Tag: Butterfly

Joyce Lake and Nasty Rock – 07/13/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 15, 2024
2 Comments on Joyce Lake and Nasty Rock – 07/13/2024

Our quest to seek out new to us trails had us turning back to Matt Reeder’s “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region” (1st edition). Because the book was released in 2016 it pre-dates the 2020 Riverside and Beachie Creek Fires that devastated much of this region leaving many of the hike descriptions out-of-date. We were fortunate enough to experience most of the hikes, at least in part, prior to those fires.

One of the hikes that we had not yet gotten to was Reeder’s hike #4-Upper Molalla Divide. Reeder describes three options starting at two different trailheads ranging from a 0.7-mile loop at Joyce Lake and a 2.8-mile out-and-back to Nasty Rock. These hikes largely escaped the recent fires except for a couple of small sections of the trail to Nasty Rock scarred by the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire. On the other hand, other than the trail around Joyce Lake, the trails are rarely if ever maintained.

We decided to start our day at Joyce Lake when we found the trailhead parking area empty. Two of the three described hikes start from this trailhead, the very short loop around Joyce Lake, and a 2.6-mile loop combining the abandoned Baty Butte Trail and gravel roads.
The unsigned trail enters the forest across from a small pullout.

The trail quickly arrives at a campsite where we then headed left on the loop around the lake which is stocked with fish.

Bunchberry

Fish

Rough skinned newt

After completing the loop around the lake we headed back toward the road from the campsite looking for the abandoned Baty Butte Trail. It wasn’t easy to spot but a metal diamond on a tree marked the start of this trail.

After pushing through some Rhododendron the trail became a little easier to follow.

We had hiked a portion of this old trail in 2019 to Baty Butte itself (post) and were hoping to get more of the trail in, but just under half a mile from the start of the trail we came to a small talus slope.
Flagging and some old trail maintenance along the Baty Butte Trail.

On the far side of the talus a tree had fallen onto the thick vegetation creating a matt of leaves and branches that covered the tread.
We could see the tread continuing on the other side of the thicket.

Vegetation covering the trail.

We initially thought that we might be able to dip below the downed tree, but the hillside below was covered with thorny devil’s club. Going up and around didn’t look any more promising, and even if we did find a way around this there was another mile of trail before reaching a powerline road that we would be turning onto. We accepted defeat here and turned back. Between Joyce Lake and the failed attempt at the longer loop our hike here was just 1.5-miles with a couple hundred feet of elevation gain.

From the Joyce Lake Trailhead we continued 3.9-miles to the trailhead for the Nasty Rock Hike. (Note that online searches and Google maps for the Nasty Rock Trailhead will provide results for the Willamette National Forest’s Nasty Rock Trailhead which is currently closed due to the Beachie Creek fire and does not actually lead to Nasty Rock.)
The trailhead is located at a turnaround at the end of BLM road 7-4E-11.1.

The BLM refers the Nasty Rock Trail as “historic” and the area was part of a BLM study for addition to the adjacent Opal Creek Wilderness in 2013. That study found that the area met all the criteria and characteristics for a wilderness, but the addition never moved forward. The 2013 study mentioned that the trail was not being annually maintained but it was still “usable”. Having just been turned back on our earlier hike we were prepared for a similar experience here, although a 2022 trip report on Oregonhikers.org indicated that the trail was still passable at that time. While the trail itself still shows on the BLM’s recreation map there is no trailhead symbol shown.

Before setting off we took a moment to admire the roadside wildflowers.

Oregon sunshine, lupine and paintbrush.

Larkspur, paintbrush, and Oregon sunshine.

Penstemon, paintbrush, and valerian.

The Nasty Rock Trail, like the Baty Butte Trail, was not obvious from the parking area. Again a metal diamond on a tree helped us locate the trail heading uphill from the road below.

The trail initially climbs as it wraps around a shoulder of Burnt Mountain. The tread is narrow in places, and a bit overgrown.

Westen featherbells

Bistort

Arnica

Bear sign on the trail.

Paintbrush and lousewort

The trail then traversed the hillside below Burnt Mountain entering the Beachie Creek fire scar a third of a mile from the start of the trail.
Nasty Rock from the trail.

Entering the fire scar.

The trail was especially overgrown in the fire scar.

Penstemon

Columbine along the trail.

Valerian

Exiting the fire scar after less than 100 yards.

The trail continued on a fairly level grade past Burnt Mountain then curving to the West as it followed a ridge toward Nasty Rock.

While none of the several downed trees posed much of an issue the condition of the trail made for slow going.

The trail crossed the ridge near the mile mark where views opened up.
Nasty Rock sticking up ahead.

Not Nasty Rock further along the ridge and in the Beachie Creek fire scar.

Wildflowers were blooming in the openings along the ridge.

Arrowleaf buckwheat

Checkerspot on Oregon sunshine

Oregon sunshine

Table Rock (post)

Mt. Hood peecking up from behind a ridge.

Scarlet gilia

Nasty Rock from the trail.

Flowers below the trail.

Flowers above the trail.

Buckwheat

As the trail neared Nasty Rock it entered another section of forest burned in the Beachie Creek fire.

The trail steepened noticeably before effectively ending on the SW shoulder of Nasty Rock.

There were a lot of nice Washington lilies below Nasty Rock with more to come over the next week or two.

Wintergreen

Nasty Rock from the trail.

The trail below Nasty Rock.

Nasty Rock from the end of the “trail”. Prior to the 2020 fire a rougher use trail continued on to Not Nasty Rock, but we didn’t see any obvious tread. (We weren’t really looking though either.) We made the fairly easy scramble to the top of Nasty Rock and took a short break.

The view was all too familiar with the horizon filled with wildfire smoke. Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood were easy to see, but other Cascades such as Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters were barely visible through the haze.
Mt. Jefferson from Nasty Rock.

Mt. Jefferson with the flat-topped Battle Ax (post), and rounded Whetstone Mountain (post) to the right.

Mt. Hood in the distance.

French Creek Ridge with the rounded Marten Buttes (post) in the foreground. Behind is the flat-topped Coffin Mountain (post), Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters.

Looking out across the Molalla River drainage to the Table Rock Wilderness.

Rooster Rock is the rock outcrop to the left with Table Rock the tall feature to the right. Pechuck Lookout can be seen on the lower hilltop in the center foreground.

Not Nasty Rock from Nasty Rock. The highest peak diagonally left of Not Nasty Rock is Rocky Top (post).

We were joined at the summit by a swarm of flying ants obsessed with this fir tree.

After our break we headed back. There were several breaks along the way as we stopped to watch the numerous butterflies visiting the flowers.
Checkerspot on Oregon sunshine

Swallowtail resting on serviceberry.

Blue bells of Scotland

Fritillaries on mountain coyote mint

Clodius parnassian on mountain coyote mint.

Fleabane

Buckwheats, paintbrush, Oregon sunshine and at least one butterfly.

Scarlet gilia

Larkspur

Washington lily

Inside-out flower

Fritillary

Beardtongue

Pink pyrola

Bead lily a.k.a. Queen’s cup

Bunchberry

Cat’s ear mariposa lily

Approaching the road.

Another round of roadside flowers occurred before packing up and heading home.

Larkspur and yarrow

Checkerspots on Oregon sunshine

Including the roadside flower wanderings our hike here came to 3 miles with approximately 600′ of elevation gain.

At 4.5 miles total these two stops made for a fairly easy day despite the rough trail conditions. The roads were in good shape to both trailheads, but please note that the area sees heavy log truck traffic on weekdays. We didn’t see anyone during either stops and somewhat surprisingly still didn’t see anyone parked at the Joyce Lake Trailhead when we passed back by close to Noon.

Nasty Rock was a bit of a bittersweet hike seeing all of the familiar areas burned by the 2020 fires, but we were glad to have finally made it up there. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Joyce Lake and Nasty Rock

Tags Baty Butte Trail, blm, Butterfly, hiking, Joyce Lake, Molalla Divide, Molalla River, Nasty Rock, Nasty Rock Trail, Nasty Rock Trailhead, Not Nasty Rock, opal creek wilderness, Oregon, wildflowers

Hiking Year-end wrap up

2023 Wildlife Gallery Part 2 – Featherless Friends

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 20, 2024
No Comments on 2023 Wildlife Gallery Part 2 – Featherless Friends

As we did last year we’ve split our wildlife recap into two posts, feathered (post) and featherless. As with all our wildflower and wildlife posts any corrections or additions to our attempts at identifying what we’ve photographed is greatly appreciated. One other note, while we really enjoy taking pictures as a way to record what we see on our hikes, we are by no means photographers. We use our phones and a point and shoot camera on the auto setting, so the pictures are far from professional, but we hope you enjoy them. Finally, we do practice Leave No Trace Principles including Principle 6: Respect Wildlife which means observing from a distance, never feeding, and respecting any area wildlife closures. We urge others to do the same and recreate responsibly.

The highlight of the year was getting to watch a badger make its way down Central Patrol Road in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on 9/4/23.

Harvester ants – 5/29/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

Ant on penstemon – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Crab spider on a California harebell – 6/25/23, North Umpqua Trail, BLM Roseburg District

Bee – 9/3/23, Threemile Canyon, BLM Burns District

Bees – 7/8/23, Sand Mountain, Willamette National Forest

Sweat bee? and a beetle on a prickly pear cactus – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Beetle – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Beetle – 7/29/23, Stuart Falls Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Beetle on a white mariposa lily – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Beetle and another bug on spirea – 7/4/23, Rocky Top Trail, Santiam State Forest

Beetles on thistle – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Ladybug on a daisy – 7/4/23, Natural Arch Trail, Santiam State Forest

Common pill-bug – 6/25/23, North Bank Habitat, BLM Roseburg District

Beetle – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Beetle and a butterfly on buckwheat – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Grasshopper – 9/3/23, P Ranch, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Cricket – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Caterpillar – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Caterpillar – 7/1/23, Hummocks Trail, Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, WA

Caterpillar – 8/16/23, West Eagle Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Millipede – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Millipedes – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Eight-spotted Forester-Alypia octomaculata – 7/4/23, Niagra Heights Road, Santiam State Forest

Fireweed Clearwing Moth (Albuna pyramidalis) – 7/4/23, Niagra Heights Road, Santiam State Forest

Moth – 7/4/23, Niagra Heights Road, Santiam State Forest

Moths – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husum, WA

Moth – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husum, WA

Moth – 6/16/23, Trail 1890, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Moth – 7/4/23, Rocky Top Trail, North Santiam State Park

Moth – 6/25/23, North Umpqua Trail, BLM Roseburg District

Moth – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Moth – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

Moth – 7/8/23, Santiam Wagon Road, Willamette National Forest

Sphinx moth – 8/17/23, West Eagle Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Fly and butterfly – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Boisduval’s blues? – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husum, WA

Acmon blue? – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Eastern tailed blue? – 5/13/23, Graham Oaks Nature Park, Wilsonville

Butterfly in the Lycaenidae family – 5/2/23, Sterling Mind Ditch Trail System, BLM Medford District

Butterfly in the Lycaenidae family – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Butterfly in the Lycaenidae family – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Butterfly in the Lycaenidae family – 6/13/23, Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site, Joseph

Echo azures? – 5/4/23, Forest Road 011, Rogue-River Siskiyou National Forest

Butterfly in the Lycaenidae family – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husum, WA

Butterflies in the Lycaenidae family – 7/4/23, Niagra Heights Road, Santiam State Forest

Gray hairstreak – 6/11/23, Lewis & Clark Trail, Hermiston

Thicket hairstreak? – 7/8/23, Sand Mountain, Willamette National Forest

A hairstreak – 6/3/23, Buck Creek Trail, Husum, WA

Various butterflies – 6/16/23, Deep Creek Stairway Trail, Payette National Forest, ID

Lorquin’s admiral – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Red admiral – 7/23/23, Metolius River Trail, Deschutes National Forest

California sister – 10/8/23, Forest Road 041, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Painted lady – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

California tortoiseshell – 9/16/23, Fish Lake Trail, Mt. Hood National Forest

Milbert’s tortoiseshell – 8/14/23, Main Eagle Creek Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Hoary comma – 7/8/23, Sand Mountain, Willamette National Forest

Mourning cloak – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Common wood nymph – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Ochre ringlet – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Checkerspot – 7/29/23, Stuart Falls Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Checkerspot – 7/1/23, Boundary Trail, Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, WA

Snowberry checkerspot – 7/1/23, Boundary Trail, Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, WA

Edith’s checkerspot – 7/8/23, Sand Mountain, Willamette National Forest

Mylitta crescent – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

A crescent? – 5/13/23, Graham Oaks Nature Park, Wilsonville

Fritillary butterflies – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

A fritillary – 7/4/23, Rocky Top Trail, Santiam State Forest

A fritillary – 7/15/23, Forest Road 4610, Mt. Hood National Forest

Indra swallowtail – 5/4/23, Kerby Flat Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Oregon swallowtail? with ladybug – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Swallowtail – 6/3/23, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Trout Lake, WA

Western swallowtails – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Swallowtail – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

A sulphur – 9/9/23, Alta Lake Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Large marble – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

Becker’s white – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Male margined white? – 8/29/23, Newell Creek Canyon Nature Park, Oregon City

Mountain parnassian – 6/15/23, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Clodius parnassian – 7/29/23, Pumice Flat Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Silver-spotted Skipper – 6/14/23, Eureka Bar, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

A skipper – 5/28/23, Criterion Tract, BLM Prineville District

A skipper – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

A skipper – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

A skipper – 9/3/23, Threemile Canyon, BLM Burns District

Skipper on a sagebrush mariposa lily – 7/23/23, Metolius River Trail, Deschutes National Forest

A skipper – 9/3/23, P Ranch, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Duskywing? – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

Duskywing – 5/3/23, Waters Creek Interpretive Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Dreamy duskywing – 6/12/23, Imnaha River Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Dragonfly – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

Dragonfly – 7/1/23, Hummocks Trail, Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, WA

Dragonfly – 7/15/23, Plaza Lake, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Dragonfly – 7/31/23, Godfrey Glen Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Dragonfly – 9/2/23, Idlewild Loop Trail, Malheur National Forest

Slug – 4/29/23, Canemah Bluff Nature Park, Oregon City

Snail – 4/15/23, Enchanted Valley Trail, Siuslaw National Forest

Rough skinned newt – 4/15/23, Cape Mountain, Siuslaw National Forest

Tadpoles – 9/9/23, Pacific Crest Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Western toads – 9/9/23, Pacific Crest Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Full grown western toad – 9/9/23, Pacific Crest Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Cascade frog – 9/9/23, Pacific Crest Trail, Sky Lakes Wilderness

Pacific treefrog – 9/3/23, Threemile Canyon, BLM Burns District

Northern red-legged frog – 8/26/23, Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Cloverdale

Bullfrog (invasive) – 4/22/23, Talking Water Gardens, Albany

Western pond turtles – 4/22/23, Talking Water Gardens, Albany

Southern alligator lizard – 6/24/23, Rogue River National Recreation Trail, Wild Rogue Wilderness

Western fence lizard – 5/3/23, Waters Creek Interpretive Trail, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Sagebrush lizard – 7/22/23, Shut-In Trail, Deschutes National Forest

Pygmy short-horned lizard – 7/8/23, Santiam Wagon Road, Willamette National Forest

Gopher snake – 6/25/23, North Bank Habitat, BLM Roseburg District

Garter snake – 4/22/23, Dave Clark Riverfront Path, Albany

Rubber boa? – 6/14/23, Imnaha Trail, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Nutria (invasive) – 5/13/23, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Sherwood

Beaver – 5/29/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

Yellow-bellied marmot – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Gray squirrel – 4/22/23, Dave Clark Riverfront Path, Albany

Douglas’ squirrel – 4/22/23, Dave Clark Riverfront Path, Albany

Eastern fox squirrel? – 4/29/23, Newell Creek Canyon Nature Park, Oregon City

Columbian ground squirrel – 8/16/23, Tombstone Lake Trail, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Golden-mantled ground squirrel – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Chipmunk – 8/5/23, McNeil Point scramble trail, Mt. Hood Wilderness

Pika – 8/5/23, McNeil Point Trail, Mt. Hood Wilderness

Rabbit – 5/13/23, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Sherwood

Mountain cottontail – 5/29/23, Riley Ranch Preserve, Bend

Fawns – 7/31/23, Garfield Peak Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Doe – 5/20/23, Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Washougal, WA

Buck – 7/31/23, Rim Trail, Crater Lake National Park

Elk – 6/15/23, Buckhorn Road (FR 46), Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Horses – 9/3/23, Threemile Canyon, BLM Burns District

Bat -5/2/23, Sterling Mine Ditch Tunnel, BLM Medford District

Seals – 11/18/23, Siletz Bay, Lincoln City

Shell with inhabitant – 11/18/23, Nelscott Beach, Lincoln City

Starfish – 10/28/23, Short Beach, Oceanside

Trout – 8/16/23, Tombstone Lake, Eagle Cap Wilderness

Fish – 6/16/23, Hells Canyon Reservoir, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

Tags beaver, butterflies, Butterfly, deer, elk, hiking, Lizard, Oregon, Pika, snake, Washington

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Natural Rock Arch, Rocky Top, & North Santiam Park – 07/04/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 6, 2023
5 Comments on Natural Rock Arch, Rocky Top, & North Santiam Park – 07/04/2023

Traditionally we take a hike on July 4th somewhere in the Cascade foothills. Last year we broke that tendency by spending an extended weekend in California’s Siskiyou Wilderness (post). This year we set our sights back on the Cascade foothills with plans to hike three short trails featured in a couple of Matt Reeder’s guidebooks. All of the trails we were visiting today were impacted by the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire.

Our first stop of the morning was at the Natural Rock Arch Trailhead. Located in the Santiam State Forest Reeder combines the Natural Rock Arch Trail and the Rocky Top Trail as hike #15 in his “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region” 2nd edition.

The forecast for Salem was for temps in the mid-90s so we got an early start.

The Natural Rock Arch Trail set off downhill from the small parking area through burned woods.

There were a number of wildflowers blooming along the trail including some impressive Cascade lilies.
Bleeding heart and penstemon

Iris

Cascade lily

Scouler’s bluebell

Inside-out flower

A few green trees remain.

Another Cascade lily

The trail was in pretty good shape overall and we could tell there was ongoing trail work. It looked like there were some rock steps that were going be placed in this section.

Penstemon

Oregon sunshine

It was a half mile descent to the Natural Rock Arch.

View from the arch.

Fin below the arch.

The trail continues through the arch and uphill a short distance on the other side to a small cave/overhang.

After visiting the arch we hiked back up to the trailhead regaining the 500′ in elevation we’d lost on the way down. The climb was the main reason we’d started with this trail preferring to make the climb before it got too warm.

In the guidebook Reeder has you drive to the Rocky Top Trailhead which is just under 2 miles away. The last mile or so of the drive to the Natural Rock Arch Trailhead had been a little rough and I didn’t feel like two more miles of the same so we decided to walk the road instead. While there was another 500′ of elevation difference between the two trailheads the gain looked to be very gradual on the topographic map.

This wound up being a great choice as the road was lined with wildflowers for nearly its entire length, and we also spotted a pika along the way.

Snowberry checkerspot

Rocky Top straight ahead.

Penstemon and big deer vetch

Cascade lily

Oregon sunshine, penstemon, Oregon bedstraw, and a daisy or two.

Oregon sunshine and paintbrush

There was a fair amount of shade while the Sun was still low.

Paintbrush and penstemon

Thimbleberry

Bleeding heart. There was more bleeding heart on this hillside than we’d ever seen in one spot.

Eight-spotted Forester-Alypia octomaculata

Pika below the road.

Pika

Rhododendron

The Three Sisters on a hazy morning.

Anemone

Paintbrush and lupine

Beargrass

A few patches of green below Rocky Top.

This was probably the worst spot in the road in between the two trailheads.

Bunchberry

Trillium with a few petals yet to fall off.

Violets

Spirea and valerian

Large boykinia

Lots of lupine.

Larkspur and phacelia

Arriving at the Rocky Top Trailhead.

A Marion County Sherrif drove up in his pickup as I arrived at the trailhead. We had a nice talk before he started back down the road. Heather arrived shortly afterward and we started up the Rocky Top Trail together.

Clodius paranssian

More flowers awaited along the 0.7 climb to the former lookout site atop Rocky Top.
Columbine

Beardstongue

Lupine

The road from the trail. The taller, rounded, peak in the center is Sardine Mountain (post). Sardine Mountain Road has yet to reopen after the 2020 fire.

Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters.

We decide the primary cause of the haze was smoke from the Tunnel 5 Fire on the Washington side of the Columbia River across from Hood River with the fires in Canada most likely adding their own smoke to the mix. The hazy view didn’t bother us though as the wildflowers and abundant pollinators held our attention.

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

Mt. Jefferson through the haze.

Elkhorn Ridge (post) with Mt. Hood in the distance to the right. Elkhorn Ridge and Opal Creek Wilderness beyond were severely impacted by the fire and remain closed for now.

Mt. Hood above ridges of burned forest.

The loss of the trees did result in better views of the various rock formations in the area.

We’d never seen so many of these eight-spotted forester moths.

Hummingbird taking a rest from visiting the penstemon and paintbrush.

Another moth that had some excellent camo.

The moth putting its camouflage to use.

Penstemon

Rose

Rocky Top from the trail.

This was the only pink colored penstemon we spotted.

Lupine and beargrass

Not sure which of the Lycaenidae this is but it was pretty.

The spirea was popular.

Bumble bee

At one point it looked like Three Fingered Jack was sitting on top of Coffin Mountain (post).

Nice blue sky overhead.

Looking North. Henline Mountain (post) is the high peak on the other side of Elkhorn Ridge.

Bistort and penstemon

Haven’t been able to identify this one yet.

Beargrass

A snowberry checkerspot and some fried avalanche lilies.

The trail wound behind Rocky Top to come up the West ridge to the summit.

Arnica

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Tiger lily and beardstongue

Catchfly

There was a 360-degree view from the summit which was of course impacted by the smoke. On a clear day we would have been able to see Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens in Washington but we settled for a string of Oregon Cascades and Mary’s Peak in the Coast Range.
Not sure what the story is behind this chair, but we weren’t about to test its stability.

Detroit Lake

Mary’s Peak (post) is really hard to make out, but it is on the far left of the horizon.

Looking North we could see Table Rock (post), the high point in the center, behind Henline Mountain closer and to the left and Elkhorn Ridge nearest.

Closer look at Table Rock.

Henline Mountain, Table Rock, Mt. Hood, in front and just to the right of Mt. Hood is Whetstone Mountain (post) and the two humps in the distance to the far right are North and South Dickey Peaks.

Mountain bluebird checking us out.

Mt. Jefferson

Three Fingered Jack behind Coffin Mountain, Maxwell Butte (post), Mt. Washington, the Three Sisters, and The Husband.

While we were at the summit we spotted another car driving up the road to the trailhead so after a nice break we headed back to let the next visitor(s) have their turn.

Zerene fritillary

Beargrass

Moth and a checkerspot

We passed the couple from the car about halfway down the trail. It would be the only other hikers we would pass on the trails this day. (We did see a few others but not on the trails.)
The road walk between trailheads was a butterfly bonanza. The road was now in full sunlight and that had brought out hundreds of butterflies and moths.

A bee, a moth, and a butterfly land on some flowers…

Painted lady

Fireweed Clearwing Moth (Albuna pyramidalis).

A fritillary and a copper.

Two coppers and a bee.

Checkerspots, a bee, a copper and part of an eight-spotted forester moth.

Eight-spotted forester moth.

The previous four photos were all from this group of Oregon sunshine.

Bleeding heart, no butterfly but a nice group of blossoms.

More moths and butterflies.

Swallowtail on penstemon

One of the blues I think, but not sure which.

Lorquin’s admiral

With the road walk included our hike here came in at 6.4 miles with a little over 1800′ of cumulative elevation gain.

We headed back toward Salem and turned into the North Santiam State Recreation Area (3.8 miles West of Mill City or 28.6 miles East of Salem along Highway 22.) While this is a State Recreation Area Marion County is managing the park through at least 2024 following the 2020 fire. Reeder described a 2.3-mile loop here but we weren’t sure what we’d find with limited information available online. We parked near the day-use picnic area and followed the sidewalk left past a large signboard for the campground to a small “Trail” sign.

We turned onto a wide mowed path and followed it into the fire scar which was hosting masses of very tall fireweed.

Sparrow

Stellar’s jay

We almost missed the spur trail to the larger loop which was unsigned and hidden by some brush.
The spur trail is to the right just ahead.

We turned right onto the spur and quickly came to a “T” junction where we turned right following a “To River” sign.

We watched a norther flicker fly into the snag ahead and it took a minute to figure out where he was.

The flicker

At the river the trail curved right following it to the camping area.

Trailing blackberries. We might have found a few ripe ones.

Arriving at the camping area.

North Santaim River

We continued on what was now a paved path to a road
Oregon grape

Mock orange

The boat launch.

North Santiam River

It was a lot cooler by the river than it was on the paths so we lingered for a bit before heading back to the loop. Prior to the fire the loop crossed the road to the boat launch and continued in the forest eventually crossing the park entrance road and completing the loop near the “To River” sign. We quickly discovered that the loop no longer existed on the north side of the roads. We up the boat launch road past the trail we arrived on then past the park host. We could have just turned right at the parking lot, but we decided to see if any of the loop remained. A short way up the entrance road we spotted paint for a crosswalk.
The park host on the left and the parking lot on the right.

Crosswalk for the pre-fire loop.

Looking North from the crosswalk there was zero sign of the former trail.

They had at least restored this short section of the loop so we were able to return to the spur trail and turn right then right again to complete the inner loop.

The “To River” sign at the spur trail junction.

Possibly a western wood pee-wee

Spotted towhee

Osprey

The park host from the trail.

The loop as we did it is now only 1.7-miles with 50′ of elevation gain.

The park wasn’t as crowded as we thought it might be on a hot holiday and there was no one else hiking the trails here. It was a nice enough end to a good day hiking and we had finished just after Noon so we had avoided the hottest parts of the day. To be honest we hadn’t expected a whole lot from any of these hikes and had chosen them primarily for their proximity to Salem, but the Natural Rock Arch and Rocky Top far exceeded our expectations. We were home around 1pm and had the rest of the afternoon to relax with the cats. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Natural Rock Arch, Rocky Top, and North Santiam Park

Tags Albuna pyramidalis, Beachie Creek Fire, Butterfly, hiking, Natuarl Rock Arch Trailhead, Natural Rock Arch, North Santiam Park, North Santiam River, North Santiam State Recreation Area, Oregon, Rocky Top, santiam state forest, wildflowers

Hiking Year-end wrap up

2022 Wildlife Gallery Part 2 – Featherless Friends

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 26, 2023
No Comments on 2022 Wildlife Gallery Part 2 – Featherless Friends

This year we split our wildlife gallery into two posts starting with our feather friends (post). We now move on to our featherless friends which ranged from tiny ants to bull elk and an almost too friendly black bear. It was an especially good year for deer including several encounters with does and fawns.

We’ll start out small and work our way up to the larger mammals.
Ants dropping sawdust from a log along the Catherine Creek Trail. We sat and watched these busy ants for quite a while. They had created a good-sized pile on the ground below.

We see a lot of beetles but usually not all at once like these lady bugs on Observation Peak.

Lady bug – Upper Table Rock

Yellow & black beetle – Mule Mountain

Redish brown beetle – Siskiyou Wilderness

Green beetle – Siskiyou Wilderness

Hitchhiker – Mt. Ireland

Blueish green beetle – Catherine Creek Meadows

Small beetle – Catherine Creek Meadows

Green beetle on a geranium – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Green beetle on a wallflower – Silver Star Mountain

Stripped beetle – Spring Valley Greenway

Water skippers – Big Twin Lake

Spider on thimbleberry – Siskiyou Wilderness

Crab spider – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Another crab spider – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Cricket – Pacific Crest Trail

We are often literally struck by grasshoppers as we hike. Sometimes they stick when they hit us such as this one along the PCT.

Bee on phacelia – Mule Mountain

Wet bee on lupine – Julia Butler Hanson Wildlife Refuge

Bumble bee – Hemlock Creek Trail

Lots of pollen – Mt. Adams Wilderness

Bee landing on a marsh marigold along the PCT

Bee approaching penstemon – Siskiyou Wilderness

Bee and a tiny ant in a bindweed – Siskiyou Wilderness

Insects on thistle – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Wasp? – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Some sort of wasp – Silver Star Mountain

Insect along Bear Creek – Eagle Cap Wilderness

My brother and I used to call these “weird things”; I have no idea what it actually is – Trinity Alps Wilderness

Damsel fly – Denman Wildlife Area

Damsel fly – Hemlock Lake

Dragon fly – Goat Marsh Lake

Dragon fly – Siskiyou Wilderness

Dragon fly – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Dragon fly along the Wallowa River – Wallowa Homeland

Dragon fly – E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area

Dragon fly – Hemlock Lake

Dragon fly – Sky Lakes Wilderness

Snail – Rock Creek Trail

Snail – Applegate Lake

Snail – North Siouxon Trail

Snail – Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge

Snail – Siskiyou Wilderness

Snail – Cascade Head

Slug – Larch Mountain Trail

Slug (and a fly) – Susan Creek Trail

Slug – Fish Lake

Slug on lupine – Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge

Slug and an unfortunate earth worm – Rock Creek Trail

Worms – Chehalem Ridge Nature Park

Millipede – North Siouxon Trail

Millipede – Rock Creek Trail

Millipede – Illahee Rock

Millipede – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Wet caterpillar – Yakona Nature Preserve

Dry version – Larch Mountain Trail

Caterpillar – Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge

Caterpillar – Siskiyou Wilderness

Caterpillar – Larch Mountain Trail

Moth – Klickitat Trail

Moth -Eagle Cap Wilderness

Moth – Twin Lakes

Moth – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Moth – Wolf Creek Falls Trail

Moth – Cascade Head

Propertius duskywing (Erynnis propertius) – Klickitat Trail

Duskywing – Siskiyou Wilderness

Northern Cloudywing? – Siskiyou Wilderness

Silver-spotted skipper – Siskiyou Wilderness

Skipper – Grizzly Peak

Skipper – Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness

Skipper – E. E. Wilson Wildlife Area

Hairstreak (bramble?) – Siskiyou Mountains

Cedar hairstreak – Siskiyou Wilderness

Hairstreak (possibly thicket) – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Ochre ringlet – Jack Ash Trail

Butterfly – Siskiyou Wilderness

Butterfly – Trinity Alps Wilderness

Butterfly – Upper Table Rock

Butterfly – Mule Mountain

Butterfly – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Butterfly – Mt. Adams Wilderness

Butterfly – Mt. Ireland

Butterfly – Trinity Alps Wilderness

Butterfly – Silver Star Mountain

Butterfly – Russian Wilderness

Butterfly – Trinity Alps Wilderness

Sara’s orangetip – Klickitat Trail

Common woodnymph – E. E. Wilson Wildlife Area

Another woodnymph – Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness

Orange sulphur – Siskiyou Wilderness

Mountain parnassian – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Clodius parnassian – Hemlock Lake

Western white? – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Western white – Trinty Alps Wilderness

Pine white – Russian Wilderness

Butterfly – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Butterfly – Russian Wilderness

Butterfly – Mt. Adams Wilderness

Butterfly – Mule Mountain

Butterfly – Silver Star Mountain

Western meadow fritillary? – Silver Star Mountain

A fritillary – Silver Star Mountain

A fritillary – Trinity Alps Wilderness

A fritillary -Russian Wilderness

A fritillary – Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness

Mourning cloak – Klickitat Trail

California tortoiseshell – Siskiyou Wilderness

Milbert’s tortoiseshell – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Lorquin’s admiral – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Common buckeye – Mt. Shasta Wilderness

Hoary comma – Sky Lakes Wilderness

Green comma? – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Swallowtails:
Klickitat Trail

Julia Butler Hanson Wildlife Refuge

Eagle Cap Wilderness

Tadpoles – Russian Wilderness

Tadpole transforming – Mt. Adams Wilderness

Frog – Russian Wilderness

Frog – Goat Marsh Lake

Tree frog – Siskiyou Wilderness

Frog – Trinity Alps Wilderness

Toad – Trinity Alps Wilderness

Toad – Mt. Jefferson Wilderness

Fish – Siphon Lake

Rough skinned newt – Yakona Nature Preserve

Western painted turtle – Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge

Baby snake – Miller Woods

Garter snake – Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge

Lizard – Mule Mountain

Lizard – Upper Table Rock

Lizard – Russian Wilderness

Lizard – Siskiyou Wilderness

Lizard – Klickitat Trail

Lizard – Upper Table Rock

Alligator lizard – Mule Mountain

Chipmunk – Observation Peak

Ground squirrel – Russian Wilderness

Ground squirrel – Klickitat Trail

Ground squirrel – Eagle Cap Wilderness

Ground squirrel – Upper Table Rock

Squirrel – Rock Creek Trail

Squirrel – Twin Lakes

Squirrel – Larch Mountain Trail

Marmot – Wallowa Homeland

Jack rabbit – Denman Wildlife Area

Rabbit – E. E. Wilson Wildlife Area

Pika – Silver Star Mountain

Muskrat – Julia Butler Hansen – Wildlife Refuge

Otter – Killin Wetlands

Sea lion – Hart’s Cove

Deer – Memaloose Hills

Doe – Miller Woods

Mamma – Roxy Ann Peak

Fawn – Roxy Ann Peak

Columbian white-tailed buck – Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge

Doe & fawn – Donomore Meadows

Three bucks – Siskiyou Wilderness

Buck – Siskiyou Wilderness

Buck – Trinity Alps Wilderness

Doe & fawn – Russian Wilderness

Buck and does – Russian Wilderness

Two bucks – Crater Lake National Park

Elk – Yakona Nature Preserve

Bull elk – Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge

Mountain goat below the Mt. Ireland Lookout – Mt. Ireland

Domestic goat – Near the Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge

Black bear – Siskiyou Wilderness

The same black bear making eye contact the day before.

Tags Bear, Butterfly, California, Columbian White-tailed deer, deer, eagle cap wilderness, elk, fawn, Julia Butler Hansen Refuge, mountain goat, Oregon, Pika, Russian Wilderness, Siskiyou Wilderness, Trinity Alps Wilderness, Washington, Wildlife

California Hiking Klamath Mountains Trinity Alps Trip report

Trail Gulch and Long Gulch Lakes Loop – 08/25/2022

Post author By yunckrunner
Post date September 1, 2022
2 Comments on Trail Gulch and Long Gulch Lakes Loop – 08/25/2022

After our adventure with the flat tire Wednesday (post) we slept in a little since Valley Tire didn’t open until 8am. Not heading out first thing for a hike did give us a chance to walk from the motel to Grain Street Bakery where we had some delicious scones and half a breakfast sandwich (the other half wound up being Friday’s breakfast). After breakfast we drove into Fort Jones where Valley Tire got us in right away and pulled a small rock out of the tire which had blistered in several places meaning it needed to be replaced. They had a set on hand so we had them replace all four tires and were on our way by 8:45am. It was plenty early for us to still get our planned hike in so we stopped by our room, changed, and grabbed our packs before heading back up to Carter Meadows Summit. From the summit we continued driving downhill another 0.7 miles and turned left onto Carter Meadows Road (FR 39N08) at a sign for Carter Meadows Trailheads. We followed Carter Meadows Road for 1.8 miles to the Trail Gulch Trailhead.

Before getting into the hike please note that many maps have Trail Gulch Lake and Long Gulch Lake reversed including the map embedded on the Forest Service page linked above. Our GPS as well as the PCT paper map that we were carrying also showed the lakes reversed but the signage along the trails here are correct. This loop is also almost entirely within the fire scar of the 2021 Haypress Fire although portions of the forest did not burn too intensely.

From the trailhead the trail climbs steadily but not too steeply along a creek. It soon enters the Trinity Alps Wilderness and at the 0.9 mile mark crosses the creek.

An aster (or a fleabane, it’s so hard to tell).

Musk monkeyflower

Tiny green frog.

It was easy to spot where the creek was based on the green.

The wilderness boundary.

The creek crossing.

Paintbrush

A checker-mallow near the creek.

Shortly after crossing the creek the trail veered away from it and began a steeper climb to a junction with a 0.3 mile trail to Trail Gulch Lake.

A junco. We saw a large number of small birds flying around during our trip, mostly junco’s and chickadees but they rarely ever sat still where we could see them.

Pointer for Trail Gulch Lake 0.8 miles from the Creek Crossing.

We turned right on the 0.3 mile trail which climbed to Trail Gulch Lake.

The lake was very scenic but the combination of the position of the Sun and a hint of smoke in the sky made capturing it with the cameras difficult.

After a short break we returned to the Trail Gulch Trail and continued further up the gulch. The trail gained 700′ over the next mile to reach a pass above Trail Gulch Lake.

One of several deer seen running uphill as we made our way up the trail.

View back down Trail Gulch.

Paintbrush

Peaks in the Russian Wilderness.

Arriving at the pass.

Trail Gulch Lake from the pass.

Clark’s nutcracker

Just over the pass was a trail junction with a mix of signed and unsigned trails. We took a hard right on the unsigned Trail Gulch Tie Trail which was just slightly above a trail with sign pointing to Steveale Meadows.

The sign for Steveale Meadows where we went uphill on the trail to the right.

The tie trail gained 400′ as it traversed a severely burnt hillside before arriving at a pass above Long Gulch Lake 1.1 miles from the junction.

View south from the tie trail.

Approaching the pass.

Sullivan mentions that it is possible to scramble 0.2 miles to the right along this ridge to get a view of Mt. Shasta and the heart of the Trinity Alps but with the smoke on the horizon we didn’t feel it was worth the effort and skipped that option.

Looking down into Long Gulch from the pass.

After pausing at the pass we started downhill and began getting occasional views of Long Gulch Lake.

To the north we could see much of the route we’d taken the day before on the way to Siphon and Russian Lakes.

Chipmunk with a snack.

A slightly frustrating feature of the trail down was a long switchback along a ridge which led past and away from the lake before turning back toward it. That big swing made the 1.4 miles down to the lake seem to take forever.

The outlet creek.

Long Gulch Trail passed to the north of Long Gulch Lake for a quarter mile.

The pass that the trail came down is along the ridge to the left here.

The trail continued west beyond the lake another third of a mile before arriving at a junction.

Parnassian on mountain coyote mint.

Skipper on mountain coyote mint.

At the junction we turned right beginning a 2.7 mile gradual descent to the Long Gulch Trailhead.

Meadow with a number of big trees that survived the fire.

Common buckeye

A copper or blue

Lorquin’s admiral

Leaving the Trinity Alps Wilderness.

The trail briefly followed the Long Gulch Creek.

Checker-mallow

The trail crossed the creek just under 2 miles from the junction.

Arriving at the Long Gulch Trailhead.

The only other person we saw all day was a backpacker who had just hiked out of Long Gulch Lake and was packing up his truck at the trailhead. He offered us a lift to our car but we wanted to finish hiking Sullivan’s loop so we declined. Sullivan described following horse trails for 0.9 miles back to the Trail Gulch Trailhead rather than following the road for 0.8 miles.

We crossed the road at a post and began to follow the horse trail.

Sullivan showed a junction after 0.3 miles just before arriving at a creek. As we neared the creek our GPS showed us having gone the 0.3 miles so we were looking for a trail to our right. We spotted what looked like it might be a trail complete with some flagging so we turned up hill following it.

Long story short we’d turned too early and wound up just below the road at a horseshoe turn. At that point it was easier to bushwack up to the road and follow it back to the trailhead instead of searching for the horse trail so we finished the loop on the road.

We did pass a sign for the horse trail along the road.

As I neared the trailhead a large bird flew into a nearby tree. I took a couple of pictures and it appears that it may have been an owl.
To the far right of the photo in between the green and orange branches is where it landed.

This was a 10.2 mile loop with 2280′ of elevation gain.

Our drive back to Etna was delightfully uneventful and after cleaning up we headed to Etna Brewing for a great meal and some beer. Despite the tire fiasco we were still on track to finish all five featured hikes before heading back to Salem. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Gulch Lakes Loop

Tags Butterfly, California, Carter Meadows, hiking, Long Gulch Lake, Long Gulch Trailhead, Trail Gulch Lake, Trail Gulch Trailhead, Trinity Alps Wilderness

Hiking Mt. Adams Trip report Washington Cascades

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20200627_075240

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

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

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

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

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

Penstemon

A few wildflowers.

Yarrow

Popcorn flower and strawberry plants.

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

Little Huckleberry Mountain

Nightblooming false bindweed

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

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

Closer look at the tall buckwheat.

Oregon sunshine

Yarrow, lupine and penstemon

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

Honeysuckle

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

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

Bunchberry

Footbridge over Buck Creek.

Salsify

Streambank globemallow

Silverleaf phacelia

Logging road crossing.

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

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

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

Pollinator on wallflower

Bee heading for some penstemon.

Clouds to the south.

Penstemon

Lots of Oregon sunshine again.

Taper tip onions

Penstemon and lomatium seedheads.

Warning for mountain bikers going down the trail.

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

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

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

Balsamroot

Ladybug on a flower.

20200627_103428 Cat’s ear lily

Lupine

Phlox and Oregon sunshine

Buckwheat

Paintbrush

20200627_104543 Sunflowers

20200627_104416

Grouse in the flowers.

20200627_104926 Columbine

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

Lemi Rock in the Indian Heaven Wilderness

Looking SE into Eastern Oregon.

By far the best view was of Mt. Adams.

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

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

There were huge amounts of Arnica in the forest.

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

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

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

FR 1840-100.

Shiny beetles

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

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

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

Approaching the meadow.

Sunflowers

Scarlet gilia

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

A lookout tower once sat atop the peak.

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

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

Pussytoes

White-stemmed frasera

Phlox

Taper tip onions

20200627_122010 White-stemmed frasera

Wallflower and paintbrush

A white lupine

Paintbrush and phlox

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

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

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

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

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

Twinflower in the forest.

Our first blooming prince’s pine of the year.

20200627_134001_HDR Not nearly the steepest section.

FR 18 finally!

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

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

Flickr: Monte Carlo-Monte Cristo Loop

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

Hiking Mollala Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Table Rock Wilderness West Meadows – 6/21/2020

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

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

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

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

Trailhead sign at the Old Bridge Trailhead.

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

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

A second signboard just up the trail from the trailhead.

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

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

Rhododendron

Coralroot

The small wildflower meadow.

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

Paintbrush, Oregon sunshine, and plectritis

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Death camas

20200621_074119 Paintbrush

Blue-eyed Mary

A penstemon

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

Balsamroot at the edge of the meadow.

20200621_074643 Penstemon

Larger meadow

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

Honeysuckle

Larkspur amid the paintbrush and Oregon sunshine

Tomcat clover

Possibly a milk-vetch or some sort of vetch.

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

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

In the middle of one of the climbs.

The trail leveling off a bit.

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

Oregon sunshine

Mountain sandwort

Penstemon

Olympic onion

Back in the trees.

20200621_093033 Fawn lilies

The next little meadow.

Larkspur and blue-eyed Mary

Groundsel

Trees again.

Another meadow

Phlox

Chickweed

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

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

Larkspur

Lupine

Wallflower

Paintbrush

Bistort

20200621_100025 Sub-alpine mariposa lily

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

20200621_100938_HDR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20200621_120104 A monkeyflower by some plectritis.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Flickr: Table Rock Wilderness West Meadows

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

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Olallie and Lowder Mountains – 09/01/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 6, 2019
No Comments on Olallie and Lowder Mountains – 09/01/2019

For our final outing of Labor Day Weekend we set our sights on a pair of peaks in the Three Sisters Wilderness. Both the Lowder Mountain Upper Trailhead and Pat’s Saddle Trailhead (for Olallie Mountain) are located just 2 miles apart along Forest Road 1993. These were two more featured hikes from Sullivan’s 4th edition Central Cascades guidebook that we had yet to do. (Olallie Mountain was removed from the featured hikes in the 5th edition due to a 2017 fire that burned much of the route.) On their own the hike to driving time ratios didn’t pan out, but doing them both on the same day would, and as it turns out FR 1993 was in excellent shape allowing for a driving time closer to 2 1/2 hours versus the nearly 3 hours that Google predicted.

We drove south to Eugene and took Highway 126 four miles east of Blue River where we turned right on FR 19 to Cougar Dam. After turning left on FR 1993 and crossing the dam we followed the road 11.2 miles to the Pat’s Saddle Trailhead.
We chose to start with Olallie Mountain for a couple of reasons, first we thought that the lack of tree cover due to the fire might make this a warmer hike later in the day and second it was the longer of the two hikes. There are a couple of trails that leave from this trailhead. The French Pete Creek Trail is the first trail on the right. The upper section of this trail is not maintained (according the Forest Service webpage) and the forest around the lower section was impacted by fires in both 2017 and 2018. We hiked the first 5 miles of the trail from the lower trailhead prior to the fires in 2015 (post)

The trail we were taking on this trip was the second one on the right, the Olallie Trail.

This trail promptly enters the Three Sisters Wilderness amid old growth that escaped the fire.

The signs of the fire could be seen after about a third of a mile.

At the half mile mark we arrived at a small stream flowing from Wolverine Lake which was about a quarter mile uphill on our right. The forest on the right hand side of the trail had burned pretty good while the left hand side had fared much better. There was already plenty of green vegetation growing amid the snags on the hillside though.

20190901_073350 Cone flower

Sullivan had mentioned visiting Wolverine Lake by heading uphill cross country after crossing over the stream but the vegetation here looked pretty thick so we waited until we had climbed a bit beyond the stream and angled back toward the lake.
Cross country to Wolverine Lake.

There were a fair number of trees down from the fire so it wasn’t too difficult to reach the lake, but it was tricky trying to get a good look at it due to the brushy shore.

It looked like there might have been a better vantage point around the lake to our right, but it wasn’t worth fighting through the brush and fallen trees to try and reach it so we settled for the view we had and headed back to the Olallie Trail. From above, the route down along the creek looked much more appealing and we wound up taking a track much closer to what Sullivan had shown on his map to arrive back on trail. Once we were back on trail we turned right and passed through a patch of thimbleberry bushes encroaching on the trail.

We emerged from the thimbleberries and rounded a ridge end where the forest became a bit more open and many of the trees had survived the fire.

A sooty grouse caught our attention as it crossed the trail ahead of us.

The trail climbed gradually along the hillside and we marveled at the varying effects of the fire and how the forest was in different stages of recovery already.

Baneberry

Monkshood

There were also some views that might not have been there if some of the trees hadn’t burned.

South Sister

Middle and North Sister

Mt. Washington

Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack

The line of clouds obstructing the view of the mountains wasn’t exactly a welcome sight, but we could at least see some of them and it was early so maybe they would eventually burn off.

A little over 2 miles from the trailhead we arrived at a junction in a grassy saddle.

The Olallie Trail continued straight passing an old guard station site at Olallie Meadows in .9 miles then continuing deeper (and fainter) into the Three Sisters Wilderness eventually ending at Horse Lake (post). We turned right though, onto the Olallie Mountain Trail.

This trail began with a reasonably gradual climb past a series of meadows where a few late blooming flowers remained.

Aster and pearly everlasting

Columbine

The trail briefly leveled out on top of ridge where the fire had burned intensely in some areas while sparing trees in others.

After the brief respite from climbing the trail steepened below the summit of Olallie Mountain and began to wrap up and around its rocky western face.

The tread along the steep hillside here was a little sketchy in part due to the fire but we made our way up to the summit. The remains of the Olallie Mountain lookout tower still stand on the summit having been covered by firefighters to protect it from the blaze.

The three hundred and sixty degree view was impressive and would have been more so if not for the presence of clouds to the north and in front of many of the cascade peaks. On top of that our early ascent left the Sun in a less than ideal overhead position for lighting.
IMG_8306_stitch Parts of the Cascades from Mt. Jefferson to the NE to Mt. Bachelor to the SE.

Mt. Jefferson was still tangled up in the clouds.

Just a peak at Mt. Washington (which was more than we could see of Three Fingered Jack)

Middle and North Sister behind The Husband

South Sister

Broken Top

Things were a little less cloudy to the south where Cowhorn Mountain (post) and Mt. Thielsen (post) seemed to be cloud free while Diamond Peak wasn’t so lucky.

Cowhorn Mountain and Mt. Thielsen

Diamond Peak

We were able to identify the cliffs of flat topped Lowder Mountain, our next stop, to the NW.
Lowder Mountain to the left of the tree in the foreground.

Lowder Mountain

After watching the clouds pass by (but not leave) for awhile we headed back down. We had passed a single backpacker on the way up and on the way down we encountered a trio of hikers making their way up. When we got back to the stream below Wolverine Lake we spotted a frog (no wolverines though).

We completed our 8 mile hike here and drove back the two miles to the Lowder Mountain Upper Trailhead and parked at a pullout near the trailhead signboard. The signboard announced three trails: the Quaking Aspen, Lowder Mountain, and Walker Creek Trails.

We weren’t paying close attention as we set off on a trail heading for a wilderness to the left of the signboard.

Our first clue that we were on the wrong trail should have been the location of the trail signs on the signboard but away we went following the Quaking Aspen Trail downhill parallel to FR 1993. We had a feeling something might be off but a quick glance at the GPS showed that we were almost to some switchbacks which matched up with Sullivan’s map but we were surprised that they were headed downhill and not up (the one complaint we have about Sullivan’s maps are that they are not topographic so we can’t always tell when a trail is climbing or dropping). We were zoomed in too far to see the other trail behind us that switchbacked uphill. Just after turning on the first of the switchbacks Heather figured it out and got us turned in the right direction but not until we’d covered a third of a mile.

We hiked back uphill to the trailhead and looked at the signboard and area more closely. Sure enough there was another trail and wilderness to the right of the signboard (the side listing the Lowder Mountain and Walker Creek Trails).

We now set off on the Lowder Trail and began switchbacking uphill through an old growth forest.

After a quarter mile of serious climbing the trail leveled out a bit (and straightened out) as it traversed along a hillside. We soon got a quick glimpse of Olallie Mountain across the valley.

For the next 1 3/4 miles the trail alternated between meadows and forest before arriving at a junction in one of the meadows.

Skipper

This reminded us of a torture device.

This meadow had a lot of buckwheat.

Olallie Mountain again.

The lookout tower on Olallie Mountain

Diamond Peak had shed its cloud cover momentarily.

Diamond Peak

Pollinators got to pollinate.

This junction marked the start of the Walker Creek Trail which climbed up through the meadow to the right. This was actually the trail to take in order to reach the viewpoint atop Lowder Mountain.

The Lowder Mountain Trail continued on straight but beyond the junction is no longer maintained due to “lack of use”.

A series of 12 switchbacks led steeply up through the meadow and forest to a large meadow atop Lowder Mountain.
The trail heading up through some thimbleberry.

Butterfly

Another skipper

This guy was the size of my pinky.

A few scarlet gilia still in bloom.

Pearly everlasting at the edge of the large meadow.

We followed a well worn path across the broad summit to the edge of the large meadow where it turned right passing along the tree line.

Like the Lowder Mountain Trail the Walker Creek Trail is no longer maintained beyond the meadow. The clear path along the impressively large meadow is a user trail to the viewpoint above Karl and Ruth Lakes.

Karl & Ruth Lakes

The clouds were still a bit of an issue but it was now late enough in the day for the lighting to be much better.
Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack with Horsepasture Mountain (post) in the foreground.

Mt. Washington

North and Middle Sister

South Sister and Broken Top

We made our way south along the cliffs to reach a view of Mt. Bachelor.

Mt. Bachelor

In addition to the great views there was an interesting little rock feature that looked a lot like a head of some kind.

We took a good break here before heading back. On the return trip we discovered that we had actually spent a decent amount of time losing elevation traversing along the hillside on the way to the Walker Creek Trail junction. It had been so gradual that we hadn’t noticed but it was evident that we were going uphill a lot more than we’d expected once we were back on the Lowder Mountain Trail. There were quite a few butterflies out searching for the remaining flowers which gave us something to focus on (in addition to eating quite a few ripe thimbleberries).
Butterfly with a small crab spider on the next flower head to the right.

Between taking the wrong trail from the trailhead and wandering around at the viewpoint we managed to turn a 5.6 mile hike into 6.8 miles making our total for the day 14.8 miles. The elevation gains were roughly 1400′ for Olallie Mountain and 900′ for Lowder Mountain. The views were great from both peaks and we were already talking about a return trip earlier in the Summer to see what all the meadows might look like earlier in the year. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Olallie and Lowder Mountains

Tags Butterfly, hiking, Horsepasture Mountain, Karl and Ruth Lakes, Lowder Mountain, Lowder Mountain Trail, Lowder Mountain Upper Trailhead, Olallie Mountain, Olallie Mountain Lookout, Oregon, Pat's Saddle Trailhead, Quaking Aspen Trail, Thimbleberry, Three Sisters Wilderness, Walker Creek Trail, Wolverine Lake

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

Blue Mountains - South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Elkhorn Crest Trail Day 3

As far as we know we didn’t have any mountain goat visitors during our night at Lower Twin Lake but I did wake up once and managed to see a streak across the sky which I assume was part of the Perseid meteor shower. Another goat did pass close by in the morning though as we were preparing to leave.

It wasn’t nearly as chilly as it had been the previous morning and the air had gotten quite a bit hazier overnight.

The increased smoke made us thankful that we had made our climb up Rock Creek Butte the day before instead of waiting until this morning. We had a fairly straight forward day planned as we would simply be returning the way we’d come the day before minus the side trip up to Rock Creek Butte’s summit. We were still seriously considering not going all the way back to Summit Lake which would be approximately a 13 mile hike. We figured we could shorten that by nearly a mile if we set up camp near one of the streams along the Summit Lake Trail.

As we began the mile climb from Lower Twin Lake back to the Elkhorn Crest Trail we passed the mountain goat who had stop to graze.

A little further along we spotted three deer doing the same in a patch of yellow wildflowers.

The hoofed animals weren’t the only ones out this morning.

As we climbed away from the Twin Lakes Rock Creek Butte came into view.

When we reached the Elkhorn Crest Trail we turned left and headed toward Rock Creek Butte where we spotted another mountain goat coming down the ridge where we had gone up the day before.

It turned out to be a mountain goat filled morning. As we were passing around the western side of Rock Creek Butte a herd of goats came up from the valley below. Some of them crossed the trail in front of us while others stayed down in the trees until we passed.

We had another encounter a short while later as I passed around a rock outcropping and came face to face with a goat heading south on the trail. We were both equally startled and the goat quickly leapt downhill behind more rocks.

The increased smoke limited the views on the way back so we focused more on the things along the trail.
Mt. Ruth to the north

Rock Creek Butte to the south

Looking east toward the Wallowas

Curiosity got the best of Heather as we came to a jeep track heading uphill to a ridge 9.3 miles from the Twin Lakes Trail junction and 1.2 miles before the Summit Lake junction.

Wondering if there might be a view of Summit Lake from the ridge we followed it steeply uphill only to discover that the angle was wrong and we were looking north over Little Summit Lake which was hidden in the trees below.

We were feeling relatively good all things considered so we had decided to go all the way to Summit Lake and stay there again only this time we would take the first available camp site we came too instead of going half way around the lake. We arrived at the lake to find it a little smokier than we had left it the morning before but it was still a great lake.

We were the only people there when we arrived and did indeed set up camp in the first available spot.

We were later joined by a solo backpacker who we had passed along the Summit Lake Trail. We spent the afternoon lounging around camp and hanging out with the locals.

The total distance for the day was just a bit over 13 miles but there had been a lot less elevation gain making it a fairly mild day. We were dealing with some blisters and Heather was having a little issue with an ankle that was being bruised by her shoe which told her it was time for a new pair. The good news was the next two days were only going to be around 10 miles each, but we were facing some more climbing on day four along the Lost Lake Trail which I had been told was steep and rocky. We turned in after memorizing the route for the following day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Elkhorn Crest Trail Day 3

Tags backpacking, Blue Mountains - South, Butterfly, deer, Elkhorn Crest National Recreation Trail, Elkhorn Crest Trail, Elkhorn Range, elkhorns, hiking, Lower Twin Lake, mountain goat, Mt. Ruth, Oregon, Rock Creek Butte, Summit Lake, Summit Lake Trail, Twin Lakes, Twin Lakes Trail