the trail arrives at an impressive wooden walkway near Majestic Falls.

Majestic Falls

Stairs led up from Majestic Falls to a viewpoint platform at the top of the waterfall.

From the upper viewpoint we faced a choice of going directly uphill to the upper parking lot or taking a slightly longer route by swinging out along the creek for a short distance. We had gone directly up in 2014 so this time we chose to swing out along the creek.

Stairs up to the upper lot.

Robin near the upper lot.

We crossed the road near the upper parking lot and in 0.3-miles
recrossed McDowell Creek Road.

Pointer for Royal Terrace Falls at the crossing of McDowell Creek Road.

In another 0.3-miles we arrived at Fall Creek above Royal Terrace Falls.

Viewing platform above Royal Terrace Falls

Looking down at the bridge below Royal Terrace Falls.

We took a short detour up a use trail along Fall Creek which didn’t lead anywhere of note then headed down the stairs along Fall Creek to complete the loop.

Fall Creek along the use trail.

Royal Terrace Falls from the stairs.

When we were back at the lower parking lot we followed a short trail downstream to a view of Lower McDowell Falls.

The hike here was just 2.2-miles with a little over 200′ of elevation gain leaving us plenty of energy for a second stop.

It was less than a 20-minute drive from McDowell Creek to Cheadle Lake in Lebanon. We had initially planned on parking at Cheadle Lark Park however there was quite a bit of construction equipment present, and it was unclear if the trails at this end of the area were open, so we shifted to “Plan B” and made our way to nearby Riverview Park.

We stopped at the signboard for the Old Mill Trail and studied the map for a moment and downloaded a digital copy then headed right (south) on a paved path. (It was unclear if this was the Old Mill Trail or the West River Trail, nevertheless it would take us to Cheadle Lake.)

The South Santiam River from the trail.

This trail led us into a neighborhood and to Mountain River Drive.

Here the pointers refer to the West River Trail.

We followed the sidewalk for 100 yards to a crosswalk at River Drive then continued another tenth of a mile to Cheadle Lake Park’s boat ramp parking area.

From this parking lot the paved North Shore Trail passes along the northeastern shore of Cheadle Lake between the lake and the Lebanon Santiam Canal. We were on the lookout for waterfowl and other birds as we started off.

Mallards

Geese

Ring-necked duck

American wigeon

Ridgeway Butte beyond a farm across the canal.

American wigeons and domestic ducks on the farm.

After four tenths of a mile we arrived at the Island Loop Trails which are a series of fingers in the middle of the lake.

We hiked out-and-back on the eastern most finger before returning to the North Shore Trail.

Pied-billed grebe

Bench at the end of the finger.

Gadwall

Back on the North Shore Trail we continued SE and spotted a pair of hooded mergansers in the canal.

Spotted towhee

Song sparrow

At the far end of the lake, we arrived at a 4-way junction within sight of the parking lot we had originally planned on starting from.

The park map showed a dashed (proposed) Southshore Trail heading right from this junction. The proposed trail would loop around the lake to the boat ramp. We had not paid attention to the “proposed” verbiage when we decided to turn right and try the loop. Initially the trail was paved with benches but the pavement soon ended and was replaced by a dirt trail through the grass.

California scrub jay.

Oregon grape

The finger that we had hiked out earlier.

The trail lasted a little over half a mile before petering out on the north side of a soccer field at a marsh. It was at this point that we noticed the “proposed” label on the map. Since looping around the lake wasn’t an option, we looped around the soccer field and headed back the way we’d come.

The soccer field is to the left with Ridgeway Butte ahead.

Heading back on the North Shore Trail.

We had discussed being surprised at having not seen a bald eagle on our first pass along the lake. That changed as we passed the Island Loops.

Bald eagle spotted.

Cormorants

From the boat ramp we headed back toward Riverview Park and took the gravel fork at the southern end of the park.

Heather had a blister starting so she headed back to the car while I continued around the park to the Eagle Scout Trail.

I turned on the Eagle Scout Trail and followed this dirt path 0.8-miles to the paved Old Mill Trail near Gill’s Landing

Indian plum

Bewick’s wren

Old Mill Trail near Gill’s Landing.

I returned to Riverview Park on the Old Mill Trail completing a 6.4-mile hike with minimal elevation gain.

Old mill site.

Riverview Park

This was a nice pair of hikes. We knew that McDowell Creek Falls was a great hike, but Cheadle Lake was surprisingly quite for an in-town hike and the birding turned out to be pretty good. Happy Trails!

Flickr: McDowell Creek Falls and Cheadle Lake

Tags birds, Cheadle Lake, Cheadle Lake Park, Crystal Falls, Ducks, Eagle Scout Trail, Gill's Landing, hiking, Lebanon, Lower McDowell Creek Falls, Majestic Falls, McDowell Creek Falls, North Shore Trail, Old Mill Trail, Oregon, Riverview Park, Royal Terrace Falls, West River Trail

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Chimney Peak – 09/28/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 30, 2024
No Comments on Chimney Peak – 09/28/2024

A project at work had Heather occupied so I headed out on a rare solo hike to visit Chimney Peak in the Middle Santiam Wilderness. This would be just my second visit to this wilderness with the first being an overnight trip to Donaca Lake (post) in 2014.

For this outing I started at the McQuade Creek Trailhead. This is the shortest route to Chimney Peak.
I actually parked on the shoulder of Forest Road 1142 and walked a tenth of a mile down a spur road to the start of the trail.

A note stating that access from the eastern side of the wilderness was still closed due to the Pyramid Fire.

The 5-mile long McQuade Creek Trail gains approximately 1600′ before ending at the Chimney Peak Trail. The trail is well graded, and as of my trip, free of any significant downed trees. The trail however is narrow, rough, and was overgrown in numerous places. Views are limited along the trail, but the forest is lovely. This combination is likely why I didn’t see another person all morning despite it being a warm, sunny day.
It was early when I started so there wasn’t a lot of light and even on the way back there was a lot of shade.

A short distance from the trailhead is a crossing of West Fork McQuade Creek.

A third of a mile from the West Fork the trail crosses McQuade Creek.

Reportedly this crossing can be quite tricky early in the year, but there wasn’t much water this time of the year.

Based on trip reports from 2023 and recent cuts seen along the trail it appears that a trail crew passed through this year.

There are just 3 or 4 trees about this size left across the trail.

Big trees near a rock outcrop.

A good representation of the rough tread along parts of the trail.

A reminder that Fall is here.

The McQuade Creek Trail hidden by the underbrush.

Lousewort

Huckleberries

Views were limited to the nearby ridges and hillsides.

Chimney Peak straight ahead.

Vine maple along a rocky slope.

Pika watching me from behind some cover.

Flagging along a bit of a washout.

The damaged section of trail pictured above started a 0.4-mile stretch of overgrown trail which included devil’s club, currant, and other thorny bushes. It was by far the least enjoyable part of the hike.

Looking back at the final section of the overgrown trail.

The trail beyond the really overgrown section.

A little under half a mile later I entered the Middle Santiam Wilderness at the junction with the Chimney Peak Trail.

The McQuade Creek Shelter used to be located near here, but it had collapsed years ago, and I didn’t see any signs of the remains.

From the junction Donaca Lake is a little over 6-miles (left) while Chimney Peak is three-quarters of a mile in the other direction (right).
Pointer for Chimney Peak.

I turned right on the Chimney Peak Trail which climbed gradually along a ridge for the first 0.2-miles before steeping significantly in the next half mile culminating in a brief class 3 scramble to reach the former lookout site atop Chimney Peak.

Looking up from the trail.

Mt. Jefferson

The trail heading steeply uphill towards the Sun.

The trail passing beneath the cliffs.

Initially I forked right here because the left hand fork didn’t appear to go anywhere.

I assume these are remains from the former lookout.

I followed a use trail to the end of the cliffs thinking that the scramble route up might be at the far end but it was not.

I headed back to the area where the fork I’d ignored earlier was and headed uphill toward the rocks.
The start of the scramble route. The crack was too narrow to use but once I got to the top of this rock the route became much clearer.

Looking down at the first part of the route from above.

The top is in sight.

Clouds over Green Peter Lake.

Mt. Hood in the distance.

Zoomed in on Mt. Hood and some haze.

Mt. Jefferson

There was no sign of the 1934 lookout on the rocks where I’d come up, but there appeared to be another set of rocks to the east hidden by a tree and some brush.

After fighting my way through I popped out at the lookout site.

The Three Sisters

Three Fingered Jack to the left behind the Three Pyramids (post) and Mt. Washington (post) on the right.

Mt. Jefferson zoomed.

The view of the mountains would be better later in the day when the Sun would be more overhead or behind Chimney Peak, but that’s the price of getting an early start. I took a break at the summit and spent some time dealing with hot spots on my feet. I had worn a newer pair of boots, and the rough, uneven trail tread had created some issues. After putting on some blister aids, reapplying glide, and changing socks I headed back.

It was a pretty uneventful hike out, although the views were a little better along the McQuade Creek Trail now that there was more sunlight.

West Fork McQuade Creek

Back at the trailhead.

This hike came in at 11.8-miles with around 2500′ of elevation gain.

It was an enjoyable hike, but it felt harder than the stats would indicate. I believe the trail tread had a lot to do with that combined with it being a fairly warm and humid (by Oregon standards) day. It was encouraging to see that the trail had seen recent maintenance. Maybe that will encourage a little more use. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Chimney Peak

Tags Chimney Peak, Chimney Peak Trail, hiking, McQuade Creek, McQuade Creek Trail, McQuade Creek Trailhead, Middle Santiam Wilderness, Oregon, West Fork McQuade Creek, Willamette National Forest

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

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

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

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

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

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

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

The trail then passed a meadow filled cirque.
20200718_070954

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

Death camas

Penstemon

20200718_091211 Larkspur and penstemon

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

Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters

Mt. Jefferson

Valerian and columbine

Mountain bluebells

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

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

Looking up toward the summit from the saddle.

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

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

Cone Peak and Iron Mountain (post)

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

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

Meadow from the summit.

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

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

North Pyramid

Rough skinned newts

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

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

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

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

Crab spider on prince’s pine

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

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

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

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

Washington lilies

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

Crossing on the outlet creek.

Marsh at the outlet creek.

Bog orchid

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

The North Pyramid from Daly Lake

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

Flickr: Three Pyramids and Parrish, Riggs & Daly Lakes

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

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon

Crabtree Lake – 9/07/2019

A less than ideal forecast had us looking for a hike that wasn’t view dependent and wouldn’t be too negatively impacted by rain. Crabtree Lake in Crabtree Valley seemed to fit the criteria and it was a featured hike in Sullivan’s 4th edition of his “100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades” guidebook.

It was a cloudy, drizzly, morning as we headed for the trailhead NE of Sweet Home, OR. Although we knew there was a nice view of Mt. Jefferson from the trail that wasn’t the main goal of the hike so missing out on it wouldn’t be too disappointing. As we climbed along the BLM road to the trailhead we emerged from one set of clouds to find that we were in between cloud layers and so were the mountains. We parked at the junction of BLM road 11-3E-35.3(aka S. Fork Packers road) and the final .9 mile gravel road to the actual trailhead.
The gravel road from the junction.

The gravel road was in pretty good shape, but we had opted to walk it primarily due to the fact that from the trailhead the hike would be under 5 miles (excluding any exploration). The extra 1.8 miles would give us enough more time hiking that we wouldn’t break our hike to drive timie ratio rule. As we walked up the road we got a nice view of Three Fingered Jack in a beautiful sunrise.

A bit later Mt. Jefferson became visible.

The actual trail begins at a berm where the road has been closed.

It then follows the road bed around a ridge end in .3 miles where the viewpoint of the mountains is.

Coming up on the viewpoint.

Instead of not having a view we were treated to a beautiful scene.
20190907_071805_HDR

Mt. Jefferson

Three Fingered Jack

After oohing and awwing over the view we rounded the ridge end and began a 1.1 mile descent to a junction. There were a few left over flowers and dozens of rough skinned newts. We had to really watch were we stepped due to their presence on the trail.

Maybe a ragwort?

Yarrow

St. John’s wort

Daisy and pearly everlasting

Beardstongue

Fireweed

Not a flower but colorful maple leaves.

A common sight on the trail.

Rough skinned newt

Although there were no mountain views on this side of the ridge there were a couple of openings to the west across Crabtree Valley.

At a barricade we turned left and dropped down to another roadbed.

We turned left and started a gradual climb along this road. It wasn’t clear what the status of this road is, at times it looked like there were some tire marks but we didn’t run into any vehicles along the .4 mile stretch to some concrete barricades.

The roadbed became more of a trail beyond the barricade continuing uphill another .3 miles to Crabtree Lake.

We found a few tents set up along the shore (there were 2 cars at the trailhead and one where we had parked along the lower road). We checked out the lake near the outlet where we found yet more rough skinned newts in the water.

We followed a trail around the lake to the left and headed down to the lake shore for another view.

We would later find out from some of the campers that there was an otter swimming in the lake while we were taking these pictures that we hadn’t seen. (I couldn’t find it in the photos either 😦

Now that we had seen the lake it was time to do a little big tree hunting. Crabtree Valley’s cliffs have protected the trees here allowing for some of Oregon’s oldest surviving trees. We followed the trail around the lake until it petered out near some empty campsites.
Old growth cedar

The basin here is home to a 270′ Douglas fir that has been dubbed “Nefertiti”. We had the GPS coordinates for the tree and decided this would be a good time to practice using our Garmins. We plugged in the coordinates and immediately ran into an issue, our devices didn’t agree even though they are the same make and model. We decided to try the location showing on my device first and made our way cross country to those coordinates. While there were many large old growth trees we weren’t convinced that any were the 8′ diameter tree we were looking for.

We turned to Heather’s location next which resulted in our best guess as to the identity of the tree.

Whether on not we actually found Nefertiti we saw a lot of massive old growth, some of which may be close to 1000 years old. We headed back and almost went out to a viewpoint that overlooks Waterdog Meadow (a small lake and meadow that Crabtree Creek passes through after leaving Crabtree Lake) but a combination of fog and campers being set up near the viewpoint kept us from checking it out.
A less impressive viewpoint near the creek but the fog below made passing through the camps to reach the viewpoint pointless.

After hearing about the otter we left the lake and headed back. Before returning to the trailhead though there was another tree in the valley we were hoping to visit. King Tut, a 9′ diameter Douglas fir, is located off trail. Sullivan described the route as rugged and not recommended so we were prepared to turn back at any point. We again used GPS coordinates, which again disagreed, to find the tree. There was at times a rough trail to follow but any sign of it ended before reaching the tree.

We remained undeterred and picked our way through and around thorny berry bushes and devil’s club to the location showing on my GPS. There was a very large cedar in the area, but no King Tut.

The cedar trunk through some branches.

We turned to Heather’s device and made our way to that location where we found what we believe to be the estimated 800 year old behemoth.

Having found this tree at the location shown by Heather’s GPS we were more confident that the tree we identified as Nefertiti using her device was probably correct as well.

Even though we were able to locate (we think) the tree, like Sullivan we wouldn’t recommend this excursion, especially without map and navigational skills.

We then headed back and climbed out of the valley along the road where the newts had been mostly replaced by other critters and the view of Mt. Jefferson was just a memory.
Fritillary butterfly

Dark eyed junco

Bumble bee

Back at the viewpoint.

It had been a great hike and despite having missed seeing our first otter we had seen a lot more than we were expecting. Between parking where we did and visiting the trees we turned the 4.6 mile hike into an 8.7 mile adventure. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Crabtree Lake

Tags Crabtree Lake, Crabtree Valley, hiking, King Tut, Nefertiti, Oregon, rough skinned newt

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Browder Ridge Trail to Heart Lake

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 7, 2018
5 Comments on Browder Ridge Trail to Heart Lake

It has become a tradition to spend the first half of our 4th of July hiking. This year we revisited the rocky viewpoint on Browder Ridge which we had previously hiked to via the Gate Creek Trail on 9/18/2012 (post). This time around we decided to start at the Browder Ridge Trailhead based on Matt Reeder’s hike description in his 101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region guidebook.

The Browder Ridge Trail set off from paved Forest Road 15 near a small parking area.

The trail climbed gently through a forest for the first half mile before steepening as it entered a series of large meadows.

These lower meadows were filled with ferns and a smattering of wildflowers.

Cone flower and columbine

Tiger lily

After two sets of switchbacks the trail began to traverse SE along the hillside below the ridge top. The wildflower display really picked up along this traverse. Purple larkspur, red paintbrush, blue gilia, and white cat’s ear lilies joined several varieties of yellow wildflowers to paint the hillside with color.

The Three Sisters could be seen at times as the trail alternated between forest and meadows.

The flower combinations always seemed to be a little different in each of the meadows. At the 3 mile mark the trail entered a short stretch of burned forest along the ridge top.

Just beyond the four mile mark there was a short side trail to a rocky viewpoint.

Beyond the viewpoint the trail climbed gradually for three tenths of a mile to its end at an unsigned junction with the Gate Creek and Heart Lake Trails.

Here we turned left regaining the ridge crest in the forest where we encountered the first downed trees of the hike and a huge cascade toad.

The Heart Lake Trail then dropped over the ridge to the NE passing beneath some basalt cliffs through another wildflower meadow.

The trail climbed through the meadow to a forested saddle a mile from the trail junction.

The saddle is the official end of the Heart Lake Trail. Here we faced a choice, we could turn left on the unofficial continuation of the Heart Lake Trail and climb up the rocky ridge crest to a summit viewpoint or we could attempt to visit Heart Lake. Heart Lake was a little under three quarter miles to the north and 750′ below the saddle. In the guidebook Reeder used the terms “not for the faint of heart” and “hell on the knees” to describe the trip down to the lake on the abandoned portion of trail. Heather had been dealing with a calf strain and it had been acting up on the hike so she decided against the side trip but I was feeling adventurous. She would head up to the summit and wait for me there so we set a time that she should expect me to meet up with her. I gave myself an hour and a half figuring that we typically hike at a 2 – 2.5 mile per hour pace and the round trip to Heart Lake should have only been about 1.5 miles.

I set off downhill from the saddle on a well defined trail.

In the first quarter of a mile the trail dropped into a basin losing 150′ at a not too steep grade. Being on the north facing side of the ridge at an elevation of 5400′ meant that there was still a decent amount of snow in this area though.

I quickly lost the tread so I turned to the Forest Service Map loaded on the GPS unit in an attempt to re-find the trail. Unfortunately this was one of those instances where the location of the trail on the map is inaccurate. Reeder had included a GPS track on the topographic map in the guidebook but I’d left that with Heather so I didn’t immediately realize that the Forest Service map was wrong. The Forest Service map showed the trail passing through a meadow (where I found some marsh marigolds and shooting stars).

At the far end of the meadow I spotted a couple of old fire rings amid the trees which made me think that maybe I was on the right track but less than 20 yards from the meadow I came to a line of impassable cliffs. Using the GPS I wandered to the right then back to the left several times looking for where the trail might possibly be. According to the GPS I had crossed and recrossed the trail multiple times but there was no way anyone was getting down that cliff. I was just about to give up when I suddenly remembered to use my brain. I thought I remembered that the track in the guidebook spent most of the time to the left of a creek and when I zoomed out a bit on the GPS I could see a creek to my left. I decided to bushwack over toward the head of the creek to see if I might be able to find something there. I could also see that the trail on the Forest Service map crossed the creek further downstream so if nothing else I might be able to follow the creek down to that point. As I neared the creek the forest opened up and I was able to spot what appeared to be a blaze on a tree on the opposite side.

I crossed the creek on a log and sidehilled my way down past the blaze where I once again spotted trail.

Once I had re-found the trail it was easy enough to follow. The tread was faint but visible with little blowdown and there were some remains of pink flagging to assist me.

I disturbed a family of grouse as I descended.

It was quite a descent too! This was one steep trail which mostly just headed straight down a ridge-line for about a quarter mile before beginning to level out as it neared a large meadow to the south of Heart Lake.

Elephant head flowers bloomed in the marshy meadow along with some other wildflowers.

The area was damp but I was able to find enough dry spots to make my way down to Heart Lake.

The old trail shown on the map had passed around the lake on its west side to a campsite on the northern end. I found a brushy path that I was able to follow through more marshy meadows and a tangle of trees to that campsite.

Due to all the wandering around I had done in the basin looking for the trail it had taken me nearly 40 minutes to reach the campsite which was 1.2 miles from the saddle. I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take me to climb back up so I didn’t stay at the campsite long before heading back. The climb back up was brutal but it only took me a half an our to reach the saddle but I still had a .3 mile climb up the ridge before I reached Heather.

I managed to make it with a little under 15 minutes to spare. The meadow at the summit didn’t have quite the impressive flower display as the lower meadows had had but the view was nice even though it was a bit hazy.
Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack

Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Washington, the Three Sisters, and Mt. Bachelor

Diamond Peak to the south

Diamond Peak

Owls clover

Penstemon

Orange agoseris

Phlox

After catching my breath we headed back returning the way we’d come. On the way back several flowers were now open making the view a little different.
Lewis flax

Jacob’s ladder

Candyflower

The pollinators were also now busy doing their things.

We only encountered 8 other people, all on our way back to the car, which was surprising to us given how great the wildflowers were. We both preferred this approach to the shorter Gate Creek Trail, but to be fair it was a different time of year. Either way the views at the top are great and for those wanting some extra adventure there’s the option to visit Heart Lake. All in all another great hike in the Pacific Northwest. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Browder Ridge Trail and Heart Lake

Tags Browder Ridge, Browder ridge trail, Browder Ridge Trailhead, Cascade Toad, Elephants head, grouse, Heart Lake, Heart Lake Trail, hiking, Oregon, paintbrush, shooting star, wildflowers

Hiking McKenzie River Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Throwback Thursday Trip report

Throwback Thursday – Browder Ridge and Sahalie & Koosah Falls

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date March 8, 2018
4 Comments on Throwback Thursday – Browder Ridge and Sahalie & Koosah Falls

This week we are revisiting a pair of hikes we took on 9/8/12. A pair of Heather’s running buddies were going to be running the McKenzie River 50k that day and we wanted to be a the finish line to greet them so we found a hike in the area that we thought would make that possible. The 8.5 mile up Browder Ridge seemed to be a perfect fit.

We started at the Gate Creek Trailhead just 4.5 miles off of Highway 20 via Hackleman Creek Road and Road 1598.
Gate Creek Trail sign at the trailhead

The trail never really got close to Gate Creek as it climbed through forest and fern filled meadows.
Gate Creek Trail

Meadow along the Gate Creek Trail

Just over a mile and a half from the trailhead we arrived at a viewpoint which provided views of the Cascade Mountains from Mt. Jefferson south to the Three Sisters. It was an unfortunately hazy view due to the sun still rising in the east and the presence of smoke from the Pole Creek Fire.
Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack

Mt. Washington, Black Crater, Belknap Crater and the Three Sisters Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters

We continued on climbing gradually for another 1.5 miles to a junction. White pearly everlasting and pink fireweed could be seen along the trail. More hazy mountain views greeted us along the way with Diamond Peak joining the line of Cascade peaks.

Gate Creek Trail

View from the Gate Creek Trail

We also had a nice view of our ultimate goal – Browder Ridge.

At the junction we turned right onto the Heart Lake Trail.
Sign for the Heart Lake Trail

This trail passed below the rocky cliffs of Browder Ridge passing through the remains of an early summer wildflower meadow before reentering the forest.
Rock outcrop on Browder Ridge

Paintbrush

Aster

Heart Lake Trail

As the trail reentered the trees we left the Heart Lake Trail turning uphill along the rocky ridge.
Browder Ridge

A .2 mile scramble along the ridge brought us to the 5760′ summit of Browder Ridge.
Black Butte, Mt. Washington, Black Crater, and Belknap Crater from Browder Ridge

Despite the haze from the Pole Creek Fire the views were pretty good.
View from Browder Ridge

View from Browder Ridge

Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack

Mt. Jefferson

Black Crater, Belknap Crater, the Three Sisters, Mt. Bachelor and The Husband

View from Browder Ridge

After enjoying the view we headed back down to the trailhead. Butterflies had begun to come out as we made our way back.
Some sort of Skipper butterfly

Pine white butterfly on pearly everlasting

Orange sulpher butterfly on Pearly Everlasting

We got back to the car with time to spare before the end of the race so we made a second stop on the way to the finish line. We drove east on Highway 20 to its junction with Highway 126 where we turned right for 5.2 miles to the Sahalie Falls Trailhead.

A half mile segment of the Waterfalls Loop Trail runs between Sahalie and Koosah Falls along the McKenzie River here. It’s possible to complete a 2.6 mile loop incorporating the McKenzie River Trail, but we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the end of the race so we did an out and back past Sahalie Falls to Koosah Falls.

Sahalie Falls was not far at all from the parking area.

Sahalie Falls

We headed downstream following the beautifully blue McKenzie River to Koosah Falls.

McKenzie River

Koosah Falls

We returned the way we’d come but instead of returning to the car we had just enough time to visit the top of Sahalie Falls.

These are two really nice and easily accessed waterfalls. We returned to Koosah Falls in 2013 along the McKenzie River Trail but have yet to be back to Sahalie Falls.

We made it to the finish line of the race in plenty of time to see Heather’s friends finish their 50k making it a successful day.

We are planning on heading back to Browder Ridge this year to see what the meadows look like earlier in the Summer. If all goes well we will be coming from the other end of the Browder Ridge Trail and may even make an attempt to reach Heart Lake along an unmaintained portion of the Heart Lake Trail. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Browder Ridge and Sahalie & Koosah Falls

Tags Browder Ridge, Gate Creek Trailhead, Heart Lake Trail, hiking, Koosah Falls, McKenzie River, McKenzie River Trail, Oregon, Sahalie Falls, Waterfalls Loop Trail

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Scar Mountain

We’ve developed a tradition of using the day off of work provided by the 4th of July holiday to take a hike. One of our go to areas in the first part of July is the Old (Western) Cascades. The Old Cascades are older than the volcanic peaks of the High Cascades and rise only half as high meaning they melt out much sooner than their younger companions. These highly eroded volcanoes are home to old growth forests and top notch wildflower meadows.

This year we decided to visit the Scar Mountain Trail. The hike is listed in our usual guidebook, William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades” as hike #111. Due to it not being a featured hike the description in that book is brief so we turned to another excellent resource, “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region” by Matt Reeder.

We followed his directions to the North Pyramid Trailhead where we parked then crossed Forest Road 2266 to the signed Scar Mountain Trail.

North Pyramid Trailhead

Scar Mountain Trail

The Scar Mountain Trail is part of the approximately 30 mile long Old Cascades Loop. We had done another section of this loop in 2014 when we started at the Pyramids Trailhead and hiked to Donaca Lake for an overnight stay.

The trail climbed through a nice forest,gradually at first then more steeply as it switchbacked up toward a ridge top.

Scar Mountain Trail

The switchbacks ended after just over a mile and the trail began to traverse along the hillside below the ridge. There were occasional glimpses of the Three Pyramids to the south and Daly Lake in the valley below.

Daly Lake below the Three Pyramids

Daly Lake

For the next mile and a half the trail continued to gain elevation via a series of ups and downs as it gained the ridge top and alternated between its west and east sides providing views of several of the High Cascades to the SE, Mt. Jefferson to the NE, and Coffin & Bachelor Mountains to the north.

Mt. Washington, the Three Sisters and the Husband

Mt. Jefferson

Coffin and Bachelor Mountains

A few small patches of snow lingered on and along the trail.

Snow on the Scar Mountain Trail

The trial began to climb steeply again at the 2.5 mile mark as it headed up Trappers Butte. The forested summit offered some similar views to what we had seen on the way up but one big difference was the presence of some non-white wildflowers near the top.

Paintbrush

Penstemon

The trail then descended roughly 400′ in .8 miles to a saddle where it crossed an old roadbed in a clearing with blooming beargrass and rhododendron and view of the Three Pyramids.

The Three Pyramids

Another one and three quarter miles of ups and downs had us nearing our goal, a dramatic rock pinnacle on Scar Mountain. The trail had been in reasonably good shape with some minor blowdown and a few brushy spots which became a bit more frequent as we climbed Scar Mountain.

Scar Mountain Trail

Rock pinnacle on Scar Mountain

The flowers on and around the pinnacle might not have been as impressive as the meadows on some of the other nearby peaks but there were still some nice displays.

Valerian along the Scar Mountain Trail

Wildflower on Scar Mountain

Yellowleaf iris

Paintbrush along the Scar Mountain Trail

Columbine

Wildflowers along the Scar Mountain Trail

Stonecrop and penstemon

The real reward for this hike were the views from Scar Mountains cliffs.

Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood

Mt. Adams peaking over a ridge and Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson from Scar Mountain Mt. Jefferson

Three Fingered Jack

Mt. Washington

The Three Sisters and the Husband

The Husband and the Three Pyramids The Husband behind the Three Pyramids

Crescent Mountain, North Peak, Echo Mountain, and South Peak

North Peak, Echo Mountain, South Peak, Cone Peak, and Iron Mountain.

We took a nice break near the pinnacle where there seemed to be less mosquitoes. They hadn’t been too noticeable but with the snow still melting there were more around than we realized given the number of bites we discovered later.

Rock pinnacle along the Scar Mountain Trail

Looking down from cliffs along the Scar Mountain Trail

We returned the way we’d come passing the time on the ups and downs by admiring the many different flowers in the forest including large numbers of coralroots.

Caterpillar on coralroot

Coralroot

Round trip was just under 12 miles with a good amount of elevation gain overall but broken up enough to never feel too daunting. Like many of the trails in the Old Cascades the Scar Mountain Trail offered a good dose of solitude. We neither spotted nor heard another person during the hike. Instead we listened for the calls of sooty grouse, the singing of birds, and “meeps” of hidden pikas. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Scar Mountain

Tags 101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region, Bachelor Mountain, Coffin Mountain, Daly Lake, Donaca Lake, hiking, Matt Reeder, North Pyramids Trail, Old Cascade Crest Trail, Old Cascades, Oregon, Scar Mountain, Trappers Butte

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Independence Rock

After spending Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in Bend we were hoping to get home fairly early on Monday. We wanted to beat the holiday traffic and needed to run a couple of errands but we also wanted to sneak a quick hike in. The 2.3 mile Independence Rock loop was a perfect fit. The trail starts on Marion Creek Road just a hundred yards after turning off of Highway 22 across from the restaurant at Marion Forks. We parked on the shoulder of the road across from the trail sign for the Independence Rock Trail.

The trail started off in a green forest filled with yellow Oregon grape and various white woodland flowers.

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The trail then passed through an area that had been previously logged.
2017-05-29 06.23.05

The trail then headed uphill via a series of switchbacks and worked its way around to the backside of the hill.

Near the 1 mile mark Independence Rock, a basalt outcrop, came into view up to our right.

The trail arrived at the base of the rock on the far end where a unmarked trail to the right led up to the top of the rock.

The view from the top wasn’t anything spectacular but we could see the tip of Three Fingered Jack rising above a snowy ridge in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness.

It was only 6:45am but we weren’t the first ones up on the rock.

After descending from the rock we continued on the loop briefly following a ridge which had also been logged before descending back into thicker forest.

The trail ended at Marion Creek Road .4 miles from the where we had started. We simply followed the road back to our car and were back on our way before 7:30.

We did indeed beat most of the traffic and we also arrived back in Salem before the stores we needed to go to opened so we did a little impromptu shopping until their doors opened at 10. It may not have had the most breathtaking views but it made for the prefect quick leg stretcher if you find yourself driving between Salem and Central Oregon. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Independence Rock

Tags hiking, Independence Rock, Independence Rock Trail, Marion Creek Road, marion forks, Oregon, Oregon Grape