Tag: Rock Creek

Mt. Tabor, Mt. Talbert, Scouters Mtn., & Hidden Falls Parks – 12/16/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 19, 2023
No Comments on Mt. Tabor, Mt. Talbert, Scouters Mtn., & Hidden Falls Parks – 12/16/2023

For our final outing of 2023 we headed to Portland to visit some Boring volcanoes. Not to be confused with boring, the Boring Volcanic Field which consists of more than 80 small volcanic vents and associated lava flows dispersed throughout the greater Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. Several of the resulting cinder cones are home to parks providing hiking opportunities and we planned on visiting three of these along with a city park with a 15′ waterfall.

We began our morning at Portland’s Mt. Tabor Park. We parked in in the lot next to the Mount Tabor Visitors Center and set off toward the playground.
The playground behind and to the right of the signboard at the Visitors Center.

We were attempting to follow, as closely as possible, the route described by Matt Reeder in “PDX Hiking 365”. (His hike has a different starting point but loops through the parking area where we were starting.) After a little confusion near the playground we located the red trail and followed it to the Mount Tabor Stairs where we turned right.
The red trail continuing on the far end of the playground.

Mt. St. Helens from the playground.

On the red trail.

The Mount Tabor stairs extend from the park border up to the summit.

Summit restrooms

The restrooms were reopened in 2017 after being renovated.

Mount Tabor summit

Mt. Hood from the summit.

Downtown Portland

At the southern end of the summit, near the former site of a statue of Harvey W. Scott (and later a bust of York), we headed downhill on a steeper trail.

At a wide junction we turned right onto the Red Trail and passed above Reservoir No. 1.

At Reservoir Loop Road we veered left staying on the Red Trail climbing up and over Poison Oak Hill. The trail then dropped back down to the loop road near Reservoir No. 5.

Mallards

We walked along reservoir road to a small building then crossed the road and headed down a long flight of stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs we turned right on the Green Trail and followed it past some tennis courts before turning uphill. We stuck to the Green Trail as it neared the parking area and followed it back behind The Crater before arriving back at the Visitors Center.

We forked right at this junction sticking to the green pointers.

Arriving at The Crater.

Coming around The Crater near the Visitors Center.

This was just over a two-mile loop with approximately 350′ of elevation gain.

From Mount Tabor we made the nine-mile drive to the Sunnyside Road Trailhead for the Mount Talbert Nature Park.

We set off on a gravel path that descended to a metal bridge over Mount Scott Creek.
Mount Talbert from the path.

Mount Scott Creek

Beyond the creek the forested trail began to climb Mount Talbert. We passed a junction with the Cedar Park Trail joining from the left and after 0.4-miles arrived at a T-junction with the Park Loop Trail.

The Park Loop Trail junction just uphill.

Mount Talbert is an Oregon Metro park which meant well marked junctions complete with small maps.
Note that the map at the Park Loop/Sunnyside Road Trail junction mis-identifies the location with the “You Are Here” star located at the Park Loop/Summit Ridge junction.

We turned left onto the Park Loop Trail and followed it further uphill to the actual Summit Ridge Trail junction.

We turned right onto the Summit Ridge Trail and followed it up and over the wooded summit to the West Ridge Trail.

Arriving at the West Ridge Trail junction.

We turned right again and followed the West Ridge Trail as it traversed the hillside brining us back to the Park Loop Trail.

Rejoining the Park Loop Trail.

We completed the loop and turned down the Sunnyside Road Trail to return to our car to complete this 2.5-mile (and 700′ gain) hike.
Mt. Adams was visible through the web of small branches.

A snowy Mt. Adams.

Back at the Sunnyside Road Trail.

From the Sunnyside Road Trailhead it was just a 3.5-mile drive to the parking area at Scouters Mountain Nature Park.

From the parking area we set off on the paved Shelter Trail toward the summit.

After just 0.2-miles we arrived at the shelter and a great view of Mt. Hood.

The benches throughout the park contained various nature sculptures, this one is “Moss Group”.

After admiring the mountain we made a small loop on the summit then continued on our larger loop by taking the Boomer Trail at the southern end of the summit downhill and looping around the East side of the mountain to return to the parking area.
On the Boomer Trail.

The Boomer Trail turned left at the bottom of these stone steps.

Another Metro trail map and pointers.

The Boomer Trail, named for Mountain Beavers which are sometimes called boomers, crossed the entrance road before climbing back up to the parking area.

This was an impressive root system.

A less obstructed view of Mt. Adams. (Mt. St. Helens was also briefly visible from this section of trail.)

Slightly clearer shot of Mt. Adams.

Back at the trailhead.

This was just a 1.3-mile loop with 200′ of elevation gain, and it was still early enough that we could easily fit one more stop in. From Scouters Mountain we drove another 4.5-miles to Hood View Park

At the far end of the parking area we followed a service road down to SE 162nd Ave and followed it right to its end at a sign for the Hidden Falls Nature Park.

Mt. St. Helens from the service road. Mt. Hood was also visible to the right through some fences around the ball fields.

A wide path led somewhat steeply downhill a third of a mile to an impressive bridge over Rock Creek and a view of Hidden Falls.

The large area to the right didn’t offer much of a view of the falls, but the view from the bridge was great.

We continued past the bridge a short distance along Rock Creek before turning around when the path veered away to climb up into another neighborhood.

The Oregon Hikers Field Guide describes a 4.1-mile loop that visits some other parks while also passing through several neighborhoods. We were content with seeing the falls and headed back making this just a 1.2-mile out-and-back with a couple hundred feet of elevation gain. For the day we logged 7.2-miles and 1475′ of cumulative elevation gain. It was a nice relaxing way to end our 2023 hiking season. Happy Trails and Merry Christmas!

Tags Happy Valley, Hidden Falls, Hidden Falls Nature Park, hiking, Hood View Park, Mount Tabor, Mount Talbert, Mt. Tabor, Mt. Tabor Park, Mt. Talbert, Mt. Talbert Nature Park, Oregon, Oregon Metro, Portland, Rock Creek, Scouters Mountain, Scouters Mountain Nature Park

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Imnaha Falls – 06/12/2023

Our arrival in Enterprise coincided with the arrival of a couple of days with forecasted afternoon thunder storms. We did some rearraigning of the order of our hikes to avoid the storms and decided on Imnaha Falls as our Monday hike. We began at the Indian Crossing Trailhead located in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.
Indian Crossing Trailhead

Imnaha River at the trailhead.

There were quite a few wildflowers blooming at the trailhead.
Jessica’s stickseed

Hooked spur violet

Woodland star

Valerian

Arnica

We took the South Fork Imnaha Trail #1816 following pointers for Blue Hole and Twin Lakes.

Violets

We passed a pack station in the forest on our right.

Ballhead waterleaf

Lupine along the trail

Anemone

Western meadowrue

We passed a trail sign at junction with a spur trail joining from the pack station and soon after we entered the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Paintbrush along the trail.

Larkspur, lupine, and Jessica’s stickseed

After three quarters of a mile we entered a previously burned forest where the views opened up some.

Chipmunk

A nice patch of lupine.

Snow patches high up on the ridge.

The Imnaha River below the trail.

One of many small unnamed stream crossings.

Large-flower triteleia

A ponderosa pine that survived the fire.

Robin

One of several types of penstemon along the trail.

We were just sure that there should be elk, deer, or a bear down along the river here.

There were quite a few of these millipedes in the trail.

In some cases the creeks had taken over the trail.

Cinquefoil

A brushy section of the trail.

Tall bluebells

Two-tailed tiger swallowtail

At the two-mile mark we came to a signed junction for Twin Lakes Trail and Blue Hole where we detoured left.

We followed this trail downhill for a tenth of a mile to an impassable ford of the Imnaha River just below the Blue Hole.

The river was running high still so we couldn’t get a view of Blue Hole from the ford. Instead we climbed the rocks which squeeze the river through a narrow gorge before it empties into Blue Hole.

Blue Hole, not exactly blue this time of year due to the amount of silty snowmelt water swelling the river.

Wildflowers above the gorge.

The Imnaha emerging from the gorge into Blue Hole.

After a nice break at Blue Hole we returned to the South Fork Imnaha Trail and continued further into the wilderness.
Arnica along the trail.

Coming up on a small stand of aspen.

A rockcress

Juba skipper

Roundleaf alumroot

Painted lady on Oregon sunshine.

Glacier carved rock outcrops provided some excellent views and good habitat for wildflowers.

Scabland penstemon

Paintbrush

Not a flower but very colorful.

Bush penstemon

Western tanager

Western blue clematis

Brown creeper on a tree trunk.

Left is Marble Mountain and to the right further back is Honeymoon Summit.

Larkspur along the trail.

Heartleaf springbeauty

Another flooded section of a the trail.

Western tiger swallowtails on chokecherry.

Dreamy duskywing

Threeleaf lewisia

We were too late for the Brown’s peony blooms.

Balsamroot and paintbrush

Three and a third miles beyond the Twin Lakes Trail junction we left the trail to see another gorge.

On the opposite side, with a series of drops, is Rock Creek flowing into the Imnaha.

The Imnaha River leaving the gorge.

Rock Creek cascading down through the forest.

After another short break we returned to the trail and continued another third of a mile where we left the trail again to find Imnaha Falls.

Another creek cascading down.

Marble Mountain

Twinberry honeysuckle

Marsh violet

Rock outcrop above Imnaha Falls

The 8′ Imnaha Falls was difficult to get a good view of. There was a large gap in the rocks that I eventually had to climb down into and out of to get to the edge of the rock outcrop above the river.
I tried going down river first to see if I could get a view back up to the falls, but the water level was into the brush along the riverbank.

The falls were just upriver from this bench with a couple of campsites.

The gap in the outcrop.

Imnaha Falls.

The falls were more of a rapids which might have been caused by the volume of water this time of year.

We took a final break on the rocks here and then headed back toward the trailhead. We kept a lookout for any flowers we’d missed on the first pass.
Utah honeysuckle

Bee on a dandelion

Nettle-leaf giant hyssop

Slender phlox

Silverleaf phacelia

Vetch

Diffuse-flower evening-primrose surrounded by blue-eyed Mary.

Osprey, the fishing here must have been good because we’d seen a bald eagle in this area in the morning.

Fairy slipper

Arriving back at the trailhead.

We saw three other people on the return to the trailhead. The first gentleman we encountered asked us how far it was to the lakes. He’d already passed the Twin Lakes Trail, not that he could have forded the river there, and the next closest lake was probably Fish Lake which was a good 7-8 miles away. We let him know that there weren’t any lakes nearby but that Imnaha Falls was a couple of miles further along the trail. He didn’t have much with him but he continued on after looking at the gathering clouds and saying he thought he had time to make it there. The next couple we passed after Blue Hole and they didn’t appear to be carrying any type of food, water, or gear. The number of unprepared and uninformed people we pass on trails really makes us wonder how there aren’t more rescues/deaths every year.

Our hike came in at 12.2 miles due to some extra exploring along the river with approximately 800′ of elevation gain.

We drove back to Enterprise, got cleaned up, and headed out for an early dinner. When we opened the motel room door we were greeted by a heavy rain shower. We had planned on eating at Terminal Gravity Brewing but when we got out of the car a lightning bolt immediately followed by thunder convinced us that outdoor dining was not a good idea at the moment. We decided to save Terminal Gravity for later in the week and instead got some tasty Pad Thai to go from Thai Enterprise and took it back to our room where we listened to the evening thunderstorms roll past.

Tuesday’s forecast was for more of the same with a slightly higher chance for showers so we’d planned to do a short hike in the morning followed by some time sightseeing in Joseph. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Imnaha Falls

Tags Blue Hole, eagle cap wilderness, enterprise, Gorge, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, hiking, Imnaha Falls, Indian Crossing Trailhead, Oregon, Rock Creek, South Fork Imnaha River Trail, Twin Lakes Trail, wildflowers

Central Oregon Hiking Ochoco Mountains Oregon Trip report

Rock Creek to Spanish Peak – 07/20/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 27, 2021
1 Comment on Rock Creek to Spanish Peak – 07/20/2021

After spending the night camped near First Creek along the Rock Creek/Ochoco Mountain Trail we got an early (6:30am) start to hopefully climb up the 2000 plus feet to the summit of Spanish Peak before the day got too hot. According to Sullivan’s map (which matched the Forest Service’s map) it was 5.3 miles to the summit.

Just 0.2 miles from where we had made our makeshift campsite we came to an established campsite in a saddle near where the Ochoco Mountain Trail supposedly turned uphill to start the climb.
Continuing along the Waterman Ditch.

If this trail sign was marking a junction it wasn’t clear where the other trail was.

Campsite at the saddle.

There was no clear tread other than the continuation of the Rock Creek Trail to the north where it ends at the National Forest Boundary in another mile. There was however a sign for the “Rim Trail” on a tree uphill from the trail.
The Rim Trail sign on a tree trunk.

We headed uphill to the sign and picked up what appeared to be a rough trail but it also looked like it could have been an elk trail.

We tried our best to follow it uphill but there were no blazes, flagging, or cut logs to indicate that it really was an actual trail and in less than a half mile we lost it in brush.

The hike had suddenly become an off-trail adventure. Between the Sullivan’s and the Forest Service map we knew the general route that the trail supposedly took so we did our best to recreate it at first. That meant a series of switchbacks up a steep hillside through a sagebrush meadow above First Creek.

The trail then supposedly wrapped around the ridge between First and Second Creeks arriving at a rock cairn along a rim 2.5 miles from the saddle. We thought that we might rediscover the tread as we switchbacked up, but we did not. As we compared the maps with our GPS we noticed that we weren’t that far below the top of the ridge and that it might be possible to simply climb over the ridge taking a more direct route to the rim cairn. We decided that was our safest bet as we weren’t sure if we would find the trail wrapping around the ridge and even if we did a large downed tree in the wrong spot could make it impassable. We followed game trails through a small stand of trees into more sagebrush on top of the ridge.

Rock Creek Lake

Gaining the ridge.

We found the trail again on top of the ridge and were soon following rock cairns to the rim.

View from the rim.

Spanish Peak

A local

The trail was easy to follow along the rim but soon it came into some trees (and past a few wildflowers) where it appeared maintenance hadn’t been performed for a bit.
Astter

Some sort of delphinium I think.

Downed trees across the trail ahead.

Interestingly camouflaged beetle on the upper onion.

Lupine

20210720_084339 A checkermallow

Some more downed trees that we had to go around.

We briefly left the trees and were back to cairns in the sagebrush but soon reentered the trees and encountered more obstacles.

After passing through a couple of meadows we came to a rocky hillside below Spanish Peak where we left the trail and headed uphill following a few scattered cairns along what was shown on the GPS as the “Mascall Jeep Track”.

We left the trail here, note the small cairn on the left.

Heading uphill.

Scarlet gilia

Paintbrush

After a third of a mile we came to Spanish Peak Road, a dirt track to the radio tower and former lookout site atop Spanish Peak.
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We turned left on the road and followed it another 0.3 miles up to the summit.

The site of the former lookout.

The view was impacted by the “widespread haze” that had been forecasted but we could still make out quite a bit (and at least it didn’t smell smokey).
Looking out toward the John Day River valley.

SE to Windy Point.

West to Rock Creek Lake and on the horizon the flat topped Lookout Mountain (post) and pointier Round Mountain (post) in the Ochocos.

NE to the John Day River Valley.

Lookout and Round Mountain and the rim that we had hiked up below Spanish Peak.

The Pisgah Lookout on the far side of the Bridge Creek Wilderness (post).

A hazy Mount Hood to the NW.

After taking a break at the summit we returned down the road to the jeep track and followed it back down to the Ochoco Mountain Trail where we turned left into some trees.

We passed through a meadow filled with fritiallry butterflies who were loving the remaining hyssop blossoms.

After 0.3 miles back on the Ochoco Mountain Trail we came to a signed junction with the Mascall Corral Trail.

Here we made a hard right and headed steeply downhill along the Baldy Creek drainage.

This trail was in a little better shape having seen some maintenance.

Baldy Creek was on our left.

The trail soon followed old roadbeds, including another section of the Mascall Jeep Track and just under three miles from the junction arrived at the Mascall Corrals Trailhead

Red-tailed hawk

Western tanager

Arriving at the trailhead.

Signage at the trailhead.

From this trailhead we turned right and followed Forest Road 3820 one and a quarter miles (some of which was disappointingly uphill) to Arvid Nelson Road where we turned right for another 0.8 miles to the Rock Creek Trailhead and our waiting car.
Baldy Creek below FR 3820.

A sulphur butterfly of some sort.

A watermellon or June bug as we called them growing up.

FR 3820 meeting Arvid Nelson Road.

Spanish Peak from Arvid Nelson Road.

This was an 11.5 mile hike with almost 2500′ of elevation gain. The off-trail scramble above First Creek had made the hike a lot more difficult than planned, made more so by having our full backpacks instead of a lighter day pack, but it had been fun (mostly) and despite the haze we had decent views on the day.

From the Rock Creek Trailhead we drove to Highway 26 then headed east to John Day where we checked into the Dreamers Lodge then had a nice dinner at the Outpost Pizza Pub & Grill before turning in for the night. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Spanish Peak

Tags Arvid Nelso Road, backpacking, Baldy Creek, hiking, John Day, lookout mountain, Mascall Corrals Trailhead, Mascall Jeep Track, Ochoco Mountain Trail, Ochoco Mountains, Oregon, Outpost Pizza Pub & Grill, Rock Creek, Round Mountain, Spanish Peak, Western Tanager

Central Oregon Hiking Ochoco Mountains Oregon Trip report

Black Canyon Wilderness and Rock Creek – 07/19/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 26, 2021
2 Comments on Black Canyon Wilderness and Rock Creek – 07/19/2021

**Note the 2024 Rail Ridge Fire burned over the Black Canyon Wilderness.**

Every year we pick our vacation time in January/February (due to work) so we never know what the conditions will be when we choose. We had a week scheduled in July for a trip to the John Day area in hopes to make further headway on the 100 featured hikes in Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon” (post) and to complete our goal of visiting all of Oregon’s designated wilderness areas (minus the two that are closed to human visitors) (post).

With severe drought conditions present all of the West and multiple wildfires burning in Oregon we kept an eye on the forecast and made daily checks with the relevant National Forests to make sure the hikes that we had planned remained open. While all of the trails were open a red flag warning for possible scattered thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday for the Blue Mountains had us a little concerned. The forecast also called for “wide spread haze” every day but fortunately not for “smoke” which meant we’d probably not have much in the way of views on the trip. We could deal with the haze, it was the possibility of new lightning caused fires that could quickly end our trip and our two days of hiking (Monday & Tuesday) involved our first overnight backpacking trip of the year.

Monday we left Salem and drove to the Boeing Field Trailhead, the first of two stops in the eastern portion of the Ochoco Mountains.

This trailhead, named in honor of a B-18 bomber that crashed nearby during a WWII training flight killing all four crew members, provides access to the Black Canyon Wilderness via the Owl Creek Trail.

We headed down the Owl Creek Trail and quickly entered our 45th Oregon wilderness area.

We descended to the nearly dry bed of Owl Creek in the scar of a 2008 wildfire and in a half mile reached the Black Canyon Trail.

Aster, paintbrush, and fireweed.

Fireweed, aster, and pearly everlasting.

Clouds and smoke mixing in the sky made it hard to tell if any thunderstorms might be developing.

We never heard any thunder but we did briefly get sprinkled on.

Ground squirrel.

Columbine

Fritillary butterfly

Black Canyon Trail junction.

We turned left onto the Black Canyon Trail and followed it down into Black Canyon along Owl Creek soon leaving the fire scar behind.

Owl Creek crossing approximately 1.5 miles from the junction.

In another half mile we arrived at Black Canyon Creek which we easily crossed on small logs.

Fish in Black Canyon Creek

We were seeing a lot of mountain lady slipper orchids but unfortunately they were all past.

Three quarters of a mile after crossing Black Canyon Creek we passed the Coffee Pot Trail and soon entered another fire scar, this one from 2002.

Western Tanager

Just under 4 miles into the hike we came to the second crossing of Black Canyon Creek and our turnaround point for the day.

California tortioseshell

Western Jacob's ladder Western Jacob’s ladder

Black Canyon Creek

After a short break on a log spanning the creek we headed back to the car stopping occasionally along the way to watch pollinators busy at work.

This was an eight mile out and back with almost 1600′ of elevation gain, mostly on the way back.

From Boeing Field we drove back the way we’d come 4.3 miles to the Rock Creek Trailhead.

Here we threw on our full backpacks as our plan was to camp somewhere along Rock Creek and then return on a loop the next day by hiking up to Spanish Peak the next day following the route of the Ochoco Mountain Trail and Mascall Corral Trail.

From the trailhead the trail descended to Rock Creek crossing it on a nice footbridge.

The number of insects on the blossoms and their size differences were fascinating.

The trail then followed along Rock Creek for a bit before the creek began descending more steeply than the trail. At the 2.4 mile mark we arrived at a sign announcing the Waterman Ditch.

Snacks

Lorquin’s adrmiral

A little light on the tread in this section.

The trail then followed the old ditch passing the remains of a cabin next to Fir Tree Creek in 1.4 miles.

Fir Tree Creek

Butterflies on coneflower

The cabin ruins.

We continued on heading for Second Creek which was just over 1.5 miles beyond Fir Tree Creek where we hoped we might find a spot to camp or at least refill our water supply.

Coming around a ridge end toward Second Creek.

Monkshood at Second Creek

This little guy oversaw our water pumping.

There wasn’t a lot of water in Second Creek and the crossing where the most obvious spot to get water was had a whole lot of yellow jackets flying around. We had to do a little hunting up and down the creek in thick vegetation to find a pool deep enough for our pump but finally managed to. What we couldn’t find was a place for our tent or a spot to cook dinner away from the yellow jackets and mosquitos so after getting water we reluctantly continued hiking. After nearly 1.5 more miles we arrived at First Creek where there was almost no water but there was a suitable spot for a tent.

It had been a long day with this hike coming in a little over 7 miles making it a 15+ mile day for us.

It was also a warm evening and we had the rainfly on due to the slight chance of rain which made it even warmer. It did finally cool off enough overnight to warrant pulling our sleeping bag/quilt over us and we managed to get some sleep. I woke up once when something fairly big cracked it’s way through the trees below our camp and a couple more times when a pair of nearby owls were trading hoots. It was a more difficult start to our trip then we had anticipated but a good day none the less. Happy Trails!

Tags backpacking, Black Canyon Creek, Black Canyon Trail, Black Canyon Wilderness, Boeing Field, Boeing Field Trailhead, hiking, Ochoco Mountain Trail, Ochoco Mountains, ochoco national forest, Oregon, Owl Creek Trail, Rock Creek, Rock Creek Trail, Waterman Ditch

Blue Mountains - South Hiking Oregon Trip report

Elkhorn Crest Trail Day 2

The second day of our Elkhorn Crest backpacking trip began with a welcome chill in the morning. It was actually cold enough to break out the beanie, Buff, and gloves.

We ate breakfast as the Sun came up creating a nice reflection in Summit Lake.

After packing up we decided to continue around the lake counter-clockwise to complete a loop around the shore. We crossed a small inlet in a meadow at the southern end of the lake.

Beyond the meadow the trail passed a couple of other campsites with views to the north across the water.

Birds were busily flying from tree to tree but one sat still long enough for a photograph.

After completing the loop we began the 1.5 mile climb back to the Elkhorn Crest Trail. The trail crossed over several small streams and meadows as it passed through a forested section. We spotted two does and a fawn in the area.
One of the does (the fawn dashed by moments later)

Close-up of the doe

As we continued along we were hailed by the group of hikers we had passed early on the first day who had said they were aiming for Summit Lake as well. They wound up running out of gas they said so they set up camp on a rocky overlook of the valley below. After talking with them briefly we continued on to the cairn marking the junction with the Elkhorn Crest Trail where we turned left.

Our goal for the day was Twin Lakes but we also planned to summit Rock Creek Butte, the highest peak in the Elkhorn Range. We were leaving our options open though. The route up was 9.5 miles away and we weren’t sure if it would be better to wait and attempt it the next day when it would be earlier in the day and likely cooler or if doing it today would be better since the sky was still relatively smoke free in the immediate area. Either way we had time to decide as we followed the trail along the western side of the crest.

We were very interested in a peak on the horizon to the south. It was clearly separated from the Strawberry Mountains further west and we weren’t sure what it was. When we returned home it was one of the first things I looked up and it turned out to be Ironside Mountain.

We spotted a number of animals along the crest in the morning including the biggest caterpillar either of us had ever seen digging in the dirt.

Approximately a mile and a half from the junction with the Summit Lake Trail we came across the only water we would encounter along the entire Elkhorn Crest Trail. A small flower lined stream heading down into Sardine Gulch to join Cracker Creek.

The trail had left the North Fork John Day Wilderness at Cracker Saddle and we began seeing the difference at a hairpin turn around a ridge.

From above we couldn’t read the sign without the aid of the camera zoom.

Someone clearly put some work into that. A little further along the trail we started noticing mining operations along the hillside. We could also see 9106′ Rock Creek Butte further along the ridge.

The trail spent a short while along a wide section of the ridge top before returning to the western side of the crest.

We would again gain the ridge top with a nice view down the Rock Creek Valley to the east.

Nearly seven miles from the Summit Lake Trail junction we came to the Pole Creek Ridge Trail which headed faintly downhill along a ridge.

By the time we’d reached this junction we had decided to attempt Rock Creek Butte on the way by instead of waiting for the next day. It wasn’t too hot and more importantly it looked like smoke was creeping towards us from both sides so we thought we’d better get what views we could while the getting was good. It was still a little over two and a half miles to the SW ridge of Rock Creek Butte where we would turn up for the climb.

We were having a hard time coming from the direction that we were determining which peak ahead was actually Rock Creek Butte. We were hoping that the closest rounded peak was our goal and not the larger one further away. From the angle we were at they appeared to be somewhat similar in height.

When we gained the ridge top again though we could just make out Rock Creek Lake in the basin below the further peak which told us that was our next goal.

As it turned out the peak we had hoped was Rock Creek Butte was 500′ shorter although it did seem to have a possible route up.
Looking up “not” Rock Creek Butte

Rock Creek Butte is still a little ways away.

It took another mile and a half to reach the saddle where we would turn up the SW ridge of Rock Creek Butte.
Looking ahead to the saddle.

Nearing the saddle.

At the saddle we left the trail and ditched are backpacks in a group of trees in favor of our day packs.

Before starting the climb we noticed that we weren’t the only ones traveling south on the Elkhorn Crest Trail. A pair of mountain goats could be seen walking along the trail.

After watching the goats head over the ridge toward Twin Lakes we began our ascent.
Mountain goat sign was everywhere along the rocky ridge and there was no discernible path, although we did occasionally spot a human foot print in the dirt.

The half mile route gains roughly 600′ with the final tenth of a mile being the steepest portion.

A large cairn and register box sit atop the peak.

From the summit Lower Twin Lake was visible to the south.

Mt. Ireland and Vinegar Hill lay to the west.

To the NE should have been the Wallowas but smoke appeared to have overtaken them.

The view to the north included many of the peaks of the Elkhorn Range but there was no view of Rock Creek Lake due to the broad summit.

A 500′ stroll across the summit though revealed the gorgeous lake below.

Notice the golden-mantled ground squirrel sitting atop the large rock overlooking the lake.

Mountain goats were grazing in some green grass by a smaller body of water near the lake.
(Full disclosure neither of us noticed the goats until I was looking through the pictures at home.)

Looking back at the summit cairn from the Rock Creek Lake overlook.

There were a lot of flying ants on the cairn as well as several lady bugs and some butterflies nearby.

After recovering from the climb up we started back down just as another hiker was closing in on the summit. It turned out that he had been the other person besides us camped at Summit Lake the night before. We left him to the summit and slowly picked our way back down to our backpacks. After retrieving them we returned to the Elkhorn Crest Trail following a section of trail that had been blasted out of the rocks.

Soon Lower Twin Lake came into view followed by Upper Twin Lake.

The trail made a sweeping curve for the next three quarters of a mile above the lakes bringing around to the opposite end of them before arriving at a junction with the Twin Lakes Trail.

Although the lakes are only about 350′ below the junction the Twin Lakes Trail takes its own sweet time getting down to them via a series of long switchbacks.

They made for a relatively easy climb out the next day but I was ready to be done for the day and became rather impatient with the slow decent. After a little over a mile we arrived at the lake and chose a camp stie.

Both our guidebook and signs at the trailheads had warned about the mountain goats in the area being habituated to humans. A good reminder of why people shouldn’t feed wildlife, without the fear of humans the goats have been known to nibble on tents, clothing and backpacks in search of salt. We made sure not to leave anything lying around outside the tent but it wasn’t long before the first goat passed nearby.
You can see Heather’s arm on the left side of the photo.

About a half hour later a second goat followed.

After dinner we watched a nanny and kid circle around the lake and graze nearby.

We did leave our tent for about 45 minutes to visit Upper Twin Lake which was just .3 miles away.

More mountain goats were grazing on the hillsides above this lake.

The goats left our tent alone and we turned in for the night after what would be the longest day of our trip at 15.9 miles. Our original plan had been to return to Summit Lake the next day and stay there again but we were now considering camping along the Summit Lake Trail like the other group we had met had done. The nearby streams would allow us to get water and it would shave off a little distance both the next day and the day after when we were planning on heading from Summit Lake to Dutch Flat Lake. We decided to play it by ear the next day and turned in for the night halfway expecting to wake up to a mountain goat staring at us through the mesh on our tent. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Elkhorn Crest Trail Day 2

Tags backpacking, deer, Elkhorn Crest National Recreation Trail, Elkhorn Crest Trail, hiking, Ironside Mountain, Lower Twin Lake, mountain goat, Oregon, Pole Creek Ridge Trail, Rock Creek, Rock Creek Butte, Rock Creek Lake, Summit Lake, Summit Lake Trail, Upper Twin Lake

Columbia Gorge North Hiking Trip report Washington

Three Corner Rock to Table Mountain

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 27, 2017
10 Comments on Three Corner Rock to Table Mountain

What do we do when the temperatures are going to be nearing triple digits in the Willamette Valley? Take a 23.9 mile hike of course! Okay so that wasn’t our original plan, but due to some navigational errors that’s exactly what happened.

We were headed to Three Corner Rock and then hopefully onto Table Mountain via the Pacific Crest Trail. We’d visited Table Mountain in 2013 starting from the currently closed trailhead near the privately owned Bonneville Hot Springs. Our plan for this hike was to start at the Rock Creek Pass Trailhead where the PCT crosses CG-2090.

After purchasing a Washington Department of Natural Resources Discover Pass online we headed to the Columbia Gorge and crossed into Washington on the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks, OR. From there we followed the directions from the Oregonhikers.org field guide to the trailhead.

Our first (and biggest) error of the day happened as we set off on the PCT. Not only does the trail cross CG-2090 but it also crosses CG-2000, which we took to reach the trailhead, further to the north. On the map below the black “x” is the Rock Creek Pass TH and the red “x” marks the PCT crossing of CG-2000.

Rock Creek Pass TH

We hadn’t noticed the PCT crossing of CG-2000 on the drive to the TH and for some reason I had it stuck in my head that our starting point was the red “x”. So based on the direction we had driven to the spot from, we needed to take the PCT to the left to be heading south toward Three Corner Rock. Had we stopped to question why the Sun was nearly straight ahead as we started on the PCT we may have realized our mistake.

We also hadn’t paid enough attention to the guidebook stating to go right on the PCT from the trailhead so off we went blissfully going the wrong way. From the Rock Creek Pass Trailhead it should have been 1.5 miles to the junction with the Three Corner Rock Trail which meant we had expected to reach it between 45 minutes to an hour into the hike. Instead about an hour into the hike we crossed CG-2000. That didn’t tip us off because based on where we thought we had started and the direction we thought we were heading our route would have included a crossing of CG-2090 which we mistook this crossing for.

Heather had been questioning things for a while but it would have been impossible to be going north by following the PCT in the direction we had from where we thought we started, and we figured if we somehow failed to spot the Three Corner Rock Trail we’d just do it on the way back from Table Mountain instead. The forest along the trail was nice and we eventually came to a footbridge across what we soon realized was Rock Creek.

Soon after crossing Rock Creek we came to a junction with the Snag Creek Trail quickly followed by Snag Creek itself.

Neither of us remembered anything about having to ford a creek on our planned route but across we went. We were just over an hour and a half into the hike and now we were both having serious doubts about our direction. We pulled the map out again and this time I also zoomed out on the GPS far enough to see the Columbia River on the display which we had clearly been moving away from. It still took me a few minutes to realize what we’d done. I just kept thinking it was impossible to have gone left at the trailhead and be heading north until it finally sunk in that the trailhead wasn’t where I thought it was. Back we went having to retrace three plus miles and regain nearly 1000′ of elevation.

It was 10am when we made it back to the trailhead, nearly 3 hours after we’d set off in the wrong direction. This time we headed south.

The funny thing was even though by that point I knew we’d gone the wrong way for at least the next hour I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were headed north. The PCT climbed away from Rock Creek Pass gaining views of Mt. Adams through the trees.

Near the junction with the Three Corner Rock Trail many avalanche lilies were still in bloom.

We turned right onto the Three Corner Rock Trail which popped out onto an old road bed after approximately .4 miles.

We followed the road uphill just under a quarter mile to Three Corner Rock.

It was really windy on the open ridge and on Three Corner Rock which was once home to a lookout tower.

It was a five volcano day with a bonus view of Goat Rocks thrown in.

Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Rainier

Mt. Adams

Goat Rocks

To the SE a small section of the Columbia River was visible between Wind and Dog Mountain in Washington and Mt. Defiance in Oregon.

Despite the wind the views were great, but it did make it difficult to take pictures of the wildflowers in the area.

After a short break we headed back to the PCT where we decided to continue south toward Table Mountain. We told ourselves we’d play it by ear and could turn around at any time but we’re both stubborn and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we’d wind up making it all the way there.

From the Three Corner Rock Trail junction the PCT gradually descended for 1.25 miles to a road crossing at a saddle with a spectacular display of paintbrush and penstemon. Along the way the trail crossed a rough 4wd track and passed along a ridge still showing evidence of the 1902 Yacolt Burn.

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From the road the PCT traversed along the east side of a ridge through the forest for a mile before arriving at a large clear cut.

Three Corner Rock was visible behind us.

The trail climbed through the clear cut for about a half mile before reentering the trees.

For the next 1.25 miles the PCT passed through a series of wildflower meadows, first on the west side of a ridge with views to the south of Table Mountain and Mt. Hood, then onto the east side of the ridge with a view of Mt. Adams and the Columbia River.

The views were nice but we spent most of our time focused on the many wildflowers along the trail.

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The variety of colors of penstemon was particularly impressive.

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We had hoped to hop off of the PCT at a sharp right turn just uphill from some power lines and hook up to a dirt road just on the other side of the lines at a saddle. As we came around the ridge end though we couldn’t see any obvious signs of a connector trail so we stuck to the PCT as it began to quickly lose elevation. After looking at the map and realizing that following the PCT all the way to the road would add almost two miles and another 500′ of elevation gain we went back to look again for a connection. After a brief off-trail excursion on a steep slope with thick brush, we bit the bullet and took the PCT down to the road.

We had to walk back uphill on the road and it was warm. We had benefited from a nice breeze most of the day which helped keep the temperature bearable but there was none along the road. When we arrived at the saddle we spotted a sign near an overgrown roadbed pointing 1.4 miles to Table Mountain.

We followed the old roadbed for about half a mile to its end where a faint, and at times very brushy, trail continued along the north ridge of Table Mountain.

When the trail wasn’t overgrown it too was lined with wildflowers.

Not only was the route a bit of a challenge to follow due to the brush but it was steep at times, especially on two rocky climbs, the last of which brought us to the plateau of Table Mountain.

Three Corner Rock was visible to the left of the ridges we’d followed to reach the plateau as were the power lines running over the saddle a mile away.

We picked up the Table Mountain Trail on the plateau and followed it south to the viewpoint above the cliffs overlooking the Columbia River.

We sat in some shade near the cliffs and took off our shoes and socks to give our feet a bit of a break while we ate a snack. We had no idea how far we’d gone (it was almost 16 miles already) but we knew our feet were sore and we were both developing blisters. We were also getting low on water but thankfully Heather had brought our water filter and we’d passed what I thought would be a sufficient water source in the meadows between the saddle and the clear cut.

We started back at 3:15pm hurrying as quickly as our protesting feet would allow. We both ran out of water shortly before arriving at the seep where the water was just deep enough to use our filter to get some much needed wonderfully cold water. We arrived back at our car at 6:48, almost 11 hours and 45 minutes since we’d set off that morning.

It certainly hadn’t gone as planned but we’d at least come prepared with enough food and water to make it through the day. In addition to some great mountain views and wildflowers meadows we’d learned a valuable lesson about how important it is to make sure you know where your starting point is and to consider everything when determining where you’re at. Had we taken the position of the sun and the description of the hike as beginning uphill to the right of the TH we might have realized much more quickly that we’d misidentified the location of the trailhead on the map. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Three Corner Rock to Table Mountain

Tags hiking, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Rock Creek, Rock Creek Pass Trailhead, Snag Creek, Snag Creek Trail, Table Mountain, Table Mountain North Ridge, Three Corner Rock, Washington, wildflowers, Yacolt Burn

Central Coast Hiking Oregon Oregon Coast Trip report

Baker Beach and Rock Creek Wilderness

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 16, 2017
3 Comments on Baker Beach and Rock Creek Wilderness

Since 2013 our first hike of the year has been somewhere along the Oregon Coast. Often the weather at the coast during January is nicer than other parts of the State making it a great time to visit. This was certainly the case this year as the first part of January saw near record snows and freezing temperatures over much of the State. The coast had not escaped the weather entirely but by the time we headed out for our first hike of the year, things were much nicer there than at home in the Willamette Valley.

Our destination was Baker Beach Camp just north of Florence, OR. This was a change (already) to our plans for 2017 but the forecast for the area was just too good to pass up. Mostly sunny skies and a high of 48 degrees was what was being called for so we left 23 degree Salem early in the morning and headed down to Eugene then west to Florence on Highway 126.

Baker Beach Camp is located at the end of Baker Beach Road, 7 miles north of Florence along Highway 101. The only signage along the highway was a small green street sign which I noticed just as we passed by it. After quickly turning around we turned onto the gravel road and followed it .5 miles to the camps parking area.

Baker Beach Camp

Baker Beach Camp sign

To start our hike we walked a short distance back along the road and turned left at a trail sign for the Lily Lake Loop.

Start of the Lily Lake Loop

A short sandy climb brought us to a trail junction at the top of a sandy ridge.

Pacific Ocean from the Lily Lake Loop Trail in the morning

The Pacific Ocean was visible beyond Baker Beach and the sand dunes.

Trail signs along the Lily Lake Loop

The Berry Creek Loop would have kept us up on the sandy ridge while the Lily Lake Loop dropped down and passed near Lily Lake before climbing back up to the ridge top and rejoining the Berry Creek Loop Trail. We wanted to see the lake so we followed the Lily Lake pointer passing through a salal filled forest before things opened up along the lake.

Lily Lake Loop Trail

Trail along Lily Lake

We stayed on the paths closest to the lake thinking that one would bring us right to it but instead the lake remained mostly hidden behind first a row of trees then by a reed filled marsh near it’s outlet.

Lily Lake

We could see that there was quite a bit of activity on the lake with several types of ducks and some Canada geese floating on the water, but it was hard to get any clear photos with the vegetation in the way.

Canada geese on Lily Lake

Bufflehead

Bufflehead on Lily Lake

From the lake we climbed back up to the top of the Sandy Ridge which overlooked a small pond and Berry Creek flowing out toward the Pacific.

Moon over the Pacific Ocean

Berry Creek flowing toward the Pacific

There was no sign here and we could have followed the sandy ridge back to the junction we’d been at earlier, but instead we followed a path down to the base of the ridge which led us back to the start of the Baker Beach Trail at Baker Beach Camp. This little loop was just under 1.5 miles.

Baker Beach Trail

Here we turned right following the pointer for Baker Beach. (The Lily Lake/Berry Creek Loop continued from this junction creating an additional 1.7 mile loop to the north of the camp.)

The trail passes through a deflation plain behind the beaches foredune for .4 miles.

Foredune at Baker Beach

Looking north along the Baker Beach Trail

The deflation plain is the result of the dunes no longer expanding due to the loss of additional sand being blown from the beach. European bunchgrass which was introduced in the early 1900’s to help stabilize jetties but spread along the beaches and began stopping the blowing sand from leaving the beach which created the foredunes denying the dunes further inland any additional sand.

Baker Beach

Pacific Ocean from the foredune at Baker Beach

Cape Mountain from the foredune at Baker Beach

When we reached the beach we turned south heading toward Sutton Creek which was 3 miles away. Aside from a few birds we had the beach to ourselves.

Sanderlings on Baker Beach

Seagull and sanderlings

After about 3/4 of a mile along the beach we climbed back up the foredune to get a look at Sutton Creek which we had visited the previous February.

Sutton Creek behind the foredune

Ducks on Sutton Creek

We traveled along the foredune for a bit before dropping back down to the beach.

Patterns in the sand

Baker Beach

We had been considering crossing Sutton Creek and continuing south along Heceta Beach another 2.5 miles to the Siuslaw River but the creek was wide and it wasn’t that warm out.

Sutton Creek

After watching several large chunks of sand fall into the creek we headed back with the Heceta Head Lighthouse blinking in the distance to the north.

Heceta Head Lighthouse from Baker Beach

As we were recrossing the deflation plain we spotted a doe amid the grass and pines.

Heading back toward Baker Beach Camp

Doe

Since we’d cut our hike short (8.2 miles instead of the 13.2 planned) we had time to do another. We could have hiked Heceta Beach like we had planned by driving back to Florence and parking at the end of South Jetty Road, but we had noticed that that beach was already busy when we were at Sutton Creek earlier. We preferred something a little less crowded which led us to the Rock Creek Wilderness.

This was one of the wilderness areas that we had yet to visit and it was just another 8 miles north on Highway 101 from Baker Beach Road. We hopped in our car and drove to the gated entrance to the Rock Creek Campground.

Rock Creek Campground sign along Highway 101

The campground was closed for the season so we had to walk along the paved entrance road for approximately .4 miles.

Road to Rock Creek Campground

There had been one other vehicle parked at the gate and we passed it’s owner on his way back up from the campground area. The little campground was located right along Rock Creek.

Rock Creek

The 7,486 Rock Creek Wilderness was designated as such in 1984 and has no Forest Service developed or maintained trials. That being said there is a use trail leading from the end of the Rock Creek Campground that can be followed into the wilderness.

Use trail leading from the Campground into the Rock Creek Wilderness

The path was brushy and narrow but passable as it followed along the creek.

Use trail in the Rock Creek Wilderness

Rock Creek Wilderness

Rock Creek

Occasional flagging was present but really unnecessary as the brush was so thick that we had to follow the path in order to keep moving forward. The only real obstacle to speak of was a large downed tree that had fallen over the best path, but game trails led around the root ball.

BIg tree down in the Rock Creek Wilderness

Without an official trail there were no signs to mark the beginning of the wilderness area so we just followed the path as long as we could. After awhile the path led into a frosty meadow where the canyon widened.

Frosty meadow in the Rock Creek Wilderness

It was a muddy in spots but enough of the ground was still frozen to make it passable. Elk and deer sign were everywhere. It was a beautiful spot with the white frost contrasted against the green of a coastal forest while rays of sunlight attempted to penetrate the canopy.

Frosty meadow in the Rock Creek Wilderness

Sunlight through the trees in the Rock Creek Wilderness

The sound of water flowing on every side only added to the ambiance. There was more flagging at the far end of the meadow and some on the far side of Rock Creek but again this wasn’t a day for fording creeks so we declared victory here and turned around.

Our turn around point (too cold to ford the creek today)

When we got home I wanted to make sure we’d actually made it into the wilderness so I pulled up the interactive map on Wilderness.net. The actual wilderness boundary bows away from the Rock Creek Campground making it further up along the creek than I had thought, but comparing our GPS track to that map showed we had managed to get about .4 miles into the Rock Creek Wilderness.

The Wilderness.net map

Rock Creek Wilderness

Our GPS track

Rock Creek Wilderness Track

On a warmer day when you don’t mind spending some time in the creek it’s possible to get further into the wilderness as this trip report indicates.a href=”http://www.cascadiahiking.com/2012/08/rock-creek-wilderness-no-trail-no.html” target=”_blank”>Cascadia Hiking

Our adventure was only 2.2 miles round trip including the road walk to and from the campground but the solitude and remote feeling of the Rock Creek Wilderness made it seem much more removed from civilization.

With that our 2017 hiking year is officially under way. We checked off our 27th Oregon Wilderness Area and still have 18 to go, 4 more of which are planned this year. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157679106715756

Tags baker beach, florence, foredune, hiking, lily lake, Lily Lake Loop, Oregon, Oregon Coast, Rock Creek, Rock Creek Campground, Rock Creek Wilderness, suttone creek