Tag: Willamette National Forest

Eula Ridge to Mount June – 10/08/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 11, 2024
3 Comments on Eula Ridge to Mount June – 10/08/2024

What do you do the day after a 16.5-mile loop with 4355′ of elevation gain (post)? If you’re me, you make a questionable decision. With another sunny day in the forecast before showers moved in, I decided that I would finally check out the Eula Ridge Trail near Eugene. This 4.2-mile-long trail gains over 3000′ from Highway 58 to its end at the Hardesty Trail. The trail is very steep, so steep in fact that the Forest Service description states “After a short descent into a saddle, the really steep climb begins. This is a good place to turn back.” The saddle in question is just over 1.5-miles from the trailhead and marks the start of 16 switchbacks. The switchbacks are nowhere near as steep as the remainder of this trail. From the end of the trail it is just three quarters of a mile to the top of Hardesty Mountain (post), but there is no view from that peak. When we visited Hardesty Mountain it was on an out-and-back from the Mount June Trailhead. That hike gained approximately 2100′ of elevation. My bright idea was to combine the two to revisit Mount June where there was a view.

I set off just after 7am from the Eula Ridge Trailhead and immediately went the wrong way when I forked left on the Lawler Trail.
This trail would eventually end at the LoneWolf/Patterson Mountain Trail (post).

The small trailhead along Highway 58.

Wrong way dummy.

I got a little over a quarter mile up the Lawler Trail before realizing my mistake. The worst part was I’d climbed over 250′ in that quarter mile. I retreated to the trailhead and went right on the Eula Ridge Trail which dropped to a crossing of South Creek before climbing to a junction with the South Willamette Trail (post).

The South Willamette Trail to the right.

This trail was heavily damaged in a February 2019 storm, but it has since been cleared and was free of any blowdown for its entire length. The trail is forested with no views to speak of, but the forest is very nice. I had a lot of time to study it during my many breaks as I made my way uphill.

It was clear that mountain bikers use this trail regularly.

Near the 3.75-mile mark the trail passes a rocky spine which is actually an arch. I couldn’t see the arch from the trail, but thanks to Hike Orgon I knew it was there.

I actually waited until I was on my way down to step off trail and look at the arch.

Eula Ridge Trail sign at the Hardesty Trail junction.

I turned left on the Hardesty Trail and climbed another 240′ in 0.4-miles to a fork.

The lefthand fork leads to the viewless summit while the right is the Hardesty Cutoff Trail which bypasses the summit.

I went right forgoing the 100′ climb to the summit which would have also added a little distance to the day. In 0.2-miles I arrived at a junction with the Sawtooth Trail.

Forest below the Hardesty Cutoff Trail.

The Sawtooth Trail dropping to the right.

I briefly considered abandoning my original plan here, but it was only 9:40am. I decided to continue on, but with a turnaround time of 11:30am. If I hadn’t made it to Mt. June by then so be it. I had completely forgotten just how many ups and downs there were along the Sawtooth Trail, and how steep some of them were.
I was not looking forward to climbing back up some of these sections later.

Another saddle.

A view through the trees.

I passed the Hardesty Way Trail 1.5-miles from the Hardesty Cutoff Trail.

Just under two miles from the Hardesty Cutoff Trail the Sawtooth Trail makes two switchbacks downhill to drop below Sawtooth Rock where it enters a grassy hillside.

Mount June from the hillside.

Wallflower

I paused in the middle of the open hillside to again rethink my plan. It was now a quarter after 10am so I was fine on time but seeing Mt. June reinforced just how much more climbing lay ahead. I checked my water supply and found that I hadn’t been drinking enough. I still had close to two liters in my pack plus a Hydro Flask with extra water and a small Gatorade. I drank half the Gatorade and continued on. Two-thirds of a mile beyond Sawtooth Rock I came to a junction in yet another saddle.
Junction with the Lost Creek Trail.

The pointer for Eagles Rest (post) is the Lost Creek Trail.

Another 0.7-miles brought me to the Mt. June Trail at, you guessed it, another saddle.
I called this section “rhododendron ridge”.

The Mt. June Trail coming up from the right.

It was now just after 11am and I was facing a half mile, and nearly 550′, climb to Mt. June’s summit. I headed up and stopped at the first good sized log along the trail to finish off the Gatorade, eat some sweet and salty snack mix, and rest for a few minutes. After the break I headed up the steep trail arriving at the summit at 11:27am.

Unfortunately, the view was less than ideal. The recent warm weather had allowed the many fires still burning to pick up intensity which led to additional smoke.

If you look closely, you can see the tops of the Three Sisters poking up over the smoke in the distance. The open hillside in the foreground is the meadow below Sawtooth Rock and the hump just behind is Hardesty Mountain.

After another short break, and a change of socks, at the summit I started back. I was feeling okay on the downhills and the more level sections, but whenever the trails became at all steep my legs let me know they weren’t happy.
Heading down from the summit.

Climbing the hillside below Sawtooth Rock.

Sawtooth Rock

There was just a little smoke now and then in the forest.

The Eula Ridge Trail coming into view.

I arrived at the Eula Ridge Trail at 1:19pm and bombed down the steep trail as carefully as possible. There are a lot of loose rocks/pebbles along the trail so my trekking poles came in very handy.

There wasn’t much in the way of Fall colors along the trail, but these leaves really stood out.

Lookout Point Lake (Middle Fork Willamette River) from the trail.

There was one more small uphill on the far side of South Creek before dropping to the trailhead.

South Creek

I made it back to the car at 3:00pm. My Garmin clocked in at an even 17-miles and I estimated close to 5300′ of cumulative elevation gain.

This was a real challenge, especially the day after another difficult hike. It does make for one heck of a training hike, and I didn’t see another person the entire day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Eula Ridge to Mount June

Tags Eula Ridge, Eula Ridge Trailhead, Hardesty Cutoff Trail, hardesty mountain, Hardesty Trail, Hardesty Way Trail, Hike Oregon, hiking, Lawler Trail, Mt. June, Mt. June Trail, Oregon, Sawtooth Rock. Lost Creek Trail, Sawtooth Trail, Sout Willamette Trail, Umpqua National Forest, Willamette National Forest

Hiking Middle Santiam Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Chimney Peak – 09/28/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 30, 2024
No Comments on Chimney Peak – 09/28/2024

A project at work had Heather occupied so I headed out on a rare solo hike to visit Chimney Peak in the Middle Santiam Wilderness. This would be just my second visit to this wilderness with the first being an overnight trip to Donaca Lake (post) in 2014.

For this outing I started at the McQuade Creek Trailhead. This is the shortest route to Chimney Peak.
I actually parked on the shoulder of Forest Road 1142 and walked a tenth of a mile down a spur road to the start of the trail.

A note stating that access from the eastern side of the wilderness was still closed due to the Pyramid Fire.

The 5-mile long McQuade Creek Trail gains approximately 1600′ before ending at the Chimney Peak Trail. The trail is well graded, and as of my trip, free of any significant downed trees. The trail however is narrow, rough, and was overgrown in numerous places. Views are limited along the trail, but the forest is lovely. This combination is likely why I didn’t see another person all morning despite it being a warm, sunny day.
It was early when I started so there wasn’t a lot of light and even on the way back there was a lot of shade.

A short distance from the trailhead is a crossing of West Fork McQuade Creek.

A third of a mile from the West Fork the trail crosses McQuade Creek.

Reportedly this crossing can be quite tricky early in the year, but there wasn’t much water this time of the year.

Based on trip reports from 2023 and recent cuts seen along the trail it appears that a trail crew passed through this year.

There are just 3 or 4 trees about this size left across the trail.

Big trees near a rock outcrop.

A good representation of the rough tread along parts of the trail.

A reminder that Fall is here.

The McQuade Creek Trail hidden by the underbrush.

Lousewort

Huckleberries

Views were limited to the nearby ridges and hillsides.

Chimney Peak straight ahead.

Vine maple along a rocky slope.

Pika watching me from behind some cover.

Flagging along a bit of a washout.

The damaged section of trail pictured above started a 0.4-mile stretch of overgrown trail which included devil’s club, currant, and other thorny bushes. It was by far the least enjoyable part of the hike.

Looking back at the final section of the overgrown trail.

The trail beyond the really overgrown section.

A little under half a mile later I entered the Middle Santiam Wilderness at the junction with the Chimney Peak Trail.

The McQuade Creek Shelter used to be located near here, but it had collapsed years ago, and I didn’t see any signs of the remains.

From the junction Donaca Lake is a little over 6-miles (left) while Chimney Peak is three-quarters of a mile in the other direction (right).
Pointer for Chimney Peak.

I turned right on the Chimney Peak Trail which climbed gradually along a ridge for the first 0.2-miles before steeping significantly in the next half mile culminating in a brief class 3 scramble to reach the former lookout site atop Chimney Peak.

Looking up from the trail.

Mt. Jefferson

The trail heading steeply uphill towards the Sun.

The trail passing beneath the cliffs.

Initially I forked right here because the left hand fork didn’t appear to go anywhere.

I assume these are remains from the former lookout.

I followed a use trail to the end of the cliffs thinking that the scramble route up might be at the far end but it was not.

I headed back to the area where the fork I’d ignored earlier was and headed uphill toward the rocks.
The start of the scramble route. The crack was too narrow to use but once I got to the top of this rock the route became much clearer.

Looking down at the first part of the route from above.

The top is in sight.

Clouds over Green Peter Lake.

Mt. Hood in the distance.

Zoomed in on Mt. Hood and some haze.

Mt. Jefferson

There was no sign of the 1934 lookout on the rocks where I’d come up, but there appeared to be another set of rocks to the east hidden by a tree and some brush.

After fighting my way through I popped out at the lookout site.

The Three Sisters

Three Fingered Jack to the left behind the Three Pyramids (post) and Mt. Washington (post) on the right.

Mt. Jefferson zoomed.

The view of the mountains would be better later in the day when the Sun would be more overhead or behind Chimney Peak, but that’s the price of getting an early start. I took a break at the summit and spent some time dealing with hot spots on my feet. I had worn a newer pair of boots, and the rough, uneven trail tread had created some issues. After putting on some blister aids, reapplying glide, and changing socks I headed back.

It was a pretty uneventful hike out, although the views were a little better along the McQuade Creek Trail now that there was more sunlight.

West Fork McQuade Creek

Back at the trailhead.

This hike came in at 11.8-miles with around 2500′ of elevation gain.

It was an enjoyable hike, but it felt harder than the stats would indicate. I believe the trail tread had a lot to do with that combined with it being a fairly warm and humid (by Oregon standards) day. It was encouraging to see that the trail had seen recent maintenance. Maybe that will encourage a little more use. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Chimney Peak

Tags Chimney Peak, Chimney Peak Trail, hiking, McQuade Creek, McQuade Creek Trail, McQuade Creek Trailhead, Middle Santiam Wilderness, Oregon, West Fork McQuade Creek, Willamette National Forest

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Woodpecker Trail to Jefferson Park – 09/13/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 16, 2024
1 Comment on Woodpecker Trail to Jefferson Park – 09/13/2024

Our first visit to Jefferson Park was way back in 2011 and it made such an impact on us that we revisited yearly up to 2017 when the lightning sparked Whitewater Fire forced us to skip a year. We returned in 2018 (post) and then decided to take a break from our yearly visits. Then in 2020 the Lionshead Fire, driven by strong easterly winds, raced through the area before combining with the Beachie Fire on 9/7/20. There are still closures in effect due to that fire, but the Woodpecker Trailhead has since been reopened and we thought it was time to revisit an old friend.

We had used the Woodpecker Trailhead for our 2016 visit (post) prior to either of the fires impacting the area. This was also before the Central Cascade Wilderness Permits were enacted. Currently the Woodpecker Trailhead only requires a free self-issued permit for day-use which can be obtained at the trailhead. Overnight permits are required for the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness regardless of which trailhead is used from 6/15 to 10/15.

Heather and I had set different goals for the day. I had my sights set on finally visiting Sprague Lake which is located just below Park Ridge (post) and requires off-trail navigation. Heather had set a more sensible goal of stopping at Scout Lake which is the first lake that you reach when entering Jefferson Park from the SW. Given our different goals we established a meeting spot on the west side of Scout Lake and set off at our own paces.
Another reminder that overnight permits are required in the wilderness.

Due to the two recent fires having burned over the entire route of our planned hikes the vast majority of the trails up to Jefferson Park are devoid of any tree cover. Luckily for us it was in the upper 30’s when we set off and the highs were set to be in the upper 50’s in Jefferson Park and low 70’s at the trailhead. It was also forecast to be mostly clear skies as recently cooler temperatures combined with rain and even some snow at higher elevations had helped to suppress the numerous fires currently burning in other parts of the Cascades and eastern Oregon.
Low clouds in the valley.

Mt. Jefferson through some of the snags with a few surviving trees on the right.

After an initial steep climb the trail levels out then descends slightly into a patch of trees that survived the fires. At the 1.2-mile mark it enters the Mount Jefferson Wilderness.

Just under a half mile later the trail climbed to an unsigned junction with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).
Mt. Jefferson from the junction, note the rock cairn on the left marking the PCT.

The cairn at the junction.

We turned left on the PCT and followed it through the fire scars for 2.6-miles to a crossing of Russell Creek.
Triangulation Peak (post) getting hit with sunlight with Whitewater Lake (lower right) in Mt. Jefferson’s shadow.

Whitewater Lake

Triangulation Point and Bocca Cave (Trailheads still closed.)

Tarn 0.3-miles from the junction.

Mt. Jefferson reflecting in the tarn.

Ducks on the tarn.

The Sentinel Hills with Park Butte behind to the right. The Whitewater Trail (post) traverses the hillside below the Sentinel Hills, but that trailhead is also still closed.

The fires did open up fairly consistent views of the mountain.

A few remaining penstemon blossoms.

Heading down to the Russell Creek crossing.

This can be a tricky crossing at times, but there was a makeshift bridge which made it fairly easy this time.

Aster and pearly everlasting near the creek.

Beyond Russell Creek the PCT climbed for half a mile to a junction with the Whitewater Trail where we turned right sticking to the PCT.

We started seeing more trees that had survived the fire as we got closer to Jefferson Park.

Gentians and aster

Grass-of-parnassus

From this junction it was just under a mile to the first of several signed trails leading to Scout Lake off the PCT.
There were patches of burned forest along this stretch.

Approximately 0.4-miles from the junction the trail crosses Whitewater Creek.

From the other side of Whitewater Creek the views of Mt. Jefferson are amazing.

Based on the barred sides I believe this is a black-backed woodpecker.

Unofficial use trails are an issue in Jefferson Park which has prompted the Forest Service to install a number of “Closed for Rehabilitation” sign such as the one on the left side of the trail.

They’ve also added quite a few signs to indicated sanctioned trails. Typically in wilderness areas the Forest Service tries to keep signage to a minimum, but overuse has led them to add additional signs.

Another sign with Park Butte in background.

Since I was headed for Park Ridge I ignored the trails to Scout Lake for now and continued on the PCT for three quarters of a mile beyond the first sign for Scout Lake to a sign for Russell Lake on the right side of the trail.

The last of the pointers for Scout Lake.

PCT heading for Park Butte and Park Ridge.

Russell Lake pointer.

Tags hiking, Jefferson Park, mountain goat, Mt. Hood National Forest, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, Park butte, PCT, Russell Creek, Russell Lake, scout lake, Sprague Lake, whitewater creek, whitewater trail, Willamette National Forest, Woodpecker Ridge, Woodpecker Trailhead

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Gooch and Downing Creek Falls – 08/10/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 12, 2024
1 Comment on Gooch and Downing Creek Falls – 08/10/2024

Before getting to the post please note that Gooch Falls is located on private land and access may be restricted at any time. Please be respectful of the landowner’s property and requests.

A busy weekend combined with the large number of wildfires currently burning across the state we decided to stick closer to home and check out a pair of waterfalls that we’d been wanting to see in person. Our son Dominque was also in town and was able to join us for the outhing.

Neither of these hikes use an official trail, so neither has a trailhead either. As I mentioned before the route to Gooch Falls in primarily on private land. Due to these circumstances, we’ve decided not to go into much detail on how to drive to either fall. However, as of the date of our outing they could both be found on AllTrails and other websites, so they aren’t exactly a secret.

We started off with Gooch Falls by parking on the shoulder of a gated forest road.

After confirming that there were no “Private Property or “No Trespassing” signs we continued up the road and picked up a clear trail leading into the forest.

We followed this path to Gooch Falls where there was a rope to assist with the steep descent to a viewpoint partway down the hillside.

The rope for the steep (and slick) section.

Gooch Falls

After admiring the falls for a while we headed back to our car. This hike was roughly two thirds of a mile round trip with a little over 100′ of elevation gain. This was an impressive waterfall and we were glad to have the opportunity to visit. In order to keep access open if you do visit please be sure to pack out any trash and don’t damage any trees or plants.

We headed for our next stop to visit Downing Creek Falls. Be aware that the short forest road to the trailhead described on AllTrails is truly one lane except for a small pullout near the highway meaning there is no way for vehicles to pass one another.
The road widened briefly near the pullout that acts as the trailhead.

We walked up the road following a description posted by Off the Beaten Trail! to its end where a use trail began.

Delicious red huckleberries provided morning snacks along much of the road and trail.

We followed the path as it brought us to Downing Creek.

We forked right when the ancient roadbed headed uphill.

The trail continued along the creek to Downing Creek Falls.

Not Downing Creek Falls, just one of many streams along the mossy hillside flowing into the creek.

Downing Creek Falls

This was another wonderfully scenic waterfall and worthy of a nice break before heading back. On the way back we took a right-hand fork that led us out to the ancient roadbed uphill just enough to see the tops of Coffin and Bachelor Mountains (post) over the tress.
The flat top of Coffin Mountain to the left of the tall trees at center and Bachelor Mountain to the right.

Coffin Mountain

We followed the roadbed downhill to rejoin the trail, but I soon split off to find the creek again to see what was making the creek roar with sound.
It took us a bit to realize that this was indeed a really old roadbed.

As I headed cross-country toward the creek I picked up a fainter trail running between the creek and the trail we’d come in on. I could still see Heather and Dominque so I communicated to them that I was going to try and follow it as far back as it would allow and I’d meet them at the car. I made several stops along the way to look at the creek flowing through the green forest.

There was sporadic flagging along the creek.

Another flag ahead.

The faint trail running along Downing Creek.

When I lost the path a couple times I just looked for signs like this old log cut for where the tread might be.

Sun starting to rise above the forest.

I wasn’t expecting to see caution tape. Maybe that’s all the person had because I couldn’t identify any hazard here.

A forested island in Downing Creek.

I was able to follow the creek all the way back to the pullout where I found Heather and Dominique waiting.
It was a short climb back up to the road.

This hike is just over a mile round trip with just under 300′ of gradual elevation gain giving us a grand total of just over 1.75-miles for the day (and a little under 400′ of elevation gain). Both of the waterfalls were impressive, especially given the time of year. We tend to avoid waterfall hikes in the Summer when flows tend to be lower, but that wasn’t an issue with these creeks. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Gooch & Downing Creek Falls

Tags Downing Creek, Downing Creek Falls, Gooch Falls, hiking, Off the Beaten Trail, Oregon, Willamette National Forest

Hiking

Olallie Trail to Horsepasture Mountain – 07/04/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 8, 2024
7 Comments on Olallie Trail to Horsepasture Mountain – 07/04/2024

A heat dome was forecasted to arrive on Independence Day with the hottest temperatures expected over the weekend. We were hopeful that we could sneak our traditional 4th of July hike in before the heat arrived as it had been a fairly mild week leading up to the holiday. The hike we had planned was to take the Olallie Trail to Horsepasture Mountain starting at the Olallie North Trailhead.

We had visited Horsepasture Mountain back in 2018 via the Saddle Trail (post) which is a shorter approach by approximately five miles with 1000′ less elevation gain. Shorter still is starting at the Horsepasture Trailhead, but that is a longer drive and would have meant missing out on the section of the Olallie Trail that we hadn’t hiked before.
Trail map at the trailhead.

From the trailhead the Olallie Trail switchbacked up a ridge through a mixed forest before straightening out and following the ridge SE.

Rhododendron

Scouler’s bluebells

Twinflower and fringed pinesap

Sugar sticks

A section of the trail passed through the 2017 Avenue fire scar, but the tread was in good shape and all trees were cleared from the trail.

Mt. Washington was the first high Cascade Peak we obtained a view of.

North and Middle Sister followed next.

The trail spent some time on top of the ridge as well as each side as it gradually climbed.

Tiger lilies

Washington lilies were blooming along a section of the trail.

Washington lilies

Paintbrush

Northern phlox

Penstemon

Garter snake

Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack

Entering trees that survived the 2017 fire.

The hillsides that the trail traverses are pretty steep.

Common whipplea

Regaining the ridge top.

Better view of Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack with Maxwell Butte (post) and South Cinder Peak (post) in between.

Shortly after leaving the fire scar the trail began to steepen a bit.

Bunchberry, queen’s cup, and foam flower.

Near the 3.5-mile mark the trail crossed an abandoned forest road and steepened again

It had been warming up quickly and Heather and I had decided to split a little below this road crossing. Despite not being able to spell “Heather” without “Heat” it is her hiking nemesis. We set a time that would be the latest I headed back at and chose the road crossing as a meeting point. Heather planned on continuing but wasn’t sure how far she would feel comfortable going. We set the road as a meeting point so that if she didn’t make it up Horsepasture Mountain before I headed back I would know I’d missed here somewhere along the trail if I got to the road and she wasn’t there.

A tenth of a mile beyond the road crossing the O’Leary Mountain Trail joined from the right.
We had hiked to MacDuff Mountain on the O’Leary Trail just a few weeks earlier (post).

Beyond the junction the Olallie Trail leveled out then slowly descended 200′ over the next 1.1 miles to a junction with the Saddle Trail. The hillsides along this section were fairly exposed to the Sun which warmed things up even more, but also provided some nice wildflower displays.

This section also had a few smaller trees down over it.

Columbine

Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, and Scott Mountain (post).

Trillium

Valerian

Wallflower and buckwheat

Purple larkspur, yellow cinquefoil, and white sub-alpine mariposa lilies

Paintbrush and lupine

North and Middle Sister with Horsepasture Mountain on the right.

Oregon bluebells

Penstemon

Butterfly on bistort

Musk monkeyflower

A stalk of beargrass along the trail.

Jacob’s-ladder

Bane berry and solomonseal

Vanilla leaf

The Saddle Trail arriving from the right.

One hundred yards downhill from the Saddle Trail junction I arrived at a 4-way junction with the Horsepasture Mountain Trail.
Downhill to the left is the Horsepasture Trailhead, uphill to the left is Horsepasture Mountain and the Olallie Trail continues along the righthand fork.

From the junction the Horsepasture Mountain Trail climbs over 850′ in a little under a mile and a half. The trail begins with a steady traverse along the side of Horsepasture Mountain before switching back after a litte more than three quarters of a mile.

Arnica, bunchberry and vanilla leaf

Fleabane

Often switchbacks allow for a more gradual climb but here the trail launched steeply uphill through small meadows switching back two more times before heading steeply up the open shoulder of Horsepasture Mountain.
It was not a big year for beargrass but if you pick the right year there is an impressive amount along this trail.

Second snake of the day. I wound up seeing three on the day which was two more than other trail users, excluding Heather.

If you look closely you might pick out the blue shirt worn by the only other hiker I encountered.

Mt. Bachelor from the shoulder of Horsepasture Mountain.

Final pitch to the top.

The wildflowers were near peak, and the hillside was literally buzzing with pollinators busy flying from flower to flower. The views extended from Mt. Hood in the north and south to Diamond Peak.
Pollinator photobomb in the upper left.

Diamond Peak to the south.

The Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor on the horizon.

Lupine, bluehead gilia, paintbrush, and pussytoes?

The former lookout site with Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson behind.

The summit

Survey marker

Diamond Peak from the summit.

The Three Sisters

Mt. Washington, Scott Mountain, Belknap Crater (post), and Black Crater (post).

Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and Three Fingered Jack

I had passed the other gentleman on the switchbacks, but we spoke briefly at the summit. He remarked how it isn’t often that you get both a great view and peak wildflowers on the same hike in Oregon. We both searched out spots with a little shade for a much-needed respite from the heat. While I put on a new pair of socks and had a snack I was able to message with Heather who was almost to the switchbacks. I wandered around the summit for a few minutes admiring the flowers and then got another message from Heather that she was wisely not going to attempt the final steep climb so I headed back to her.

Scarlet gilia

Buckwheat and bluehead gilia

An aster or fleabane

Paintbrush with penstemon in the background.

Butterfly on bluehead gilia

Butterfly and bees

I believe this is a persius duskywing (Erynnis persius)

Vetch?

This outcrop is just slightly lower than the summit.

Cliff beardtongue on the rocks with the Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor behind.

Phlox

Bastard toadflax

I met Heather at the switchbacks and we headed back together. We stopped at the 4-way junction for a short break which I used to hike 50 yards down to the Horsepasture Trailhead.

The 200′ climb from the 4-way junction to the O’Leary Trail junction was hot, but thankfully that was it as far as climbing went for the day and the remaining 3.5-miles were downhill. The combination of going downhill and a slight breeze provided a little relief to the heat.
Passing the Saddle Trail on the way back.

Eight-spotted forester

Blue-eyed Mary

Horsepasture Mountain

Waterleaf

Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, Three Fingered Jack, and Mt. Washington

North and Middle Sister

Larkspur

Anemones and spotted coralroot

Pink pyrola

Clodius parnassian on a tiger lily.

Fireweed

The lower portion of the trail included some madrone trees.

It was right around 90 degrees at the trailhead when we got back at 2:30pm.

I had expected this hike to be a little under 12 miles with approximately 3200′ of elevation gain. My GPS ended up with 12.5 miles, most of which can be attributed to my wandering around at the summit. The detour down to the Horsepasture Trailhead added less than a tenth of a mile.

This was a great hike that only missed spectacular due to how hot it was. The Olallie Trail was in good shape and the climb was extremely well graded. The view from Horsepasture Mountain is a good one and hitting the peak wildflower display only enhances it. We were really shocked to have only seen the one other person, but maybe, just maybe most other people are smarter than we are. With the heat dome expected to continue for several days the 2024 wildflower show will most likely be over quickly, but there is always next year. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Olallie Trail to Horsepasture Mountian

Tags Avenue Fire, hiking, Horsepasture Mountain, Horspasture Trailhead. Horsepasture Mountain Trail, mountain view, O'Leary Mountain Trail, O'Leary Mountain Trail Complex, Olallie North Trailhead, Olallie Trail, Oregon, Saddle Trail, Willamette National Forest

Hiking Oakridge Area Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Hiyu Ridge via Grasshopper Meadow – 06/29/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 1, 2024
No Comments on Hiyu Ridge via Grasshopper Meadow – 06/29/2024

**Note the 2024 Young Grasshopper Fire burned over a portion of this hike including Grasshopper Meadow.**

In 2017 we did an overnight backpack to Grasshopper Meadow via Chucksney Mountain (post). During that trip we hiked a 9.8-mile section of the 13.5-mile long Grasshopper Mountain Trail #3569. The section covered was from the Box Canyon Trailhead to the base of Grasshopper Mountain. The trail does not go up the mountain’s summit but instead from the saddle at the base heads around the mountain and then follows Hiyu Ridge down to the Grasshopper Trailhead (approx 4 miles from the saddle).

Grasshopper Meadow was a beautiful destination making a second visit appealing and including the remainder of the Grasshopper Mountain Trail pushed it up on our list of planned hikes. We had a decision to make regarding where to start for this second visit though. In his “100 Hikes Central Oregon Cascades” guidebook Sullivan includes the hike from the Grasshopper Trailhead along Hiyu Ridge in the more hikes section at the back of the book. He also includes a hike to Grasshopper Meadow via the Grasshopper Meadow Trail in the back of the book beginning 850′ below the ridge at the top of the meadow at what is marked on Google Maps as the Grasshopper Meadow Trailhead. Hike Oregon also covers the same hike on their website here. Interestingly the Forest Service map and website do not mention this trailhead, but they do show the Grasshopper Meadow Trail #3314. We opted to start at the Grasshopper Meadow Trailhead for two main reasons. First it would allow us to pass through Grasshopper Meadow at two different times of the day instead of it being our turnaround point. The second, and more important reason, was Sullivan’s description of the hike along Hiyu Ridge indicated that we should be prepared to step over some logs. That’s code for lack of trail maintenance which could mean that this section of the trail could be impassable. The Forest Service website didn’t provide any trail conditions. We could have called to check, but we figured worst case scenario we could redo some of the 2017 hike if necessary.

A word of warning regarding the drive to this trailhead. There was about a half mile section of Road 1929 where a good amount of gullying has occurred. We’d recommend high clearance, but somehow there was a Toyota Prius parked here (just out of frame).

The trail began with a gradual climb through a mixed conifer forest before steepening as the meadows began.
Valerian along the trail.

Vanilla leaf and anemones carpeting the forest floor.

There were wildflowers along the vast majority of this hike which resulted in our taking way too many photos. I will try and limit what I include here, just know that what gets shared will be a small portion of what we saw.
Star-flowered false solomonseal.

Coneflower with lupine behind.

Penstemon

Near the three-quarter mile mark we took a short spur trail to the left to visit a spring at the base of a post.

Monkeyflower

We continued steeply uphill from the spring for 0.3-miles where we took another short spur trail, this time to the right and a view of Diamond Peak.

Lupine

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Moth on fleabane.

Waterleaf

Tiger lily

Pussytoes

From left to right the peaks with snow are: The Twins (post), Maiden Peak (post), Fuji Mountain (post), and Diamond Peak (post).

Diamond Peak

We continued uphill from the viewpoint following the trail to a post in a large rocky area that was filled with larkspur.

Grasshopper Mountain above the meadow.

The post in the rocky area.

When we visited in 2017 it had been mid-July, and the larkspur show was over.

The Grasshopper Meadow Trail ends at these rocks for all intents and purposes. There is no clear path from the post up to the Grasshopper Mountain Trail which is approximately 150′ above running along the ridge. We made our way uphill trying to avoid as many plants as possible and picked up the trail which was marked by periodic rock cairns.
A cairn marks the Grasshopper Mountain Trail.

We turned left on the trail and headed toward Grasshopper Mountain.

Looking out over the meadow.

Fuji Mountain and Diamond Peak

The saddle below Grasshopper Mountain.

From the ridgetop we gained a view to the NE which included the Three Sisters, Broken Top, and Mt. Bachelor (post).

The Three Sisters and Broken Top

Mt. Bachelor

We crossed over the ridge and continued on the Grasshopper Mountain Trail which was, as we had suspected, in need of some trail maintenance.
The last of the snow, at least it is all we saw.

Glacier lilies near the tiny snow patch.

It was evident that the trail does get maintained on occasion, but none of it appeared recent near Grasshopper Mountain.

Crossing over the ridge changed the mix of wildflowers we’d been seeing adding in some early season bloomers such as trillium.

Anemone

Violets

Bleeding heart

Oregon bluebells

The trail passed through a small fire scar on the backside of Grasshopper Mountain where we had to briefly leave the trail to find a way over and around blowdown.

The Three Sisters and Broken Top were visible from this area.

Back on the slightly overgrown trail.

As we made our way through the fire scar more mountains joined the view including Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, and Mt. Jefferson.

Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack

Bears appear to use the trail more than hikers. This was the largest of three piles we’d pass on the day.

Arnica

After navigating the fire scar we were able to more or less stay on the tread save for a couple of brief detours around blowdown. That being said there were numerous trees that we had to step, or in some cases climb over. There were also numerous burrows to watch out for along with a lot of forest debris which made for a slow and hard hike. The other thing that slowed us down was the sheer number and variety of flowers.
This is both the trail and a front (back) door.

Valerian and tall bluebells

Fairy bells

Meadowrue

Moth on valerian.

Jacob’s-ladder

While the trail was overgrown in places it was passable and the tread was in pretty good shape.

Fringecup

Possibly a speedwell but unsure and it was the only one we saw.

More blowdown to maneuver around.

Edith’s checkerspot

Trail passing through an area full of monkeyflower and larkspur.

Cinquefoil, larkspur, and buckwheat

Scarlet gilia

Paintbrush

Bluehead gilia and silverleaf phacelia

Approximately 1.5-miles from the saddle below Grasshopper Mountain the trail again crossed the ridge to avoid a rocky cliff area.
The rocky area from the trail as it crossed the ridge.

We could see that there were a lot of flowers on the rocks, but the trail dropped below the ridge quickly and my first attempt to scramble up to see the flowers was too soon and I just ended up in the brush on the ridgetop. On our way back I tried again, this time finding the correct spot where I was awarded not only with the amazing flowers but also another great mountain view.
Columbine crowding the trail.

The wildflower covered rocks on the way back.

Arrowleaf buckwheat and Oregon sunshine

The Three Sisters and Broken Top with some clouds moving in.

Paintbrush surrounded by buckwheat, bluehead gilia, and stonecrop.

Scarlet gilia

Wallflower

Wild rose

The trail stayed on the west side of the ridge for the remaining 2.3-miles. Just over a third of a mile from the rocky viewpoint the trail passed a small rock outcrop which we thought looked like and it might be a good spot for a break on the way back. Not far beyond the outcrop we came to another tricky downed log where Heather decided that was enough. She would go back to the outcrop and while I would continue. If the trail was passable I would continue for no more than 45 minutes as it looked like that would be enough time to reach the Grasshopper Trailhead based on the distance shown on the GPS.

Beargrass near the outcrop.

The outcrop from the trail.

Blowdown

More blowdown

Western meadow fritillary

Bunchberry

Recent trail maintenance! There were a couple of cut trees in the final mile, but there were also still many to step over.

I had misjudged two things when Heather and I had split up. One was just how far the trailhead was, and the other was how much elevation I would be losing to get there.
The trail dropped low enough that there were several rhododendron blooming.

Queen’s cup.

South Sister (post) and Broken Top (post).

It turned out I had been almost 2-miles from the trailhead and needed to lose over 850′ of elevation to reach it. Luckily the trail was in a little better shape at this end again. I was able to keep a good pace and I arrived at Grasshopper Saddle with a couple of minutes to spare.

Given that the Forest Service lists this as an official trailhead I was expecting a little more than a post with a road number and a faded laminated sheet of paper.
Had I not just come down the trail I might not have even noticed it was there.

Cardwell’s penstemon

I realized on my way down that while I was making good time going in that direction, I was going to be hard pressed to maintain the same pace going uphill. Fortunately for me it wasn’t a particularly warm day, so it only took me an extra five minutes to make it back to the outcrop. When I joined Heather on the outcrop she said she was just starting to wonder if she should start to worry. (I might have made a little better time had I not kept taking pictures, but then again, those breaks let me catch my breath.)
Starflower

Ginger

Mt. Bachelor through the trees.

Musk monkeyflower

Grasshopper Mountain from the outcrop.

Cliff beardtongue

After I took a much-needed break we headed back. We kept our eyes out for flowers we’d missed on our first pass while we watched the various pollinators visiting the blossoms.
Blue-eyed Mary

Cicada, not a pollinator but interesting to see.

Solomonseal

Variable-leaf collomia

Honeysuckle

Oregon grape

Pollinator 1

Pollinator 2

Pollinator 3 (Clodius parnassian)

Bees on bastard toadflax

Checkerspot on groundsel

Naked broomrape (Aphyllon purpureum)

Penstemon

Our guess is this is mile three from Grasshopper Saddle. We didn’t notice any other numbers and missed this one on our first pass.

Dwarf bramble

Strawberry

Cinquefoil

It started clouding up in the afternoon.

Back at the saddle below Grasshopper Mountain.

We took another break shortly after reaching Grasshopper Meadow then headed down to the spring where we both cooled off using the spring water.

Great artic butterfly. There were a lot of these flying about. Their dorsum is a bright orange, but they rarely would open their wings when they landed.

The checkerspots on the other hand are happy to open their wings.

False hellebore

It clouded up over Diamond Peak as well.

Lewis flax

Orange agoseris

A Lycaendae on a lupine leaf.

Moth on a mariposa lily.

Butterflies gathering at the spring.

After refreshing ourselves with the spring water we continued back to the trailhead where we found the Prius still there. We never saw or heard another person on this hike. Not seeing anyone along Hiyu Ridge isn’t all that surprising given the trail conditions, but not seeing anyone in the meadow was a little surprising.

The Prius at the TH. We parked on the shoulder in a pullout.

The hike from trailhead to trailhead came to 11.5-miles (according to the GPS) with a little over 2000′ of elevation gain (according to the topo maps, and my legs).

Despite the rough trail conditions this was a beautiful hike. The flowers were the highlight, but there were several good mountain views scattered throughout. Hopefully the gullies in FR 1929 can be repaired or at least kept from getting any worse. Forest Road 1927 at Grasshopper Saddle seemed to be a good gravel road, but for that to be a viable option for anyone other than those that don’t mind a challenge the trail needs to be cleaned up. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Hiyu Ridge via Grasshopper Meadow

Tags butterflies, Grasshopper Meadow, Grasshopper Meadow Trail, Grasshopper Mountain, Grasshopper Mountain Trail, hiking, Hiyu Ridge, mountain view, Oregon, wildflowers, Willamette National Forest

Hiking Oakridge Area Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

Buckhead Nature Trail and Deception Butte – 06/19/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 22, 2024
No Comments on Buckhead Nature Trail and Deception Butte – 06/19/2024

Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak from Deception Butte

Juneteenth provided us an opportunity for a mid-week hike, and we used that opportunity to visit a pair of trails near Westfir, OR.

We began our day by stopping at the Buckhead Nature Trailhead for a short warmup hike.

A paved interpretive loop explores a riparian zone along the Middle Fork Willamette River.

Signboard about a tenth of a mile from the trailhead.

The loop began on the far side of the footbridge.

We hiked the loop clockwise and made our way back to the car. There were a few flowers and an obstructed view of the river. We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife save for a couple of birds and a snail.

As far as we could remember we’d never seen a bench on the other side of a fence before.

Middle Fork Willamette River through the vegetation.

Tiger lily

Self-heal

Snail

Mock orange

The hike here was a little over half a mile, a good warm-up for our next stop at the Deception Butte Trailhead which was only 3.5 miles away.

We had attempted this hike in October 2017 (post), but a 2014 wildfire had left the trail beyond the creek itself unpassable. The trail remained closed until 2022 when the Forest Service and volunteers were finally able to clear and make the necessary repairs to the fire damage.

The fire mostly spared the forest up to the footbridge crossing Deception Creek.

Anemone

There are a few junctions prior to reaching the footbridge. The first was the only one with any signage. We stayed on the correct trail by ignoring side trails to the left that headed uphill and on the right that led down to Deception Creek.

We turned left at the signed junction following half a sign for the Deception Butte Trail.

At the last unsigned junction there was a signboard, but with nothing on it. (We went straight.)

Warning sign for the burned area ahead.

The footbridge over Deception Creek.

Deception Creek

On the far side of the footbridge the trail entered the fire scar and climbed steeply up a small ridge.

The trail then dropped steeply down on the other side of the ridge.

Due to the fire damage the tread here and for much of the remainder of the trail is rocky and somewhat slick so trekking poles came in very handy. There were also a few spots where some of the tread was missing requiring care. The trail was free of any significant debris, and we only had to step over one small tree. From the bridge it was approximately 3 miles to the summit with around 2300′ of elevation gain. The trail used a combination of switchbacks and longer traverses to gain the elevation. The grade varied widely with a few steep sections and some gentler climbs
The amount of trail work needed to clear the trail was evident by the sheer number of cut trees along the length of the trail.

This was from 2017 near the same stretch of trail.

View up the canyon from the trail.

Clodius parnassian

There was a lot of vegetation along the trail, so we had to keep an eye out for poison oak which was present at times on the lower two-thirds of the trail. It was never much of a problem, but there were a couple of plants crowding the trail that we had to maneuver around.

Moth

Starflower

Rhododendron

Northern cloudywing

Big deervetch

Hummingbird

Kreuger Rock with Patterson Mountain (post ) behind to the left.

Groundsel

One of the damaged sections of trail.

There was some forest that survived the fire starting near the 3.5-mile mark where the fire burned less intensely.

Townsend’s solitaire

Canada jay

There were a few views of the Three Sisters through the remaining trees. (Middle & South Sister here)

Inside-out flower

Looking up as the trail neared the summit.

Woodpecker

Common whipplea

Anemone

The Deception Butte Trail arriving at Deception Butte.

Beargrass

From the actual summit the view is limited in every direction save the south.

A user trail heads SW and drops to an open saddle where you can get an unobstructed view of Diamond Peak to the SE.

Looking down at the saddle and wondering if it was really worth having to climb back up.

I had arrived before Heather and decided I needed to see the view, so I headed down to the saddle where there were I found quite a bit of wildlife and a few flowers.
Northern flicker

Lizard

Rock outcrop on the other side of the saddle.

Tolmie’s mariposa lilies

Bluehead gilia

Squirrel

Oakridge in the valley below with Diamond Peak (post) on the right. The smaller peak with snow to the left of Diamond is Mt. Yoran, the triangle shaped peak is Coyote Mountain, and the peak with a little snow to the left of that is Fuji Mountain (post).

Diamond Peak

Oakridge

Leafy fleabane

Oregon sunshine on the hillside looking up Deception Butte from the saddle.

Wild onion

One of the fritillary butterflies.

Fly inside a Tolmie’s mariposa lily.

Hether had joined me at the summit, and we took a nice break in the shade on the mossy ground before heading back down.

There is a very steep trail just below the summit that leads to an upper trailhead. The Forest Service does not recommend using these though as the trail is said to be slippery and steep. We can vouch for the steep just by having looked down from the Deception Butte Trail.

Plectris and stonecrop

It was warming up fast as we descended, a stark contrast to the cold wet descent on MacDuff Mountain (post) just four days prior. We had to be careful not to slip on the loose rocks in the steeper sections and were again thankful for our trekking poles.

Coralroot

The best view of the Three Sisters that we got all day.

Butterflies enjoying some vetch. There were at least a half dozen butterflies visiting this patch.

Brown creeper

Pink pyrola

Pearly everlasting

Turkey vulture

Fireweed

Entering the trees near the footbridge over Deception Creek.

Columbine

Tiger lilies

This was a challenging but nice hike. We only saw one other person all day, a trail runner, before reaching the footbridge in the morning. In addition to some poison oak along parts of the trail we did flick a total of three ticks off our clothing so that is something to be aware of. Our GPS track showed approximately 9.5 miles which is partially inflated by my wandering back and forth a bit at the summit.

While it’s not the most exciting hike you can find, there were enough views and variety of plants and wildlife to keep things interesting and the elevation gain made it a good training hike. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Buckhead Nature Trail and Deception Butte

Tags Buckhead Nature Trail. Lower Deception Butte Trailhead, Deception Butte, Deception Butte Trail, Deception Creek, hiking, oakridge, Oregon, wildflowers, Willamette National Forest

Hiking McKenzie River Old Cascades Oregon Trip report

MacDuff Mountain – 06/15/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 17, 2024
2 Comments on MacDuff Mountain – 06/15/2024

Seemingly all of the upcoming hikes I have slated for June (this year and in the future) involve viewpoints, but after a week of mostly blue skies and warm weather rain showers arrived just in time for our day off. Our original plan had been a two-stop day near McKeznie Bridge, first to revisit Castle Rock where we’d missed the view in 2017 (post) due to clouds, then hike to MacDuff Mountain for the first time. When I checked Friday morning the forecast for this area called for a 60% chance of showers mainly before 11am, less than a tenth of an inch of precipitation, and partly sunny skies. I checked some other areas and unless we were willing to drive to Central Oregon none looked better than this.

We decided to save Castle Rock for another (sunnier) day and drove straight to the O’Leary/Castle Rock Trailhead.

The hike to MacDuff Mountain was brought to our attention by Hike Oregon who is a great resource for hiking and backpacking information and tips. The O’Leary Mountain Trail passes just below the rocky summit of MacDuff Mountain on its way to joining the 22.8-mile long Olallie Trail. This trail and a portion of the Olallie Trail are open to mountain bikes as well as hiking. The out-and-back to MacDuff Mountain is approximately 10.5 miles with over 2700′ of elevation gain. The well graded trail makes the climb feel like less than that number though.

From the trailhead we crossed FR 411 to a pointer for the Castle Rock and O’Leary Trails.

We quickly arrived at a junction where the Castle Rock Trail headed left.

From this junction it is approximately 5 miles to the summit of Castle Rock. We wouldn’t have gone that route even if we had stuck to the original plan to visit it first. We would have parked at the Castle Rock Trailhead which is only 1.2-miles from that peak’s summit.

We stayed straight on the O’Leary Trail and quickly became soaked by the damp vegetation along the trail.

There were some nice rhododendron blooms along the trail.

It was hard to tell if it was actually raining or if the low clouds/fog was just leaving the trees and plants damp but either way drops were falling from overhead as we climbed a series of switchbacks. These led us past some nice rock formations in the first mile and a half.

Spotted coralroot

The first of three crossings of FR 411, this is at the 0.4-mile mark.

Inside-out flower

Starflower

Yellowleaf iris

The trail is narrow at times but well maintiained.

Forest filled with rhododendron.

A closer look at the rhodies.

There were several madrones in the forest.

Little prince’s pine

Sugar sticks

There were a few places where we might have had a view if not for the clouds.

Stonecrop

Passing below some of the rock formations.

Anemones

Bleeding heart

The switchbacks became much rarer beyond the rock formations as the trail traversed the hillside below a ridgeline, and occasionally on the ridge.

The first small meadow that the trail passed through was full of blue-eyed Mary.

Northern phlox

Coming up on another small meadow.

Subalpine mariposa lily

Beargrass

A little under three miles from the trailhead the trail arrived at FR 411 for the second time.

We were briefly confused here because the Forest Service map showed the trail continuing straight across the road here, and the description from Hike Oregon was that you would cross the road here. There was no sign of the trail to be seen though. We wandered back and forth a bit then based on the topography decided that any continuation of the trail would be further up the road (to the right when arriving at the road). We walked approximately 100 yards to spot the continuation of the trail through the fog.
The fog didn’t help with our trying to find the trail. There was enough room along this section of road that parking and starting the hike from here would be possible.

Back on trail.

The trail made one of its steepest climbs from the road here then after briefly leveling out dropped back down to the road again.
Honeysuckle

More northern phlox

This meadow was full of bluehead gilia.

The trail dropped steeply as it rejoined FR 411.

Another brief road walk followed before the trail split off to the right at a pointer.
There was no parking room that we could see near this area.

It was only about a quarter of a mile between the two road crossings and the steep up and down had us questioning if it wouldn’t have been better just to stay on the road, but then we’d have missed the meadow of bluehead gilia.

The trail continued its gradual but steady climb for two more miles before arriving below the rocky summit of MacDuff Mountain.
Vanilla leaf along the trail.

Bunchberry

Trillium

We stopped when we spotted something in the trail ahead that looked like it might be an animal. Using the camera to zoom we realized it was a grouse hen with her little chicks.

The hen got up and then the chicks headed into the underbrush. We felt bad having disturbed them, but once they’d moved, we calmly passed by while momma came back to gather her little ones.

This was all beargrass, but none of the plants in this area appeared to be planning on blooming this year.

Hermit thrush

The rocky summit of MacDuff Mountain.

Our hopes that the clouds might break up or lift before our arrival at MacDuff Mountain were in vain. It was a little past 11am but partly sunny skies were a distant dream. While there wouldn’t be any mountain views today the wildflowers blooming on the rocks made for a worthy destination on their own.
A lot of larkspur.

Subalpine mariposa lilies

Paintbrush and buckwheat

Cinquefoil

A penstemon

Before going up to the actual summit I passed beneath and back into the forest following the trail until it began to descend.

There is no trail to the summit, so I went up cross country along the forest border then across to a 1931 memorial plaque at the top.

The view from the top.

No blue sky that way.

No sign of clearing this way either.

Cliff beardtongue

Woodland-stars

Paintbrush

We didn’t stay at the summit long. There was a slight breeze and that combined with the damp conditions made things chilly. We were not as prepared for the chilly conditions as we probably should have been, but even after 14 years of hiking we occasionally do dumb stuff. We headed back down and along the way encountered the only other person we’d see all day, another hiker making good time going uphill. We got even wetter when an actual rain shower passed over (it was chunky rain and we both thought there might have been a little snow mixed in) before finally got to see at least a little blue sky.

Hey look, there is another ridge over there.

Ookow just starting to open up.

Steep climb or road walk? We chose the trail again on the way back.

A wetter road now thanks to the rain shower.

Blue sky, it does exist.

The clouds got a late start but eventually started lifting.

From this angle it looks like a statue.

Looking down from some of the switchbacks.

Cougar Reservoir

Pyrola

Sunlight!

Both of our GPS units experienced technical difficulties. Mine randomly decided I was going a different direction that wound up putting us almost 7 miles north of our actual position, and Heather’s track couldn’t be imported to Basecamp. From what I could piece together the hike was approximately 11.2 miles but would have been closer to 10.5 had I not gone past the summit.
I’ve never seen a track this far off.

The track after manually editing it.

Despite the lack of views and not being prepared for it to be quite that chilly this was a good hike. The trail was in great condition with nice forest and wildflowers throughout. It may be a busier trail on nicer weekend days, but it didn’t appear that it sees a lot of usage regardless. Happy Trails!

Flickr: MacDuff Mountain

Tags Castle Rock Trail, cougar reservoir, Hike Oregon, hiking, MacDuff Mountain, O'Leary Mountain Trail, O'Leary Trail Complex, Oregon, wildflowers, Willamette National Forest

Diamond Peak Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Trip report

Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls – 10/21/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 23, 2023
No Comments on Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls – 10/21/2023

After skipping a planned hike due to illness (and some less-than-ideal weather) we got back on track with a trip to the Diamond Peak Wilderness. The plan for the day was to start by taking the Vivian Lake Trail to Vivian Lake in the wilderness then hike the nearby Hemlock Butte Trail up to a former lookout site followed by a second stop to visit Pool Creek Falls. We began at the Vivian Lake Trailhead following the Vivian Lake Trail past an empty wilderness registration box and gaining some views of Diamond Peak.

The trail climbed gradually for 0.6-miles to a junction with the Diamond Peak Tie Trail. We had been at this junction before when we backpacked around Diamond Peak (post).

Along the way we entered the wilderness area.

We continued on the Vivian Lake Trail arriving at Notch Lake after another quarter mile.

We continued beyond Notch Lake arriving at the Mt. Yoran Trail junction after another 0.2-miles.

During our loop around Diamond Peak we’d turned onto the Mt. Yoran Trail here, but today we stuck to the Vivian Lake Trail which spent the next 1.2-miles climbing to a saddle. At times the trail was nearly level while at other times it launched steeply uphill. While it was too late in the year for flowers there were numerous colorful mushrooms and fungi along the way.

It looks to have been a good year for beargrass.

The trail was well maintained with only one small log across the entire route to Vivian Lake.

Another level section.

Pond along the trail.

The saddle at the high point of the trail.

After catching our breath at the saddle we began the mile and a half descent to Vivian Lake. The first two tenths of a mile the trail dropped steeply downhill to a shelf where it leveled out as it passed a pair of unnamed lakes.
Maiden Peak (post) across Highway 58 through the trees.

We passed the smaller of the two lakes a half mile below the saddle.

The second lake, which was just 100 yards from the first, was much larger.

Mt. Yoran from the lake.

Ridge above the lakes.

A tenth of a mile from the lakes the trail began another steep descent along a trickling creek before leveling out next to a marsh.
Just before beginning the descent the trail passed South of a third small pond/lake that was visible through the trees.

Heading down to the creek.

The marsh

Mt Yoran from the marsh. While it looks like a meadow, Fall Creek flows through here, and at times we could see water out in the grass.

Just 0.2-miles beyond the marsh we arrived at a junction with a spur trail to Vivian Lake.

We’d been to this junction before as well, in 2013 we had visited the lake as part of our Salt Creek Falls Hike (post). We turned left onto the spur trail and followed it a short distance to the lake.

We were able to use these rocks to hop across this narrow channel to the North shore of the lake where we were able to get a view of Mt. Yoran.

After exploring part of the northern shore I headed back across the channel and followed the trail around the South side of the lake until it petered out near a peninsula.

While I was exploring Heather was admiring the changing leaves.

When we headed back we took a brief off-trail detour from the Vivian Lake Trail to Fall Creek which we could hear from the junction with the spur trail.

After returning to the trail we headed back the way we’d come. The climb to the saddle was as steep as we’d expected so a rest was warranted prior to dropping down to Notch Lake where we stopped to watch several ducks enjoying the warm Autumn day.
Varied thrush. These continue to be the most frustrating frequently seen bird to try and photograph.

I believe these were ring-necked ducks.

Beyond Notch Lake we finally ran into some other people. We passed a single hiker on the far end of the lake and a group of six near the wilderness boundary. Those were the only people we would see on the trails all day.

Diamond Peak from the trail on the way back.

When we made it back to the trailhead we had the choice of getting in our car and driving a tenth of a mile back up Forest Road 23 to the Hemlock Butte Trail or walk there. We opted to walk and hiked past our car and up the road to the well signed trail.

The Hemlock Butte Trail is just a half mile long but gains 500′ to the site of a former fire lookout. While it was well signed, this trail was not anywhere near as well maintained as the Vivian Lake Trail had been. A number of downed trees combined with overgrown sections and some poor tread made the short climb an adventure.
Not all of the blowdown was as easy as this log to get over/under.

Multiple switchbacks kept the lower portion of the climb from feeling too steep.

The Hemlock Butte Trail succumbing to the vegetation.

The summit of Hemlock Butte is a rocky outcrop which required a fair amount of scrambling over the final 250′ to reach the small flat summit where the lookout once stood.

An obvious spur trail at the base of the rock outcrop leads to a view of Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak. For those not comfortable with the scramble this is a good goal.

The trail to the summit at the junction with the spur.

Scrambling up

Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak from the summit.

Wolf Mountain to the NW with clouds covering the Willamette Valley in the distance.

The view South.

Looking down from the summit. (The trail is to the right.)

Heather opted to stick to the spur trail viewpoint so after I’d taken in the view I headed back down. We decided that I would go ahead and bring the car up to the Hemlock Trail to pick her up. My hike here came in at 10.4 miles with approximately 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

After picking up Heather we headed for Pool Creek Falls which was located back off of Forest Road 23. The driving directions had been plugged into my phone but at some point during the first hike the route was lost and without signal we couldn’t use the phones to relocate Pool Creek. We had made note of it when we’d passed by that morning though so we started back trying to picture what the area/road had looked like because the creek was not visible from the road. Now the first 15.7 miles this road is paved (save for one very short gravel section) before turning to good gravel for the final 3.7 miles to the Vivian Lake Trailhead and we were both fairly certain that we had been on the gravel section when we’d passed by (wrong) so when we reached pavement we pulled over and used the GPS unit. We found Pool Creek on that map and confirmed that it was still about 2 miles away. We parked along the shoulder of FR23 across from the partially hidden sign announcing the trail.
The “trailhead” was just under 14 miles from Highway 58 or just over 5.5 miles from the Vivian Lake Trailhead.

The trail sign on the right. The Pool Creek Trail #4228 shows up on the Forest Service map, but they don’t have a dedicated webpage for it. We were made aware of the trail by following Hike Oregon, a good resource both online and through several guidebooks.

We had a little trouble getting started as the Forest Service and GPS maps both showed the trail following the right (East) side of the creek for a short distance before crossing over and initially there was obvious tread heading in that direction. The canyon quickly narrowed though, and we came to a large log that would have to be the trail in order for us to proceed any further but it was obvious that it wasn’t really the trail.

What looks like it might be tread ahead is actually the log.

Looking across at the other side of the creek the canyon wall seemed too vertical to be supporting a trail but we weren’t going any further on this side, so we backtracked to what looked like a faint path we had passed near the beginning. We had taken it to be a use trail down to the creek but now that we looked closer, we could make out a trail covered in leaves switchbacking up on the far side.
The Pool Creek Trail to the left of the creek. Here you can see the first switchback turning steeply uphill.

The makeshift creek crossing.

At the third switchback.

The trail was in reasonably good shape with a couple of larger logs to navigate. A little research showed that the Cascade Volunteers have this trail on their radar and had done some work on the trail in 2022.

The reason we hadn’t noticed the trail on the far side was because it climbed quite a bit in an initial series of short switchbacks so from where we had been the trail was already much higher than we’d expected it would be. In the photo Heather is coming up to the third switchback below.

These two trees are mentioned in the May 2022 trail update on the Cascade Volunteers webpage.

This one was high enough to easily pass under. On the far side are more cut logs.

Just under a half mile from the road we arrived below Pool Creek Falls.
First view of the falls from the trail.

Pool Creek Falls

After navigating a slightly slick crossing of the creek I followed a trail up to and behind the falls. We were happy to find that there was enough water flowing this time of year to get to see the falls, but it would be much more impressive in wetter seasons.

We spent some time at the waterfall then headed back to the car and drove home. It had been just under a mile with a little over 200′ of elevation gain for Pool Creek Falls. It had been an interesting day with wilderness lakes, a summit viewpoint, and a waterfall on trails in various conditions. One word of warning regarding FR23 – the paved section has some massive holes/dips and a number of sunken sections requiring alert driving. For once I had actually been looking forward to reaching the gravel portion of the road. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls

Tags Diamond Peak, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Fall Creek, Hemlock Butte, Hemlock Butte Trailhead, hiking, Mt. Yoran, Notch Lake, Oregon, Pool Creek Falls, Pool Creek Trail #4228, Vivian Lake, Vivian Lake Trail, Vivian Lake Trailhead, Willamette National Forest

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Pika and Fir Lakes – 07/24/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 30, 2021
No Comments on Pika and Fir Lakes – 07/24/2021

After a week of hiking in the John Day area we had stopped in Bend on our way home Friday to visit Heather’s parents. Saturday morning we headed to Salem but stopped first for a short hike to Pika and Fir Lakes in the Willamette National Forest. The hike starts at the Pika-Fir Trailhead which is currently one of the trailheads in the Central Cascades that does not require any Central Cascades Wilderness Permits as the trail and lakes are outside of the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. (You would however need an overnight permit if you were try continue off trail into the wilderness to stay overnight.)

We picked this trail because it was on our way back to Salem, we hadn’t been here before, and it was nice and short. The trail itself is about a mile long passing Pika Lake and ending at Fir Lake and after averaging just over 12 miles a hike for the previous five days a short hike sounded nice. We were also in a bit of a hurry to get home to see our cat Hazel who we were going to have to say goodbye to soon (post).

The trail passed through a nice green forest with some bigger trees, a very different sight than the hikes we’d taken in Central Oregon that week.

A little bit of up and down brought us to Pika Lake in just half a mile.

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We walked a short way around the SE side of the little lake before returning to the trail and continuing to Fir Lake which was just 0.4 miles away.

Unnamed lakelet/pond between Pika and Fir Lakes.

Fir Lake

Goldeneyes

We again explored a little of the lake shore before turning around and returning to the car.

This was a quick hike which we managed to make 2.5 miles by exploring some of the lake shores. There were several camp sites at the lakes which would be good options for folks with young kids for some early backpacking trips.

With our hikes now completed we drove home to spend the rest of the weekend with Hazelnut before having to say our final goodbyes. It was a bitter sweet ending to what was otherwise a good vacation. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Pika and Fir Lakes

Tags hiking, Oregon, Pika-Fir Trail, Pika-Fir Trailhead, Willamette National Forest