Tag: kalmiopsis wilderness

Southern Oregon & Northern California

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 6, 2023
9 Comments on Southern Oregon & Northern California

Several years ago we set a goal for ourselves to hike all 500 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes…” series of guidebooks (post). In 2020 we completed the first of these books covering the Central Oregon Cascades (post). We followed that up by completing a pair of books in 2021 starting with Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Oregon Coast and Coast Range” 3rd edition (post) followed up by “100 HIkes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington” 4th edition (post).

Generally speaking in order to check a hike off our list we need to have hiked a substantial portion of Sullivan’s described hike or visited the main attraction(s) he identifies for the hike. For 66 of the hikes we followed the books described route. For the other 34 hikes various factors contributed to us not completing all of each featured hike. For some we started at a different trailhead, others had portions of trail(s) closed when we visited, and several had longer options that would have required multiple days to complete. In some other cases we did slightly different routes, sometimes by accident.

The area covered by Sullivan in this book, as the title suggests includes parts of Southern Oregon and Northern California. It contains his southernmost featured hike, Caribou Lakes. In general the area covered in Oregon begins just North of Roseburg extending East to Highway 97 (with the exception being Klamath Falls which is included in his Eastern Oregon book), South to California, and West to Marial on the Rogue River. In California the area extends south to the Trinity Alps Wilderness, West to the Siskiyou Wilderness, and East to the Mount Shasta Wilderness.

The hikes inside the red lines represent the location of the featured hikes.

In addition to the three wilderness areas in California mentioned above the featured hikes included visits to the Marble Mountain, Castle Crags, Russian, and Red Buttes Wilderness areas in California. Wilderness areas in Oregon included the Red Buttes (OR & CA share this wilderness), Kalmiopsis, Wild Rogue, Soda Mountain, Mountain Lakes, Sky Lakes, Rogue-Umpqua Divide, Boulder Creek, and Mt. Thielsen.

In addition to the 15 designated wilderness areas there were hikes in two National Monuments – Oregon Caves & Cascade-Siskiyou, and Crater Lake National Park.

#1 North Bank Ranch-Hiked 6/5/2015 6/25/2023

#2 Fall Creek Falls-Hiked 6/13/2022 8/7/2022 6/25/2023
Fall Creek Falls
#3 Little River Waterfalls-Hiked 8/7/2022
Yasko Falls
#4 Boulder Creek-Hiked 9/7/2020

#5 Twin Lakes-Hiked 6/14/2022

#6 Fish Lake-Hiked 9/3/2022

#7 Buckey and Cliff Lakes-Hiked 9/3/2022

#8 Umpqua Hot Springs-Hiked 6/13/2022

#9 Toketee and Watson Falls-Hiked 6/13/2022

#10 Lemolo Falls-Hiked 6/13/2022

#11 Cowhorn Mountain-Hiked 9/15/2016

#12 Miller and Maidu Lakes-Hiked 8/1/2012

#13 Tipsoo Peak-Hiked 10/2/2014

#14 Thielsen Creek-Hiked 8/8/2020

#15 Mount Thielsen-Hiked 9/23/2012

#16 Diamond Lake-Hiked 9/5/2020

#17 Mount Bailey-Hiked 8/12/2012

#18 Boundary Springs-Hiked 6/13/2014

#19 Park Headquarters-Hiked 7/31/2023

#20 Garfield Peak-Hiked 7/31/2023

#21 Discovery Point-Hiked 9/19/2022

#22 The Watchman-Hiked 8/12/2012 7/31/2023

#23 Wizard Island-Hiked 8/1/2023

#24 Mount Scott-Hiked 10/2/2014

#25 Plaikni Falls and The Pinnacles-Hiked 7/30/2023

#26 Crater Peak-Hiked 7/30/2023

#27 Annie Creek & Godfrey Glen-Hiked 7/30/2023 7/31/2023

#28 Union Peak-Hiked 9/17/2022

#29 Upper and Lower Table Rocks-Hiked 6/9/2017 (Lower) & 5/26/2022 (Upper)
Lower Table Rock

View from Upper Table Rock
#30 Lost Creek Lake-Hiked 6/9/2017

#31 Takelma Gorge-Hiked 10/15/2020

#32 Natural Bridge-Hiked 10/16/2020

#33 Union Creek-Hiked 10/17/2020 9/20/2022

#34 Abbott Butte-Hiked 10/17/2020

#35 Hershberger Mountain-Hiked 10/16/2020

#36 Muir Creek-Hiked 5/27/2018

#37 Rattlesnake Mountain-Hiked 9/6/2020

#38 Seven Lakes West-Hiked 9/9/2023

#39 Seven Lakes East-Hiked 9/9/2023

#40 Blue Lake Basin-Hiked 9/18/2022

#41 Mount McLoughlin-Hiked 8/27/2016

#42 Fourmile Lake-Hiked 8/26/2016

#43 Sky Lakes via Cold Springs-Hiked 9/24/2022

#44 Sky Lakes via Nannie Creek-Hiked 9/24/2022

#45 Fish Lake-Hiked 10/7/2018

#46 Brown Mountain Lava Flow-Hiked 8/28/2016

#47 Lake of the Woods-Hiked 10/7/2018

#48 Mountain Lakes-Hiked 8/25/2016

#49 Soda Mountain-Hiked 6/3/2015

#50 Pilot Rock-Hiked 7/29/2017

#51 Mount Ashland Meadows-Hiked 6/3/2015

#52 Lithia Park-Hiked 6/2/2015

#53 Bandersnatch Trail-Hiked 6/17/2022

#54 White Rabbit Trail-Hiked 6/17/2022

#55 Grizzly Peak-Hiked 6/5/2015

#56 Roxy Ann Peak-Hiked 5/30/2022

#57 Wagner Butte-Hiked 6/4/2015

#58 Siskiyou Gap-Hiked 6/16/2022

#59 Jack-Ash Trail-Hiked 5/27/2022

#60 Sterling Ditch Tunnel-Hiked 6/10/2017 5/2/2023

#61 Jacksonville-Hiked 6/8/2017

#62 Enchanted Forest-Hiked 6/11/2017

#63 Observation Peak-Hiked 6/15/2022

#64 Collings Mountain-Hiked 6/8/2017

#65 Applegate Lake-Hiked 6/8/2017 5/29/2022

#66 Red Buttes-Hiked 10/27/2015

#67 Frog Pond-Hiked 6/18/2022

#68 Azalea Lake-Hiked 10/26/2015

#69 Sturgis Fork-Hiked 10/7/2023

#70 Grayback Mountain-Hiked 10/9/2023

#71 Oregon Caves-Hiked 10/30/2015

#72 Mount Elijah-Hiked 10/7/2023

#73 Sucker Creek-Hiked 10/26/2015

#74 Tanner Lakes-Hiked 10/8/2023

#75 Bolan Lake-Hiked 10/8/2023

#76 Polar Bear Gap-Hiked 7/1/2022

#77 Raspberry Lake-Hiked 7/3/2022

#78 Devils Punchbowl-Hiked 7/2/2022

#79 Rough and Ready Creeks-Hiked 5/12/2017

#80 Babyfoot Lake-Hiked 10/9/2023

#81 Eight Dollar Mountain-Hiked 5/4/2023

#82 Illinois River Beaches-Hiked 5/4/2023

#83 Grants Pass Nature Trails 5/3/2023

#84 Rouge River Trail East-Hiked 5/1/2023

#85 Rogue River Trail West-Hiked 6/24/2023

#86 Paradise Lake-Hiked 6/28/2016

#87 Sky High Lakes-Hiked 6/29/2016

#88 Campbell Lake-Hiked 6/27/2016

#89 Paynes Lake-Hiked 7/24/2017

#90 Russian Lake-Hiked 8/24/2022

#91 Hidden & South Fork Lakes-Hiked 8/26/2022

#92 Trail Gulch Lake-Hiked 8/25/2022

#93 East Boulder Lake-Hiked 8/23/2022

#94 Kangaroo Lake-Hiked 7/23/2017

#95 Deadfall Lakes-Hiked 7/25/2017

#96 Caribou Lake-Hiked 7/27/2017

#97 Castle Lake-Hiked 7/26/2017

#98 Castle Crags-Hiked 7/26/2017

#99 Black Butte-Hiked 7/28/2017

#100 Mount Shasta Meadows-Hiked 8/22/2022

In our minds this was by far the most challenging area to finish even though we did so before completing Eastern Oregon. The difficulty with Eastern Oregon mostly revolves around distance from Salem and the size of the area covered. The Southern Oregon-Northern California area is smaller and the hikes not as far away, but it involved a lot of trails that frankly don’t see the level of maintenance that most of the other areas receive. While we’ve encountered rough trails, all over poison oak is much more prevalent down south which doesn’t invite pushing through overgrown tread or bushwacking around obstacles. This area has also been hit harder by fires over the last couple of decades leaving extra work to reopen them as well as remove additional blowdown as the dead trees fall over. When the conditions were good though the scenery and diverse plant and wildlife made for some spectacular hikes. There are many that we’d love to do again and several non-featured hikes that we have in our future plans, so we aren’t done with area yet. Happy Trails!

Grants Pass Area Hiking Klamath/Siskiyou Mountains Oregon Trip report

Grayback Meadows and Babyfoot Lake – 10/09/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 14, 2023
3 Comments on Grayback Meadows and Babyfoot Lake – 10/09/2023

After double checking the weather forecast for our final two days in Grants Pass we’d decided that making an attempt at doing both of our remaining featured hikes on Monday provided us the best chance at semi-decent weather. Both trailheads were less than 40-miles from our room, but Grayback Mountain was to the SE while Babyfoot Lake was to the SW. A minor inconvenience but the extra driving in between might allow for some better weather in the afternoon at Babyfoot Lake. We’d already decided to stick to the shorter options for both hikes, partly due to the forecasted cloudy conditions and partly because Heather hadn’t been feeling well all weekend and I was feeling pretty spent after the previous two days of hiking. We began our morning under surprisingly dry skies as we left Grants Pass but soon found the rain as we neared the O’Brien Creek Lower Trailhead.

For his featured hikes Sullivan uses the O’Brien Creek Upper Trailhead but mentions a section of sharp rocks that can cause flat tires on the way to that trailhead. Starting at the lower trailhead would add 2-miles round trip but we felt it was worth not risking a flat. What we didn’t count on was how steeply sections of the 1-mile stretch would be as it climbed nearly 650′ to the upper trailhead.
O’Brien Creek near the trailhead.

It seemed like all of the climbs this weekend had been steep.

After two warm sunny days this hike finally felt like Fall.

As I approached this footbridge I noticed a yellow jacket fly into the big hole along the right side of the trail. A quick peak in revealed a busy nest so we wound up bushwacking uphill and around it hopping onto the bridge at the edge of the marsh ahead.

A nice newer looking sign at the upper trailhead.

At the upper trailhead we gave up on our rain gear. A light mist is all that was falling and our sweat from the climbing was making us wetter than the mist would. From the upper trailhead the trail followed an old roadbed for 0.2-miles.

At the end of the old roadbed this trail too decided to steepen greatly gaining approximately 900′ in nearly a mile to a junction with a spur trail to the Grayback Snow Shelter.

There were a few really big trees in the forest along the trail.

Grayback Mountain from the trail.

The trail crossing O’Brien Creek.

The junction with the spur trail to the snow shelter. It took me far too long to realize that the sign was upside down. I couldn’t figure out why it thought the Boundary Trail was to the left, after looking at it a few more times it dawned on me that the words were upside down.

Ah ha! It wouldn’t stay this way but it sure made more sense.

For the longer option to the summit of Grayback Mountain we would have taken the right-hand fork and gained another 1600′ to 1700′ over the 1.8-miles to the summit. Instead we forked left losing a little elevation over the 0.2-miles to the shelter.

There had been another car at the lower trailhead and we thought that the owner might be staying in the shelter but when we hiked past the shelter into Grayback Meadows we could hear voices in the trees.

There used to be a cabin out in the meadows and now there is a snow gauge and a campsite which may be where the voices were coming from.

We took a quick peak inside the shelter where some of the backpacker’s stuff was.

After checking out the shelter and meadows we returned the way we’d come.
It was steep going down too.

Trail pointer near the upper trailhead marking the continuation of the O’Brien Creek Trail to the lower trailhead.

We always enjoy seeing madrones on our hikes in Southern Oregon.

Slug on a shroom.

Bug on a shroom.

One more steep drop to the lower trailhead.

Our hike here came to 4.8-miles and upwards of 1750′ of elevation gain.

From the trailhead we drove North to Murphy then cut over to Highway 199 and headed back South to the Babyfoot Lake Trailhead. While the amount of precipitation during our hike to Grayback Meadows had been far less than we’d expected (we even spotted a small window of blue sky) it was raining steadily as we started up the gravel roads to the Babyfoot Lake Trailhead. Not only that but we quickly found ourselves in the cloud limiting visibility so it was a tedious 12-miles of bumpy roads.

Wind and rain met us at the trailhead and our rain jackets made a second appearance. The trail began at a signboard and traversed a hillside below Hungry Hill for 0.3-miles to a fork.

The forest is recovering from the 2002 Biscuit Fire.

To the left was the Babyfoot Lake Rim Trail. Sullivan’s longer option here include following this trail 0.9-miles to a viewpoint above the lake. Given the fog that seemed pointless, and it also looked like that trail was in need of some maintenance.

We forked right and continued to descend through the fog for nearly a mile to the lake.

A small stream with crystal clear water along the trail.

My nemesis, the varied thrush.

Near the lake the trail passes this rock outcrop which is a viewpoint without the fog.

Some of the trees around the lake survived the 2002 fire.

Babyfoot Lake lies just within the Kalmiopsis Wilderness boundary, marking just the second time (post) we’d visited this nearly 180,000-acre wilderness.

After visiting the lake we headed back up toward the car. Before we’d even made it past the rocky viewpoint the clouds began to break up revealing some patches of sunlight and blue sky.

I of course had to head out onto the viewpoint given the rapidly changing conditions.

Conditions continued to improve as we climbed back to the trailhead revealing more of the wilderness and surrounding terrain.

The patterns on this snag caught my eye.

The trailhead on the ridge ahead.

This short hike came to just 2.6-miles and 360′ of elevation gain and marked the completion of our quest to hike at least part of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” edition 4.2 (post).

With Southern Oregon complete, joining the Central Oregon Cascades, Coast & Coast Range, and NW Oregon & SW Washington, we are down to just 16 Eastern Oregon hikes to reach 500. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Grayback Meadows and Babyfoot Lake

Tags Babyfoot Lake, Babyfoot Lake Trail, Babyfoot Lake Trailhead, Boundary Trail, Grants Pass, Grayback Meadows, Grayback Mountain, Grayback Snow Shelter, hiking, kalmiopsis wilderness, O'Brien Creek Lower Trailhead, O'Brien Creek Trail, O'Brien Creek Upper Trailhead, Oregon, William L Sullivan

Hiking

Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas (Completed)

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 1, 2022
8 Comments on Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas (Completed)

Several years back we set several hiking goals, one of which being to hike in all of Oregon’s federally designated wilderness areas. At that time there were 47 such areas in the State with two of those being off-limits to visitors (Three Arch Rocks & Oregon Islands are also National Wildlife Refuges that provide nesting habitat for sea birds as well as serving as pupping sites for marine mammals. To prevent disturbances public entry to any of the rocks/islands is prohibited and waters within 500 feet of the refuge are closed to all watercraft from May 1 through September 15.) In 2019 Congress added the Devils Staircase Wilderness to the list giving us a total of 46 designated wilderness areas to visit in order to complete this goal. Staring in 2019 we began posting annual updates on our progress (2020 & 2021) and we are excited to report that, unless any new wilderness areas are established in the future, this will be our last update. We managed to make it to the final four wilderness areas on our list, the North Fork Umatilla, Devils Staircase, Black Canyon, and Monument Rock, in 2021. We have to give credit to Bruce (Van Marmot) over at Boots on the Trail for not only getting to all 46 first but also providing inspiration and a lot of helpful information.

A little over 2.5 million acres are designated as wilderness throughout the State and range in size from 15 acres (Three Arch Rocks) to 355,548 acres (Eagle Cap). Oregon shares a wilderness with three of its bordering states. The Wenaha-Tuccanon is shared with Washington, Hells Canyon with Idaho, and Red Buttes with California. The areas are managed by three different federal agencies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) manages the Oregon Islands and Three Arch Rocks areas while the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages nine and the Forest Service manages forty-one. If you do the math those numbers add up to fifty-two. The reason for that is four of the areas, the Devils Staircase, Lower White River, Hells Canyon, and Wild Rogue are managed jointly by the Forest Service and BLM. Seven of the areas have no official trails, the two off-limit areas, and the Devils Staircase, Rock Creek, Lower White River, Bridge Creek, and Spring Basin wildernesses. Although irregularly shaped (except for the exactly 6 square mile Mountain Lakes Wilderness) the majority of the areas are a single unit. In addition to the Oregon Islands and Three Arch Rocks the Mount Hood (4), Mark O. Hatfield (2), Badger Creek (2),Salmon-Huckleberry (3), Clackamas (5), Soda Mountain (2), North Fork John Day (4), and Steens Mountain (2) consist of multiple separate areas.

We visited our first Oregon Wilderness in 2009 when we visited Henline Falls in the Opal Creek Wilderness. Since then we have spent parts of 215 days in these special places. For sixteen of the areas it was only a single day while we’ve spent part of 30 days in the Three Sisters Wilderness. Below are some of our best memories from each of the wilderness areas. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed visiting them.

Badger Creek: 28,915 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Black Canyon: 13.088 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Boulder Creek: 19,911 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Bridge Creek: 5,337 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Bull of the Woods: 36,869 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Clackamas: 9.465 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Copper-Salmon: 13,724 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Cummins Creek: 9,026 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Devils Staircase: 30,787 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Diamond Peak: 52,477 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-7

Drift Creek: 5,792 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Eagle Cap: 355,548 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-5

Gearhart Mountain: 22,587 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Grassy Knob: 17,176 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Hells Canyon: 131,337 acres in OR (217,613 in ID) Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Kalmiopsis: 179,550 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Lower White River: 2,871 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Mark O. Hatfield: 65,420 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-12

Menagerie: 4,952 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Middle Santiam: 8,845 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Mill Creek: 17,173 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Monument Rock: 20,210 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Mountain Lakes: 23,036 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Mount Hood: 64,742 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-22

Mount Jefferson: 108,909 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-27

Mount Thielsen: 55,151 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-5

Mount Washington: 54,410 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-7

North Fork John Day: 120,694 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-8

North Fork Umatilla: 20,225 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-3

Opal Creek: 20,774 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Oregon Badlands: 28,182 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Oregon Islands: 925 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-0

Red Buttes: 3,777 acres in OR (20,133 in CA) Days Spent in Wilderness-2 in OR, (4 in CA)

This photo is from CA but it actually shows the namesake Red Buttes

Roaring River: 36,548 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Rock Creek: 7,273 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1
Closest thing to a “wilderness sign” we saw for this one.

Rogue-Umpqua: 35,749 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Salmon-Huckleberry: 62,061 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-11

Sky Lakes: 113,687 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-3

Soda Mountain: 24,707 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Spring Basin: 6,404 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Steens Mountain: 170,202 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-5

Strawberry Mountain: 69,350 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-5

Table Rock: 5,784 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-3

Three Arch Rocks: 15 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-0

Three Sisters: 283,619 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-30

Waldo Lake: 36,868 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Wenaha-Tuccanon: 65,266 acres in OR (176,737 in WA) Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Wild Rogue: 35,221 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Tags Badger Creek Wilderness, Black Canyon Wilderness, Boulder Creek Wilderness, Bridge Creek Wilderness, Bull of the Woods Wilderness, Clackamas Wilderness, Copper-Salmon Wilderness, cummins creek wilderness, Devil's Staircase Wilderness, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Drift Creek Wilderness, eagle cap wilderness, Gearhart Mountain Wilderness, Grassy Knob Wilderness, Hells Canyon Wilderness, hiking, kalmiopsis wilderness, Lower White River Wilderness, Mark O Hatfield Wilderness, Menagerie Wilderness, Middle Santiam Wilderness, Mill Creek Wilderness, Monument Rock Wilderness, Mount Hood Wilderness, Mount Jefferson Wilderness, Mount Thielsen Wilderness, Mount Washington Wilderness, mountain lakes wilderness, North Fork John Day Wilderness, North Fork Umatilla Wilderness, opal creek wilderness, Oregon, oregon badlands wilderness, Oregon wilderness areas, Red Buttes Wilderness, roaring river wilderenss, Rock Creek Wilderness, Rogue-Umpqua Wilderness, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, sky lakes wilderness, soda mountain wilderness, Spring Basin Wilderness, Steens Mountain Wilderness, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, table rock wilderness, Three Sisters Wilderness, waldo lake wilderness, Wenaha-Tuccanon Wilderness, Wild Rogue Wilderness, Wilderness Area

Hiking Uncategorized

Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 1, 2019
5 Comments on Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas

In our last post we wrote about our ambitious (possibly overly so) goal of completing 500 “featured” hikes in William L. Sullivan’s guidebooks. The topic of this post is another one of our goals, visiting all 45 of Oregon’s accessible designated wilderness areas (Three Arch Rocks and Oregon Islands are off limits to all visitors). This goal should be quite a bit easier to accomplish given the much smaller number of needed hikes and the fact that the wilderness areas aren’t changing every few years. (There is legislation pending that would create the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in the coast range between Reedsport and Eugene.)

The inspiration for this goal came from a fellow hiker and blogger over at Boots on the Trail. This smaller goal fit well into our 500 featured hikes goal too as thirty nine of the wilderness areas are destinations of at least one of the featured hikes. The remaining six: Copper-Salmon, Lower White River, Rock Creek, Cummins Creek, Bridge Creek, and Grassy Knob were still included in the books but as additional hikes in the back. Between the hike descriptions in the guidebooks and Boots on the Trail’s trip reports we’ve had plenty of information to work with.

This was an appealing goal too. Wilderness areas are dear to our hearts and home to many of our favorite places. These areas are the least affected by humans and we feel best reflect God’s work as Creator. To me they are akin to a museum showcasing His finest artistry. Just as we would in a museum we admire and enjoy the wilderness but we do our best not to affect it meaning adhering whenever possible to Leave No Trace principles.

We have made pretty good progress on this goal so far and as of 12/31/18 we had visited 38 of the 45 accessible areas (and seen the other two from the beach). We’re currently on track to have visited them all by the end of 2020.

Below is a chronological list of the wilderness areas we’ve been to (or seen) as well as any subsequent year(s) we’ve visited with some links to selected trip reports.

Opal Creek – 2009, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18

Battle Ax Creek – 2014

Mt. Jefferson – 2010, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18

Mt. Jefferson from Russell Lake – 2016

Drift Creek – 2010

Mt. Washington – 2011, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17

Mt. Washington from the Pacific Crest Trail – 2015

Three Sisters – 2011, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

The Three Sisters – 2014

Three Arch Rocks – 2011, 18

Three Arch Rocks from Cape Meares – 2018

Mark O. Hatfield – 2012, 14, 15, 16

Triple Falls – 2012

Mt. Hood – 2012, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Mt. Hood – 2015

Oregon Islands – 2012, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Bandon Islands – 2018

Mill Creek – 2012

Twin Pillars – 2011

Mt. Thielsen – 2012, 14

Howlock Mountain and Mt. Thielsen – 2014

Table Rock – 2012, 15

Table Rock – 2015

Salmon-Huckleberry – 2013, 14, 15, 17, 18

Frustration Falls – 2018

Diamond Peak – 2013, 14, 18

Trapper Creek – 2014

Waldo Lake – 2013, 15, 18

View from Fuji Mountain – 2013

Roaring River – 2013

Serene Lake – 2013

Badger Creek – 2014

Badger Creek Wilderness – 2014

Middle Santiam – 2014

Donaca Lake – 2014

Bull of the Woods – 2014, 15, 18

Emerald Pool – 2018

Soda Mountain – 2015, 17

View from Boccard Point – 2015

Red Buttes – 2015

Oregon Badlands – 2016

Oregon Badlands Wilderness – 2016

Kalmiopsis – 2016

Vulcan Lake – 2016

Menagerie – 2016

Rooster Rock – 2016

Eagle Cap – 2016

Glacier Lake – 2016

Mountain Lakes – 2016

View from Aspen Butte – 2016

Sky Lakes – 2016

Mt. McLoughlin from Freye Lake – 2016

Lower White River – 2016

White River – 2016

Rock Creek – 2017

Spring Basin – 2017

Hedgehog Cactus – 2017

Bridge Creek – 2017

Bridge Creek Wilderness – 2017

Wild-Rogue – 2017

Hanging Rock – 2017

Grassy Knob – 2017

View from Grassy Knob – 2017

Clackamas – 2017

Big Bottom – 2017

North Fork John Day – 2017, 18

Baldy Lake – 2017

Cummins Creek – 2017

Cummins Ridge Trail – 2017

Rogue-Umpqua Divide – 2018

Hummingbird Meadows – 2018

Steens Mountain – 2018

View along the Pine Creek Trail – 2018

Strawberry Mountain – 2018

Slide Lake – 2018

Copper-Salmon – 2018

Barklow Mountain Trail – 2018

The remaining areas and year of our planned visit looks like this:

2019 – Hells Canyon, North Fork Umatilla, Wenaha-Tucannon
2020 – Boulder Creek, Black Canyon, Monument Rock, Gearhart Mountain

If the Devil’s Staircase is added in the meantime we will do our best to work that in (it is currently on our list of hikes but not until 2023. For more information on Oregon’s wilderness areas visit Wilderness.net here.

Happy Trails!

Tags Badger Creek Wilderness, Bridge Creek Wilderness, Bull of the Woods Wilderness, Clackamas Wilderness, Copper-Salmon Wilderness, cummins creek wilderness, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Drift Creek Wilderness, eagle cap wilderness, Grassy Knob Wilderness, hiking, kalmiopsis wilderness, Lower White River Wilderness, Mark O Hatfield Wilderness, Menagerie Wilderness, Middle Santiam Wilderness, Mill Creek Wilderness, mountain lakes wilderness, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Mt. Thielsen wilderness, Mt. Washington Wilderness, North Fork John Day Wilderness, opal creek wilderness, Oregon, oregon badlands wilderness, Oregon Islands Wilderness, Red Buttes Wilderness, Roaring River Wilderness, Rock Creek Wilderness, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, sky lakes wilderness, soda mountain wilderness, Spring Basin Wilderness, Steens Mountain Wilderness, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, table rock wilderness, Three Arch Rocks Wilderness, Three Sisters Wilderness, waldo lake wilderness, Wild Rogue Wilderness, Wilderness Areas

Year-end wrap up

The Hikes of 2016 – A Look Back

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 1, 2017
12 Comments on The Hikes of 2016 – A Look Back

It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to recap our 2016 hiking year, and what a great year for hiking it turned out to be! I spent our off-season (Nov-Apr) putting together a 7 year plan (yes I have an issue) to help us achieve two of the goals we’ve set for ourselves. One is to hike each of the featured hikes in each of William L. Sullivan’s five “100 Hikes/Travel Guide” books and the second is to visit each of Oregon’s 45 designated wilderness areas. (There are 47 but the Oregon Islands and Three Arch Rocks Wilderness Areas are off-limits.) In previous years I had only put together a schedule for the upcoming year, but by looking further ahead I was able to make sure we weren’t going to miss any hikes and they were scheduled at what should be good times to visit. We also now had a handy list of options, laid out by the best times to visit, to pick from if we needed to change plans for any reason. The schedule remains a work in process but as it stands today we will finish visiting all the wilderness areas with Grassy Knob in 2022 and 460 of the 500 featured hikes in Sullivan’s books by the end of 2023. The remaining 40 hikes are too far away for day trips so they are incorporated into vacations that will need to happen further down the road.

The first draft of our 2016 hikes was completed on 12/18/15 and consisted of 57 days worth of hikes totaling 624.4 miles. History had shown that those numbers (and the hikes themselves) would change as the year played out, but it was a solid starting point. That again proved to be the case as 10 of the original hikes were swapped out for others and 4 additional hikes were added, and the total mileage rose by over 150 miles to end at 792.8. We visited 8 wilderness areas for the first time knocking 7 more off the Oregon list. They were the Oregon Badlands, Kalmiopsis, Menagerie, Eagle Cap, Mountain Lakes, Sky Lakes, and Lower White River Wildernesses in Oregon and the Marble Mountain Wilderness in California. In addition to the new areas we hiked in the Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, and Mark O. Hatfield Wildernesses as well as the the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and the Mt. St. Helens Volcanic National Monument.

Our travels took us on hikes further to the west (Cape Sebastian State Park), east (West Fork Wallowa Trail – Eagle Cap Wilderness), and south (Cliff Lake – Marble Mountain Wilderness) than ever before. Our trips to the Marble Mountain and Eagle Cap Wilderness areas were our first 5 day/4 night backpacking trips which proved to be just about the limit on how long we can stay out given our current gear.

The weather was exceptional for nearly all of our hikes. Early winter storms left a more normal snow pack which helped make 2016 a pretty good wildflower year and we only ran into two weather related issues. The first was a slight chance of rain for our vacation week in May during which we’d planned on visiting the desert in SE Oregon. Any precipitation in that area would have made it impossible to reach our planned trailheads so we put that vacation off and headed to the Southern Oregon Coast instead which wound up being a great plan B. The second was a July hike on Scar Ridge in the Old Cascades which was swapped for Fifteenmile Creek on the east side of the Mt. Hood National Forest due to probable thunderstorms.

Although the weather conditions were almost always great the same couldn’t be said for the condition of a few of the trails. During our May vacation we encountered a host of ticks along the Illinois River Trail. Later in the year it was blowdown that proved to be the biggest obstacle. In the Sky Lakes Wilderness a section of the Badger Lake Trail to the Pacific Crest Trail was a mess.
Blowdown over the Badger Lake Trail

This was also the case along much of the Bowerman Lake Trail in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness.

As well as the Hand Lake Trail in the Mt. Washington Wilderness.
More blowdown over the Hand Lake Trail

The one consistent regardless of the location, weather, or trail conditions was the beauty and diversity that makes the Pacific Northwest so special. From west to east starting with the Oregon Coast:
Tillamook Head to the South of the Fort-To-Sea Trail
Tillamook Head from the Fort-to-Sea Trail

Lone Ranch Beach from Cape Ferrelo

View from the Oregon Coast Trail in Samuel H. Boardman State Park

Past the Klamath Mountains in Southern Oregon and Northern California:

Little Vulcan and Vulcan Lake below Vulcan Peak

Kalmiopsis Wilderness

Black Marble Mountain
Marble Mountain Wilderness

and the Coast Range to the north:

Old Growth Ridge Trail in the Siuslaw National Forest

Sweet Creek Falls

across the Willamette Valley: Trail in Minto-Brown Island Park
Minto-Brown Island Park

Bald Hill

into the Old Cascade Mountains:

Coffin Mountain from Bachelor Mountain

Rooster Rock in the Menagerie Wilderness

over the Cascade Mountains:

Mt. McLoughlin

Diamond Peak from the Pacific Crest Trail
Diamond Peak

The Three Sisters from a meaow along the Rebel Rock Trail
The Three Sisters

Mt. Washington

Three Fingered Jack beyond the Eight Lakes Basin
Three Fingered Jack

Mt. Jefferson from Jefferson Park
Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Hood and the Eliot Glacier
Mt. Hood

Coldwater Peak and Snow Lake – Mt. Margaret Backcountry, Mt. St. Helens Volcanic National Monument

into the High Desert of Central Oregon:

Badlands Rock – Oregon Badlands Wilderness

Deschutes River

Painted Hills – John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

NE to the Wallowa Mountains:

Ice Lake and the Matterhorn

Glacier Peak and Eagle Cap from Glacier Lake

Eagle Cap Wilderness

Here is a look at the locations of our hikes. The hiker symbols are the trailheads and the yellow house icon denotes the approximate location of our campsites.
2016 Hikes
An interactive version can been accessed here and includes all of our previous hikes.

In addition to the spectacular views the areas provided a wonderful variety of wildlife and vegetation.

Elk
Elk

Nutria
Nutria

Bald eagle

Chukars
Chukar

Coyote
Coyote

Pronghorn

Deer
Deer

Rabbits
Rabbit

Snowshoe hare

Mountain Goats
Mountain goat along the Lakes Trail

Mountain goat along the Boundary Trail

Bear
Black bear in a wildflower meadow

Grouse
Sooty grouse

Sooty Grouse

Grouse

Dragonflies
Dragonfly

Dragon Fly

Dragon fly

We encountered a number of flowers for the first time this year.
Sea fig
Sea fig

Cows clover

Bigelow's sneezeweed
Bigelow’s Sneezeweed

Cut-leaf anemone

Western blue clematis

Yellow Columbine

Pretty Face

Farewell-to-Spring

Mountain coyote mint

Yellow coralroot

Sea fig
Sea fig

California Lady Slippers

California Yerba Santa

Grass widows

sticky monkey-flower

Some sort of catchfly

Sea thrift

beach morning-glory

Yellow sand-verbena

California pitcher plant (Darlingtonia californica)

Scarlet pimpernel

Dutchman's breech
Dutchman’s breech

Hedgehog cactus

Golden Bee Plant

White mariposa lily

Siskiyou lewisia

kalmiopsis leachiana

Muhlenberg's centaury
Muhlenberg’s centaury

Bridges' brodiaea
Bridge’s brodiaea

There were just too many sights to fit into a year end wrap up so to see a sample from each of our hikes this album contains a few photos from each hike which attempt to show the beauty of each trail. There are a lot of photos (793 – One for each mile hiked) but then again there is a lot of beauty in God’s creation.

Happy Trails in 2017 and beyond!

Tags Darlingtonia, High Cascades, hiking, kalmiopsis wilderness, Marble Mountain Wilderness, Menagerie Wilderness, mountain lakes wilderness, Mt. Hood, Mt. Margaret backcountry, Oregon, oregon badlands wilderness, Oregon Coast, sky lakes wilderness

Hiking Klamath/Siskiyou Mountains Oregon Trip report

Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Redwoods Nature Trail

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 26, 2016
8 Comments on Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Redwoods Nature Trail

Tuesday of our vacation week brought us our longest drive from Gold Beach to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. We had a pair of hikes planned there followed by a quick stop on the way back at Alfred Loeb State Park to see some redwoods.

Our first stop was the Vulcan Peak Trailhead. To reach this trailhead we drove to Brookings and took North Bank Road along the Chetco River for 16 miles to a T shaped junction with gravel Forest Service Road 1909. We turned right following signs for the wilderness and began a tedious 13.3 mile drive. This wasn’t the worst road we’ve been on but it was arguably the longest stretch of bad road we’ve encountered. It took over 45 minutes to reach the trailhead on a short spur road with an outhouse.

For the first mile we were actually on the Chetco Divide Trail as it followed an old roadbed along a ridge surrounded by forest burnt in the massive 2002 Biscuit Fire.

At the 1 mile mark the Vulcan Peak Trail split off heading uphill while the Chetco Divide Trail veered to the right.

Shortly after leaving the Chetco Divide Trail we entered the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.

It was pretty windy along the exposed ridge but it was shaping up to be a beautiful day.

The area reminded us of our trip to the Red Buttes Wilderness last October only here it was Spring and there were plenty of wildflowers.
Death Camas

Tolmie’s mariposa lily

Wild iris

A paintbrush

Wallflower

Sand Dune Phacelia

Arnica

Wedgeleaf violet

Dwarf ceanothus

The trail wound its way up the hillsides before reaching a saddle with a nice view south to Preston Peak and the Siskiyou Mountains.

The trail then headed north to the summit of Vulcan Peak.

We followed the summit ridge north to a view of Little Vulcan Lake (one of our destinations on our next hike).

We declared victory there although the ridge continued on and would have eventually provided a view down to Vulcan Lake as well.

Our next trailhead was another 1.7 miles along road 1909. The final mile of this section made the first 13.3 seem like a nice country road. The trail began at a signboard where the road was blocked by some dirt mounds.

A short distance from the signboard the trail split. We took the right-hand fork uphill toward Vulcan Lake.

The lakes were on the other side of a ridge so we followed the trail up to a saddle with a view of both lakes and Vulcan Peak.

Vulcan Lake

Between the rocky terrain and the 2002 fire the trail grew fainter as we neared the lakes. Rock cairns helped mark the way though.

Vulcan Lake quickly ranked as one of our favorites. The colors of the water and surrounding rocks were amazing and lizards scurried along the shore while newts swam by in lake.

The water was cool but not cold and we sat on the rocky bank soaking in the scenery. We could have easily spent hours or even days there but we had other places to visit so we eventually pulled ourselves away and continued to Little Vulcan Lake.

To reach Little Vulcan Lake we located a trail sign for the Gardner Mine Loop near where we had left the main trail to go down to Vulcan Lake.

From there we could see another trail sign for the Trail 1110B.

Two tenths of a mile following more cairns and faint tread brought us to Little Vulcan Lake. As close as these two lakes were to one another they couldn’t have been much different.

Instead of red rock surrounding the water here we found Darlingtonia californica. Insect eating pitcher plants.

This was our first time seeing the pitcher plants and we found them to be really interesting. In addition to the pitcher plants there were a number of newts in the lake.

Six newts in Little Vulcan Lake.

From Little Vulcan Lake we returned to the Gardner Mine Loop trail and followed it as well as we could. Between cairns and our GPS we managed to stay mostly on course despite almost no sign of the actual trail tread.

We followed the cairns for .6 miles being eyed by lizards the whole time.

After the .6 miles of cairns we arrived at Sorvaag Bog.

From the bog the trail followed an old roadbed making it easier to follow. We passed the entrance to the Gardner Mine before reaching a junction in a saddle with the Johnson Butte Trail.

This junction was just .8 miles from where the trail had split and we’d taken the right-hand fork to Vulcan Lake. Before heading back though we had one final lake to visit and some rare flowers to look for so we turned right and headed deeper into the wilderness.

We were hoping to see some kalmiopsis leachiana in bloom. This rare flowering plant is found only in a few areas in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. We knew that there were some along the Johnson Butte Trail so we were keeping an eye out only we weren’t entirely certain what they looked like. For some reason we hadn’t looked at any pictures online beforehand so the only information we had was the general areas we might spot them in and a belief that they were pink.

The Johnson Butte Trail followed another old road for 2.6 miles then turned to a simple trail. The whole time the trail alternated between ridges and hillsides often switching between the east and west facing sides at saddles.

There were plenty of flowers along the way including a surprise appearance of a single beargrass blooming.

Wild Rose

Wild iris
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Narrowleaf blue eyed mary

Starflower

Rhododendron

Tolmie’s mariposa lily

We began seeing some pink flowers that we at first mistook for mountain heather, but after looking at them closer we realized they were something different. We eventually convinced ourselves that these must be the kalmiopsis leachiana which was confirmed later when we double checked online.

The best patches were found after the trail made a sharp right turn at a ridge end below Dry Butte.

A few other flowers we had not been seeing were found below Dry Butte.
Bleeding heart

Red flowering currant

Penstemon and solomonseal

A little over three miles from the saddle where we had set off on the Johnson Butte Trail we found a sign for the Salamander Lake Trail.

There was a campsite just below the ridge but the lake was further downhill hidden by brush and trees. The trail disappeared in the same brush and trees at the campsite and we momentarily considered not picking our way down to the lake, but that had been our planned turnaround point so down we went. We fought our way steeply down through the brush and blowdown to find the little lily pad filled Salamander Lake.

After the Vulcan Lakes this one was a bit of a letdown but we found some shade along the bank and took a short break that was interrupted by a few mosquitoes. We climbed back up to the Johnson Butte Trail and returned the way we’d come. At the saddle junction we kept straight following the trail along the old roadbed the .8 miles back to where we’d split off earlier and then completed the short walk to the trailhead.

It had been a very warm sunny day and we were pretty worn out when we started the drive back out along road 1909. It was nice to rest in the car for a bit as we slowly made our way back to North Bank Road. Once we were back on North Bank Road we drove 8.5 miles towards Brookings where we turned into Alfred Loeb State Park for our final hike of the day. The temperature gauge in the car read 87 as we pulled in.

We parked at a signed trailhead and took the .7 mile River View Trail.

This trail passed through a forest following the Chetco River. Lettered signposts corresponded to entries in a brochure that could be picked up at the trailhead.

The Riverview Trail led to a crossing of North Bank Road where the Redwood Nature Trail began on the far side.

This 1.2 mile loop trail passed through a mixed forest with some nice redwoods along the way.

We did the loop in a counter-clockwise direction which seemed to leave the steeper sections as downhill. After finishing the loop and returning to the car we walked down to the Chetco River because there really hadn’t been a great view of it along the River View Trail.

When it was all said and done our GPS showed a total of 16.6 miles for the three hikes. Three miles for Vulcan Peak, 10.7 for Vulcan and Salamander Lakes, and 2.9 for this final hike. It had been a long hot day and we decided that ice cream sounded good for dinner so we stopped at the DQ in Brookings splitting a chicken strip basket and each having a Blizzard. Such are the joys of being on vacation. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157668642744636