Siskiyou Mountain Club – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Little Silver Creek Lake (Galice, Oregon) 09-Jul-2021

2021-07-092022-03-30Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Day Hiking, Hiking, Little Silver Creek Lake Oregon, Little Silver Lake Trail #1184, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Siskiyou Mountain Club, Southern Oregon7 Comments

A landslide lake is – as the name suggests – a body of water formed when a canyon wall slides or slumps to dam a creek or stream. These aren’t created very often, as major slides are not common events. Nor do they usually last very long, as the dam is typically swept away by subsequent rain events. Little Silver Creek Lake is unique in that it is a landslide lake that has survived for over 100 years – it is one of the only landslide lakes to survive in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. This made it a worthy destination in the ongoing search for, and exploration of, trails not previously hiked.

Continue reading →

The Bridges of Taylor Creek (Oregon) 04-May-2020

2020-05-042021-06-10Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Burned Timber Creek, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lone Tree Pass Oregon, Merlin Oregon, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Siskiyou Mountain Club, Southern Oregon, Taylor Creek Trail2 Comments

Taylor Creek has its confluence with the Rogue River just west of Merlin, Oregon. Forest Road 2500 runs along the northwest side of the creek and the Taylor Creek Trail (#1142) runs along the opposite side. Up until 2016, hiking this trail involved several wet crossings of Taylor Creek – crossings that were fun, a chore, or difficult depending on the season and the creek’s water level. Then, thanks to a huge collaborative effort, five new bridges were built at these crossings and this hike became a dry one. Our first (and only) hike of it occurred in late 2016 when we ventured out to see these new bridges for ourselves. They were a wonderful sight and so new then that they still gave off a wonderful piney scent. 🙂

Continue reading →

Canyon Peak (Kalmiopsis Wilderness) 03-May-2019

2019-05-032022-01-31Posted in Hiking, Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged Babyfoot Lake Oregon, Bailey Cabin Trail #1131, Canyon Peak Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Kalmiopsis Rim Trail #1124, Kalmiopsis Wilderness, Siskiyou Mountain Club, Southern Oregon6 Comments

In 2002, the Biscuit Fire roared through Southwest Oregon’s rugged Kalmiopsis Wilderness, reducing 500,000+ acres of cool, green forest to charred sticks and cinders. Then the Chetco Fire in 2017 and the Klondike Fire in 2018 added to this misery. Trails were lost along with the trees and, for many years, access (to the extent there was any) was a brush-chocked steeple chase over miles and miles of downed trees on faint tread. Then Gabriel Howe and the Siskiyou Mountain Club stepped-up and began the arduous task of bringing these trails back from oblivion.

Continue reading →

Rogue Wolf Loop (Sky Lakes Wilderness) 14/15-Jun-2018

2018-06-162022-01-30Posted in Backpacking, Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged Backpacking, Middle Fork Trail #978, Oregon, Rogue River, Rogue Wolf Loop, Siskiyou Mountain Club, Sky Lakes Wilderness, Southern Oregon2 Comments

Rogue Wolf Loop Sky Lakes Wilderness Oregon

In 2015, the Siskiyou Mountain Club (SMC) resurrected the Wild Rogue Loop from neglected trails in the Wild Rogue Wilderness. We backpacked that loop in 2017 and had a great trip. This year the SMC announced the rehabilitation of a 27-mile loop in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, around the headwaters of the Rogue River’s Middle Fork. With a lot of help from the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, the Fremont-Winema National Forest, the High Desert Trail Riders – Back Country Horseman, the Pacific Crest Trail Association, and REI, the SMC removed about 5,000 logs from portions of existing trails that had become impassable after acute wildfire damage and years of neglect. So, of course, we had to do it. Unfortunately, The LovedOne’s knee, while getting better, wasn’t ready for a trip like this. We could have waited, but I was anxious to do this loop while the weather was still relatively cool and before any (hopefully none) wildfires closed areas or spoiled the air (like they did last year).

Continue reading →

Lone Pine Ridge (Soda Mtn. Wilderness) 07-May-2018

2018-05-072022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Oregon, Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Day Hiking, Dutch Oven Creek Oregon, Hiking, Lone Pilot Trail, Lone Pine Ridge Oregon, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), PCT, Pilot Rock Oregon, Siskiyou Mountain Club, Soda Mountain Wilderness, Southern Oregon2 Comments

Lone Pine Ridge Soda Mountain Wilderness Oregon

I’d hiked the Lone Pilot Trail in 2015, not too long after it had been brushed out of old ranch roads by the Siskiyou Mountain Club. The Lone Pilot was (and still is) about the only way to visit the interior of this wilderness’ western half without having to thrash your way cross-country. I did the Lone Pilot counter-clockwise starting from the Pilot Rock Trailhead, returning along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). The last two miles of the trail before it reaches the PCT run along an old road atop Lone Pine Ridge. Maps show this old road also running down the ridge, into the Dutch Oven Creek drainage, and on east to the Skookum Creek drainage. I got curious as to how far down the ridge you could go on that old road before running into a nasty wall of Ceanothus. Today, with The LovedOne busy being a volunteer treasurer, was my chance to find out (I doubt she would have joined me for a potentially tick-infested bushwhack regardless).

Continue reading →