umpquahikes

Cow Creek Trail – October 16, 2021

Hike Coordinator: Terry Andreucci

Narration by Terry Andreucci

We left the fog in Roseburg, heading south on I 5 toward Azalea and the trailhead. Beautiful Autumn colors were everywhere as we drove out Cow Creek Road. As we passed by Galesville Reservoir, everyone took notice of how low the water level was.

Upon arriving in partial sunshine, 9 hikers headed down the trail for a 7 mile out and back hike, taking in views of the beautiful old growth forest in the drainage of East Cow Creek.

This proved to be an eventful hike for a number of reasons. For one, the trail hasn’t experienced much recent use, and the vegetation has grown up along parts of the trail making for some damp pant legs. Additionally, a number of trees have fallen in the trail since last winter and walk arounds had to be used. And lastly, and most amusing of all, there were 3 creek crossings that required skillful rock hopping on slippery surfaces!

As we all returned to our rides, I was betting that there wasn’t a dry foot among us! All of this added to a wonderful fall day with fellow hikers, just enjoying Mother Nature.

Pictures below by Rheo Wheeler

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Videos, pics, and stories of our 2021 Annual Club Campout Hikes

If you didn’t make this year’s campout, you missed out on some fantastic hikes!
What’s the next best thing?… Pictures, videos and stories of the hikes, of course!
Please enjoy the beauty of hiking by proxy without breaking a sweat by following the links below.
(You should really join us sometime…)

Rogue Gorge Loop – October 2, 2021

Hike Coordinator: Richard O’Neill

This hike was supposed to go to Cliff and Buckeye Lakes, located in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness. But due to wildfire closing the road to Skimmerhorn Trailhead we opted to visit the Upper Rogue which had the fall colors thing going on and as an additional bonus, there were no wildfires in the area.

10 hikers set out on the trail and the first item of interest was Rogue Gorge, where the Rogue funnels into a narrow slot canyon that used to be a lava tube before the roof collapsed during some bygone millennia. Also at the Gorge viewpoint area is the Living Stump which is a stump whose roots melded with the roots of nearby trees and so manages to live despite showing no outward signs of life. It kind of reminded me of when I take Lane hiking with me! I vote his trail name should become Living Stump!

Once we began hiking downstream along the Rogue River, the fall colors became the reason for doing this hike. Every tint and hue that can be found on the warm end of the color spectrum was readily seen in the ample vegetation growing along the river, often all on one single leaf! Across the river and in the bright sunlight, the colors were so bright we had to wear sunglasses so as to prevent further retinal damage.

About halfway to Natural Bridge we switched river sides by walking over a bridge at particularly scenic stretch of wild river seething in yet another collapsed lava tube. This allowed us to walk in the more brightly colored and more sunlit side even though it meant we had to hike on the only uphill section of trail.

At Natural Bridge, the Rogue disappears from sight while it travels a short distance underground in an uncollapsed lava tube, and reemerges about 100 feet downstream. The sight of the river bounding between boulders was awesome and we all stopped to gawk at the splendor of it all.

After lunch at Natural Bridge, it was a perfunctory 3.5 mile walk along the river. Because the afternoon sun was high in the sky, each side of the river was the sunny side now. Accordingly, we hiked in veritable rainbow of autumn-colored foliage on the way back.

The Upper Rogue, in my opinion, is the best fall hike in southern Oregon and we certainly all enjoyed this hike, it was a great show.

More pictures on Richard O’Neill’s Flickr page and Lane Harris’ Flickr page

Read about this hike on Richard O’Neill’s Blog

YouTube video

Pictures below by Richard O’Neill

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Cooper Creek Reservoir – September 4, 2021

Hike Coordinator: Nancy Johnson

Narration by Nancy Johnson

Cooper Creek reservoir is always a great close hike and a great way to stay active. We had 8 brave souls, with 4 of them new faces on this very smoky day. Early morning wasn’t too bad regarding air quality, but it did catch up to us at the end.

John was adventurous leading 5 on the new trail after the upper boat ramp. This side of the trail still has not been completed , so they “bushwacked” up the hill to get on the road. I kept to the road with 2 in tow.

It was a great day, thank you to all that showed up.

Pictures below by Nancy Johnson

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Siltcoos Lake Trail – August 21, 2021

Hike Coordinator: Rheo Wheeler

Narration by Rheo Wheeler

We had five that traveled from Roseburg, meeting two who traveled north from camping at Eel Lake that took part in the Siltcoos Lake loop trail. The weather was perfect after rain showers passed through, although the trail was dry.

This trail is very shady with all the undulations of a typical Richard hike, uphill both ways. Wait this wasn’t a Richard hike though. Most of the boggy areas had dried out although there was still one creek running to the lake.

We had lunch with views of the lake before completing the loop. On the north end of the loop there were many stumps left from the 30’s where you could see the axe cuts from where they put the springboards in to use crosscut saws to take the trees down. These hallmarks from the old logging days are finally fading after 90 years.

A short 4.5 mile trail: Perfect for the old lady who picked it.

More pictures on Lane Harris’ Flickr page and Richard O’Neill’s Flickr page

Read about this hike on Richard O’Neill’s Blog

Pictures below by Rheo Wheeler, Richard O’Neill and Lane Harris

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Humbug Mountain – August 7, 2021

Hike Coordinator: Missy Kroeker

Narration by Missy Kroeker

Several days prior to our scheduled hike, much discussion ensued regarding fire, smoke and heat, and should we change our hike location. After some texts and phone conversations a last minute decision was made to hike Humbug Mountain near Port Orford instead of our originally planned hike to Rocky Ridge. It turned out to be good decision. Thanks to everyone involved!

The drive to the coast can be a bit daunting, however once we got there, the sky was clear, blue and visibility was great. Just what we had hoped. The point of hiking a “mountain” is the reward of a view at the top. We were not disappointed! One could see for several miles to the south, west and north.

This trail is a very well developed and marked “lollipop” type loop. Ferns, big mossy trees and flowers line the trail. Maidenhair fern, Inside-out flowers and ghost plants (Indian Pipes)? ( Richard? Diane?) were amongst the cast of flora trailside. With the big trees the trail is quite shaded, which was a delicious change to the heat we had been experiencing at home. Our group chose to go up the east side and down the west. According to a trail review this way is longer uphill but less of an incline. Even with that our “older” group, although there were a couple youngsters, (Donna and Scott) we arrived at the top significantly before a much younger group of hikers that started at the same time. What enthusiastic hikers we are!

We enjoyed our lunch at the top. We finally tore ourselves away from the warmth of the sun, good food and fellowship and the spectacular views to head down the west trail. We didn’t have to say good-bye to the beautiful ocean view all at once because it kept peeking out between trees as we descended. I think everyone truly enjoyed themselves on this refreshing hike especially not having to think about fire, smoke or heat.

Picture below by Missy Kroeker and Coreena Gosselin

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Trestle Creek Falls – July 10, 2021

Hike Coordinator: Missy Kroeker

Narration by Missy Kroeker

Seven hikers, with one new face, Scott from Roseburg, caravanned to our trailhead at Lund Park campground. It was a glorious warm summer day, perfect for a hike along a crystalline creek to two separate waterfalls. There are several ways to navigate this loop trail. Today the hike leader (Missy) wanted to visit lower Trestle Creek Falls first then proceed to the Upper falls loop. With this in mind, each hiker was given a “map” with these directions.

The group enjoyed the fairly level, fern lined trail along Brice Creek toward Trestle Creek until we came to the Upper Trestle Creek falls trail. Thinking this was the trail to the Lower falls (despite the trail sign to the contrary and the “map” which the hike coordinator had drawn) the group was led uphill toward Upper Trestle Creek falls. Oh, for inexperienced hike coordinators?! Once the mistake was realized, the hikers were led the short distance back to the “right” path.

Everyone continued along Brice Creek amidst the beauty of the dappled sunlight and ferns to the short little spur trail to Lower Trestle Creek falls. The temperature was rising and the cool respite and beauty of the falls was very much welcome. Once water was drunk, photos were taken, snacks gobbled and a boot put back on, the hikers were ready to continue.

There is a bit of a sustained uphill segment to Upper Trestle Creek falls. We must earn our “views of nature’s beauty”, right? We huffed and sweated up this segment of trail to the truly lovely Upper Trestle Creek Falls. We were rewarded with the falls cascading peacefully over the cliff into a clear pool at the bottom. This was our lunch spot. Part of the drama of this place is the trail passing behind the falls before it meanders downhill back to the Brice Creek trail.

Trestle Creek Falls hike is what I would call the quintessential Oregon hike. Old growth timber, moss covered trees and rocks, ferns, crystalline creeks with deep blue green pools and waterfalls. What’s not to love, especially when shared with a group of enthusiastic hiking friends.

Pictures below by Missy Kroeker