We had a nice, big (for Southwest Oregon) snowstorm at the start of 2021. This allowed us a first-of-the-year snowshoe below Mount Ashland through wonderfully fluffy powder snow. Since then, however, not much frozen joy has fallen from the sky. What has descended is a little more rain at warmer temperatures. We are, of course, hoping for colder temperatures and more snow before Spring – mainly because that snow is our water supply. In the interim, we figured it would be prudent to do some snowshoeing on what snow we have. In addition, getting above the thick fog (again) shrouding the valley seemed like a great idea. Plus, we could slap a little more amortization on this year’s annual Sno-Park permit. 🙂
Fish Lake stretches along Highway 140 about 30 miles east of Medford, Oregon. The Fish Lake Trail #1034 runs along the north side of the lake between the North Fork Campground to the west and the High Lakes Trail #6200 to the east. We’ve had passing encounters with the #1013 before but had never hiked it. Then Glenn & Carol (& Katie) gave it a favorable review. So we decided to give it a try. But, in the spirit of things starting to open-up, we decided to add a little adventure to what would otherwise be an out-and-back hike, however nice. Instead, we’d put the #1013 to use as part of a hike completely around the lake!
Today was forecast to be the hottest day of the year in the Rogue Valley. 105°F (40°C) was on offing. So, of course, I had to go hiking. Yes, I’d certainly get sweatier than a tree fungus but so it goes. The LovedOne wisely decided to stay home instead and work on a sweater (in anticipation of winter).
It’s just over a two hour drive to the Skimmerhorn Trailhead at about 3,600 feet on the edge of the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness. If I thought altitude was going to save me from the heat, that notion was quashed as soon as I stepped out of the truck into what felt like a warming oven. Fortunately, much of this hike is in deep forest and that took the bite out of the warmth. Later there would even been a reasonably cool breeze at my goal – the old lookout site on Grasshopper Mountain.
From the trailhead, I climbed up through the recovering burn scar of a 2002 fire on what seemed, judging from its width, to be a pretty popular trail. Sweating occurred while traversing the relative open ground in the scar. But then it was into the deep forest and on to first Buckeye and then Cliff Lake.
Up through the old burn scar
Bright white Quartz Mountain (Q) is easily visible through the remaining snags
In the distant past (some say 1,000 years ago, others 6,000 years) the northwest face of Grasshopper Mountain collapsed, damming the flow of Fish Lake Creek, and creating a sheer cliff southeast of Cliff Lake.
Buckeye Lake with Grasshopper Mountain looming in the distance
Buckeye Lake
The outlet from Buckeye Lake
Cliff Lake
Cliff Lake
The sheer cliff of Grasshopper over a field of thistles at Cliff Lake
After its initial climb through the burn scar, the trail had been mostly level as it passed the lakes. But beyond Cliff, the climbing started – some 1,300 feet in the next two miles. The trails were clear and well-graded [except for a short bit just below the summit] so it should have been easy. Except… Except for the sensation of being a PopTart in a microwave. The forest cover (and a little breeze) helped a lot but it was still HOT – hotter than a Costco rotisserie chicken hot. But by combining tough with stupid, I was able to slog on to the summit where I was refreshed by the views, the site of an old fire lookout, and another quart of Powerade. 🙂
A meadow along the Grasshopper Mountain Trail
The trail is vague through here, just 500 horizontal feet from the top
Summit! No more climbing!
A fire lookout camp had been set on top of Grasshopper in 1912 and a cupola cabin built there in 1925 (photo to the left). This was followed in 1933 by an L-4 cab which was replaced in 1958 by a 10-foot R-6 flat cab (the parts of which were lifted to the summit by helicopter). All the structures were removed in 1977. All that remains today are the four concrete foundations of the 1958 lookout.
The lookouts may be gone but the big views remain, as no trees have grown-up in the intervening years to block them. Aside from the fire history, the views are well worth the climb.
Quartz Mountain (Q) to the northwest
Buckeye Lake (L) and Cliff Lake (R) below
Highrock Mountain to the east
After making a determined, but somewhat futile, attempt at complete hydration on the summit (and a small snack), it was time to head back. Let me just note that downhill went a lot quicker and easier than did uphill on this oven of a day. After 8 miles round-trip and 1,900 feet of gain, the nearest cold soda proved to be on Highway 62 some 40 miles away (Tiller may look like the closest town but today it’s almost a ghost town). That soda didn’t rise to the level of pie but it was still good… 😀
In 2015, I did two dayhikes in Oregon’s Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness (details): an out-and-back on the Rogue-Umpqua Divide (USFS #1470) and Rocky Rim (USFS #1572) Trails (post) and a loop hike around Fish Lake (post) on the Rocky Rim, Rogue-Umpqua Divide, and Fish Lake (USFS #1570) trails. Highrock Mountain (6,195 feet) is a prominent feature visible from various points on all of these trails. While not the highest point in this wilderness (that honor belongs to Fish Mountain, at 6,789 feet, about 4 miles to the northeast), it stands out from other peaks in the area because of its hulking rockiness and nearly treeless summit. It’s such an obvious, exposed peak that I fully expected to find a route description for it in one of the usual places – Summitpost, Peakbagger, Peakery (where its listed as the 561st highest mountain in Oregon), etc. – but there was nothing. When a Google Earth-based survey suggested that there were no obvious cliffs or drop-offs blocking a Class 2 scramble to the top via its southeast ridge, we decided to go see for ourselves if its summit was accessible as a non-technical dayhike. {UPDATE: The area described herein was burned in 2017 by one of the High Cascade Complex Fires.}
Fish Lake is the largest lake in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness (and one of the largest in Oregon). After gazing down on it during a recent hike to the Hershberger Mountain Lookout, a visit to it got put on the to do list. By starting at the Beaver Swamp Trailhead, I was able to both visit the west side of the wilderness and include Fish Lake in a loop hike. 🙂 This is Hike #9 in Sullivan’s 100 Hikes in Southern Oregon (3rd Edition). Update: The entire route of this hike was burned by the 2017 TL Pup 316 Fire (one of the High Cascade Complex Fires).Continue reading “Fish Lake Loop (Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness) 11-Oct-2015”→
BOOTS on the TRAIL 