Tag: Ouzel

Devil’s Staircase Wilderness – 07/10/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 11, 2021
5 Comments on Devil’s Staircase Wilderness – 07/10/2021

In 2019 Congress designated the 31,107 acre Devil’s Staircase Wilderness adding another Oregon wilderness area for us to visit in order for us to reach our goal of visiting each of the State’s wilderness areas open to the general public (post). (The Three Arch Rocks and Oregon Islands wilderness areas managed by the Fish & Wildlife service are closed to the general public.) The Devil’s Staircase Wilderness is managed jointly by the Bureau of Land Management (east side) and the Siuslaw National Forest. The area is named after a cascade/waterfall on Wassen Creek known as The Devil’s Staircase.

There are no official trails in this wilderness area and everything we’d read from the Forest Service, BLM, Oregon Wild, Oregonhikers.org and William L. Sullivan’s “Atlas of Oregon Wilderness” described the area as having steep terrain, dense vegetation and unstable soils. Because of this we are not going to go into much detail of our visit, these descriptions are accurate and our outing was one of the most difficult we’ve undertaken to date. If you do decide to visit bring a map and compass (and the skills to use them) and be prepared to crawl, scoot and probably swear at least once. Also make sure you give yourself plenty of time or plan on spending the night. We came out muddy, bruised and a little bloodied. Our dream was to actually reach the Devil’s Staircase but realistically we didn’t expect to be able too.
Wilderness boundary

Varied thrush

Blackberries, we found a couple of ripe ones later as well as ripe salmonberries, thimbleberries, and red huckleberries.

There was a lot of Himalayan blackberry to get through which caused many a scratch.

Salamander, possibly a Dunn’s.

Snail on a fern.

A few rhododendron were still blooming.

Huckleberries

This was the only open spot the whole day. There were some thistle and yarrow blooming here along with a bit of poison oak.

Bees sleeping on thistle.

Yarrow

The rhododendron was often so tall we could walk through them.

The morning fog burned off by 9:30am.

Wild cucumber (coastal manroot)

Monkeyflower

Although this picture doesn’t really convey it this section of exposed wet rock was at a fairly steep angle and was quite the challenging both coming and going.

A lot of planning and a little luck allowed us to actually reach Wassen Creek at the staircase (Bruce you had the right idea) but we didn’t wind up seeing it from the bottom. We reached it at it’s upper end and were unsure if we’d be able to get back up if we climbed all the way down to the bottom. After watching a video on YouTube and seeing them go down where we had been thinking we still weren’t convinced that we wouldn’t have been stuck on a ledge.

An ouzel

This was the ledge that we decided to not drop down off of.

That pool is said to be approximately 20′ deep!

We checked the little pools for rough skinned newts and this one had four and a crawdad.

The other factor for not attempting to go down was the presence of a couple who had backpacked in and were camped on the gravel below the staircase. We think they came in from the same place we did but aren’t 100% sure. In any case neither of us could imagine hauling full packs in and out of this area. After a nice long break we began the arduous hike back.

A chickadee came to check on me as I was catching my breath under a rhododendron.

We didn’t see any large animals but signs of their presence abounded.

Thimbleberries

Salmonberries

Swallowtail on a blackberry blossom.

The hike took us almost 8 hours and according to my GPS was 7.7 miles long although Heather’s only showed 6.7 miles. (Might be the first time ever where hers was less for essentially the same hike.) With the dense trees and deep canyon I’m sure they are both a bit off but around 7 miles is probably accurate. On a typical hike we average around 2mph with a moving speed between 2 1/4 and 3mph. This was about half of those speeds. The elevation gain, which was mostly on the way back, was in the neighborhood of 2000′.

We now have just 2 remaining wilderness areas in Oregon to visit, Black Canyon and Monument Rock. If our plans aren’t derailed by wildfires we should be done by the end of Summer. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Devil’s Staircase

Tags berries, Devil's Staircase, Devil's Staircase Wilderness, hiking, Oregon, Ouzel, Wassen Creek

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon Trip report

Golden and Silver Falls – 05/16/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 22, 2021
1 Comment on Golden and Silver Falls – 05/16/2021

Our trip home from the southern Oregon coast was very different than our six stop drive that started our long weekend (post). We had only one stop planned at Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area. Only 24 miles from Highway 101 in Coos Bay the park felt further removed due to the winding back country roads to the trailhead.

We started our morning off by heading for Golden Falls first. The trail led to a footbridge across Silver Creek and then forked.

We took the right hand Lower Trail first which followed Glenn Creek to the base of 254′ Golden Falls.

Rough skinned newt

Monkeyflower

Thimbleberry

Wren below Golden Falls

After exploring the area below Golden Falls we returned to the fork and turned onto the Upper Trail. This trail climbed for .4 miles to a switchback below 259′ Silver Falls.

Columbine

Ginger

Inside out flower

Iris

Anemone

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Ouzel

Marshall’s saxifrage

Beyond the switchback the trail continued to climb along an long abandoned road over half a mile to cliffs at the top of Golden Falls.

Plectritis

Manroot

Stonecrop

Upper portion of Golden Falls.

Glenn Creek above Golden Falls.

The trail petered out after a short distance so we turned back. As we began our hike back down blue skies emerged overhead.
Despite a cloudy morning they stayed high enough to not obstruct the view of the falls.

We returned to the trailhead where another car had joined ours and walked to the west end of the parking area to the Silver Falls Viewpoint Trail.

This .3 mile trail led to the base of Silver Falls across from the switchback.
Epic battle between a rock and a tree.

Pacific waterleaf

I was treated to a single ripe salmonberry along this stretch of trail. It didn’t survive long enough for a photo but I found another that was almost ripe.

Larkspur

Ouzel (might be the same one as earlier)

We did some more exploring around the base of the falls before saying goodbye and heading back to our car.

At 4 miles this was a perfect hike to end our trip on, even with 4 more hours of driving we made it home around 1:30pm giving us plenty of time to unpack and get ready for the work week ahead. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Golden and Silver Falls

Tags Glenn Creek, Golden and Silver Falls, Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area, Golden Falls, hiking, Oregon, Ouzel, Silver Creek, Silver Falls

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trip report

National Creek Falls and Takelma Gorge – 10/15/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 22, 2020
2 Comments on National Creek Falls and Takelma Gorge – 10/15/2020

As the strangest hiking season we’ve experienced winds down we took our final long distance (over 3 hours away) trip of the year for a long weekend of hiking around Union Creek, OR. Recent rains had knocked down the wildfires for the most part but those rains had given way to a sunny forecast which made for promising hiking conditions. We kicked off our hikes with a stop at the National Creek Falls Trailhead.

Located just west of Crater Lake National Park National Creek Falls is spring fed from water absorbed by the Park’s pumice plain. A short .4 mile trail descends from the trailhead to the creek just below the falls.
There was just a little bit of blowdown to navigate on the way down.

National Creek Falls

On a warmer day we would have loved to stay for a bit and possibly wade across the creek to get a full view of these impressive falls but it was in the mid 30’s this morning and with the moisture generated by the falls we quickly became uncomfortably cold. We settled for the view we could get from the creek side and retreated back up to our car and turned the heat on full blast.
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When enough feeling had returned to my hands to grip the steering wheel we returned to Highway 230 following it south to its end at Highway 62 then continued south on that highway past Union Creek to Woodruff Meadows Road (between mileposts 51 and 52). We turned right onto this paved road for one and three quarters of a mile to a small pullout just past the Woodruff Bridge Day Use Area and a bridge over the Rogue River (parking is also available in the day use area).
Signboard at the pullout.

We were here to do Sullivan’s Takelma Gorge hike (#32 in the 4th edition “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California”). In his book he suggests a quick detour to a small fall beneath the bridge so we crossed the road and made our way down to the river bank to view the cascade.

We then recrossed Woodruff Meadows Road and headed south along the river on the Upper Rogue River Trail.

The mile and a half to Takelma Gorge had many river views with lots of fall colors lining the banks. There was also a varied thrush sighting that actually resulted in a few decent pictures (these birds are my nemesis when it comes to getting photos).

As we neared the gorge the river began to be squeezed through channels created by lava flows.

Rogue River emerging from a channel.

Takelma Gorge is also the result of a lava flow where the Rogue turns a sharp corner and blasts down the gorge.

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The trail follows along the rim of the gorge passing a couple of viewpoints over the next .9 miles.

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Rogue River emerging from Takelma Gorge.

Either end of the gorge could have been turn around points but the Upper Rogue River Trail continues and so did we. From the southern end of Takelma Gorge it was just over two miles to the River Bridge Campground which we planned on making our turn around point. The nearly level trail remained close enough to the river to provide plenty of views.

Just under a mile from the gorge we passed the Rogue Baptist Camp.

Ouzel

River Bridge

We turned around at the campground and headed back.

It was a beautiful day and somehow the colors and the gorge were even more impressive on the return hike.

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When we got back to Woodruff Bridge we noticed some flagging and signage along the trail that had not been there earlier. Apparently there was a 50k race scheduled for Saturday (10/17). The race was an out and back starting and ending in Union Creek. The fact that the race would be happening Saturday helped us decide that Friday we would be doing the Natural Bridge hike since that would have us on trail following part of the race course.

We drove to Union Creek where we checked into the Union Creek Resort then after getting settled we walked across Highway 62 to get dinner from Beckie’s Cafe. After a thoroughly enjoyable dinner we decided to check out the area behind the cafe which was actually part of our next day’s hike. We managed to get ourselves turned around in the Union Creek Campground and our little after dinner stroll turned into a nearly mile out and back along Union Creek. It had been a nice start to the long weekend and we were looking forward to what the next day had to bring. Happy Trails!

Flickr: National Creek Falls and Takelma Gorge

Tags Beckie's Cafe, Crater Lake National Park, hiking, National Creek Falls, Oregon, Ouzel, River Bridge Campground, Rogue River, Takelma Gorge, Union Creek, Union Creek Campground, Union Creek Resort, upper rogue river trail, Woodruff Bridge Day Use Area

Coastal Range Hiking Oregon Trip report

Kentucky Falls

We had originally planned to visit Kentucky Falls a couple of years ago but winter storms damaged the North Fork Smith River Trail causing us to postpone the hike. Much of the trail has since been repaired and we decided that it was finally time for that trip. The North Fork Smith River Trail extends for over 8.5 miles between two trailheads in the Siuslaw National Forest west of Eugene, OR. We chose the Kentucky Falls Trailhead located on National Forest Road 919 as our starting point for a couple of reasons. First of all the three large waterfalls along the trail are closer to this trailhead and secondly the storms that damaged the trail had also damaged the 1 1/2 mile bridge (Named for its distance from the North Fork Smith Trailhead on forest road 23.) making it unsafe to cross and leaving a river ford as the only way to continue past on the trail.

From the Kentucky Falls Trailhead the path gradually descends through the forest to a view above Upper Kentucky Falls.

The trail then begins a steeper descent as it switchbacks down to Kentucky Creek below the falls.

The trail again descends gradually crossing the creek on a footbridge before a second set of swtichbacks brings you to a trail junction at a sharp switchback.

Sharp switchback

The switchback is the continuation of the North Fork Smith River Trail and the route for a longer hike. A short path leading straight from the switchback junction leads a short distance to two more large falls. Lower Kentucky Falls and North Fork Falls.

Lower Kentucky Falls

North Fork Falls

Turning back here would have made the hike approximately 4.5 miles, but we were planning on a longer trek so when we returned to the switchback junction we continued along the North Fork Smith River Trail. Under a mile from the junction we came to Swimming Pool Falls. A much smaller waterfall than the three upstream but scenic none the less.

The trail after Swimming Pool Falls began to show signs of little use. The tread became narrower with some small plants and moss growing on the path.

We had to watch our step but not because of the trail condition, we had to watch out for the numerous snails, slugs, millipedes, and other critters that we saw all along the trail.

Our map showed that it was approximately 2.7miles from Swimming Pool Falls to the 3 mile bridge. This is the second bridge over the North Fork Smith River coming from the North Fork Smith Trailhead. We were on the lookout for a couple of markers along the way though, a small drippy waterfall and an 11′ Douglas fir. We spotted the drippy waterfall just fine which looked like it would have been very pretty with a higher volume of water.

Not far after drippy falls there was a large tree trunk across the trail which made for a decent obstacle.

Then we came to an unsigned trail junction at a switchback. This junction was not on any forest service map of the area we had seen and it wasn’t marked on the map in our field guide. The right hand fork led down a ridge while the left fork switched back along the canyon wall.

This picture is taken from the left hand fork looking back up at the unsigned junction.

We decided to take the right hand fork to see if led down to the 11′ tree or possibly a campsite out on the ridge. We did pass an old campsite but the trail continued on down toward the river growing a little fainter as it went. We were following a side creek down the hillside which the maps showed the trail doing as it arrives at the 3 mile bridge so we kept going wondering if we had missed the 11′ tree and already arrived at the bridge. The trail crossed the little stream and arrived at another junction. This one had signs. A Kentucky Falls sign pointed right toward a very faint path while a North Fork Smith Trail sign pointed back up the way we’d come. The sign for the left hand fork said Swinging Bridge.

We were headed for a bridge but it was odd that Sullivan had not mentioned the “Swinging” aspect of the bridge in his book. That is the kind of detail that he does include in his descriptions. Not far from the junction we arrived at the bridge though.

It was a nice suspension bridge which was something else that didn’t fit the field guide description. We ventured out on the bridge and at the far end was a small sign that simply said. “3.5 miles to gated road 4880”. The path leading away from the bridge was an old roadbed that was overgrown with grass. We were able to deduce that the bridge must connect the trail system to some private land on which was shown on the map in our field guide on the opposite side of the river. So back up the hill we went to the unsigned junction to the path we hadn’t taken. This portion of trail had not been maintained for some time, probably since the storms that damaged the bridges, leaving a couple of wash outs that had to be navigated.

When the trail began to descend a ridge toward the river we realized that we must have missed the big tree and would have to look for it on our return trip. In the meantime we were busy trying not to miss the trail as it became increasingly overgrown the closer we got to the river.

We passed as small former campsite near a small stream with a very small fall into a little pool.

Then we arrived on the bank of the river. Here the trail was almost completely overgrown, but Heather did an excellent job following it through the undergrowth.

We struggled through the brush for a couple hundred yards at least before finally popping out at the river with a view of the 3 mile bridge.

The next obstacle was figuring out the best way to reach the bridge which had been cut off by a new channel of the river after the storms. While we looked for the best route we noticed several little fish in the water.

In the end we decided to go around to the right of the pool in front of us which worked out well and we were soon across the bridge. The trail then followed the river through a less overgrown wood. Here the sun was shinning and flowers lined the path.

Several neat moss covered trees also added to the character of this section.

The scenery changed again when the trail left the more woodsy forest behind and entered a different feeling area where there was very less undergrowth and giant stumps told of a past forest fire.

We finally arrived at what remains of the 1 1/2 mile bridge.

There were visible cracks in the middle of the log and clearly not something anyone should attempt to cross. Determined hikers could look for a place to ford the river and there was a rope that was tied on a log near the bridge to assist in climbing up the embankment, but this may not be an option in high water.

We turned around and began our return trip having decided to stop at a sandy beach we had passed earlier near a 2 1/2 mile post.

We sat by the creek and cooled our feet off in the cold (really cold) water.

An ouzel was busy hunting for insects in the water just downstream.

After resting for a bit we resumed our return hike focused on spotting the 11′ Douglas fir this time. We spotted it this time and also noticed a sign along the trail apparently identifying the tree. What the sign actually said we couldn’t tell but the tree was certainly larger than any of the other trees around.

We also spotted a salamander in one of the little streams along the trail. I tried to identify the exact type of salamander this was, as it was the first we’d seen of this type, but all I was able to find out for sure is that it was indeed a salamander.

When we arrived at the spur trail to Lower Kentucky and North Fork Falls we took it again wanting to see how the change in the suns position affected the appearance of the falls. They had been impressive in the morning, but now the sun was shining on the cascades and they were even prettier.

We found the same thing at Upper Kentucky Falls.

We finally arrive back at our car around 5pm after over 9 hours of hiking. The GPS put us at 17.4 miles and our feet agreed, but it had been a great hike full of plenty of surprises and adventure. According to a sign at the trailhead the Forest Service plans to replace the bridges in 2016, but until then the North Fork Smith River Trail should remain a bit on the wilder side. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157650241947594/with/17493753445/

Tags 1 1/2 mile bridge, 3 mile bridge, hiking, kentucky falls, kentucky falls trailhead, north fork smith river, north fork smith trail, Oregon, Ouzel, siuslaw national forest, swinging bride

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Donaca Lake – Middle Santiam Wilderness

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 30, 2014
5 Comments on Donaca Lake – Middle Santiam Wilderness

We recently returned from our final overnight backpacking “test run”. Our destination for this round was Donaca Lake in the Middle Santiam Wilderness. The wilderness, established in 1984, consists of 8900 acres in the Willamette National Forest. There were several potential trailheads that we could have started at and we chose to park at the Pyramids Trail. http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/willamette/null/recarea/?recid=4334&actid=64

This trailhead left us with the least amount of driving time, but it was by no means the shortest hike to Donaca Lake. That was okay with us since we were wanting the extra distance to get used to hiking with our packs over 12 miles at a time, and coming from this trail we would be able to do the majority of the Middle Santiam River hike described in William L. Sullivan’s 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades. After crossing a little footbridge we turned left on the South Pyramid Creek Trail which traversed the SE flank of the South Pyramid for 1.5 miles where it briefly joined road 572 at a trail junction. On the opposite side of the road was the Crescent Mountain Trail. This was the opposite end of the trail we had taken up to the top of Crescent Mountain earlier in the month. The South Pyramid Creek Trail picked up about 10 yards down the road reentering the trees on the same side that we had just exited.

The trail soon began following an unnamed stream downhill toward South Pyramid Creek. We crossed over this stream a couple of times, sometimes on a bridge and other times not.

As we neared South Pyramid Creek the forest showed signs of logging activity on our left. This meant a lack of trees and shade, but it also meant there were tons of berries that had taken advantage of the sunlight and disturbed soil. We noticed several different varieties of huckleberries/blueberries, trailing blackberries, and what turned out to be Gooseberries.

Since we didn’t know what they were for sure we didn’t sample the gooseberries, but the rest of the berries were thoroughly tested. 🙂

The trail crossed road 2047 where a sign indicated it’s continuation 800′ to the right.

We turned up the road, passed over the creek and started looking for the continuation. We hadn’t really thought out just how far 800′ was and at first we thought we’d passed by the trail since we felt like we’d gone plenty far. We backtracked looking for an sign of the trail and tried pushing through some trees thinking that we might have seen it. Once we stopped for a minute and really considered that 800′ is nearly three full football fields we realized we hadn’t gone far enough so we headed back up the road. I spotted a sign ahead just around a bend and announced that I’d found it, then looked to my left to see I was standing next to a trail and hiker sign. What I had seen was actually a sign for the South Pyramid Horse Camp and I had completely missed the trail.

The trail was much fainter and overgrown in this section. It appeared that the trail had been rerouted at some point which would explain why my maps and Garmin did not show the 800′ road walk and instead showed the trail continuing directly across the road. It would also explain the trail junction that we came to not far from the road. It wasn’t on the Forest Service Topographical Maps I had nor was it shown on the Garmin (in fact both showed that the South Pyramid Creek Trail ceased to exist before reaching the Chimney Peak Trail which was the one we needed. Sullivan’s map showed the trail connecting and so did the Willamette National Forest trail description, but standing at this junction we became a bit confused. There was only one sign at the junction.

It was on a tree facing away from the direction we’d come. It was a “Y” junction so one trail went up and away to the right and the other headed down to our left. The distances didn’t match up with anything I had seen or read about but I knew we wanted to head toward Shedd Camp. The map in Sullivan’s book showed the South Pyramid Creek Trail intersecting the Chimney Peak Trail .3 miles from the Middle Santiam River and the Shedd Camp Shelter and we had planned to turn left at that point to visit a small waterfall on the river. The 2.4 mile distance listed on this sign just didn’t make any sense though. We headed left wondering if we would magically arrive at the river in .3 miles but after walking for awhile it became apparent that that would not be the case. After approximately 1.5 miles we spotted what I thought was a really random sign pointing back up the trail we’d just come down identifying the trail as the South Pyramid Creek Trail.

After a moment pondering why there would be a sign here we noticed another trail and sign. We had finally arrived at the Chimney Peak Trail.

This time there really was only .3 miles to the Middle Santiam River. We took a break there to look at the falls and enjoy the river.

After the break we headed back up to the trail junction and took the Chimney Peak Trail. We were now following the route described in our 100 Hikes book which put an end to the trail surprises. It was 2 miles from the junction to our next marker, Pyramid Creek. Along the way we spotted a couple of very interesting patches of Indian Pipe.

There was a nice camp site at Pyramid Creek which was my backup plan just in case there were no sites available at the lake. The creek itself was fairly wide with no bridge, and there was no way we were going to get across dry.

After fording the creek we crossed road 2041 which was abandoned years ago due to numerous washouts and entered the Middle Santiam Wilderness.
Road 2041:

Edge of the wilderness:

It was obvious that the trail doesn’t get a lot of use as the vegetation was encroaching on most of it.

The trail was joined by the Gordon Peak Trail 2.3 miles from Pyramid Creek and shortly after we came to Swamp Creek. I had expected a swampy bog here given the name but found a nice little creek that required another fording.

After crossing Swamp Creek we were only about three quarters of a mile from Donaca Lake. I had read somewhere that there was only one camp site at the lake and we had just passed a couple who had been staying at the lake so we were anxious to get there to make sure we could get a tent site. They told us the lake was lovely and it did not disappoint. From the first view through the trees we could see it was a very pretty little lake.

As we were passing along the lake we spotted a trail up to a small camp site away from the lake so we headed up and claimed our spot. After dropping off our gear we headed back down to the trail to explore the rest of the lake. The trail came to an inlet creek where we found another bigger campsite and a nice little gravel beach.

Just a little further up the trail was a third campsite but we decided to stay where we had dropped our packs because we didn’t want to be in the path of the lake access. Before going back and setting up camp though we sat on the gravel beach and watched as Newts and fish swam around in the lake while birds and bugs zoomed over the water.

After watching the wildlife for awhile we headed back to our packs and set up camp.

While we were setting up another group arrived and settled down at the big site so when we were ready to go back down to the lake we took our dinner and headed to the third site we’d found and followed a little path to a different gravel beach. After dinner we hung out for awhile before turning in for the night.

I woke up a little before 5AM and headed down to the lake to see if I could get any sunrise pictures. There wasn’t enough light for my camera to pick up much but there was a colorful stump that Heather had remarked on after dinner. It’s reflection in the water was eye catching.

After Heather woke up and we’d eaten breakfast we packed up and started our return trip. It was going well until we hit the 3.8 mile sign. It was the longest section of trail I can remember hiking. We kept thinking we were going to arrive at road 572 and the Crescent Mtn. Trail junction but instead we just kept climbing. Even when we finally spotted the road it seemed as though we paralleled it for miles. We had a mini celebration when we did finally pop out on the road before tackling the final mile and a half. The final stretch went much quicker as it was primarily downhill and we eventually arrived back at the Pyramids Trailhead.

In 27.7 miles of hiking we had seen only the two groups totaling five people over the two days. If you’re looking for a nice quite forest where you can have the trail to yourself the Middle Santiam Wilderness may just be the place for you. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157645981978735/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204556986191817.1073741895.1448521051&type=1

Tags Chimney Peak Trail, Donaca Lake, Gooseberry, hiking, Middle Santiam River, Middle Santiam Wilderness, Newt, Oregon, Ouzel, Pyramid Creek, Shedd Camp, South Pyramid Creek Trail, Swamp Creek, The Three Pyramids, Willamette National Forest

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Clear Lake

We wanted to get one last hike in on the way home from Central Oregon. Originally we’d planned on hiking up to the summit of the Middle Pyramid on the Three Pyramids Trail, but we were greeted with clouds and rain as we came to Santiam Pass. Knowing there wouldn’t be any views we changed our plans and headed to Clear Lake 10 miles south of the Santiam Jct. on Highway 126.

The McKenzie River begins at Clear Lake where old lava flows created the lake by covering and damming the river. On a clear day The Three Sisters and Mt. Washington can be seen from various points around the lake but with the clouds we would be content with the clear, colorful water of the lake.

We began our counter-clockwise loop at a picnic area near the Clear Lake Resort.

The trail passed through a nice Douglass Fir forest with glimpses of the lake to our left where we spotted our first on trail beargrass of the year.

At about the one mile mark on an arm of the lake which feeds the McKenzie we got our first taste of the draw of Clear Lake.

A footbridge led us over the outlet of the McKenzie River to the eastern shore of Clear Lake.

The trail on the eastern side spent more time in the open and closer to the lake as it crossed over several lava flows. Here we spotted several birds, ducks, and colorful wildflowers.
Ouzel

Penstemon

Tiger Lily

Merganser and her ducklings

Wild Rose

Stellars Jay

Barrow’s Goldeneye

Washington Lily

Another family of ducks

The water in the lake became more colorful as we arrived across the lake from the resort.

Shortly after passing the resort on the far shore we came to the Great Springs which feed the lake with 38 degree water allowing the lake to remain unfrozen all year. They emptied into a beautiful small pool reminiscent of the Tamolitch Pool which lies further down the McKenzie.

After the Great Springs the trail crosses Fish Lake Creek on a footbridge. This creek only flows during the Spring snow melt.

Finally we swung out around an arm of the lake where Ikenick Creek flows into the lake.

Back on the west side of the lake we were again in the fir forest where many white woodland flowers were in bloom.

We quickly reached the resort area which was busy with campers. The picnic area was just on the other side and before we knew it our Central Oregon hiking tour was over (for now). Happy Trails!

flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157644778548280/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deryl.yunck/media_set?set=a.10204239083124439.1073741887.1448521051&type=1

Tags Barrow's Goldeneye, Clear Lake, ducklings, Fish Lake Creek, Great Springs, hiking, Ikenick creek, McKenzie River, Merganser, Oregon, Ouzel, Stellars Jay

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Hood Area Oregon Trip report

The Other Eagle Creek (Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness)

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 11, 2014
2 Comments on The Other Eagle Creek (Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness)

We continued what I have dubbed “Creek Week” by visiting another Eagle Creek the day after our trip to the one in the Columbia Gorge. Even though both creeks share the same name and both are located partially in the Mt. Hood National Forest the similarities end there. This Eagle Creek flows through the old growth forest of the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness and is much less visited than the one in the Gorge. There are no dizzying cliffs or giant waterfalls but rather the relaxing sound of running water while you stroll through a lush forest.

It was good that the trail was so relaxing because the drive to it was anything but. The hike was listed as an additional hike in the 2012 edition of William Sullivan’s 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington complete with driving directions. He warned of a confusion of logging roads and he was right. I had also Googled the route and printed out directions from the Forest Service to the trailhead. The road names all matched but each of the directions gave different distances once we got onto SE Harvey Rd. Google said 1.2 miles, the Forest Service 1.8 miles, and Sullivan a more detailed 2.6 miles. Our first mistake was not paying attention to the difference in the distances given followed by not using the odometer as soon as we turned onto Harvey Rd. The area was heavily logged with operations ongoing so there were many side roads and turnoffs and no signs for any type of trail. We drove to the end of what we thought was Harvey Rd. and found a pile of garbage where people had obviously come out to shoot guns (seems to be a favorite pastime in that area) but no sign of a trail. We turned around and headed back the way we’d come looking for any sign of a trail that we might have missed. There were a couple of possibilities but nothing obvious. As we were reading the different instructions we noticed the different mileages which made it more confusing. In the end we decided to drive back to the start of SE Harvey Rd. and use the Odometer. There was nothing at the 1.2 mile mark so the Google instructions were ruled out. At the 1.8 mile mark a gated road led down to the right. The trail description in the book stated that the trail began on an overgrown old road so this had possibilities. I got an idea here and turned on the GPS to see if we were at the trail but when the map came up there was no trail where we were so we hopped in the car and continued to follow Sullivan’s mileage directions. We stopped at one point when we spotted what looked like it might have been an old road with a possible trail leading from it but again using the GPS it was clear that we still had not found the trail. At the 2.4 mile mark we spotted a barricaded road leading down to the right so again we stopped to check it out. This time the GPS showed us on a direct line for the trail and a small path led between the snags blocking the road. There were no signs but this was it.

What we believe happened was the Forest Service stared counting mileage about half a mile after Sullivan started. Then the final approximate quarter mile of Sullivan’s directions had been since blocked by the logging operation because after a brief walk on the road we came to a second small barrier behind which we found an overgrown road such as he had described.

In any event according to the GPS we had found the trail and were on our way down to Eagle Creek. We finally found a sign to confirm what the GPS was telling us. Near the end of the overgrown road there was some flagging and a sign announcing the beginning of the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness.

After entering the wilderness the trail looked less and less like an old road until it finally became a full on trail.

We ran across some interesting trees/trunks on the early portion of the trail. One of our favorites was a tree growing on top of an old trunk. You could see the new trees root system running down the length of the old trunk.

Another old trunk had a stream flowing out from under it.

There were many streams and creek to cross along the trail, but only one bridge.

There was no way we were going to keep our feet dry on some the crossing but that was okay with us, the streams just added to the beauty of the forest.

Due to the dense forest there weren’t a large variety of wildflowers but there were some including bleeding heart, wood violets, lots of trillium, and a new one to us scouler’s corydalis.
Bleeding Heart

Wood Violets

Trillium

Scouler’s Cordylis

Open areas where were filled with salmon berry bushes.

We were up above Eagle Creek at times and then we would be walking next to the water for a bit. It was a decent sized creek lined with lush forests.

We didn’t see a lot of wildlife on this hike but I think that was partially due to the lushness of the forest. At one point we startled a deer that was in the creek but all I saw was splashing then a brown and white flash as it ran into the trees. What we did see was an Ouzel, an interesting spider, a couple of newts, and one of our favorite little song birds that I believe is a Pacific Wren.

We turned around when we reached the end of the Eagle Creek Trail. Here it connected to the Eagle Creek Cutoff Trail which fords Eagle Creek before heading up a ridge to the Old Baldy Trail.

The Eagle Creek Cutoff ford

We had a little drizzle from time to time up to this point but as we began our return trip the drizzle turned to a light rain. We made quick work of our return slowing only due to the climb back up the old road. It had been a great hike for relaxing end to our creek streak with. Next up we’re going to attempt to get a view, but in the Pacific Northwest Spring views can be tricky. Until then Happy Trails!

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Tags bleeding heart, Eagle Creek, hiking, Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon, Ouzel, rough skinned newt, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, scouler's cordyalis, Trillium, wood violet