Calendar

Past Activity

Chuckle and Indigo Springs

  • Start date: 11/08/2019

  • Start time: 12:00 AM

  • End date: 11/08/2019

  • End time: 11:59 PM

Description:

Moderate hike at easy pace.  Hike through lush old growth to hear and see gushing sources of the Willamette’s Middle Fork.  Chuckle Springs is in a 2010 burn area.  Stop along the 33-mile Middle Fork Trail to see historic route site.

Option to stop at Oakridge’s Brew Pub on the way home.

  • Event Leader: Joanna Alexander

  • Event Leader Phone: 458-209-7798

  • Event Leader Email: joalexgypsy@gmail.com

  • Assistant Leader:

  • Event category: Trips

  • Area Type: Mountain

  • Departure Location: Lane Community College, parking lot nearest stoplight

  • Rating: Easy

  • Roundtrip total drive miles: 136

  • Season: 2019

  • Permits Required:

  • Event Status: Passed

  • Supplies and Equipment Required: Water, snacks, weather-appropriate clothing & footwear.

  • participant prerequisites:

  • Conditions:

  • Total Distance: 4

  • Member Fees: 1

  • Elevation Gain: 400

  • Non-Member Fees: 5

  • Committee: Trips

  • Junior member fees: —

Trip Report

Our group of congenial Chuckle Springs seekers arrived at Indigo Springs Campground in a heavy fog of wood smoke. No one having serious lung challenges, we forged on, the smoke staying up while we wended our way down into the clean fresh air and music of rushing, singing waters of the uppermost reaches of the Middle Fork of the Willamette and of the tributary streamlets gushing out of the ground on our left. We enjoyed a most springlike day and each other's company as we passed through giant western red cedars, western hemlocks, and ancient Douglas firs, some 300 or 400 year old ones decaying on the ground, coated with lush moss and serving as nursery trees to hemlocks. We lunched at the very source of Chuckle Springs, a clear pool with 7 or 8 springs feeding it. Back at the campground we hiked the .2 mile loop around Indigo Springs and talked with some camping folks who were about to launch hunting season. Celebration of the amazing day followed at the Brewers Union Pub 180 in Oakridge, basking in a warming sun on the sidewalk outside.