Boundary Springs: Crater Lake National Park

(Click on any picture for larger view and slide show)

 

My oldest son Austin doesn't really care much for hiking. Especially when I have to tell him to "catch up" or "hurry up". He hates that. And I hate saying it. But the boy is usually slow and frankly, kinda out of shape. He's not overweight, he's just never been the most active kid.

 

Maybe, just maybe, today might be different....

 

I decided to take both of my sons on an easy 5.3 mile hike to Boundary Springs, the HEADWATERS and the very beginning of the ROGUE RIVER.

 

This was a scheduled Friends of the Umpqua hike. (The club hikes every other Saturday, everybody is welcome, you do not need to be a member to hike with them!)

 

We reached the Boundary Springs Trail at about 10:00am. The trail begins just outside the boundary of Crater Lake National Park, and crosses the boundary about a mile or so in. (I'm assuming this is where the name of the springs derived it's name from)

 

(This trail is easily accessed right off of Highway 230, just 5 miles south from the intersection of Highway 138 near Diamond Lake)

 



Let the march of the happy hikers begin!



 

John, who arranged the hike, directs the group to ensure no one goes astray.

 

The weather was FANTASTIC for a mid-November day. The blue skies and a warm sun made the hike so much more enjoyable than if it had been cold and rainy. This made both Austin and Colby quite happy.

 

 

The club traverses the only water crossing during the hike

 

Although there were no spectacular views of any mountains or large landscapes, the easy-going trail along the river through the thin trees was pleasant enough that such grandeur was not required.

 

 

The beautiful Rogue River in it's early stages

 

The trail maintained a fairly steady elevation, with only a few gradual hills, as it hugged the adolescent stages of the Rogue River. We crossed one dirt road and one small tributary on the journey to the start of this world-famous river.

 

 

A short break and photo op for the group

 

The group stayed fairly close as we trekked up the trail. And as usual, Richard O'Neill lagged behind, getting spectacular photos no doubt, as he typically does. However, being armed with all the latest in navigation equipment, he still managed to miss a critical left turn and ended up putting a tad more steps in than the rest of us.

 

Fortunately, Richard didn't stray too far and his portable technology guided him back on track. Admittedly, I would have to say I may have very well missed that turn myself, as it was not well marked. The trail signs in this area could certainly use a little updating!

 

 

 

No horses allowed.

That would defeat the purpose of hiking. 

 

 

Moss can be so... mossy. And pretty!

 

The hiking group eventually got to witness the birth of the mighty Rogue River as it spew forth from the side of a rather non-descript hillside, seemingly out of nowhere. Being the skeptic that I am, I was not convinced...

 

I proceeded further up the now not-so-well travel trail, looking for the origin of this divine source of water. I found none. The water really does just appear from an underground source of some sort.

 

Looking down-river from this spot,

I was actually standing at the very beginning of the Rogue River!

It just suddenly appears from the ground!

(See the next pic to see where I was standing when I took this photo)

 

Someone mentioned that they were expecting something much more spectacular, to which I said like what, like Old Faithful? I said if it was so spectacular-like, we'd have parked in a paved parking lot and walked just 50 feet to the spot where we are standing right now!

 

Meanwhile, I appreciated the rareness of this unique phenomenon. And the effort it took to get to this place. Quite amazing, I must admit.

 

The ABSOLUTE beginning of the Rogue!

The water literally comes straight out of the hillside at this exact spot.

Quite Amazing!

 

 

After being impressed with mother nature's underground wonder, the entire group had lunch on a sunlit hillside, feeling quite lucky to have such great weather. This must be a popular trail, as even on this November day, we encountered several other groups of hikers enjoying the trail.

 

We found a spot in the sun to enjoy lunch

 

Well, of course...

 

 

An amazing waterfall

 

 

The trail is well-maintained,

with varying scenery.

 

 

Contrary to the looks on their faces,

they said they actually enjoyed the hike!

 

 

The blue sky contributed to a fabulous day!

 

 

Green makes me happy!

 

On our way back, as myself, Austin and Colby approached the trailhead from where we started, I asked Austin what he thought. He said "I actually quite enjoyed it". I was surprised and pleased at the same time. (By the way, I had not, at any time during this hike, told him to "catch up" or "hurry up")

 

Wow. Two phenomenons in one day. Will wonders never cease?...

 

Two handsome young men

 

 

 

Castle Rock Fork, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness

(Click on any picture for larger view and slide show)

 

Hummingbird Creek is our destination

With June 21^st being the official start of summer and the longest day of the year, it is perhaps fitting that this hike was the also longest hike of the year for me… so far. I decided to take Colby on this kick-off to summer trek, since I knew he would be able to handle what I knew would be a hefty dozen miles or so of trudging through another wilderness hike with dad. Lucky guy, that Colby is…

 

 

Let the trail begin!

 After an early rise and departure from home, this would also be a very long drive to get to the Castle Rock Fork trailhead near the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness. With many miles under the tires, we were ready to put miles under our boots. The late morning sun dictated that we could leave our jackets behind. The sign said 6 miles to Hummingbird Creek, our turn-around destination.

 

 

Nice trail

 The trail began immediately with a gentle yet steady descent, of which I reminded Colby that this would be an uphill ascent at the end of our hike. The look of realization of this fact on his face was priceless, to which I reassured him that the total elevation gain/loss of this hike was not that much, since it paralleled the creek below. He responded with a doubtful “hmmm”.

 

 



Picturesque view of the trail

The first mile had been recently maintained as evidenced by tool marks and vegetation cleared. But after that, on-the-go trail maintenance was left to me and Colby. We proceeded on what was an easy trail to follow, but it was obvious that this was not a well-used trail, as we continuously kicked limbs and other debris off to the side. I have always done this as a courtesy to future hikers, and this trail certainly needed it.

 

 

Rhododendron in bloom

 

More prettiness

We quickly reached the highlight of this hike: Rhododendrons, rhododendrons, and more rhododendrons! For the next few miles, I was delightfully distracted by these late pink blooming beauties. With no picturesque views of canyons or mountains and such, I was pleased to have something other than just tree trunks to look at.

 

 

Forest beauty

 

Although there were no big views to speak of, the forested path showed us a few sights of the creek, a rock wall dripping with water, and various wildflowers still in bloom.

 

 

 

 

Rhododendron with double-trunked tree in background

 



 

 

A rock face with tears of water

 

Things are a bit fuzzy

 



 

With rhododendron world behind us now, we reached the 4 mile mark, looking for the bridge which, according to my map, would cross Castle Creek and continue on up. Our “bridge” across the creek turned out to be a fallen log about 2 feet in diameter, 10 feet above the creek, and 50 feet in length. Ok, so this is what separates the men from the boys. After a climb onto the uprooted trunk and with Colby on my heels, we traversed nature’s footbridge, safely to the other side. Woohoo! To his credit, Colby showed no fear, nor did he express any before, during, or after this initiation to manhood.

Proud to have made it across!

 

"I wonder if I can make it back across that log..."

We took a short break after the log crossing, where Colby contemplated his place in the world. And I took pictures.

 



Castle Rock Fork

A small hillside stream

The trail now continued on the other side of the creek slowly at a steady climb, with glimpses of the creek to our left and way down the hillside. This part of the trail had many logs which we had to step over or negotiate around. So where are those trail maintenance guys now?!

 

Rocks, logs and rock formations on Castle Rock Fork

Soon, we were at Hummingbird Creek, a quaint little area, and our turn-around spot where we ate lunch on summer’s first day.

 

 

Colby decides to do his part in keeping the wilderness clean

After a meal of chicken and cheese, we explored the primitive Hummingbird campsite, just a small flat area where hikers and backpackers of years past have periodically spent the night on their way through this area. Colby found an empty potato chip bag, which he wanted to take. After asking him why, he replied that it shouldn’t had been left there. Well, how proud does THAT make a dad! I’d like to think I had something to do with his sense of respect for the great outdoors and those who visit it.

 

Colby earns a gold star for his environmental awareness!

On top of that, he found a tin can and wanted to take that too. We promptly put them in his pack, knowing we had made this small part of the wilderness just a little bit nicer.

 

 

On our return leg we enjoyed a few breaks, snacking and splashing cool stream water on our hot faces. We arrived back at the trailhead, logging a very respectable 12.28 miles. All that was left was the 2 hour drive home, leaving me thinking that it was a good thing I did this hike on the longest day of the year!

A 12 mile journey

 

Castle Rock Fork location in Oregon

 

NOTE: Right after lunch on the return leg, my camera started acting up. After much trouble-shooting, I attempted more picture taking, thinking I had captured some photos.  However, after getting home, I discovered that the last picture my camera saved was of Colby holding the trash he had found(last photo above). I’m glad I at least captured a meaningful moment :-)

 

 

Cougar Bluffs, near the North Umpqua Trail

(Click on any picture for larger view and slide show)

Please excuse my blog tardiness, but I had issues with my computer not liking my blog site (hopefully the dislike is only from things electronic and not human). So after several months of no blog, I finally got it working. I will create some quick back-log blogs of my past hikes. Until then, here is this hike’s blogginess…

The trail is easy near the river

After browsing my Umpqua Forest map, I chose what I knew would be a very strenuous hike, starting from the Wright Creek trailhead on the N.U.T. then departing the N.U.T. and heading straight uphill  towards Cougar Bluffs. The multiple switchbacks and tight contour lines on the topo map indicated a definite uphill battle. In fact, I calculated a 3000 foot ascent from the Umpqua River up to Cougar Bluffs. Straight up. Someone please check my temperature, I must be a bit loopy for attempting this….

North Umpqua River in the morning

The hike began with a quick warm-up of about a mile of scenic beauty along the river, until I departed the saneness of the well-traveled N.U.T. and began my climb up the steep hill.

4 miles to Cougar Bluffs... and all uphill!

The sign near the junction said “Not Maintained”, which did not sound promising at all. Fortunately, the trail was actually pretty easy to travel on. Well, except for the steepness and all. Just a trivial matter I had to contend with….

A scenic yet cruel hillside

After quite a few back and forths across the hillside, the heavy breathing set in, along with the perspiration. I constantly scanned the trailside looking for opportunities to stop and take pictures of anything that would give me an excuse to take a breather. Those were few and far between.

Oh, what a tangled web thy weave, Mr. spider...

Oh, it’s here that I must pause and mention that stable people don’t actually hike this trail, thus, leaving the spiders the freedom to spread their sticky webs across the trail, all of which I’m sure I ended up on my sweaty forehead. Spiders don’t bother me like they do a lot of people. But honestly, can’t a guy enjoy a self-induced torture hike in peace without the constant thwapping of a spider web in his face?

Level ground... yeahh!!

I did have a little respite of sorts when the trail leveled off into a vast lushness of green trees and under-growth of the same. I even took a selfie! Which is, I set the camera on the timer to get a shot of me traipsing through the only level spot of this hike.

The trail eventually spit me out onto a rarely used spur road which I followed for about half a mile until it connected with another more used road. About 30 yards up this road, another trailhead continued my journey up the hill again.

More hill

More switchbacks. More spider webs. More sweat. I’m not complaining. Just stating the facts. The payoff would be at the top. And the downhill trek back would be my reward for this uphill struggle…

Oh, so pretty

I knew I was near the top when I saw rocky formations with all sorts of flora showing off their colorful blooms. (I bet THEY didn’t have to sweat to get all the way up here…)

Late spring is colored in yellow

Eventually, the trail again led me to another road near the top. Yes, you could drive up to Cougar Bluffs, but then it wouldn’t be called a hike, would it?

Mt Thielsen and Mt Bailey to the east

The first sight I saw was Mt Thielsen and Mt Bailey to the east, still capped with snow. The view around the entire bluff area was somewhat obscured with the tops of trees, but that didn’t matter. There were plenty of other things to look at. Like flowers!!

No cougars, just floral things

Ohh, purple!

Ohh, blue!

Thielsen and Bailey again

Looking north

Colorful bluffs

More color

After some picture taking, I shed the backpack and ate my lunch in the shade, soaking up the quietness all around me.

Just amazing colors!

When my much-deserved rest was over, I decided to begin my descent down the mountain. Funny, for some reason, it seemed to be much easier going downhill…

Can I take these home with me?...

I attempted to make good time going down the hillside, but as any hiker will tell you, it can sometimes be harder going downhill. Always putting the breaks on, your toes pushing the tips of your boots, shins straining against the… ahh heck, who am I kidding, this was much easier than going uphill!! Wheee!!

As I quickly made my way down, I thought to myself, who the hell would come UP this thing? It seemed much steeper going down than coming up. Weird…

A sight for sore eyes... and legs

Using my hiking poles as assurance against any unstable footing I may have and to off-set my exuberant speed I was enjoying, I safely made it to the river.

I had completed a 10 mile hike, ascended and descended 3000 feet, and was ready for flat ground...

Great river on a great June day!!

Seeing the river was like seeing a comforting face that said “Welcome back, you crazy, crazy man”.

10 miles and a 3000 ft elevation gain. What is wrong with me??! ;-)