Trip Report

Seven of us departed at 8:00AM, in a light rain, from our Springfield meeting place. The group maintained their good cheer throughout the day while we encountered an Oregon variety of weather conditions. But what a wonderful trail! We noted the plank bridge built by the Scorpion Crew of the Cascade Volunteers a few years ago that lifted us out of the mud. Then the trail climbed a well-graded path through deep and quiet woods of Douglas fir and western hemlock. Wildflowers in bloom included calypso orchid, yellow violet, strawberry, vanilla leaf, bleeding heart, Oregon grape and dogwood. We spotted others that promise to put on a good show later on, including rattlesnake plantain, pipsissewa, queen’s cup, and white-veined wintergreen. After four miles, we crossed the road that leads to the upper trailhead and began our switch-backing climb up to the summit. The view there was limited and lunch was short due to a cold wind and an approaching cloud. We counted five snowflakes and packed up. We inspected another viewpoint, then headed back down the trail, passing through more light rain, some sleet and more sunbreaks. Darko was happy to find two morel mushrooms for dinner. We met our first mountain-bikers mid-afternoon, and again back at the trailhead. We were impressed by their custom van conversions—one had a tankless hot water heater/shower affixed to the inside of a rear door. Despite the weather, we had a great day. While stopped near Finn Rock on the return drive, Janet and I watched a flock of bright red and yellow western tanagers foraging in the bigleaf maples along the river. Back in Springfield at 4:40PM. (Leave plenty of extra driving time for McKenzie Highway trips this summer. We had three delays in both directions of 5-10 minutes each).