Category: Trip report

Baty Butte, Skookum Lake, and Thunder Mountain – 7/26/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 31, 2019
2 Comments on Baty Butte, Skookum Lake, and Thunder Mountain – 7/26/2019

**Note the 2024 Sandstone Fire burned a portion of this hike.**

Sticking with our Matt Reeder inspired vacation, on Thursday we selected a hike featured in both his “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region” and “Off the Beaten Trail” second edition. In the latter he doesn’t describe the extended hike to Baty Butte. We started our hike at the Thunder Mountain Trailhead where, just as at the Pine Ridge Trailhead, we were greeted by mosquitoes.
Spur road leading to the trail from the pullout.

Signage at the end of the closed spur.

The trail began climbing almost immediately via a switchback that passed us through a thimbleberry and devil’s club covered hillside.
Thimbleberry crowding the trail.

Devil’s club along the trail. We each had our hands brush against some and it doesn’t feel pleasant.

Lupine and paintbrush in the thimbleberries as the trail enters the forest.

After the initial battle with the brush the trail entered the forest where some old growth was present and the trail much clearer.

It looked like these two trees fell out of the same hole but in different directions.

Anemone and queen’s cup

Beargrass and huckleberry bushes.

After climbing for a mile we reached a viewpoint at a switchback with a view of Mt. Jefferson.

Schreiner Peak in front of Mt. Jefferson.

Another .2 miles of climbing along a wildflower dotted ridge brought us to a junction just below the summit of Thunder Mountain.

Small sign on the tree marking the trail to Thunder Mountain’s summit.

We decided to save Thunder Mountain for the return trip due to the position of the Sun and the presence of quite a bit of haze. We followed the pointers on a temporary sign for Skookum Lake and Baty Butte.

The Skookum Lake Trail began to descend along a steep hillside that looked to have had an excellent wildflower display just a week or two earlier. As it was there were still a decent number of flowers in bloom.
Columbine

Washington lilies

Penstemon

Assorted flowers

20190726_075502 Washington lilies

Oregon sunshine

20190726_075546 Scouler’s bluebells

Columbine and a couple different types of penstemon.

Cat’s ear lily

Lupine

20190726_080627 Pyrola

The trail left the wildflowers as it made a horseshoe shaped turn into thicker trees.
Skookum Lake Trail below coming out of the horseshoe turn.

Approximately a mile from the Thunder Mountain junction we passed a rocky viewpoint where large basalt boulders were jumbled along the hillside.

We didn’t stop to check out the view until our way back by, but there was a decent view of Mt. Hood and through the trees we could make out Mt. Rainier.

Mt. Hood

Mt. Rainier

The trail descended another half mile beyond the rocks before leveling out along a meadow.
The trail skirts a talus slope above the meadow.

Finally leveling out by the meadow after losing approximately 700′.

The meadow is also the site of the junction with the abandoned Baty Butte Trail which was marked by a sad little rock cairn and tattered flagging along with an easy to miss temporary sign.

I missed the sign until we had come back and started down the Skookum Lake Trail.

There were a few mosquitoes patrolling the meadow so we didn’t linger long but we did stick around long enough to notice several types of flowers still blooming.
Tall bluebells

The yellow might be a groundsel.

Aster

The tread of the trail was difficult to make out but there was some flagging on the far side and a faint path to it.

Beyond the meadow the trail became a bit more obvious as it passed through the trees. Occasional flagging assisted in keeping us on track.

The trail climbed a bit before arriving at an old roadbed .4 miles from the meadow.

The road was a casualty of the 1996 storms that caused flooding in Oregon and washed out much of the Fish Creek road network. The roadbed is now more of a wildflower garden. We turned right onto the road following a faint path through the flowers.

Shortly after setting off on the road there was a nice view of Mt. Hood to the north.

This was by far the most enjoyable stretch of old roadbed we’ve been on. The wildflowers were profuse and there were dozens of butterflies flying about. It was the tail end of the flowers but they were still very impressive.
Paintbrush, penstemon and lupine

Mostly past lupine

Several butterflies on Oregon sunshine.

Scarlet gilia

Fireweed

At about the .4 mile mark another old road joined from the right which wasn’t a problem on the way to Baty Butte but it is worth noting because coming from the other direction it looked like it might be easy to continue straight on the wrong roadbed.
Left is the wrong way on the return, the correct route is to the right through the brush.

Flagging marking the correct path.

Near the three quarter mile mark on the road we passed some rock out crops and a talus slope where we spotted a pika and some golden-mantled ground squirrels.

Shortly after passing along a narrow ridge the road arrived at the base of Baty Butte.

The road continued around the butte to the left but the Baty Butte Trail headed uphill amid some small trees.
Baty Butte Trail to the right.

The trail climbed around the side of the butte and showed some signs of recent trail maintenance.

After .4 miles on the trail, as it began to curve around a ridge, we turned uphill on a scramble trail.
Baty Butte Trail starting to curve around the ridge.

Scramble route up the ridge.

It was a steep quarter mile climb up the ridge which devolved into a narrow rocky spine toward the top.
Looking down from the start of the spine.

It required the use of our hands to navigate this and we stopped at a wide (for the ridge) spot. From here it appeared that the number of trees increased to a point that would make continuing even more difficult.

From this viewpoint we had a view of Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters.

Mt. Jefferson

Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters.

There was also an excellent view of Table Rock and Rooster Rock in the Table Rock Wilderness (post).

Rooster Rock is the formation to the far left.

Looking down from Baty Butte.

After a brief rest we headed back eager to see more of the butterflies and flowers along the road.
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20190726_105330 Orange agoseris

Pearly everlasting

Penstemon

We also got to sample a few ripe strawberries.
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The trail heading off of the road was easier to spot than it had been at the meadow.

Back through the meadow we went to the Skookum Lake Trail.
Monkeyflower along the trail.

Crab spider on aster.

We turned left following the pointer for Skookum Lake.

The Skookum Lake Trail descended for three tenths of a mile to Skookum Lake.

Rhododendron along the Skookum Lake Trail.

The little lake was full of activity with butterflies flying along the shore and rough skinned newts floating lazily in the water. Trout were also visible swimming in the shallows.

We followed the trail along the lake shore to the Skookum Lake Campground.

A forest road used to provide access to the primitive campground. It still sees some use though as the litter left in a bucket near the picnic table showed.

As we headed back along the lake Heather spotted a crawdad on a log.

After watching the crawdad for a bit we climbed back up to the junction with the Baty Butte Trail and then made the steep climb back up to the Thunder Mountain spur trail where we turend left.
Small sign on a tree marking the trail to the summit of Thunder Mountain.

It was just a tenth of a mile climb to the site of the former lookout tower at the summit.

From the summit we could again see Mt. Jefferson but now we also had a view north to Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams.
The view north.

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams beyond Fish Creek Mountain (post).

Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson

From the summit we headed back down to the car stopping at the lower viewpoint which had a better view of Mt. Jefferson.

Shortly before reaching the brushy section we passed a group of backpackers headed up the trail, the only people we saw all day. This was a really nice hike with a variety of scenery. Even if the scramble up Baty Butte is a little too much for some with the exposure the road walk to the butte was well worth a visit during wildflower season. The hike came in at just over 10 miles with a little over 3000′ of elevation gain making it a bit of a challenge but nothing too crazy. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Baty Butte, Skookum Lake, and Thunder Mountain

Tags Baty Butte, Baty Butte Trail, butterflies, hiking, Oregon, Skookum Lake, Skookum Lake Campground, Skookum Lake Trail, table rock, Thunder Mountain, thunder Mountain Trail, Thunder Mountain Trailhead, wildflowers

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Temple Lake and Marion Mountain – 7/25/19

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 29, 2019
3 Comments on Temple Lake and Marion Mountain – 7/25/19

A day after taking my brother and his family to Opal Creek (post) we were back on the trails with a visit to Temple Lake and Marion Mountain. This is another hike take from Matt Reeder’s “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region”. The hike starts from the Pine Ridge Trailhead

There were a few mosquitoes waiting for us a the trailhead so we applied a bit of deet and set off through the forest for .2 miles to a 4-way junction.

From the junction the Pine Ridge Trail continued straight while the Turpentine Trail departed on the right and to the left was a trail to the Boy Scout owned Camp Pioneer (the camp is private so do not take this trail or any others heading left between the trailhead and the junction).

We continued on the Pine Ridge Trail past a unique Mt. Jefferson Wilderness sign.

The trail dropped from the junction to cross a dry creek bed before climbing around a ridge and dropping again.

We took a brief off-trail detour to visit one of several lakes in the area.

We returned to the trail and continued on to the junction with the Temple Lake Trail which was approximately 2 miles from the trailhead.

We decided to save the lake for later in the day in hopes that the mosquitoes would be less active. Continuing on the Pine Ridge Trail we passed through some sections of forest burned in the massive 2003 B&B Complex.
Turpentine Peak

Washington lily

Unburned forest

Mt. Jefferson from the Pine Ridge Trail.

At the four mile mark we arrived at the signed Marion Mountain Trail.

We turned right here and began to climb up a ridge to Marion Mountain. A little less than three quarters of a mile up we came to a cinder viewpoint.
Mt. Jefferson and Marion Lake (post)

Three Fingered Jack

The view here was good but just a tenth of a mile further the trail led out to the former site of the Marion Mountain Lookout where the view was even better.
The cinder viewpoint from Marion Mountain.

Mt. Hood in the distance with Mt. Jefferson, and Marion Lake.

Mt. Hood and Dynah-Mo Peak

Three Fingered Jack

Tops of the Three Sisters.

Coffin Mountain (post)

We had a nice view of the crest between Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack where we could make out North and South Pyramid Peaks (post).
South Cinder Peak is the high point along the ridge.

We sat on the rocks enjoying the breeze which was keeping us cool and mosquito free. When we finally did leave we decided to follow a faint path the continued out along the ridge to the south of Marion Mountain. The open forest made cross country travel fairly easy.

We continued along the ridge entering the B&B scar again where there were more obstacles.

We wound up going a little under a mile along the narrowing ridge until it dipped to a saddle under forested Marion Peak. We didn’t see any reason to lose any elevation and have to gain it back so we declared victory. The view here was better yet with more of the Three Sisters and Mt. Washington visible.
The saddle that we didn’t want to drop down to.

Three Fingered Jack with the Three Sisters and Mt. Washington in the gap.

The Three Sisters and Mt. Washington beyond Red Butte (post)

Jenny and Melis Lake

Marion Mountain at the end of the ridge.

Bear Point (post) and Dynah-Mo Peak with Mt. Hood in the background.

Turpentine Peak along the ridge.

Black Butte (post) on the far opposite side of the crest.

In addition to the views there were a few flowers along the ridge and Heather spotted a Northern Alligator Lizard but it ran off before we could get a photo.
Stonecrop

Prince’s Pine

Penstemon

Washington lily

We headed back down the ridge to Marion Mountain and then returned to the Pine Ridge Trail where we turned left. When we got back to the Temple Lake Trail we turned right and headed downhill.

The half mile trail crossed a dry creek before reaching the lake.

It wasn’t overly buggy which allowed us to admire the view of Mt. Jefferson from the lake and check out the campsites.

Dragon fly

While Heather was looking at one of the sites a western toad popped its head out of a hole.

I’m not sure who was watching who as the toad wound up coming all the way out while we stood there.

We kept our distance (thanks 30x zoom) and headed back up to the Pine Ridge Trail. Aside from a garter snake sighting there was no excitement on the return trip, just a nice forest walk.

With our off-trail exploring the hike came in at 11.6 miles and a little under 2000′ of elevation gain. The off-trail was just the right balance of challenging but not frustratingly difficult. It was a lot easier than what we had done the day we visited Bear Point earlier in the week for sure. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Temple Lake and Marion Mountain

Tags 101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region, hiking, marion lake, Marion Mountain, Matt Reeder, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon, Pine Ridge Trail, Pine Ridge Trailhead, Red Butte, South Pyramid Peak, Temple Lake, Three Fingered Jack, Western Toad

Bull of the Woods/Opal Creek Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Opal Pool – 7/24/19

**Note the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire burned the area covered by this hike.**

As luck would have it one of our weeks of vacation coincided with a visit from my brother and his family from Missouri. We offered to take them on a hike and they accepted so we tried to come up with a worthy “Oregon” hike. We decided on the hike to Jawbone Flats and the Opal Pool. We had been to Jawbone Flats three other times, twice on the Whetstone Mountain Loop (post) and in 2012 (prior to starting this blog) using the route we planned on taking this time.

We picked them up at my parents house and headed for the Opal Creek Trailhead. My parents were also going to do at least part of the hike at their own pace so they drove separately.

We hiked the gated road to Jawbone Flats for a little over two miles to the site of the former Merten Mill. Equipment from the 1943 lumber mill can still be seen including the old boiler but the mill itself is now gone. Along the way we passed over Gold Creek at the .4 mile mark, crossed over wooden half-bridges along cliffs, and entered the areas famous Douglas fir forest.
Gold Creek

Fireweed along one of the half-bridges.

20190724_090256 Beetle on a half-bridge.

Creek in the forest.

Boiler at the Merten Mill site.

Old building along the trail Merten Mill in 2012

A day-use trail leads down to Sawmill Falls from the old mill site.

Being a weekday and still relatively early (we left at 7am instead of our usual 5am because I’m a nice big brother ;)) there was no one else at the falls. We spent some time watching fish swim in the pools and admiring the clear water of the Little North Santiam River. At one point an ouzel stopped by to take a dip.
Fish in the pool below the falls.

Little North Santiam River

Sawmill Falls

Ouzel

After carefully exploring the rocks around the falls we returned to the trail and continued nearly a quarter mile to a signed fork. Here we turned right on the Opal Creek/Kopetski Trail and crossed the river on a footbridge.

Having left the road we were now on an actual trail which made a series of ups and downs along the hillside. When the trail was close to the river we took the opportunity to visit the water where after a little searching we found a couple of rough skinned newts.

20190724_101850

Ridiculously clear water.

Newt floating in a small pool.

Cascade along the river.

When the trail was away from the water there was a lot of berry picking going on. We had managed to find a few ripe thimble and salmon berries along with a variety of huckleberries while hiking the road but it was all huckleberries along the Opal Creek Trail.
20190724_101609

Red huckleberries

After 1.3 miles on the Opal Creek Trail we arrived at Opal Pool. There were a few other people here including to our surprise my parents who had apparently passed us at some point while we were down along the river.

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Bridge over the river above Opal Pool

Little North Santiam River below Opal Pool

Opal Pool Falls

My parents had missed Sawmill Falls so we let them know where to turn off on their way back. We stayed at the pool for awhile watching some cliff jumpers before crossing the footbridge and heading for Jawbone Flats.
Cliff jumpers sitting down by the pool.

Opal Pool Falls from the bridge.

Approximately a quarter mile from the Opal Pool we arrived at Jawbone Flats, a 1930s mining town that is now a non-profit educational center.

Pelton Shed provides power to Jawbone Flats.

Battle Ax Creek flows through town.

From Jawbone Flats it was a 1.2 mile road walk back to the junction with the Opal Creek/Kopetski Trail and then the 2.1 miles back to the trailhead. Many more berries were consumed along the way. Our niece, Rebekkah, spotted two garter snakes on the hike out.
One of the garter snakes.

A millipede

We were fortunate to have had a lot of trail and river time to ourselves as a steady stream of people were headed in as we exited. My brother said he could see why we go as early as we do.

With the combination of old growth forest, crystal clear water, a couple of waterfalls, and lots of ripe berries it had been a good choice for a hike. Without any wandering around it would be a 7.1 mile hike, but with several explorations along the river my GPS had me at 9.1 miles. Everyone survived though and seemed to have a good time and my parents did make it to Sawmill Falls before heading home themselves. It was a lot of fun to be able share this hike with Jason and his family and we are already preparing for a “next time”. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Opal Creek

Tags battle ax creek, hiking, jawbone flats, Little North Santiam River, Merten Mill, opal creek, opal pool, Oregon, Pelton Shed, sawmill falls

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Cinnamon Ridge – 7/20/2019

**Note a small portion of this hike burned in the 2022 Kalama Fire.**

It had been a couple of years since our hikes had taken us to the Mt. St. Helens area. We didn’t want to go a third year without making a visit so we picked the 14.1 mile Cinnamon Ridge Loop Hike described here in the Oregon Hikers field guide. A shorter loop was also described in Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” guidebook.

We started at the Kalama Horse Camp Trailhead and consulted the signboard map to confirm our route. (We had a paper map, a downloaded pdf track, and our GPS with us, but you can never consult too many maps.)

We set off on the Toutle Trail just to the right of the signboard.

After a short descent the trail crossed an unnamed creek. Ripe berries were everywhere.

Two tenths of a mile from the trailhead we came to a junction with the Cinnamon Ridge Trail, our return route. We stayed left on the Toutle Trail.

Toutle Trail

Candy sticks

A short distance later we stayed right at a junction with the Kalama Ski Trail.

Beyond this junction the trail approached the Kalama River as it passed through the forest.

Yet another junction followed about three quarters of a mile later just after climbing away from the river via a switchback. Again we stuck to the Toutle Trail.

The trail was now a good distance above the river avoiding a series of slides.

Pinesap

Pinesap and a puffball

Just over 2 miles from the trailhead we arrived at the third and final junction signed for the Kalama Ski Trail where we also stuck to the Toutle Trail.

There had been plenty of ripe huckleberries and lots of pinesap but not too many flowers. There were a few lousewort and twin flowers though along this section of trail.
Lousewort

Twin Flower

At the 2.5 mile mark we came to a Forest Service Road.

Reeder’s shorter/easier loop utilizes this road which he lists as FR 8122 (our maps showed it as 8022). He also has you hike in the opposite direction so we would have been coming down the road to this junction then returning to the horse camp the way we’d come on this hike. Since we were doing the longer loop we crossed over the road and continued on the Toutle Trail which was once again closer to the Kalama River.

Along this stretch we noticed a few really large mushrooms.

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Approximately 1.2 mile from the road crossing we crossed a second road bed where the trail hopped to the opposite side of the river.

A good sized frog jumped off the trail in front of us here.

As we neared McBride Lake (now more of a wetland) we obtained our first glimpses of Mt. St. Helens.

Mt. St. Helens beyond the remnants of McBride Lake.

We averted disaster when a rough skinned newt charged Heather but it was only a bluff.

The trail climbed through a nice forest as it passed McBride Lake on its way to Red Rock Pass.

Cars parked at Red Rock Pass

We didn’t go all the way down to Red Rock Pass as the Cinnamon Trail headed uphill at an unsigned junction about 100 yards above the trailhead.
Cinnamon Trail on the left and Toutle Trail on the right from the unsigned junction.

While the Toutle Trail had gained almost 1200′ in the 5.7 miles from the trailhead to the Cinnamon Trail junction the Cinnamon Trail gained nearly 700′ in less than a mile. Although the climb was never particularly steep it provided a good workout. It also provided some nice views of Mt. St. Helens and our first (and best) look at Mt. Adams.

IMG_3735_stitch

Things leveled out a bit after gaining the ridge where the trail passed through a variety of scenery.

Fungus on a stump.

After a little of two and a half miles on the Cinnamon Trail we came to a small meadow with a view south to Mt. Hood.

Just beyond the meadow the trail reached a saddle with a view NW to Goat Mountain.

The trail continued to follow the ridge west and then south as it passed around a butte.
The butte ahead (we didn’t want to have to climb that.)

Trail wrapping around the south side of the butte.

On the far side of the butte we arrived at another saddle.
20190720_113203 Toad near the saddle.

Mt. St. Helens from the saddle.

The trail stuck to the north side of the ridge for a bit allowing for some good views of Mt. St. Helens and another Mt. Adams sighting.
Goat Mountain

Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams

Another frog.

At the 4.5 mile mark of the Cinnamon Trail we arrived at the first of three successive road crossings (all of the same road).
Crossing #1

Crossing #2

Crossing #3

Approximately a quarter mile from the third road crossing the trail began to descend through a small meadow with a few cat’s ear lilies.

Soon we were dropping down along a narrow ridge where we were able to see the top of Mt. Rainier beyond Coldwater Peak.

The sun was glinting off of the equipment on top of Coldwater Peak (post).

The trail continued to descend crossing over another old roadbed before reaching FR 8022 (or FR 8122 per Reeder) 6.2 miles from Red Rock Pass.

old road crossing.

Dropping to FR 8022(8122).

We crossed this road onto an old roadbed which we followed for four tenths of a mile.
Goat Mountain from the roadbed.

Goat Mountain and Mt. St. Helens

Ripening berries

Rock slide along the roadbed.

Shortly after passing through the rock slide the roadbed ended and we were back on a trail.

Pinedrop

The trail descended for another mile and a half eventually coming back within earshot of the Kalama River but not close enough to provide many views until we arrived at a footbridge across it.

From the bridge it was just 100 yards to the end of our loop and .2 miles from the trailhead. The 14.1 miles combined with nearly 3000′ of elevation gain make this a challenging hike. Despite the difficulty and lack of any real big WOW moments it was a really enjoyable hike. There were plenty of positives; the ripe berries, the river, mountain views, a little wildlife (including some grouse which as always gave us a start when they flew off.), a few wildflowers, and some nice forests to keep us entertained the entire way. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Cinnamon Ridge

Tags Cinnamon Ridge, Frog, goat mountain, hiking, Kalama Horse Camp, Kalama River, McBride Lake, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, Red Rock Pass, Toad, Toutle Trail, Washington

Hiking Indian Heaven Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Grassy Knoll & Big Huckleberry Mountain – 7/06/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 11, 2019
1 Comment on Grassy Knoll & Big Huckleberry Mountain – 7/06/2019

It has been an interesting couple of months where the weather is concerned. We have spent a lot of time checking forecasts trying to find the most favorable hiking conditions. It seems that in years past when the forecast hasn’t been good it hasn’t been good anywhere within our driving range but this year has been different. For the most part we have been able to find at least one location with the possibility of “partly sunny” conditions. For our most recent hike that location was Grassy Knoll in Washington.

A quick scan of forecasts the night before our hike showed that the forecast for Grassy Knoll was partly sunny skies moving to mostly sunny later in the day. Nearby Big Huckleberry Mountain, which was to be our turn around point, was a little less favorable but mostly cloudy to partly sunny didn’t sound too bad.

We followed the directions to the Grassy Knoll Trailhead from the Oregonhikers.org field guide. While the forecast had been good the roads were not. The roads weren’t the worst we’d been on, but they did take home the award for most unavoidable potholes. High clearance was helpful and driving was slow at times but we arrived at the trailhead in one piece.

We had driven through quite a bit of drizzle between Portland and Cascade Locks but had been encouraged by the sight of the edge of the cloud cover to the east. Unfortunately the break was further east than we were so we set off on the trail under a full cover of clouds.

The trail started off in a past peak wildflower meadow but there were still a few flowers blooming.
Arrow leaf buckwheat

Blue-head gilia, stonecrop, wild onion, and arrow leaf buckwheat

Farewell-to-spring waiting for the Sun (just like us)

After climbing through the meadow the trail entered the forest and continued to climb fairly steeply at first.

There were a surprising number of flowers blooming amid the bushes and trees along the forested ridge.
Tiger lily

Twin flower

Penstemon

Lupine

Arnica?

Patinbrush and penstemon

Columbine

Lots of arnica

The trail passed what we took for two viewpoints, but with the cloudy conditions we couldn’t tell what the view should have been.
First viewpoint approximately 1 mile in.

First viewpoint

Second viewpoint, about 1.5 miles in. The hillside was covered in cat’s ear lilies.

Penstemon and cat’s ears

Cat’s ears and wild onion

Beyond the second viewpoint the trail alternated between forest and wildflower meadow for a quarter mile before starting a fairly steep climb up the open hillside of Grassy Knoll.

Two kinds of paintbrush

20190706_081442 Onion

20190706_081510 Looks to be some sort of orchid

Blue-head gilia and an unknown yellow flower.

Arrow leaf buckwheat and blue-head gilia

A bunch of flowers

Starting up Grassy Knoll

We were a little late for peak flowers but the hillside still had a lot to show us.

Balsamroot

Catchfly

After just two miles of hiking we came to the site of the former lookout tower atop Grassy Knoll. It wasn’t even close to partly sunny by the way.

With no view to speak of we continued on hoping that the clouds would start breaking up soon, or at least by the time we were passing back by. The trail leaving Grassy Knoll was a bit brushy at first but then cleared up. There were plenty more flowers to see as we continued along a somewhat level ridge.

A little better view down for a moment.

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Larkspur

A little under a quarter mile from the lookout site we entered the first in a series of impressive wildflower meadows along the ridge.

This first meadow had a bit of a beetle infestation.

Phlox and a cat’s ear lily

Another type of penstemon

Beargrass

Not sure what this is either, it’s the first time we recall seeing it.

Finally, after nearly one and a quarter miles of wildflower bliss the trail veered off the ridge to the left and entered the forest.

It was a nice forest with a bright green understory.

Around the 3.75 mile mark we arrived at Cold Springs Camp

A spur trail led down to what we presume was Cold Spring but it was hidden in brush. The unofficial (but signed) Alway Trail led downhill on a faint path to FR 68 from the camp as well. Just beyond this camp was another sign for Hilltop Camp, but unlike Cold Springs Camp this one looked to no longer be used.

The trail was part of the Cascade Crest Trail which was the precursor to the Pacific Crest Trail. The current route of the PCT is further to the west but it does pass Big Huckleberry Mountain and we would briefly be on it later.

From the camps the trail lost some elevation as it passed beneath a rock outcrop which looked to have a pretty good sized cave or at least a big overhang at its base.

We arrived at the PCT five and a quarter miles from the trailhead.

From here we were about five miles south of the trailhead where we had set off on the PCT on our 2018 hike to Indian Racetrack in the Indian Heaven Wilderness (post). We turned right, took a couple of steps, and veered right again following the pointer for Big Huckleberry Mountain. A .2 mile climb brought us to the open summit where the forecast was right for the first time today, it was mostly cloudy.

Big Huckleberry Mountain was also home to a lookout at one time but now aside from a few remains the summit was just occupied by wildflowers.

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A fairly long rocky spine extended east from the former lookout site with a couple of pockets of trees separating the open areas where the flowers were prevalent.

The slope eventually steepened enough to make for a good stopping point.

The end here was just a little further beneath the clouds which allowed for a good view of the Big Lava Bed which lay between Big Huckleberry Mountain and Mt. Adams but not for much else.

There was also a view south where the Bridge of the Gods could be seen (barely) spanning the Columbia River.

After exploring the summit and also resting a bit we headed back. There were some encouraging signs that the clouds might actually move on as we made our way back through the wildflower meadows.

Snowy flank of Mt. Adams through the clouds.

Back at Grassy Knoll the conditions were better than they had been earlier in the morning but they still weren’t great.

Wind Mountain and the Columbia River

The same was true for the other viewpoints.
Little Huckleberry Mountain and Big Lava Bed

A bit of Mt. Adams again.

It was a little frustrating to be able to see clear blue sky beyond the edge of the clouds, but what can you do. The flower show had been more than entertaining and to cap the hike off the farewell-to-spring near the trailhead had started to open up despite the lack of sunshine.
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Missing out on the view will put this 11.8 mile hike toward the front of the list for a revisit, although the roads might hold it back just a bit. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Grassy Knoll and Big Huckleberry Mountain

Tags Alway Trail, Big Huckleberry Mountain, Big Lava Bed, Bridge of the Gods, Cascade Locks, Cold Springs Camp, Geo Alway, Grassy Knoll, hiking, Hilltop Camp, Pacific Crest Trail, Washington, wildflowers

Hiking Oakridge Area Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Bunchgrass Ridge – 7/04/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 9, 2019
5 Comments on Bunchgrass Ridge – 7/04/2019

**Note a portion of this hike burned in the 2022 Cedar Creek Fire.**

For the 4th of July this year we headed to the Oakridge area to check out a portion of the Eugene to Crest Trail. The concept of the trail is for a continuous trail from Eugene, OR to the Pacific Crest Trail east of Waldo Lake. Despite beginning in the 1970’s the trail has not been completed but a 108 mile route has been established using trails and roads with multiple access points.

We chose to begin our hike at the Eugene to Crest Trailhead #4 It was an interesting drive to the trailhead as winter storms brought extensive damage along Highway 58 causing its closure for a time due to slides and downed trees. Those same conditions affected many of the Forest Service roads and trails. As we headed up FR 2408 toward the trailhead it was apparent that the Forest Service had been busy clearing downed trees along the lower portion of the road. It was interesting to see that higher elevations hadn’t suffered near as much damage though as the number of recently cut trees decreased significantly. Then as we neared the trailhead a young black bear darted across the road in front of the car.

After the excitement of seeing the bear we pulled into the parking area where we discovered a fair number of mosquitoes waiting for us. We applied a bit of bug spray and set off on the signed trail.

In a tenth of a mile we arrived at a junction with the Eugene to Crest Trail where we turned left.

A short distance later we entered Little Bunchgrass Meadow.

The meadow had quite a bit of lupine and some white pussytoes and cat’s ear lilies blooming with tiger lilies and orange agoseris just getting started.

The only tiger lily that seemed to be open yet.

20190704_072419 orange agoseris beginning to open.

20190704_072403 Cat’s ear lily

Pussytoes

At the end of the meadow the trail entered the forest where a few vanilla leaf and a single trillium were still blooming.

It wasn’t long before we popped out into a second meadow. This one was filled with bunchgrass aka beargrass. Unfortunately it appeared that we had missed the beargrass bloom by a year as only a couple of plants had flowers while many others had dead stalks.

We repeated the meadow-forest-meadow pattern a couple of times as the trail followed the ridge SE. Occasionally there were views of the Three Sisters, Broken Top, and the top of Mt. Bachelor to the NE.
The Three Sisters and Broken Top

Larkspur along the trail.

Bunchberry

Anemone

Another meadow

The Three Sisters and Broken Top

Queen’s cup

The Three Sisters, Broken Top, and a bit of Mt. Bachelor

Rhododendron

Another meadow full of not-in-bloom beargrass.

The first mile and a half of the trail had been fairly level as it passed along the ridge but after passing through the last beargrass meadow for a while the trail began to gradually gain elevation. The trail left the ridge top in favor of the SW facing slope.
View from the SW facing hillside.

Looking SE

The trail then regained the ridge where we once again had views of the Three Sisters and Broken Top along with Mt. Jefferson and the very tip of Three Fingered Jack.

Mt. Jefferson behind the ridge extending from Mule Mountain (post). The tip of Three Fingered Jack is visible just to the left of the high point along the ridge to the far right.

After passing a knoll on our right we got our fist glimpse of Diamond Peak ahead to the SE.

Diamond Peak through the trees.

After a brief drop to a saddle we climbed past a wildflower rock garden to a nice viewpoint just over two and a quarter miles from the trailhead.
Valerian in the saddle.

Mt. Yoran, Diamond Peak, and Mt. Bailey

Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak

Mt. Bailey

View to the NE (from the afternoon on the way back)

The Husband, Three Sisters, Broken Top, and Ball Butte(from the afternoon on the way back)

Mt. Jefferson and the tips of Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Washington

From the viewpoint the trail descended fairly steeply past what appeared to be a small spring but it is not shown on any map that I could find.

Sections of our route passed through and by the fire scar from the 1991 Warner Creek burn but as we descended from the viewpoint we were passed through a newer scar from the 2017 Kelsey Creek Fire.

In this newer scar we found one of the best clumps of western wallfower we’d ever seen.

20190704_084603

There was also a large wild ginger blossom which we don’t get to see very often so clearly.

After losing almost 500′ of elevation the trail looked to regain it as it climbed from a saddle up a ridge and around a knoll before dropping down again.

From the high point we had a nice view of the ridge behind us that our route had followed.

Ahead we could see another ridge line on the far side of Kelsey Creek which was in the valley below.

From this view we couldn’t really make out the ridge between us and the one across the valley. We began to wonder about the rest of our route. We did have two paper maps and our GPS with us but instead of looking at those we wondered if we would be curving around this valley or following an unseen ridge to our right. Whatever our route would be, it began by heading downhill. There was fairly thick vegetation along the trail but it had also recently been cut back.

We could see a green meadow ahead of and below us.

Just over three and a half miles in the trail leveled off at a saddle above the meadow. The wildflower display on the saddle was really impressive with large groups of blue-head gilia and giant blue-eyed Mary creating carpets of blue and numerous other flowers scattered about.

Giant blue-eyed Mary

20190704_091315 Giant blue-eyed Mary

Giant blue-eyed Mary and blue-head gilia

Cat’s ear lily and blue-head gilia

Coneflower

Cow parsnip

Tall mountain bluebell

More of the blue flowers

Larkspur

20190704_092323 Jacob’s ladder

20190704_092346 An aster or fleabane

Columbine and valerian

Lupine

Not sure what type of flower this one is.

Valerian filled meadow below the trail.

White yarrow, giant blue-eyed Mary, and tall mountain bluebells

Beyond the saddle the trail did not follow a ridge in any direction. It lost a little more elevation passing under a hillside dotted with pink rhododendron.

The low elevation was approximately 5250′ which the trail dipped to briefly as it started to wind around the headwaters of Kelsey Creek. As we came around we started to climb and quickly realized that the trail was going to take us up and over the ridge we had been looking at from the viewpoint across the valley. From the low point the trail gained 150′ over the first three tenths of a mile before launching uphill to gain another 450′ in the next .4 miles.
Looking back at our route so far.

The trail coming around Kelsey Creek is visible on the hillside behind us.

The trail crested in yet another bunchgrass filled meadow.

The open hillside here provided views ahead to Fuji Mountain in the Waldo Lake Wilderness (post) as well as Diamond Peak and a good look at Mt. Bailey (post).
Fuji Mountain (left), flat topped Mt. David Douglass, Mt. Yoran (shorter thumb to the left of Diamond Peak), and Diamond Peak.

Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak

Mt. Bailey

We were particularly excited to see Mt. Bailey. It’s one we don’t often get a good view of due to its relatively low profile (8368′) and its alignment which often puts it behind Diamond Peak in the line of sight.

This meadow lasted off and on for a little over half a mile. There again wasn’t much beargrass in bloom but we did come upon a nice display of scarlet gilia, also known as skyrocket which seemed fitting on the 4th of July.

20190704_101615 A few orange agoseris were scattered about.

Scarlet gilia

More scarlet gilia

20190704_112526 Skyrocket

At the edge of the meadow we arrived at a rock outcrop.

The trail switchbacked down below the outcrop which was home to a few flowers of it’s own.

A thistle that was getting ready to bloom.

Wallflower

Below the outcrop the trail passed through more beargrass with Big Bunchgrass Meadow covering the hillside ahead with a bright green color.

We had one complaint as we headed toward our goal, the trail was losing elevation. Interestingly though we found ourselves in an entirely different type of forest than we had encountered during the hike so far. It had a drier feel with pines and a grassy forest floor.

Soon though we popped out into Big Bunchgrass Meadow which didn’t appear to have much if any bunchgrass. False hellebore, grasses, and flowers filled this meadow.

The flowers weren’t profuse but there was a nice variety and the butterflies seemed to be enjoying them.
Owl’s head clover

Larkspur, an owl’s head clover, and scarlet gilia

Aster or fleabane and an orange agoseris

Coneflower

Hyssop

Butterflies on a cat’s ear lily

20190704_105633 Wait that’s not a butterfly.

As the trail continued to lose elevation we decided to make our turnaround point a trail junction with a tie trail coming up to the meadow from the Bunchgrass Lower Trailhead. There was a post in the meadow with a pointer for the trail but it wasn’t exactly near the post and we missed it on our first pass. We turned around after rounding a small corner that gave us a nice view of Fuji Mountain.

Fuji Mountain

Looking back we realized just how far we had come down to reach the meadow.

As we came back around the small corner we spotted the faint trail veering off to the left.
The post, with an orange top, is up and to the right in front of a tree.

We headed back uphill and stopped for a break at the rock outcrop.
Heather at the rock outcrop.

I wandered up along the outcrop to see if there might be a good viewpoint atop the ridge. I was hoping for the Three Sisters and Broken Top but they were nowhere to be seen.

Big Bunchgrass Meadow and Fuji Mountain

Diamond Peak

I did find a little clump of Oregon sunshine though.

After our break we continued on looking for anything we might have missed on our first pass as well as for any wildlife.

Crab spider (probably waiting for that Washington lily to open)

Turkey vulture

Back in the valerian meadows

Not sure what this is going to be either.

We never did see that bear again, although there were several piles of scat along the trail. As for people we passed a group of three hikers at the viewpoint about 2 miles from the trailhead and a pair of mountain bikers at the junction near the trailhead. It was a little surprising to us that we didn’t see more, the trail was in great shape with good views and wildflowers. The first few miles were relatively easy too with the real climbing occuring in the latter half of the hike. We logged 11.8 miles on the GPS which seems to be right around where all our hikes have been lately. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Bunchgrass Ridge

Tags Bear, Beargrass, Bunchgrass RIdge, Butterfly, Diamond Peak, Eugene to Crest Trail, Eugene to Crest Trailhead #4, hiking, Kelsey Creek, Mt. Bailey, Mule Mountain, oakridge, Oregon, wildflowers

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Tidbits Mountain – 6/29/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 1, 2019
4 Comments on Tidbits Mountain – 6/29/2019

**Note the 2024 Ore Fire burned over the access road for the trailhead but spared the trails.**

As we continued to let the weather dictate our vacation plans we couldn’t pass up a “sunny” morning forecast for Tidbits Mountain near Blue River, OR. Another of Sullivan’s featured hikes, the trip to the site of a former lookout tower atop Tidbits Mountain is just 4.4 miles round trip from the Tidbits South Trailhead. This was actually a bit of a problem as the drive from Salem was a little over two and a half hours which meant our hiking time would most likely not be greater than our driving time which would break our rule of not driving longer than hiking. Our original plan to solve this was going to be making a second stop at the Lower McKenzie River Trailhead where we could hike as far as we liked on the McKenzie River Trail, but while researching the Tidbits Mountain hike another option presented itself.

The Gold Hill Trail travels 3.2 miles along a ridge to a junction with the Tidbits Mountain Trail three quarters of a mile from the summit of Tidbits Mountain. Instead of driving to a different trailhead we could spend some time on the Gold Hill Trail which the Forest Service warned sees only periodic maintenance.

We started our hike not at the Tidbits South Trailhead but rather along Forest Road 1509 where FR 877 headed uphill .2 miles to the trailhead on the left.
FR 877 at FR 1509

Both the Forest Service and Sullivan pointed out that FR 877 was steep and Sullivan added that turning around at the trailhead was “awkward”, thus our decision to walk up the road.

As we hiked up the road there were a couple of views of the rocky pinnacles of Tidbits Mountain on the left.

A sign marked the start of the Tidbits Mountain Trail.

The trail climbed gradually for 1.3 miles to a junction on a ridge crest. This section of trail passed through some old growth trees and was full of rhododendron blooms. It was by far the best display of rhododendron that we had seen.

There were a few other flowers along the way as well but none in anywhere near the numbers as the rhodies.
Penstemon

Showy phlox

Anemone

Iris

Arnica

At the junction we turned left following a pointer for the Tidbits Mountain Lookout.

This section of trail traversed a rocky hillside on the north side of Tidbits Mountain. Being on the north facing slope trillium were still in bloom and a few remnants of glacial lilies remained.

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The talus slopes below Tidbits Mountain allowed for some previews of the views to come at the summit.

Looking west toward the Green Mountain Lookout.

Green Mountain Lookout

Mt. Jefferson

Three Fingered Jack

The talus is also home to one of our favorite wild animals, the pika! They are not particularly easy to see but once you know what you are looking for with a little luck you’ll spot one of these rabbit relatives. It was a lucky day for us as we spotted two.
There is at least one pika in this picture.

There is another one in this picture.

When we weren’t scanning the rocks for pikas we did a lot of looking up at the formations above us.

Columbine and solomonseal in the talus slope.

Last of the snow along the talus.

At a saddle a half mile from the junction with the Gold Hill Trail we came to a second junction. This one was unsigned. To the right a trail headed downhill to the Tidbits West Trailhead. The Gold Hill Trail used to continue straight here but it was so faint and overgrown that we didn’t even see it on the first pass. We turned uphill to the left and began the steep .2 mile climb to the summit.

Catchfly on the way up.

Lookout remains below the summit.

Foundation remains

Wildflowers at the summit.

The 360 degree view from the summit was very good although our timing meant the sun was overhead between us and the Cascades impacting the ability to get clear photos of those mountains.
NE we could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and Three Fingered Jack.

Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson behind Iron Mountain and Cone Peak

Three Fingered Jack

The eastern view added Mt. Washington, The Three Sisters, and Mt. Bachelor.

Mt. Washington

Three Sisters

Mt. Bachelor

We could also just make out the lookout tower atop nearby Carpenter Mountain (post).

To the SE we could make out Maiden Peak, Mt. Thielsen, and Diamond Peak.

Maiden Peak (post)

Mt. Thielsen (post)

Diamond Peak

We spent a good amount of time on the summit taking in the view before descending to a lower viewpoint with a number of flowers.

Cat’s ear lilies

Oregon sunshine amid buckwheat

Penstemon and paintbrush

A fleabane or aster

Looking down from the lower viewpoint.

We then headed back down to the trail junction where we found the faint tread of Historical Gold Hill Trail. We followed it just far enough to get a close up view of a flower garden.

Western wallflower

Larkspur

20190629_092727 Paintbrush

20190629_093003 Cinquefoil

We returned to the Tidbits Mountain Trail and recrossed the talus slopes, this time we didn’t spot any pikas. We did stop to admire some of the flowers though.
20190629_093755 Baneberry

20190629_093642 Current

Bleeding heart, trillium and wood violets

20190629_093952 Wood violet

With the Sun starting to pass overhead Mt. Jefferson was a little more photogenic.

When we arrived back at the junction with the Gold Hill Trail we briefly searched for any sign of a former shelter that was indicated on the map.

After failing to uncover any sign of it we headed out on the Gold Hill Trail. Given the Forest Service mentioned that this trail only receives periodic maintenance we weren’t sure how far we might go but we were curious to check it out.

The trail was pretty overgrown, not crowded with brush, but it had a lot of vegetation growing in the middle of it indicating a lack of use.

We soon passed a rock outcrop where a patch of small monkeyflowers were blooming.

20190629_100226

We followed the trail a total of 2.7 miles losing a total of 800′ through a series of ups and downs as it followed a ridge to the north and east. We passed through some lovely forest filled with more blooming rhododendron and by several rock outcrops. There were occasional views of the Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor through the trees and also spotted some deer, at least one doe and fawn, as they dashed away through the trees. Despite the lack of use and periodic maintenance the trail was in pretty good shape with just a few trees to step over.

North and Middle Sister

Mt. Bachelor

20190629_104300 Showy phlox

Washington lilies getting ready to bloom

At the 2.7 mile mark the trail began a final 400′ descent in the remaining half mile to FR 1509. We weren’t overly keen on having to climb back up that just to say we reached the road plus we had set an 11:30 turn around time and it was just after 11:20. We noticed an open knoll just off trail to the right so we decided to check it out and make this be our turn around spot.

The knoll turned out to be very interesting. In addition to some nice views there were a number of flowers.

The Two Girls

Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters

Wolf Rock an Mt. Washington

North Sister

Middle Sister

South Sister

Mt. Jefferson had been overtaken by clouds but Iron Mountain and Cone Peak were still visible.

Buckwheat and paintbrush

Wallflower and cat’s ear lilies

Penstemon and paintbrush

After exploring the knoll we headed back looking for anything we missed on our first pass. We did notice a couple of interesting old tree trunks and a grouse crossed the trail in front of us.

Young tree growing out of an old trunk.

Grouse

We made our way back to the Tidbits Mountain Trail and returned to the trailhead without seeing another person until we ran into a gentleman at the trailhead who seemed to just be out for a drive and looking around. We ended up with a 10.5 mile hike which was perfect. It was a nice way to end our vacation. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Tidbits Mountain

Tags Gold Hill Trail, hiking, lookout tower, Oregon, Pika, Tidbits Mountain, Tidbits Mountain Trail, Tidbits South Trailhead, Two Girls, wildflowers, Wolf rock

Clackamas Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Fish Creek Mountain and High Lake – 6/28/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 1, 2019
5 Comments on Fish Creek Mountain and High Lake – 6/28/2019

**Note the 2020 Riverside Fire burned most of this hike.**

After taking Wednesday and Thursday off from hiking due to less than favorable weather forecasts we headed out on Friday planning on hiking the Riverside Trail along the Clackamas River. The forecast was for a 40% chance of showers and partly sunny so we thought a river hike was a safe bet and the Riverside Trail was one of Sullivan’s featured hikes that we had yet to do.

As we turned onto Highway 242 at Estacada though we began to rethink our plan. The sky had been relatively clear so far and we hated wasting a good river hike on a day where there might be views to have. Prior to knowing what the weather was going to be like we had originally had Fish Creek Mountain as one of our hikes for the week and as luck would have it the trailhead for that hike was also off of Highway 242. When we reached the sign for Indian Henry Campground (just before the 4th green bridge coming from the west) we veered right onto FR 4620. We followed this one lane paved road for 5.1 miles to gravel where we forked uphill for an additional 2.6 miles to the trailhead on the left. The trailhead is an old roadbed that is only marked by a wooden sign on a tree next to the start of the Fish Creek Mountain Trail. (Note: The sign is unreadable unless up close.)

The trailhead was moved to this location following the road to the original trailhead being washed out in 1996. The trail here was constructed by volunteers who connected it to the washed out road .4 miles from the original trailhead.

The trail gains 500′ over seven tenths of a mile as it climbs through a mixed forest to the decommissioned road.

We started to question our decision as we found ourselves in a bit of fog as we arrived at the old road.

Columbine along the decommissioned road.

The trail along this stretch was a bit overgrown in places and the moisture from the plants soaked us pretty good.

After a relatively level .4 miles along the road we arrived at the original trailhead where the trail headed up a ridge past a trail marker.

The trail climbed along the ridge and as it did we began to emerge from the fog.

The ridge was mostly forested with a few views to the west through the trees, but as we climbed occasional small meadows popped up filled with wildflowers.

20190628_075839

20190628_080307

Just over a mile and a quarter from the old road we came to a rocky outcrop where the flowers were amazing. As a bonus there was a nice view of Mt. Jefferson to the SE.

It wasn’t the largest wildflower area by any means, but there was an impressive variety of flowers in bloom, so much so that we stopped again on our way down.
Buckwheat

20190628_081050 A penstemon

False sunflower

A penstemon

20190628_081334 Oregon sunshine

>Lupine among others

20190628_081532 Cliff beardstounge

20190628_081630 Catchfly

Groundsel

blue head gilia

Bleeding heart

20190628_110821 Paintbrush

20190628_110922 Woodland stars

Larkspur and ballhead waterleaf

20190628_110713 Yarrow

20190628_111116 Valerian

20190628_110406 Cat’s ear lily

20190628_110329 Wild rose

20190628_110300 Buckwheat in blue head gilia

20190628_082032 Thimbleberry

Larkspur, leafy pea, and candy flower

Rhododendron (just around the corner from the outcrop)

Beyond the viewpoint the trail gained an additional 600′ over the next .7 miles to a fork. There were a few more flowers along this stretch, mostly white forest varieties.
20190628_082236 Star-flowered solomonseal

20190628_082244 Plumed solomonseal

20190628_082253 Vanilla leaf

20190628_082630 Pussytoes

Beargrass

Trail fork

From the fork the Fish Creek Mountain Trail continues uphill a little under a half mile to the site of the former lookout tower at the summit. The fork to the right heads downhill for .7 miles to High Lake. With blue sky overhead we decided to visit the summit first and stayed left at the junction.

Some of the foundation remains from the old lookout at the overgrown summit.

Despite the blue sky overhead clouds had moved in around us effectively eliminating any mountain views (Mt. Jefferson should have been visible from the summit). We rested a bit checking out the beargrass and a green beetle that was scurrying through the grass.

20190628_091138

We started back down and noticed a side trail to the left about 110 yards from the old lookout site. We headed up this path which lead to a rocky outcrop with a survey marker.

It looked like it would have been a pretty good viewpoint but for us it was just a view of the clouds passing by.

After watching for a view of Mt. Hood that never developed in a break in the clouds as they passed by we returned to the trail fork and turned left toward High Lake.

This trail lost nearly 500′ as it wound down to the small glacial lake. Nestled in a basin below Fish Creek Mountain the vegetation along the trail was quite a bit behind that along the Fish Creek Mountain Trail. Here huckleberry bushes were still sprouting leaves and trillium were still in bloom.

We even ran into a small patch of snow hiding under some downed branches along the trail.

The small lake was quite pretty and it was also full of rough skinned newts.

We followed a rough use trail around the lake past a handful of campsites.

Curious newt

It was a little too chilly to hang out by the lake so after completing the loop we started back up to the Fish Creek Mountain Trail. Along the way we finally got a glimpse of part of Mt. Hood, albeit not much of one.

Mt. Jefferson had all but disappeared too when we stopped back at the flower filled viewpoint.

We had at least had a good view earlier and the wildflowers had made this a great hike even if we hadn’t had any views. We headed back down looking for any other flowers to take pictures of and found a few.
20190628_113006_001 Inside out flower

20190628_113615 Spotted coralroot

20190628_113701 Stripped coralroot

20190628_114624 Starflower

Candy sticks

Wild strawberries

We were happy with our decision to forgo the Riverside Trail in favor of this hike. We had not expected to see such a variety of flowers in bloom which was a pleasant surprise. The combination of the flowers, a view of Mt. Jefferson and a nice lake made for a great 8.1 mile hike. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Fish Creek Mountain

Tags Fish Creek Mountain, Fish Creek Mountain Trail, High Lake, hiking, Mt. Jefferson, Oregon, wildflowers

Central Coast Hiking Oregon Oregon Coast Trip report

Cascade Head, Whalen Island, and Sitka Sedge – 6/25/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 29, 2019
4 Comments on Cascade Head, Whalen Island, and Sitka Sedge – 6/25/2019

As we finished up a four day stretch of hiking to start a week of vacation we were looking for the best chance of decent weather which brought us to the Oregon Coast for our second visit to Cascade Head. I had originally had a grandiose plan to hike from the lower trailhead all the way over to Harts Cove (post) but I hadn’t paid close enough attention to detail and we wound up going with a plan B.

We started the morning at Knight County Park.

Salmon River at Knight County Park

It had rained throughout most of our drive through the Coast Range but we were pleased to have been able to see the meadows on Cascade Head as we drove to the trailhead. We set off on the Nature Conservancy Trail which quickly crossed Three Rocks Road.

The trail climbed through the forest along Savage Road popping out of the trees at a field where we could see that the meadows were not nearly as clear as they had been just a bit earlier.

The fact that we could see the ocean was a bit encouraging though.

After crossing to the other side of the road the trail passed an active slide and recrossed to the original trailhead.

The trail continued to climb through the forest before leveling out for a bit as it crossed a series of overgrown streams on footbridges.

One of the bridges.

Overgrown stream

When we finally popped out of the trees around the mile and a half mark we found ourselves in some pretty thick fog.

We had hoped to see some of the elk herd that lives on Cascade Head but we couldn’t see much of anything, although we did spot a few birds.
White crowned sparrow

One of three hummingbirds

Another white crowned sparrow

There were just a few flowers scattered about as we made our way through and up the grassy meadow.
Checkerbloom

Monkeyflower

Yarrow

Field chickweed

Lupine

Parsley-leaf Lovage

Foxglove with a spider web

Clovers

Iris

Self-heal

With no views from the meadows when we finally reached the upper viewpoint we headed into the forest.

When we came to Siuslaw National Forest boundary my lack of attention to detail became apparent. I had seen where the road to the Upper Trailhead was closed annually from January 1st through July 15th, but I hadn’t noticed that the entire area starting at the boundary was closed to all traffic during that time period.

So much for that plan. We gathered under the awning over the Nature Conservancy signboard and mulled over our options. We decided that it might be a decent time to check out a couple of other nearby hikes – Whalen Island and Sitka Sedge. These two hikes would be just a little less mileage than our original plan with quite a bit less elevation gain, plus they were close to Pacific City which gave us a great excuse to have lunch at the Pelican Brewing Company.

With a new plan we headed back to the upper viewpoint where the conditions had improved slightly. We could make out the trees and even a bit of the ocean in the distance through the fog.

The problem seemed to be that the clouds/fog wasn’t coming in from the Pacific but was instead coming from inland up the Salmon River. We paused for a moment wondering if the view might clear up. While we were watching we spotted a doe walking along the tree line.
Look for the head to the right of the tall foxglove stalk.

We decided to keep descending figuring that we would still have a good view if the fog did happen to lift.

As we were headed in the direction of the Salmon River the fog did indeed clear in a span of just over a minute.

It was a remarkable change. As we were admiring the new, clearer view we noticed a pair of deer feeding in a gully far below us.

As we continued downhill we were encourage to see an actual pocket of blue sky.

We stopped to take in the view from the lower viewpoint.

From the lower viewpoint the trail turned back inland where things were taking another turn. It was now beginning to rain.

It was a fairly quick, damp, descent back to the car. We were briefly followed by a young fawn who quickly ran the other way when we turned around and spotted it. We had heard a couple of odd noises which caused Heather to turn and notice it. Were aren’t sure what prompted it to follow but hopefully it got back to it’s bed and mother.

The rain had ended by the time we arrived back at Knight Park and we headed north along Highway 101 for 12.7 miles to a sign for Pacific City and Sand Lake where we turned left. This was Brooten Rd. which we followed for 3.5 miles before turning left onto a bridge across the Nestucca River and into Woods. After 2.3 miles on what was now Sandlake Rd. we turned right at a T-shaped junction remaining on Sandlake Rd. for 2.9 more miles to the Clay Myers State Natural Area at Whalen Island on the left.

It was overcast here but not raining or foggy so that was a plus. We began our loop hike here by taking a trail near the southern end of the parking area.

The 1.5 mile loop here passes several viewpoints of Sand Lake and the Lillian Parker Craft wetland. Near the first viewpoint we spotted a rabbit.

The trail was nice and there were a few flowers along with the views.

Lupine

White crowned sparrow

Cape Lookout (post)

Beach morning glory

At the wetlands a curious hummingbird came to check us out.

Groundcone

Tiger lily

After completing this short loop we drove back south along Sandlake Rd a mile and turned right into the Sitka Sedge State Natural Area. Purchased by the State in 2014 this is a relatively new hiking area offering a couple of loop options.

We followed the Beltz Dike Trail to the start of the loops.

With water and wetlands on both sides of the dike we were a bit surprised by the lack of wildlife which was basically just a few ducks, some crows, and a number of smaller birds.

There appeared to have been quite a display of roses a bit earlier in the year.

On the far end of the dike we turned right onto the Estuary View Loop.

This trail passed through a typical coast forest and climbed to a viewpoint above the Sand Lake Estuary.

We scanned the estuary for any interesting wildlife but didn’t spot anything so we continued on. As the trail looped around and began heading south it became quite a bit sandier requiring a little extra effort.

At a rise in the trail there was a view south to Cape Kiwanda and Haystack Rock (post).

We missed the the pointer for beach access where the Woods and Estuary View Loops met and continued south on what was now the Kinnikinnik Woods Loop.

This section was much less sandy which made it easier to walk on.

At the next trail sign we did follow the beach access pointer but we mistook it on the map for the one we had already passed.

This path was a slightly longer route to the beach as it first paralleled it for nearly two tenths of a mile before a short spur trail to the right led out to it.

Cape Lookout lay to the north while Cape Kiwanda and Haystack Rock were to the south.

When we left the beach we turned right thinking that this was still the Kinnikinnik Woods Loop but a quick look at the Garmin showed that we were quickly approaching the outskirts of Pacific City so we promptly turned around and headed back to the junction and got ourselves back on the correct path.

We took a final short detour at the pointer for the Elk Knoll Trail.

This 500′ long path led to a bench atop a small knoll, there were no elk present.

After sitting briefly on the bench we completed the loop but not before Heather did one of the craziest dances I’d ever seen as we were walking along the trail. She had suddenly seen something right in front of her and thought it was some kind of big insect coming for her. It wasn’t.
Obstacle hanging over the trail.

We both got quite a laugh out of her fancy moves and chuckled all the way back to the trailhead. Despite our detour the hike here was still under 4 miles bringing the days total to 11.1 miles.

After a quick change we drove into Pacific City and stopped at the Pelican Brewery before heading back to Salem. The food and drink were a nice way to end four days of hikes. With more rain in the forecast over the next couple of days we’ll see when and where our next hike takes us. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Cascade Head, Whalen Island, and Stika Sedge

Tags cascade head, Clay Myers Natural Area, deer, Estuary View Loop, hiking, Kinnikinnik Wood Loop, Oregon, Oregon Coast, pacific city, pacific ocean, pelican pub & brewery, Sand Lake, Sand Lake Estuary, Sitka Sedge, Sitka Sedge State Natural Area, Whalen Island

Hiking Silver Star Mountain SW Washington Trip report Washington

Silver Star Mountain via Grouse Vista – 6/24/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 28, 2019
3 Comments on Silver Star Mountain via Grouse Vista – 6/24/2019

We continued to rearrange our vacation plans based on a seemingly ever changing forecast. On Sunday night the Monday forecast for Silver Star Mountain was mostly sunny so we decided to make our third visit to the area. Our first hike at Silver Star Mountain began at the Silver Star Mountain Trailhead in 2013 (post). The road to that trailhead has become extremely rough and is now only recommended for high clearance vehicles. Then in 2015 we used the Bluff Mountain Trail to visit Silver Star (post). A better road but still a bit rough and further away.

For this visit we would start at the Grouse Vista Trailhead. We took the Battleground approach described in the trailhead link which was a mostly paved road approach with just a final 5.5 miles of decent gravel driving.

The Tarbell Trail crosses the road at the trailhead. The route to Silver Star begins on the far side of the road, opposite the restrooms and signboard. (A Washington Discover Pass is required to park here.)

The trail climbs from the start as it follows an old roadbed uphill.

The Tarbell Trail splits off just before the .2 mile mark allowing for a loop. We stayed right at the fork on the Grouse Vista Trail.

The trail gains 500′ over the next half mile as it climbs up a ridge end. The rocky surface provides an added challenge.

As the trail begins to emerge from the trees Sturgeon Rock is visible across the Rock Creek Valley (when clouds aren’t hovering over it). The loop route that we were considering would have us descending beneath Sturgeon Rock.

The trail continued to climb around the ridge and we soon found ourselves with a view of Pyramid Rock (and the Sun).

Sturgeon Rock (still with cloud) and Pyramid Rock

A smattering of flowers were popping up along the trail as we approached Pyramid Rock.
Wild iris

Paintbrush and lupine

Daisies

Penstemon

Shortly before reaching Pyramid Rock we detoured on a spur to the right that lead up to a meadow in a saddle.

Here we had what would turn out to be our only view of a Cascade volcano on the day as Mt. Hood rose above a mass of clouds over the Columbia River Gorge.

We returned to the trail and continued heading toward Sturgeon Rock past ever improving flower displays.

paintbrush and mountain spirea

Beargrass

Columbine

A penstemon

More penstemon

Variety pack

Tiger lily

Golden pea and paintbrush

Another variety pack

Wallflower

As we neared the junction with the summit trail we could see that clouds had now overtaken Pyramid Rock.

They were moving up the Rock Creek drainage heading for the summit of Silver Star so when we arrived at the large rock cairn marking the junction we decided that we would skip the summit for now and head north on the Silver Star Trail.

Avalanche lilies near the junction.

Sign for the Silver Star Trail.

Silver Star Trail

We headed out along the Silver Star trail which began on top of the ridge. This was a new section of trail for us as we had done a big loop around the ridge on our first visit. There wasn’t much visible at the first viewpoint we arrived at but we were able to see Little Baldy which the Bluff Mountain Trail passes along.

We followed this trail along the ridge for just over a mile and a half passing in and out of the clouds as they in turn passed over the area. The lack of views was mildly disappointing but the flowers more than made up for it.

Sturgeon Rock momentarily out of the clouds.

Phlox

Beargrass

White crowned sparrow

We arrived at Ed’s Trail having already seen a wide variety of flowers.

We turned up Ed’s Trail wondering if we could possibly see any more types.

For the most part it was the same cast but in continuously different combinations.

There were a few new sightings though.
Cat’s ear lily

Rose

Violets

Rock penstemon

And some we’d seen but not a lot of yet.
Bleeding heart

Candy flower

Lousewort

An aster or fleabane

A unique feature of Ed’s Trail is a rock arch just past the one mile mark.

Backside of the arch.

Beyond the arch the next quarter of a mile gets a little tricky. There are two short but steep scramble sections. The first was a bit muddy making it a little slick. The second is a rocky section with pretty good holds.

We had forgotten just how steep these places were and had considered doing the loop in the opposite direction. We were glad we had not.

Silver Star’s summit soon came into view and although it was cloud free there didn’t appear to be much hope for views of the surrounding mountains anytime soon.

When we arrived back at the junction we eschewed the .3 mile climb to the summit opting to skip the 250′ climb since we’d been up there twice before and there weren’t going to be any views. Instead we continued past the rock cairn two tenths of a mile and turned down hill on a rocky unmarked roadbed.

This return route would add about 1.6 miles to the hike, but it would cut down on the amount of time spent descending on a rocky roadbed. We find that toward the end of hikes our feet and lower legs are much more sensitive to uneven terrain, especially loose rocks. We had been down this 1.4 mile section of road before passing the basalt columns of Sturgeon Rock.

Silver Star was not done with the flower show even though we were now in denser forest as we spotted some marsh marigolds and marsh corydalis near a wet area.
Marsh marigold

Marsh corydalis

The section of the Tarbell Trail that runs from the Grouse Vista Trailhead to Hidden Falls had been closed on weekdays during much of 2018 due to an active logging operation. There were plenty of signs of it when we arrived at the junction with that trail.

We turned left onto the Tarbell Trail which followed the new logging road for a bit before crossing it into the clear cut.

Pyramid Rock from the Tarbell Trail

Black headed grosbeak

Mountain parnassian

After descedning a series of switchbacks the trail left the clear cut and reentred the forest before reaching a footbridge over Rock Creek.

Beyond Rock Creek the trail traversed the hillside beneath Pyramid Rock wrapping around the ridge end to meet the Grouse Vista Trail. Along this final stretch we noticed some green orchids near a seep that was also popular with butterflies.

The trailhead parking lot had filled up while we’d been hiking but we only ran into a half dozen people on the trails, far fewer than the number of different flowers we had seen over our 11.1 miles. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Silver Star Mountain via Grouse Vista

Tags bluff mountain trail, Ed's Trail, Grouse Vista Trail, Grouse Vista Trailhead, hiking, Pyramid Rock, Rock Arch, Silver Star Mountain, silver star trail, Sturgeon Rock, Washington, wildflowers