North Umpqua Trail: Jessie Wright Segment

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

Moody skies

The forecast was for wet, windy weather for just about everywhere in western Oregon. But I wasn't going to let a little rain deter me from achieving a small piece of my long-term goal, which is to hike the entire North Umpqua Trail in 2014, a little at a time. I have hiked several sections previously, perhaps about 25 miles of the presumably 79 mile trail. If you detect a hint of suspicion regarding trail distance, you would be correct, as this hike was longer than quoted by published material, and different from what the trail signs indicated, as you will soon see…

Plaque at trailhead

The JessieWright segment is where the North Umpqua Trail begins it first excursion to the north side of the North Umpqua, approximately 33 miles up-river from the start of the trail. Named after a homesteader who lived here with her husband in the early 1900’s, this portion of the trail stays within earshot of the river, with a few quiet diversions across dribbling creeks and fern covered forest floors. On this particularly damp, but not-yet rainy day, I witnessed the quintessential representation of what a cool, wet Oregon rain forest should be, with views of the river as a bonus.

Wow, that's a long ways up...

Several miles into the hike, I passed below Eagle Rock and Old Man Rock, which are actually better viewed from the other side of the river where the highway is. (Old Man Rock… ah yes, I can hear the jokes now…)

There be dragons here

From my vantage point, peering through the trees and looking nearly straight up, I only caught glimpses of these towering volcanic remnants against the misty skies. Appearing very imposing, I imagined there should be a castle at the top of these rocky pinnacles, along with a dragon flying around, just to set the medieval mood which they inspire.

Boulder Creek

The meandering trail soon led me to Eagle Creek, then in another mile or so I reached a bridge crossing at Boulder Creek, affording me a very pleasing view. Boulder Creek flows through the Boulder Creek Wilderness area (go figure), parts of which I have hiked before with my 2 sons, but mostly not yet fully explored in its entirety by myself. I’ll save that for another day…

Mossy surroundings

With the weather gods treating me fairly nicely so far, I trekked a few more miles and reach my turn around point, the trailhead at the Soda Springs dam reservoir. It was here that my curiosity grew, due to the fact that they had done work on this power plant in recent years, keeping it closed to the general public.

Yes, I did walk past the sign

Completed now, this area is still inaccessible to the public. I had been here in 2008 with my sons before the renovation, and now, seeing the old parking area, the forest service signs, and even the outhouse at the trailhead, well, it all kind of made me sad. Hikers can still hike through, but no longer can you access the Soda Springs trailhead via vehicle. Thankfully, there is close access on Medicine Creek road, which is more or less the beginning of the Deer Leap segment of the trail.

The upgraded Soda Springs dam and reservoir

It was here at the Soda Springs trailhead that I noticed a trail sign saying it was 4 miles back to where I started. My gps would say otherwise with a contradicting 5.3 miles logged on it so far. Whaaat? I saw this as more evidence of government workers taking shortcuts again, even in trail signage. But wait, there’s more! The North Umpqua Trail brochure states the distance as 4.1 miles. Ok, so it was closer by a tenth of a mile when compared to the sign. Even with some margin of error factored in, I don’t believe I was off that far. Perhaps they were just lazy and used the road mileage for the trail. Or, like all great fish and deer tales, my hikes are always twice as far than they really are…

Columnar basalt

After reminiscing about old times, I noticed the skies had decided to lighten their load a bit more and drop their cargo of excess rain on me. Now that I had started my long walk back, I figured the rain would not ruin the entire hike, since it was fairly dry on the way up. However, my regular jacket that I hike with was soon soaking through, creating a bit of a chill against my skin. I promptly swapped it for my more waterproof jacket in my backpack and prevented any more water from chilling me to the bone.

I expected to see a hobbit in this area

The hike back downriver was a bit wetter than the leg upriver, with fewer stops for picture taking, as electronics and water typically don’t like each other. Nonetheless, I took pictures with my eyes, mind and soul, soaking up the cool, green, water-laden forest. I had gone 10.6 miles round trip, not the measly 8 miles which the forest service signs had tried to lull me into thinking. Shortcuts may work elsewhere, but out on the trail the true distance is revealed in every rain-soaked footstep.

I don't know my mushrooms, so I'll just take pics

Some of us just have to be different

Up-river view

Down-river view

Eagle Creek