Major Butte Oregon – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Singing the Song of Songer (Southwest Oregon) 07-Apr-2022

2022-04-072022-04-08Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Ashland Oregon, Day Hiking, Emigrant Lake Oregon, Hiking, Major Butte Oregon, Songer Butte Oregon, Southern Oregon4 Comments

It rained last Monday and it’s supposed to rain again (with a little snow higher up) next Monday. But yesterday and today it was sunny, clear, and pushing 80℉ (27℃). Ah, Spring in Oregon, how fickle art thou blandishments. 🙄 Despite the fact that the world is still a frustrating mess and the drought continues to weigh heavily on the land, we decided to celebrate Spring (or at least the briefly sunny part of it) with yet another hike. This time we sought to revisit Songer Butte near Emigrant Lake just south of Ashland.

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Songer Butte (Ashland, Oregon) 10-Dec-2021

2021-12-102021-12-27Posted in HikingTagged Ashland Hiking Group, Caldera Brewing Company, Day Hiking, Emigrant Lake Oregon, Hiking, Major Butte Oregon, Songer Butte Oregon, Southern Oregon, Tom Spring Mountain Oregon11 Comments

The first major storm of winter is apparently heading our way. Not to get all excited or anything but snow deeper than a tall snail might be in the offing. We wanted to get in a hike before this snowy tsunami arrives. Plan A – Spence Mountain – was shelved because a long hike on a short day ahead of a storm seemed like a sub-optimal idea. Plan B – some explorations at Lower Table Rock – was pulled because dense fog clogged both the valley and the Rock. Plan C – Songer Butte – became a go when we saw sunlight on the traffic camera near it. Plan C also featured the strong selling point of lunch at Caldera Brewing in Ashland. 🤗

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A Major Tom Descent (Cascade-Siskiyou NM) 26-May-2021

2021-05-262021-11-24Posted in Hiking, Southern Oregon, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Day Hiking, Emigrant Lake Oregon, Hiking, Major Butte Oregon, Songer Butte Oregon, Southern Oregon, Tom Spring Mountain Oregon4 Comments

Much of this hike is on private land managed by the Selberg Institute – you’ll need to contact them for permission to traverse this area.

Sometimes the inspiration for a hike (if hikes can be inspired) comes from several different sources. In 2018, the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council announced they would lead a shuttled trip from a Sound of Music starting point west of Tom Spring Mountain (5,191 feet / 1,582 m), cross-country down the ridge between Cattle and Sampson creeks to lower Sampson Creek just above Emigrant Lake – essentially a traverse of the Sampson Creek Preserve. We tried to sign-up but the trip was already full. Next year we said, as if the future was going to roll out gently before us. 🙄

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