Stein Butte Oregon – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Stein Butte (Southwest Oregon) 20-Jan-2022

2022-01-202022-04-02Posted in HikingTagged Applegate Lake Oregon, Day Hiking, Elliott Creek Ridge Oregon, Hiking, Red Buttes Wilderness, Southern Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon2 Comments

Since 2014, with one fraught exception, Stein Butte has been the hike that closed out our hiking year. 2021, however, ended in the midst of a giant snow storm. Driving was treacherous. Emergency rooms (should a hike go bad) were clogged with plague victims. Even if these hadn’t been concerning issues, there was absolutely no enthusiasm for miles of post-holing up through deep drifts of fresh snow. None. So Stein was postponed.

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Stein Butte Loop (Southwest Oregon) 28-Dec-2020

2020-12-282020-12-30Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Lake Oregon, Day Hiking, Elliott Creek Ridge Oregon, Hiking, New London Trail Oregon, Siskiyou Crest, Southern Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon7 Comments

Since 2014, with one notable exception, a hike up Stein Butte at the south end of Applegate Lake has been our last full hike of the year. This year – despite its litany of flaws – was no exception. We were (very) remotely tempted to do this hike during one of the storms predicted to arrive before New Years Day. You know, so our last hike of 2020 would be just as pleasant as the rest of 2020 has been. 😦

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Hiking Southern Oregon: 25 Hikes (February 2020)

2020-02-052022-02-06Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Aspen Butte Oregon, Big Red Mountain Oregon, Blue Grotto Oregon, Blue Lake Group Oregon, Collings Mountain, Day Hiking, Devils Peak Oregon, East ART, Grizzly Peak (Jackson County), Heavenly Twin Lakes Oregon, Hiking, Hobart Bluff Oregon, Kerby Peak, Lower Table Rock Oregon, Mount Ashland Oregon, Mount McLoughlin, Muir Creek Oregon, Pilot Rock Oregon, Puck Lakes Oregon, Seven Lakes Trail #981, Southern Oregon, Squaw Peak Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail, Takelma Gorge, Upper Table Rock Oregon, Wagner Butte, Whisky Creek Cabin10 Comments

To celebrate our 600^th post on WordPress, we’re highlighting a select few of the many hikes we’ve enjoyed here in Southwest Oregon.

As we’ve perused lists of Oregon’s greatest hikes, we’ve come to notice that these lists are heavily skewed, with a few exceptions, toward hikes near Portland. That metro area’s greater population helps if a list is based on some kind of vote. And proximity to its major airport helps get votes from those who drop in for a brief Western adventure. Even some of the classics, like the Wallowas in Eastern Oregon or the Three Sisters in Central Oregon, often don’t make these lists because they are too far away. So a lot of “great” hikes get done near Portland – the state’s most populated town. And then the complaints roll in about how there’s no parking, the trails are too crowded, you need a permit or must pay a fee, it’s raining, etc.

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Stein Butte (Southern Oregon) 30-Dec-2019

2019-12-302020-01-02Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Lake Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Southern Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon2 Comments

After our first hike of Stein Butte at the end of 2014, doing so morphed into sort of a year-end tradition. We missed in 2015 because we inexplicably exchanged a snow slog up Stein for a snow slog up nearby Squaw Peak. Stein is a solid hike (9.4 miles round-trip; 2,400 feet of gain) on good trail to what, for the last four years, has been big views from the old lookout site. Well, not this year. Aside from a very brief view of Applegate Lake from the summit, valley fog and a cloud deck conspired to keep us in a fuzzy grey bubble for most of the day. Probably not a bad way to end a year that had many spectacularly great moments mixed with a few not so good ones. Not every doughnut comes with sprinkles. Still, this was good hike and a very fine way to end what was for us another busy year in the out-of-doors. 😀

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Madrones in the Abstract IV (April 2019)

2019-04-012022-01-31Posted in Montage, Southern OregonTagged Cathedral Hills Park Oregon, Cook and Green Trail (#959), Jacksonville Forest Park, Jacksonville Woodlands Trails, Miller Lake Oregon, Pacific madrone, Roxy Ann Peak Oregon, Southern Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon2 Comments

Natural processes create a seemingly infinite variety of abstract patterns in and on the bark of the Pacific Madrone (Arbutus menziesii), Southern Oregon’s signature tree. So, as winter starts being pushed aside by the warm caresses of Spring, here are more images selected from the bark of these endlessly fascinating trees.

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Madrones in the Abstract III (January 2019)

2019-01-052022-01-31Posted in Montage, Southern OregonTagged Cathedral Hills Park Oregon, Jacksonville Forest Park, Jacksonville Woodlands Trails, Mule Mountain Oregon, Pacific madrone, Roxy Ann Peak Oregon, Southern Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail4 Comments

Natural processes create a seemingly infinite variety of abstract patterns in and on the bark of the Pacific Madrone (Arbutus menziesii), Southern Oregon’s signature tree. So, as another round of winter weather (with snow! 😀 ) closes in on us, here are more images selected from the bark of these endlessly fascinating trees.

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Stein Butte (Southern Oregon) 28-Dec-2018

2018-12-292022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Oregon, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Lake Oregon, Applegate Valley Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Ruch Oregon, Southern Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon4 Comments

The Stein Butte Trail (USFS #929) is one of the classic hikes in Southern Oregon’s Upper Applegate Valley. It was the last hike we did in 2014, near to the last hike we did in 2015, and the last one we did in both 2016 and 2017. So, in the spirit of unimaginative repetitive behavior, it seemed only fitting that it be our last hike for 2018 as well. 🙄

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Madrones in the Abstract II (November 2018)

2018-11-142022-01-28Posted in Montage, Southern OregonTagged Jacksonville Forest Park, Jacksonville Woodlands Trails, Miller Lake Oregon, Mule Mountain Oregon, Oregon, Pacific madrone, Roxy Ann Peak Oregon, Southern Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon4 Comments

More of the abstract artistry of the Pacific Madrone (Arbutus menziesii), Southern Oregon’s signature tree. Natural processes create a seemingly infinite variety of abstract images in and on their bark. Hence one more set of images from the bark of these endlessly fascinating trees.

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Stein Butte (Southern Oregon) 31-Dec-2017

2017-12-312022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Lake Oregon, Applegate Valley Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Oregon, Southern Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon2 Comments

The trail to Stein Butte (USFS #929) is one of the classic hikes in Southern Oregon’s Upper Applegate River Valley. It was the last hike we did in 2014 (post), one of our first hike & bike efforts (post), near to the last hike we did in 2015, and the first and last hikes we did in 2016. So, without starting a tradition or anything, it seemed only fitting that it be our last hike for 2017.

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Hiking Squaw Peak in Winter 27-Jan-2017

2017-01-272022-01-29Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Valley Oregon, Charlie Buck Trail #918, Little Grayback Mountain Oregon, Little Grayback Trail #921, Mule Mountain Oregon, Oregon, Squaw Peak Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon4 Comments

Now that low altitude (snow-free) access to the Mule Mountain Trail (USFS #919) has been lost to private development, only two publicly accessible trails remain to take you to the upper reaches of the forest east of Applegate Lake: the Stein Butte (USFS #929, post) and the Little Grayback (USFS #921) Trails. The Forest Service has suggested a work-around for Mule Mountain involving the Charlie Buck Trail (USFS #918) but its trailhead is up a steep dirt road and is, at present, blocked by snow – not exactly a low-altitude, year-round accessible trail. The Little Grayback is not a trail that has (so far) made it into many guidebooks, but Ruediger (The Siskiyou Crest, page 110) considers it to be the most botanically interesting trail in this area. That, combined with the loss of the Mule Mountain, may increase its popularity, despite the rough dirt road to its trailhead. The Little Grayback can be hiked out-and-back in its own right (wildflowers in season, big views!) but you can also go from the end of it up forest roads to the lookout atop Squaw Peak [I realize some folks find this word offensive but the U.S. Board of Geographic Names has not yet seen fit to amend the maps in this area, so I’m stuck with it when describing this hike]. That lookout was today’s snowy destination.

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Stein Butte (Southern Oregon) 31-Dec-2016

2016-12-312022-01-29Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Applegate Valley Oregon, Big Sugarloaf Mountain Oregon, Day Hiking, Grayback Mountain, Hiking, Little Grayback Mountain Oregon, Oregon, Red Buttes Wilderness, Stein Butte Oregon

Stein Butte (USFS #929) is one of the classic hikes in the Upper Applegate Valley of Southern Oregon. It was the last hike we did in 2014 (post), the first full hike we did this year, and one of our first hike & bike efforts (post), so it seemed only fitting that it be our last hike for 2016. The #929 trail is well-maintained, well-graded, and offers sweeping views once you reach the crest of Elliott Ridge.

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To celebrate our 600th post on WordPress, we’re highlighting a select few of the many hikes we’ve enjoyed here in Southwest Oregon.

To celebrate our 600^th post on WordPress, we’re highlighting a select few of the many hikes we’ve enjoyed here in Southwest Oregon.