Hike – Friends of the Umpqua Hiking Group

North Bank Habitat – January 4, 2025

Hike coordinator: Brad Bishop

Narration by Brad Bishop

Well, well, well. Here we are again, another New Year’s Hike.

Thirteen lucky hikers decided to do the right thing and move their bodies and engage their minds on another North Bank New Year’s trek. We had a good contingent from the Grants Pass area come on out with us this time. Now that’s what I call dedication. Hell, I was hoping no one would show up so I could go back to bed.

After all the rain we have been experiencing my main goal was to make sure no one got swept away trying to cross a creek that had swollen. My original route seemed a bit too sketchy so I decided on a route that didn’t have any major creek crossings, but one that I had never hiked before.

As we started off confidently, within the first twenty yards we reached the first junction. I pulled out my map as our cadre looked up to see what direction their “leader” wanted to go. Only problem was, my map didn’t jive with what the trail sign was saying. As I looked at our expedition, I could see in their eyes a look of apprehension about their “leader”. Should I go on blindly leading them into oblivion or admit defeat and continue on a different path? Luckily, I had an ace in the hole. Calming everyone down, I told them to hold on for a minute. We have John “the legend” with us, surely, he would know the correct route. As I conversed with him, he assured me that the direction we were headed was correct.

Gradually we climbed up the trail observing numerous rivulets of water sometimes joining into small steams, but nothing to take concern about.

After a decent climb we came to another crossroads. Again I waited for “the legend” to make sure we didn’t descend/ascend into hell. After consulting him, and him instructing me that you have to orient the map to the geography, he said we were headed in the direction I wanted to go. And “oh, by the way, there is a kick-ass section coming up”. Uh oh, I remember from a hike a couple of years ago when John says there’s a kick ass section coming up, he ain’t lying.

So filled with confidence, away we went. Sure enough, in front of us lay the “kick ass” section. It would have been helpful to have some of the anti-gravity resources we have heard so much about recently, but we managed to conquer it with human will power.

With most of the strenuous part over, we jovially continued on. The drizzle and fog made for surrealistic landscapes, and conjured up thoughts of psycho killers or mountain lion attacks. The weather was actually helpful to vigorous hiking, and we spent our time investigating various tracks in the soft mud. We found peculiar forms – Bear, cougar, velociraptor?… or possibly a baby sasquatch wearing Crocks?

As usual, we came across nobody, except a lone hunter, and we wished him good luck.

We arrived back at the trailhead after a few of hours, and helped ourselves to some great Clam Halen Chowder and friendly hiker conversation.

Please join us next time, and see if your guide knows where he’s going.

Pictures by Rheo Wheeler

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North Umpqua Trail: Tioga Section – December 21, 2024

Hike Coordinator: Lane Harris

Narration by Lane Harris

Rain was in the forecast for the day we hiked this, but lo and behold, not a drop of water fell from the skies! Lucky us! Maybe because today was the winter solstice?…

Beginning from the Susan Creek day use area, the Emerald Trail led us ¾ of a mile to the Tioga Bridge. Crossing the bridge, we turned left and headed upriver. This entire area was devastated in September of 2020 by the Archie Creek fire. Some recent trail work made the going significantly easier than it would’ve been with multiple trees to step over or under. Still, with all the footbridges destroyed or non-existent, creek crossings made for some interesting moments.

Reaching a high point near a bend in the river about 1 ½ miles from the bridge, our group took a break while enjoying views of the river below. We turned around and headed back, completing about 5 miles.

We had lunch at the day use area while we thanked the rain gods for taking the day off. Part of the group decided to go check out Susan Creek Falls while the rest of us decided to call it a day. This would be the last club hike of 2024, as we look forward to more great hikes in the new year!

Pictures by Rheo Wheeler

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Lost Creek Lake & Blue Grotto – December 7, 2024

Hike Coordinator: Tery Andreucci

Narration by Terry Andreucci

Five hikers met in Roseburg for a 2-hour drive to Lost Creek Lake and the Blue Grotto Trailhead. Additionally, five other hikers from the Grants Pass area met us at the trailhead.

The hike took us along the north shore of the lake to an interesting box canyon formed of blue-green rhyolite deposits from the eruption of Mount Mazama, now Crater Lake.

We hiked the five miles out and back through a mixed forest of incense cedars, ponderosa pines, Douglas fir, white oak and madrone. Along the way there were wonderful views of Lost Creek Lake, the Peyton Bridge and the areas of blue rhyolite shoreline.

We took the trail up to the Grotto, as steep rhyolite slopes closed in on us. Sad to say, the falls were a little disappointing. Without recent rainfall there was very little water flowing over the falls. Oh well!

After lunch at the shoreline, we headed back, just as a light drizzle of rain began.

All in all, a good day on the trail!

Pictures by Terry Andreucci and Rheo Wheeler

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South Slough Estuary – November 23, 2024

Hike Coordinator: Rheo Wheeler

Narration by Rheo Wheeler

Hiking in the rain is not our favorite thing, but it’s always invigorating to be outdoors on a dreary day. However, this was not the case though on our South Slough Estuary hike. The hiking gods were quite kind.

We had a group of 9 folks from the Roseburg area join up with 8 from the South Coast Striders group for this “old lady distance” hike through the beautiful South Slough Estuary just outside of Charleston. The tide was mostly out which exposed a lot of the tide flats. Not a lot of wildlife viewing, but still a beautiful backdrop.

The South Slough was a 3’ish mile loop, so to get our miles in, we (the Roseburg 9) finished our hiking over near Shore Acres. We hiked along the ocean from the lighthouse viewpoint to Shore Acres and strolled the gardens where the Christmas lights are almost ready for our holiday viewing. This added about 2 extra miles here, a more respectable distance for the day.

Pictures by Rheo Wheeler

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Yakso Falls, Hemlock Falls, Hemlock Creek Trail – November 9, 2024

Hike Coordinator: Penny Groth

Narration by Penny Groth

Twenty hikers gathered on a brisk morning to head up to Lake in the Woods. This was a wonderful conglomerate of ages, and also many new, or recently new, participants of the hiking club. A large percentage hadn’t hiked in the area previously. Our drive up 138 and Little River Road were roadways of fall color, all part of the adventure.

This day was planned to include three separate hikes, all beginning and ending at Lake in the Woods.

Our first destination was Yakso Falls, a 1.4 mile out and back jaunt. Trail travels through lush forest. I love how rock formations create different presentations of waterfalls. This one is a fan looking fall, very picturesque.

Our second hike was into Hemlock Falls, about a mile out and back. It is not as pretty as Yakso, in my opinion, but let’s face if all waterfalls have some beauty and uniqueness. This hike is steeper, quite a pull coming back out!

The third segment was the Hemlock Creek Trail #1505, 8 miles out and back from Lake in the Woods to Hemlock Lake. The forest stand along here is beautiful, having been thinned many years ago. It consists primarily of Hemlock with some Cedar. This trail allowed participants to hike out as far as they wanted. Many of us noticed the temperature drop as we climbed up to the upper lake (800-foot elevation gain).

I also captured a pic of a Barred owl seen along the road which we sighted earlier in the week when we pre-hiked the trails. He was real pretty and cooperated as we took many pictures of him. Was a special gift to see him!

All in all, it was a spectacular fall day to be out in nature’s beauty!

Pictures below by Penny Groth

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Cape Perpetua – October 26, 2024

Hike Coordinator: Lane Harris

Narration by Lane Harris

I must admit, whenever the weather calls for extreme wet skies, I will typically forgo walking through rain and mud with my fellow club members on our scheduled hikes. It’s nothing personal, I’d just rather stay home and catch up on my favorite tv shows gathering dust on the dvr. But that’s an impossibility when it’s a hike that I’m scheduled to lead. And so it was when the day finally arrived to drive nearly 3 hours to take my turn walking through the aforementioned rain and mud.

To my amazement, a dozen’sh rain-loving hikers decided to join me at Cape Perpetua on what could probably rank as one of the wetter hikes the club has gone on. But then again, what would I know, since I typically avoid these wet hikes!

Starting at the visitor center, the plan was to hike up to the top of Cape Perpetua and enjoy the views, then return and explore the lower trails that lead to all the extraordinary water features this area has to offer. With names like Spouting Horn, Thor’s Well, and Devil’s Churn, this place is very enticing! But first, we must make the climb to the top!

So off we went, heading up the hillside, dodging the streams of water flowing down the center of the trail. We soon saw a sign that said “Trail Party,” which prompted several remarks from the group about food, drinks, and some cool music. We knew, however, that it really meant there were some dedicated people conducting some trail maintenance ahead. Sure enough, we encountered about a half dozen of them, tools in hand, soaked to the bone, and with smiles on their faces. I made a point to verbalize our group’s appreciation for their hard work in these adverse conditions. I hope that seeing all of us hikers using the trail on this rainy day made them feel that their efforts were not in vain. Us hikers are grateful for all the hard work that volunteers put in on each and every trail that we use.

Reaching the top, we all met up at the 1933-built stone shelter that overlooks Cape Perpetua. The views from up here are truly amazing! That is, when the weather is clear. On this day, just imagine sitting in the middle of a wet, grey raincloud, and you’ll see what we saw. Yeah, it was like that. Quite disappointing. Although the shelter provided some dryness, the wind was fairly intense, so we decided to head back down the hill to the visitor center to have lunch.

Making our way down the muddy hillside, we gave another hello and thank you to the trail crew as we passed them by. When we reached the visitor center, the staff were very gracious to us, allowing us to drop our wet packs near the doorway, and to come in and get warm for a while.

Ahh, and now time for lunch! Oh, wait, what’s that? We aren’t allowed to eat inside the building? But, it’s so warm and dry in here! Ok, so where can we go? Outside? Really?? Fine. So, like a pack of wet dogs being told to go outside before we ruin the fine furniture, we picked up our things and stepped outside. At least there was a long bench under the eaves that was dry, so that’s where this hike’s lunch took place. It was during this meal that I had concluded, through conversation and the general demeanor of the crowd, that no one was really interested in getting more miles in. Or, to be more accurate, interested in getting more wet than they already were. I was sympathetic to their decision and on the same page. Thor’s Well and Spouting Horn would have to wait until another day, hopefully a dry one! It’s amazing how much the rain can dampen the enthusiasm of hikers they exhibited just hours earlier.

After lunch, a few hikers decided to depart. The rest of us were invited by our kind hosts into the visitor center to watch a short movie about whale watching in the little theater they have there. As I started watching the short documentary, I could tell immediately, mostly due to the poor picture quality, that it was old! The topic of whale watching doesn’t thrill me, so to keep myself entertained, I studied all the little details that might give me clues as to what year it might have been produced. I observed hairstyles, clothing, etc. and was able to deduce that it was made sometime in the mid-80’s. I told Rheo my guess as the credits started rolling. And then there it was: 1988! I’ve always been good at 80’s trivia, so I was not surprised that I was just about spot-on.

To sum it all up, this was a scant 3-mile hike in the rain with nary a scenic view. I vow to get the club over here again during nicer weather, as it is quite spectacular. There may be more tourists then, but I doubt they will prevent us from hiking over 3 miles. For now, only the coastal rain can make that claim.

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Cape Blanco – August 3, 2024

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Hike Coordinator: Lane Harris

Narration by Lane Harris

The annual game of chance called “Schedule a Hike but Avoid the Fires” was well under way by the time August rolled around. And so far, so good… until this hike, which was supposed to be Mt. June at the far north end of the Umpqua National Forest. The fire closures had made us change our hiking plans once again. I figured hiking on the coast certainly must be a safe bet, so off to Cape Blanco we went!

From our usual starting point at the Sixes River trailhead below the Hughes Historic House, our group of a dozen or so headed out on this overcast but pleasant morning, eager to get up the short hill and through the woods. Once we broke out of the thick trees, it was all about the ocean views. From here, it was a steady and level walk along steep cliffs, before the trail headed away and towards the main road that leads to the Cape Blanco campground and the lighthouse itself. We, of course, were going to the lighthouse. This was the road-walk portion of the hike, but the last quarter mile is vehicle-free, allowing hikers and other visitors access to the lighthouse without worrying about traffic.

We admired the lighthouse, and then walked back down the road, eventually connecting to the trail that continues along the south part of the cape. Soon, we were back in the woods where the campground is, and we decided a picnic table near the bathrooms was a good place for lunch, as it was out of the wind, which had begun to pick up as the hours clicked by. (I had brought my drone with intentions of getting some awesome footage, but on this day, the stiff winds had other plans, so thus, my drone stayed safely packed away in its wind-free case)

The skies were clearing by now, and after a nice break, we picked up the trail again on the south side of the campground, enjoying several overlooks with views of the beach down below. We soon began picking our way through the grassy dunes which eventually spit us out onto the beach.

Upon hitting the beach, we turned north and headed back towards the cape. At Needle Rock, we made the steep scramble back up to the road. It was here where a few hikers decided to retrace their steps back the way we had come, while the majority of us opted to drop down to the beach on the north side of the cape and head up the beach.

Near the Sixes River, we struggled a bit to find the trail that would lead us back to the parking lot. (It had been a few years since I had done this hike, so my route-finding skills here near Cape Blanco were a bit rusty!) After a few minutes, it was discovered, and we completed the hike.

After the hike, Diane had the tasty idea of stopping at the Face Rock Creamery in Bandon for some ice-cream. I decided to just get lemonade, while everyone else got their ice-cream fix on. The 15-minute wait was worth the smiles it brought to all my passengers!

Pictures below by Lane Harris

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Mount Ashland Meadows – July 20, 2024

Hike Coordinator: Lane Harris

Narration by Lane Harris

Beginning from Mount Ashland Road, our group headed out on the PCT, threading through a beautifully shaded forest. The trail is fairly level, and goes through several small meadows initially. Although it enters and exits the woods a few times, the trail eventually yields to all meadow. Stepping over several small streams, we awed at the green slopes and distant mountains. All sorts of wildflowers made for a delightful stroll through the meadows of green.
At Grouse Gap, we took a bit of a respite and explored a rocky knoll that gave a great view of Mt Ashland. Southerly views to distant Mount Shasta were a bit hazy due to fires in the region, but the air in the immediate area was clear.
After lunch, we made the downhill trek back down the trail. With the afternoon sun getting warmer by the minute, we were thankful for the shade of the trees once again as we made our way back to our vehicles.

Mount Ashland Meadows

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Iron Mountain & Cone Peak – July 6, 2024

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Hike Coordinator: Missy Kroeker

Narration by Missy Kroeker

Cone Peak/Iron Mountain trail is known for its spectacular wildflower show this time of year and amazing views of iconic Oregon peaks but…….

It was Independence Day weekend, there was an excessive heat advisory in effect, a two- and half-hour drive to the trailhead at Tombstone Pass and the trail description labeled it as HARD. My husband, Michael, and I took bets if anyone would show up for this hike. Surprisingly, two other hearty souls came driving into the parking lot that morning, Erika and Terry. Erika, a first time FOU hiker and Terry, long time avid hiker and friend, were the only two brave enough for this hike. So, Michael looked at me and said, “I guess we’re going.”

The long drive seemed shorter as we caught up with friend Terry and got to know our new friend Erika. The trailhead parking lot was not crowded but it was warm as we headed out. The start of this trail is a nice little quarter mile of shady forest to Tombstone Prairie then heads up and across the highway where the ascent starts. The next section of trail is traversing switch backs through beautiful forest with a smattering of wildflowers before it opens out onto the rocky open hillside where “wildflower heaven” begins. This amazing beauty distracted us from the climb and heat. Continuing through a variety of rocky outcroppings crowned with wildflowers of all sorts and shady forest, we arrived at the trail junction to the Iron Mountain lookout.

The heat and climb were taking their toll on our tired legs. We decided to find a shady, breezy spot with a view to eat lunch and rest. After a switch back or two, Terry spotted a stone bench that fit the bill. Once we had rested and replenished our bodies with food, we set off for the hardest part of this trail. It’s .7 miles to the top, but it can seem like 7 miles, especially in the heat of the day. All the hard work paid off in a sense of accomplishment as we made it to the top of Iron Mountain along a trail lined with never ending wildflowers and truly stunning mountain views.

The heat at the exposed lookout platform finally chased us back down the trail to the junction of the Cone Peak trail. Now, we were headed back to Tombstone Pass. A long shady forested descent to recross the highway and make our way to the parking lot.

Back at the car, we enjoyed some iced watermelon and cold sparkling water that I had stashed in an ice chest in the trunk of the car. We replaced our hiking shoes with sandals as we rubbed ice on our necks and recounted the beauties and challenges of the trail. Isn’t this why we hike? The physical challenge to experience the beauty of creation and the fellowship of friends old and new?

“God spoke today in flowers. And I, who was waiting on words almost missed the conversation.”
– Ingrid Goff-Maidoff –

Pictures below by Missy Kroeker

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Bullpup Lake – June 22, 2024

Hike Coordinator: Edwin Case

Narration by Lane Harris

Back in October of 2023, Edwin had this hike scheduled before the winter snows came. Or so he thought. The hike wasn’t a total bust, and walking through the snowy landscape was like strolling through a delightful winter wonderland. But that same snow stopped us short of our intended destination: Bulldog Rock.

Fast forward 10 months, and Edwin was once again leading some determined hikers up to Bulldog Rock. This time, snow would not be a factor!

Bullpup Lake is seldom-visited, which makes it a great candidate for anyone wanting to visit a pristine body of water, a deeply shaded forest, and epic views overlooking nearby Boulder Creek Wilderness. Most of the elevation gain comes all at once between Bullpup Lake and the Calapooya Crest, but the views at the top make the effort totally worth it. Near the top just past a large meadow, the group veered off-trail and summitted Lost Prairie Rock.

But the real treat lies just north of Lost Prairie Rock along a narrow ridgeline. A short downhill trod leads to expansive views of Bulldog Prairie and the Cascade Peaks to the east. This 7.5 mile round-trip hike is a challenge, but the reward can be worth it.