Applegate Valley Oregon – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Tunnel Ridge Loop (Southwest Oregon) 15-Apr-2022

2022-04-152022-04-16Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Valley Oregon, Bear Gulch Trailhead, BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Day Hiking, Hiking, Little Applegate Trailhead, Southern Oregon, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail, Tunnel Ridge Trail2 Comments

Well, last week gave us some of the weather we’d liked to have gotten spread out across January, February, and March – rain, snow, hail, sleet, high winds, etc. But, no, the skies waited and then slammed us with this stuff all at once. Recently brown hills are now green lower down and white higher up. The wildflowers are confused. But magic sky water is most welcome here however and whenever it arrives. More of this celestial moistness is expected in this evening and may then continue for another week. 😁

Continue reading →

Baldy Peak (Southwest Oregon) 18-Mar-2022

2022-03-182022-04-10Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Valley Oregon, Baldy Peak Oregon, Charlie Buck Trail #918, Day Hiking, Hiking, Mule Creek Oregon, Mule Creek Trail #920, Southern Oregon7 Comments

Because of yet more personal business and more bouts of marginal weather, we had been denied a hike since we visited Whisky Creek over a week ago. 😥 At least we got a decent day’s worth of much needed rain out of the last storm system (and another wet storm is upon us as I write). 😊 But today offered us a clear(ish), cool, and sunny 😎 interlude between these storms. And, with our personal business project temporarily in the hands of others, we – fortuitously – had time for a hike.

Continue reading →

East Applegate Ridge Trail (Southwest Oregon) 19-Feb-2022

2022-02-192022-02-20Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Trails Association, Applegate Valley Oregon, Day Hiking, East Applegate Ridge Trail Oregon, East ART, Hiking, Ruch Oregon, Southern Oregon10 Comments

After 5 days out-of-town sitting in cars and planes, some trail time was needed. With The LovedOne catching-up on her volunteer duties at the library, it was my call as to where boots would meet dirt. Rain and snow are (again) expected here next week – and these are no less critical now than in months past. But today was forecast to be cold (at least at first), clear, and sunny, so I decided to partake of the huge views of the Applegate Valley and the surrounding peaks available from the East Applegate Ridge Trail (East ART). As penance for all that sitting around, I embarked on an out-and-back hike from the lower trailhead.

Continue reading →

East Applegate Ridge Trail (Southwest Oregon) 28-Feb-2021

2021-02-282022-03-20Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Trails Association, Applegate Valley Oregon, Day Hiking, East Applegate Ridge Trail Oregon, East ART, Hiking, Ruch Oregon, Southern Oregon8 Comments

I first hiked the East ART, solo out-and-back from the (upper) Sterling Creek Trailhead, soon after the trail opened in 2017. In 2019, after the lower trailhead on Highway 238 was finished, I coxed The LovedOne into a one-way downhill shuttle-supported hike between the two trailheads. The excellent weather we had on both these hikes favored the huge views of the Applegate Valley and the surrounding peaks you get from the upper half of this trail. When today was forecast to be cold (at least at first), clear, and sunny, we decided to reprise my first hike here, only this time out-and-back from the lower trailhead.

Continue reading →

Gin Lin Trail (Applegate Valley) 22-Feb-2021

2021-02-23Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Lake Oregon, Applegate River Oregon, Applegate Valley Oregon, Day Hiking, Gin Lin Mining Trail #917, Hiking, Southern Oregon

There is nothing good about the Big V. Nothing. But dealing with it has kept us more local and that has made us consider trails, however short, that we’ve overlooked in years past. One of these is the very short (0.8 mile (1.2 km)) Gin Lin Mining Trail, located a little north of oft-visited Applegate Lake. Despite its brevity, it’s actually a National Recreation Trail that was developed to recognize Gin Lin, a Chinese immigrant who through hard work, innovative thinking, and a good business sense – and despite rampant racism – became a notable and respected personage during Southern Oregon’s early days. He is credited with introducing hydraulic mining to the area. The most successful gold mines in Southern Oregon all used this method. This trail winds through the remnants of the last of his mines, the Palmer Creek hydraulic mine, which operated from the mid 1870s to about 1885.

Gin Lin c1880 (Southern Oregon Historical Society)

Continue reading →