Category: Oregon

Petroglyph Lake, Warner Valley Overlook, and DeGarmo Canyon – 07/22/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 30, 2020
1 Comment on Petroglyph Lake, Warner Valley Overlook, and DeGarmo Canyon – 07/22/2020

**Note the 2024 Warner Peak Fire burned over the Warner Overlook.**

We took our second outing to the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in three short hikes. The temperatures were still expected to be high and Wednesday also provided the best chance for afternoon thunderstorms so we wanted to be done early for the day.

Our first hike for the day was Petroglyph Lake. As I mentioned in our previous post the Petroglyph Lake Road was closed so we had to decide how we wanted to get there. The easiest choice would have been to walk the closed road for 1.6 miles to visit the lake but Sullivan described a 5 mile off trail loop that not only visited the lake but also a viewpoint along Poker Jim Ridge. We picked the loop and parked along Hart Mountain Road near the signed Hill Top Reservoir Road.

Looking across Hart Mountain Road we could see the small juniper covered knoll along Poker Jim Ridge that we were going to be aiming for.
The knoll is the lower rise to the left.

There was a lone pronghorn grazing in the morning light.

We set off across through the sagebrush angling for the rim.

From left to right: Flagstaff Lake, Upper Campbell Lake, and Campbell Lake.

Hart Mountain Road climbing up to the plateau.

Campbell Lake

We followed the rim north toward the knoll.

An Orobanche

Petroglyph Lake was not visible at first but it lay to the east and we could make out the basin that it was in.

As we gained elevation the further north that we got we finally could see the lake in the basin.

We arrived at the knoll a little over 2 miles from where we’d parked.
20200722_073355

White pelicans and seagulls on Campbell Lake.

Looking south along Poker Jim Ridge

Looking north along Poker Jim Ridge

Junipers on the knoll

We made our way to the north end of the knoll to get a better view in that direction.
Bluejoint Lake below the ridge.

Stone Corral Lake

To reach Petroglyph Lake we had to backtrack to the south on the knoll to avoid a rocky descent.

When we found a suitable spot to descend we could see the lake clearly but we knew that we would lose sight of it again once we were down off the knoll so we picked out some other features to use as reference points. When we were able to see the lake again we aimed for the left side knowing that a rock ledge rimmed its right side.

Pronghorn above the lake.

As we neared the lake we got below the rim rock and turned right to explore along it as this is where the petroglyphs are.

It was approximately a half mile to Petroglyph Lake Road at the far end of the lake and most of that distance was along the cliffs looking at the petroglyphs.

Dragon fly

Western fence lizard

Yellow bellied marmot

When the cliffs began to fade we followed a clear path along the lake to the road where we encountered the first other hikers since the previous Saturday (we’d been passed by a single mountain biker the day before).

After a brief (6 foot) conversation with them we were ready to continue on but we faced a choice. Sullivan’s loop would have had us setting of cross country for 1.5 miles back to the hill top where our car was parked. We could also walk Petroglyph Lake Road to Hart Mountain Road and then walk up that road back to the car. This second option doubled the mileage but it also took us to within a mile of the refuge headquarters where we’d seen the bulk of the pronghorn the day before and it was road walking and not bushwhacking which we were both about done with for a while. The road it was.

The road walk was fine, there were several flowers, a plethora of butterflies, and we did see a few more pronghorn, albeit at a distance.

Some type of primrose I think.

Lupine

There were dozens of butterflies and other pollinators on this rabbitbrush.

20200722_093355

The gate at Petroglyph Lake Road

Hart Mountain Road

The juniper knoll along Poker Jim Ridge and yes there are a few pronghorn out there.

Pronghorn keeping their distance from us.

After making it back to our car we drove just under 2 miles back down Hart Mountain Road to a small pullout with a Warner Mountain Overlook sign and a short (.4 mile) loop trail. We weren’t aware of this little interpretive loop until we drove past it the day before but it looked interesting so we added it to this days itinerary.
Sign for the overlook.

View from the pullout back up toward Hart Mountain.

The start of the loop trail.

Since we had already been up to the juniper knoll which looked this same direction the views from the overlook were not much different from those, but the half dozen interpretive signs along the route were interesting and worth the quick stop.
We like interpretive signs like this where we can see with our own eyes what is being described.

This one helped with identifying the different lakes plus provided the history.

Another of our favorites are the ones that identify the various hills and peaks.

We worked really hard on spotting some big horn sheep on this trip to no avail. There was so much space that they could be in it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

After completing the loop we continued our drive back toward Lakeview on Hart Mountain Road. We turned off once more at a small pointer for DeGarmo Canyon (4.5 miles after pavement resumed in this direction or 9.4 miles from Plush). Sullivan described the half mile dirt road as very rough and requiring a high clearance vehicle, otherwise he suggested parking along Hart Mountain Road and walking to the trailhead. Typically we heed these warning from him but for some reason I decided to test the road with our Outback. It wasn’t pretty but we did make it to the parking area and I vowed not to make that mistake again.

Sullivan lists three possible hikes with with some additional optional side trips. He has a 1.4 mile out and back to a 35′ waterfall, a 2.6 mile loop, and a 9.4 mile hike to DeGarmo Notch. If you make it to DeGarmo Notch it’s only 2 more miles (4 round trip) to Warner Peak. When our vacation started my plan had been the 9.4 mile hike with the optional trek up Warner Peak. As the week progressed we wound up hiking to Warner Peak the day before from Barnhardi Basin (post) so we didn’t need to do that anymore. We had toyed with the idea of still hiking up to DeGarmo Notch but we had seen that feature the day before as well and we were hot, tired, and a little sick of bushwacking which the 9.4 mile hike had some more of. That left us with the 1.4 mile out and back or 2.6 mile loop, both of which visited the waterfall.

Before we decided which option we would be doing we needed to get across DeGarmo Creek. Sullivan had warned of a dangerous crossing just above a 10′ waterfall and recommended following a rock ledge 50′ upstream to an easier crossing. Given the time of year the creek wasn’t flowing very strongly and vegetation was crowding the rock ledge so we opted to cross above the 10′ waterfall despite the warning.
It’s not visible in this photo but there were dry rocks close enough on the far side to simply step over the water onto. The wet rock would have been very slippery and certainly dangerous.

We followed a path upstream and found the location of Sullivan’s recommended crossing.

A steep trail led up around the vegetation along the creek into a wider canyon that had some very interesting rock formations. It was also extremely warm as it was directly in the sun and there was no breeze.

We had our eyes out for snakes but only saw a couple of lizards.

The 35′ waterfall was just .7 miles up the canyon and it came into view well before we arrived at it.

The temperature at the falls was much more pleasant and was a popular spot with the local butterflies.

20200722_112717

We took a relaxing break at the falls surrounded by the butterflies. When it was time to continue our hike we both agreed that neither one of us was up for what it would take to do any of the options other than the 1.4 mile out and back. In order to do any of the longer hikes, even the 2.6 mile loop, we would have needed to follow a steep scramble route 200′ before the falls up around some cliffs. We had both spied the route on our way to the falls and both thought “not today”.
The scramble route is at the base of the cliff to the right.

Looking up from the trail at where the scramble route was heading.

We were happy with our choice and ready to get out of the heat so we retraced our steps back to the 10′ water fall.

The smaller waterfall had been invaded by butterflies too.

After carefully driving the wretched half mile to Hart Mountain Road we headed back to Lakeview to treat ourselves to burgers and milkshakes from the Burger Queen drive thru. It was our shortest day so far of the vaction at 8.7 miles (6.8 at Petroglyph Lake, 0.4 at the overlook, and 1.5 at DeGarmo Canyon) but that was plenty. Thursday’s hike had the potential of being the longest of our trip as we were set to visit one of the six remaining wilderness areas in Oregon that we had yet to hike in, the Gearhart Mountain Wilderness. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Petroglyph Lake, Warner Valley Overlook, and DeGarmo Canyon

Tags Antelope, Burger Queen, DeGarmo Canyon, Hart Mountain, Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, hiking, Lakeview, Oregon, Petroglyph, Petroglyph Lake, Poker Jim Ridge, pronghorn, Warner Valley Overlook, Waterfall

Central Oregon Hiking Lakeview Oregon Trip report

Flook Lake and Hart Mountain Hot Springs – 07/21/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 27, 2020
4 Comments on Flook Lake and Hart Mountain Hot Springs – 07/21/2020

**Note the 2024 Warner Peak Fire burned much of the Hart Mountain Hot Springs Hike.**

Tuesday marked the start of a short stretch of possible showers and thunder storms but not until Tuesday night so we had decided the night before to start the day at Flook Lake in the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. Originally we had planned on doing hikes at Flook Lake, Petroglyph Lake, and Hart Mountain Hot Springs all in the same day, but that plan had changed. We wanted to do Flook Lake before any possible showers because Flook Lake road can become dangerously muddy when wet. We had also moved a side trip to Warner Peak, the high point in the refuge, to our Hart Mountain Hot Springs stop instead of tacking it onto our DeGarmo Canyon hike. The reason for that move was to avoid being exposed at an elevation over 7000′ if a thunder storm rolled in which looked possible both Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Finally we believed that the road to Petroglyph Lake had been closed adding at least 3 miles to that hike which would have been a little too much distance for one day. If that road turned out to be open we were still planning on doing it along with Flook Lake and the hot springs, but if it was indeed closed we planned on doing it first thing Wednesday morning before DeGarmo Canyon.

We left Lakeview at 5am and headed northeast to Plush stopping along county road 3-13 to admire the sunrise.
Hart Mountain in the morning.

After passing through plush we continued on county road 3-12 (Hart Mountain Road) climbing past the rim of Hart Mountain where we spotted our first pronghorn.

We continued on past Petroglyph Lake Road which was, as we suspected, closed to cars.
(photo from the next day)

A mile past Petroglyph Lake Road (24 miles from Plush) we came to the refuge headquarters which was closed to visitors due to COVID-19. There were numerous pronghorn antelope near the headquarters.
Just a few of the many pronghorn.

At the far end of the headquarters we veered left following pointers for Frenchglen for 6.7 miles to Flook Lake Road. We turned right onto this rocky dirt track for 1.8 miles (the final 6 on Flook Lake’s former lake bed, now an alkali flat) parking next to a dry reservoir.
Flook Lake Road continuing on with Beatys Butte in the distance.

The reservoir

Steens Mountain on the horizon to the east through smoky skies.

It was going to be another 90 degree day and even with our early start it was already warm as we set off toward a canyon SW of where we had parked. We expected to have to walk cross country for nearly a mile to reach the mouth of the canyon but well worn tire tracks allowed for a little easier walking. (I’m not sure if the road was official or the result of illegal off-road driving which would be very disappointing.)
The canyon we were aiming for from near our car.

Zoomed in a bit.

The track we were following eventually faded out along an outwash channel.

After a short stint walking through sagebrush we picked up another track that went right past a closed to motor vehicles sign.

This track didn’t appear to enter the canyon though and it was cross country through the canyon which was busy with wildlife.

Rabbit #1

Rabbit #2

Rabbit #3

A lone juniper in the canyon.

Rabbit #4

Near the end of this half mile canyon there are some Petroglyphs which are currently being guarded by a yellow bellied marmot.

After looking at (and NOT TOUCHING) the petroglyphs we continued to the canyon’s end at Antelope Spring.

Horned lark near the spring.

We returned the way we’d come commenting on how far way our car still looked from the mouth of the canyon.
20200721_075341

Rabbit #5, this one was a jack rabbit.

After returning to our car we drove back through the refuge headquarters staying straight following pointers for the hot springs. Keeping right for 4.5 miles brought us to a parking area next to the hot springs.

We saved the soak in the 102 degree hot spring for after our hike and set off from the parking lot along a gated road toward the Hot Springs Campground.

This road passed another hot spring before arriving at Barnhardi Road in half a mile near the campground.

Hawk hanging out near the hot springs.

Butterfly on dusty maiden.

Barnhardi Road

Campground across Rock Creek.

We turned right on Barnhardi Road for .3 miles to a gate.
Becker’s white

Paintbrush

Sagebrush mariposa lily

We walked past the gate continuing on the road for almost two miles ignoring a road on the right at the 1 mile mark atop a crest.
Hawk overhead

Balsamroot in the sagebrush.

Wild roses in a quaking aspen stand.

Biggest bumble bee either of us had ever seen.

Coming up on the crest at the 1 mile mark.

IMG_0998_stitch View after the crest heading down to Barnhardi Basin.

Sheep moth

Almost two miles from the gate we arrived at a post marking a trail to the collapsing Barnhardi Cabin.

We followed the faint path through a wet meadow filled with mosquitoes to the cabin.
Lewis flax blooming in the meadow.

Barnhardi Cabin

Our plan was to hike up to Warner Peak from the cabin following a route described by Sullivan. Our first misstep was not going back a bit from the cabin and getting well away from the marshy area behind the cabin. Instead we simply angled away from the cabin. This led us through the marshy area where there were some nice flowers but also a ton of mosquitoes.

We took a hard right following game trails through the wet area and out a grassy area where a faint path was visible.

Sullivan’s directions were to follow a little creek up through aspen groves to DeGarmo Notch but after fighting through the vegetation and mosquitoes along the creek behind the cabin we decided to try and skirt the aspen groves in the sagebrush. Growing up in the Bend/Redmond area I was used to walking through sagebrush but here the sagebrush was much taller and thicker than I was used to.

20200721_101324 Another sheep moth

It was tough going but we were making progress and came to a spring with yellow monkeyflowers. Near the spring we both thought we heard a rattle although neither of us saw a snake or were 100% sure that it was really what we’d heard.
The spring.

White triteleia

We headed away form the spring loudly just in case there were snakes about and decided to cross the creek in a gap between aspen groves. Sullivan’s map showed the route crossing to the other side at some point and we felt this was as good a time as any.

The next obstacle was a rocky knoll to the left of the creek and more aspen. We veered between a bit of a gap in the aspen and sidehilled around the knoll.

Barnhardi Basin from the side of the knoll.

View across the creek.

The knoll was steeper and brushier than it had appeared from below but we managed to make it around.

Hawk flying around above us.

From the other side of the knoll we got a good look at the next leg of our uphill bushwhack.
High Point is the peak ahead.

We were being watched from the hillside above as we tried to figure out are next move.

Looking at the map in the guidebook and checking the elevation on our GPS units showed that we were actually above DeGarmo Notch which was shown on the map with an elevation of 6970′ and we were around 7150′ which was fine with us because we would have had to climb up eventually. To get to the notch as shown on the map we would have needed to continue to follow the aspen to their end. From where we were we could see the spot and it would have added needless distance and climbing.
DeGarmo Notch

We were now heading south west toward High Point as we traversed across the hillside above Barnhardi Basin.
Paintbrush

We had to drop under this.

Warner Peak is straight ahead with a tower on top beyond the line of trees in the distance.

Barnhardi Basin getting further away.

Looking back toward DeGarmo Notch.

When we could see beyond High Point we could see that the terrain did some up and down on it’s way to Warner Peak. Our plan was to climb as gradually as possible to avoid having to lose elevation and make it back up later.
We first aimed for the the small rock outcrop beyond High Point then bent to the right to pass the larger rock outcrop before climbing up to the trees in the distance.

Passing another canyon coming up from the west.

Made it past the first outcrop and heading for the right side of the second.

At the second outcrop.

It was a fairly steep climb from the second outcrop to the trees. I arrived first and was greeted by a doe.

I waited for Heather here to plot the final climb to Warner Peak which was now fully revealed.

It was a fairly level walk from the trees to the start of the final steep climb that brought us to Hart Mountain’s highest point.

From Warner Peak we could see the parking area by the Hot Springs and much of the route we’d taken to get to the summit.
The white patch in the distance to the right just beyond the shadow is the parking area.

Our car was still there.

View south over Hart Mountain.

SW to Drake Peak with part of Hart Lake visible below the cliffs.

Looking north toward Juniper Mountain.

East toward Steens Mountain

After a nice long break we started back down. It was easier going since we weren’t climbing anymore and we knew that we could follow our track up to get back down. The more relaxed walk back allowed us to better enjoy the flowers that were around.
Prairie smoke

20200721_124500 Balloon pod milk vetch

Paintbrush

Lupine

Mountain coyote mint

Police car moth on hyssop

We avoided the marshy area around the cabin this time and didn’t hear anything that sounded like a rattle. We did however get a good look at an American kestral.

We had considered doing a loop from the cabin that Sullivan describes by following Rock Creek back to the Hot Springs Campground. It was only .3 miles longer but much of it was trailless and we were hot and tired of bushwhacking so we opted to just walk back on Barnhardi Road. As we got back to that road the clouds were moving in quickly.

We shuffled along the road in the heat looking forward to soaking in the Hot Springs before leaving but we still stopped occassionally for photos.

Butterflies on rabbitbrush

Sagebrush mariposa lily

As we neared the gate on Barnhardi Road two things happened. First we were passed by a mountain biker, the first person we’d encountered since Daly Lake three days earlier and second we finished off our all our water. We were only about a half mile from the car where we had more but we were thankful when we got to the gate and the biker offered us a cold water bottle. We finished that off on our way back to the car and then had our soak before heading back to Lakeview. We never heard any thunder or saw any lightening but a few raindrops hit our windshield on the way back and the wind had picked up so much that there were white caps on Hart Lake as we drove by.

It was another tough day in the heat (although we did get a little chilly on Warner Peak just before heading down). We did 2.7 miles at Flook Lake and another 10.8 to Warner Peak with a combined elevation gain of roughly 2500′.

That night we decided to amend our plan for the next day even further and do the Petroglyph Lake hike followed by the short Warner Valley Overlook Loop that we had passed on our drive to and from the refuge that day. We then would end the day with the shortest option that Sullivan described for DeGarmo Canyon. It would be a shorter day giving us a little more time to rest and an excuse to swing by the Burger Queen in Lakeview and get milk shakes. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Flook Lake and Hart Mountain Hot Springs

Tags Barnhardi Basin, DeGarmo Notch, Flook Lake, Hart Mountain, Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, High Point, hiking, Lakeview, Oregon, Petroglyph, pronghorn, Pronghorn antelope, Sheep Moth, warner peak

Central Oregon Hiking Lakeview Oregon Trip report

Crooked Creek – 07/20/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 27, 2020
3 Comments on Crooked Creek – 07/20/2020

We knew which hikes we wanted to do during our stay in Lakeview but the order of the hikes was up in the air due to the chance of some mid-week thunderstorms. Our hikes were somewhat spread out which allowed us to keep an eye on the forecasts for each one and attempt to optimize our experience. Based on what we had seen Sunday night after arriving in Lakeview we decided to make Crooked Creek our outing for Monday. This was the closest hike to Lakeview so it gave us a bit of a break on driving too.

For the hike we started at the Mill Trailhead.

Like our previous hike at Winter Ridge this hike followed the Fremont National Recreation Trail. We had expected to have to find some rocks or a downed tree to get across Crooked Creek at the trailhead. The trailhead used to be another 2.5 miles further along the road but floods washed it out. We were happy to find a footbridge in place across the creek.

Beyond this initial crossing the map in our guidebook showed the trail following the old roadbed on the left side of the creek to the original trailhead so we were surprised when we came to a second crossing just .2 miles from the trailhead.

In another .2 miles we were once again forced to find rocks to hop across the creek on.

Once we had made it across the creek again we noticed a trail joining on the left.
The trail joining the road after the 3rd creek crossing (picture is from the afternoon).

As it turned out we had walked past a side trail to the left just before reaching the second creek crossing without noticing it. We discovered this when we followed the trail on the way back to the trailhead.
Downed post marking the trail to avoid the creek crossings.

We continued on the road arriving in another .2 miles at a large sign announcing the site of a former sawmill.

We continued on noting the vast stark difference in the trees and vegetation on either side of Crooked Creek. The hills on the north side of the creek were mostly juniper trees and sagebrush while pine and fir trees grew on the south side.

A short stretch where both sides looked similar.

Dry waterfall

Smooth stemmed blazing star

As we gained some elevation we started seeing more wildflowers.
Oregon sunshine

Fireweed

Butterfly sleeping on yarrow

Sticky purple geranium

A mallow

Balsamroot

Rough eyelashweed

Various wildflowers along the road bed.

Monkeyflower

White triteleia

Things got a bit confusing again when we arrived at the old trailhead. Our guidebook showed the Fremont Trail beginning here on the left side of Crooked Creek but the only thing that looked at all like a trail was this.

We tried following it and wound up next to a pile of tree clippings from what appeared to be recent thinning operations.

We did some searching along the hillside above the creek thinking that we might have missed the trail heading further up the hillside.
Piles from thinning while we were searching for the trail.

After almost a quarter mile along the hillside we found the trail coming steeply uphill from Crooked Creek. To add to the confusion here there were National Recreation Trail markers on a number of trees in the area, some of which were no where near the trail.
Marker on a juniper heading away from Crooked Creek.

Markers on seemingly random trees.

In any event we had found the trail again. On our return trip we would follow the trail down to Crooked Creek which we crossed to reach a road bed. We then turned right on that roadbed, crossed Big Cove Creek and then Crooked Creek again to arrive at the old trailhead.
Big Cove Creek crossing.

Crooked Creek crossing near the old trailhead.

The Fremont Trail passed through a series of open hillsides which were pretty dry at first but became greener as we climbed up the canyon.

Sagebrush mariposa lily

Checker mallows

A wetter meadow

Bog orchids

The trail also spent some time in the forest finally leaving the juniper and sagebrush behind.

Blurry doe through the trees.

Just over 5 miles along we reached an easy crossing of the North Fork Crooked Creek.

The trail then rounded a ridge end and followed the South Fork Crooked Creek for .6 miles before crossing it just below a series of meadows.

White water buttercups

The trail skirted the meadows for the next mile and a half which would have been nice if not for the mosquitoes that the meadows were home to. They weren’t anywhere near the worst we’ve seen but we couldn’t stop for long. We eventually were forced to break out the spray but not before Heather had collected a good number of bites (I think I only got one, they like her WAY better).

Just under a mile along this stretch the trail crossed an old road bed that functions as the Crane Mountain Trail (and a mosquito hatching ground).

We did stop for a moment at a second crossing of the creek to admire some pink monkeyflower.

At the end of the meadows we arrived at FR 3615 and the South Fork Crooked Creek Trailhead
FR 3615

The trailhead.

Trailhead host

We stopped at the trailhead to decide our next course of action. It was already warm and a break sounded good, but there wasn’t really a spot for one at the trailhead. Heading back down the trail meant going through the mosquito gauntlet again and taking a break along that stretch was out. A third option was to continue uphill .7 miles from the trailhead following a roadbed to Fence Pass at an elevation of 7440′. Sullivan described it as a sagebrush covered hillside with some of the best views of the Drake Peak area. We figured that there wouldn’t be any mosquitoes up there so we headed up a dirt road arriving at a split that wasn’t shown on the guidebook map.

After consulting our Garmins we discovered that the checkermallow covered roadbed to the right ended shortly near a spring feeding the South Fork Crooked Creek.

We turned left to stay on the correct roadbed which headed steeply uphill past the continuation of the Fremont Trail.

Fremont Trail on the left.

The road headed for Twelvemile Peak before veering to the south of that peak to the pass. The hillside was mostly sagebrush as described with a fair number of wildflowers mixed in.

Oregon sunshine

Grand collomia

Yarrow

A paintbrush

Checkermallow and paintbrush

What had been a Brown’s peony

The views were also as described with Twelvemile Peak on our left (north), Light Peak and Drake Peak on our right and our route up behind us. We made it to Fence Pass where a gentle breeze helped cool us off and the lack of mosquitoes allowed us to take a nice break.
IMG_0643_stitch

Light Peak from Fence Pass

IMG_0656_stitch Drake Peak and Light Peak

The Drake Peak Lookout which is on Light Peak

Twelvemile Peak

Looking back over our route up.

Mt. Shasta off to the SW

Hart Mountain to the SE.

After a nice break we headed back. The mosquitoes weren’t as noticeable on the return trip but the butterflies (and police car moths) were. In addition the sagebrush mariposa lilies had opened up allowing us to see them better.

20200720_122718

It was another 90+ degree day back at the trailhead and after 15.5 miles and a little over 2500′ of elevation gain it didn’t feel all that great, but the hike had been enjoyable. We headed back to Lakeview and checked the weather again to see what had changed. Based on the ever shifting forecasts we decided to tweak our plans a bit which turned out to be for the best in the long run. For Tuesday we decided to do Flook Lake and Hart Mountain Hot Springs to Warner Peak with an option to also do Petroglyph Lake if the road was open. If it was closed as we suspected we would do that one with DeGarmo Canyon later in the week. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Crooked Creek

Tags Crooked Creek, Crooked Creek Lumber Company, Drake Peak, Freemont National Recreation Trail, Freemont Trail, Freemont-Winema National Forest, hiking, Lakeview, Light Peak, Oregon, Twelvemile Peak

Central Oregon Hiking Lakeview Oregon Trip report

Winter Ridge – 07/19/2020

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

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

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

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

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

Yarrow and Oregon sunshine

Pussytoes starting to go to seed.

Paintbrushes

Scarlet gilia

Lupine

Buckwheat

Orange agoseris

Paintbrush

20200719_073911 Sticky purple geranium

Sticky sandwort

Nuttall’s linanthus

Fireweed

Hyssop

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

Looking down at Summer Lake

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

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

Swallowtail

Fritillary butterfly

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

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

California corn lily

Chipmunk

More cows at the horse camp.

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

Brewer’s blackbird

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

In the meadows nearby were some native wildlfowers though.

20200719_090205 White triteleia

20200719_090226 A checkermallow

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

Looking NE from Winter Ridge.

Grand collomia

Hummingbird

Rosy pussytoes

Scouler’s woollyweed (maybe)

Wildflowers along the Fremont Trail

Another viewpoint

Looking south along the ridge.

More musk thistles.

Fremont Trail along Winter Ridge.

Buck watching us through the trees.

The buck heading off.

Sign for Mud Springs.

Western tanager near the junction.

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

Snowbrush along the trail.

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

Looking up toward the viewpoint.

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

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

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

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

Looking south

Balsamroot near the viewpoint.

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

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

Becker’s white on subalpine fleabane.

Slender cinquefoil

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

Flickr: Winter Ridge

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

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

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

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

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

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

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

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

The trail then passed a meadow filled cirque.
20200718_070954

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

Death camas

Penstemon

20200718_091211 Larkspur and penstemon

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

Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters

Mt. Jefferson

Valerian and columbine

Mountain bluebells

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

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

Looking up toward the summit from the saddle.

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

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

Cone Peak and Iron Mountain (post)

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

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

Meadow from the summit.

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

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

North Pyramid

Rough skinned newts

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

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

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

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

Crab spider on prince’s pine

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

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

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

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

Washington lilies

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

Crossing on the outlet creek.

Marsh at the outlet creek.

Bog orchid

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

The North Pyramid from Daly Lake

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

Flickr: Three Pyramids and Parrish, Riggs & Daly Lakes

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

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

Hunchback Mountain – 7/11/2020

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

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

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

Pink pyrola

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

Switchback below a rock outcrop.

Looking down the hillside from the trail.

Trail dropping to a saddle.

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

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

Washington lily

Tiger lily

Penstemon

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

Yarrow

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

Coming up to the cliffs.

Cliffs along the trail.

Huckleberry Mountain

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

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

Blue-eyed Mary

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

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

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

Trail starting to climb again.

Sign for the viewpoint.

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

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

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

Washed out view of Mt. Hood

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

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

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

Pinedrop

Pacific coralroot

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

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

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

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

Paintbrush

Rocky spine

Columbine

Climbing up the Hunchback Trail.

Heather coming up the trail.

Beargrass near the 4000′ elevation.

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

Side trail to the Great Pyramid.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20200711_120358

Looking down into the Salmon River valley

Looking west toward Highway 26

20200711_120439 Blue-head gilia

20200711_121116 Penstemon

Nevada deervetch

20200711_120246 Tiger lilies

20200711_120332 Oregon sunshine

Cat’s ear lilies

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

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

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

Flickr: Hunchback Mountain

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

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

West Zigzag Mountain – 7/04/2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tiger lilies

Self-heal

Salal

Candy sticks

Queen’s cup and bunchberry

Anemone

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

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

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

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

Lupine

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

Mushroom

Pinesap

Passing a rock outcrop.

West Zigzag Mountain from the trail.

Back to the north facing side.

Now on the south facing side.

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

Sub-alpine mariposa lily at the viewpoint.

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

Beargrass and rhododendron

Huckleberry

Cliff beardtongue

Larkspur

Phlox

More cliff beardtongue

Penstemon

20200704_095101 Larkspur

On the ridge just before reaching the lookout site.

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

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

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

Former lookout site in the tress to the left.

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

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

Tufted saxifrage

Arnica

Lousewort

Some of the rocks in Castle Canyon

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

View of the outcrop from the lookout site.

Raceme pussytoes

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

Salmonberry

Bleeding heart

Violet

Monotropa uniflora aka ghost plant

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

Flickr: West Zigzag Mountain

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

Hiking Mollala Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Table Rock Wilderness West Meadows – 6/21/2020

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

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

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

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

Trailhead sign at the Old Bridge Trailhead.

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

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

A second signboard just up the trail from the trailhead.

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

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

Rhododendron

Coralroot

The small wildflower meadow.

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

Paintbrush, Oregon sunshine, and plectritis

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Death camas

20200621_074119 Paintbrush

Blue-eyed Mary

A penstemon

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

Balsamroot at the edge of the meadow.

20200621_074643 Penstemon

Larger meadow

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

Honeysuckle

Larkspur amid the paintbrush and Oregon sunshine

Tomcat clover

Possibly a milk-vetch or some sort of vetch.

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

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

In the middle of one of the climbs.

The trail leveling off a bit.

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

Oregon sunshine

Mountain sandwort

Penstemon

Olympic onion

Back in the trees.

20200621_093033 Fawn lilies

The next little meadow.

Larkspur and blue-eyed Mary

Groundsel

Trees again.

Another meadow

Phlox

Chickweed

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

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

Larkspur

Lupine

Wallflower

Paintbrush

Bistort

20200621_100025 Sub-alpine mariposa lily

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

20200621_100938_HDR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20200621_120104 A monkeyflower by some plectritis.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Flickr: Table Rock Wilderness West Meadows

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

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Green Ridge – 6/20/2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

Balsamroot

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

20200620_071037 A penstemon

Washington lily

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

Buckwheat

Bird with breakfast

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

20200620_071856 Pinedrops

We also began to notice 3-inch long Pandora moth larva crawling across the trail.
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The larva spent spring feeding on ponderosa pines and are now burrowing into the ground where they will transform into pupae. They will then emerge next summer as adult moths. Based on studies of ponderosa pine tree rings up to 22 Pandora moth outbreaks have occurred in the last 600 years. When I was at Redmond High School in the late 80s/early 90s one of the outbreaks occurred and the number of the large moths was amazing.
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Many of the larva we saw would not be making it to adulthood as they seemed to be of particular interest to the resident ants of the area.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lupine

Columbine

A moth but not a Pandora moth. 🙂

20200620_092042 Sticky cinquefoil

20200620_091818 Salsify

Tortoiseshell butterfly

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

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

Just .2 miles from the trail/roadbed we arrived at the rocky viewpoint where we found a lot of penstemon.
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There was also a view of several mountains from the North Sister north to Mt. Hood.
Black Butte and the North Sister

North Sister

Three Fingered Jack

North Cinder Peak and Forked Butte (post)

Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Hood

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

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

Buckwheat in the center.

Balsamroot near the trees.

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

Tam McArthur Rim (post) and Broken Top

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

Mt. Washington

Three Fingered Jack with some blue sky.

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

Flickr: Green Ridge

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

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

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

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

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

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

The wide trail led into the forest and quickly split.

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

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

The wheelchair friendly path.

The hiker path.

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

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

20200619_071852 Western meadowrue

Mushrooms on a log.

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

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

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

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

Trillium

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

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

Swallowtail on salmonberry blossoms.

Start of the loop.

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

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

Orange tip butterfly

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

Violets

Fairybells

20200619_082454 Royal Jacob’s ladder

Western meadowrue

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

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

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

Paintbrush

20200619_084050 Frog

Looking back at the route through the meadow.

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

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

There was an amazing patch of coral root at the trailhead.
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We walked past a green gate and found a post indicating that this was the Old Santiam Wagon Road.

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

Beargrass

Santiam Wagon Road

Bunchberry

Musk monkeyflower

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

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