Beeler Spring

 It didn't take long before I was back on the South Olallie Trail. Given I just hiked this trail a few weeks prior and had run into 3 trails that I never hiked before, I knew that this trail was going to become a new favorite. This time I wasn't looking to hike the South Olallie Trail, but was instead hoping to hike the other side of the Rebel Creek Trail. I knew that this was going to be a tough one because when I hiked the Rebel Creek Trail even before it was burned in a wildfire, I never saw this offshoot. This trail, I was expecting, would be long forgotten. I started early enough that I would not have to worry about the daylight that was becoming significantly less this time of year. It is still quite a haul to get up to this trail with significant vertical ascent over 4 miles. I would estimate about 2500 feet of elevation gain.

Where the trail began was essentially where the Olallie Trail stopped gaining vertically. Here there was a sign and the path looked relatively like a path. It didn't look like it had been used much in the past, oh let's say, 75 years, but it was a path. It was too bad that it wasn't used much because this actually turned out to be quite a nice trail. It was fairly level for most of the way and followed a path that seemed rather easy to follow. With GPS as good as it is, it was not hard for me to stay on the supposed "trail" even though in many places it was hard to find. There were times that I would lose it, but would eventually find my way back to it. There were lots of logs to cross over and debris to go around, but there was also the faint, discernible path that led through a comfortable forest. There weren't a lot of views in this forest, but at times it would peak out to the top of a ridge with a view down to the valley below. I loved this section of the forest because it was just so wild. There were huge expanses of untouched forest to enjoy. There was only one significant feature on the map on this entire section and that was Beeler Spring. When I got to where it should be on the map, I could not find any water. From this spot, the trail began to climb and I lost it for a good chunk of time. There would be giant logs down over the trail that I had to work my way around. 

This slowed me down significantly and during this section I was only able to cover 1 mile in about an hour. Eventually, I would regain the path and it would take me to a promontory point where I would have to descend from this point on. It looked like at this point that I was only about a mile and a half from the main trail. The problem was that the trail continued to descend and to become more and more faint. Given the amount of daylight that I had this time of year, I was starting to question whether to turn back. When the trail completely disappeared, I decided that turning back was a good choice. I really wanted to connect it to the other side of the Rebel Creek Trail, but I would just have to come back another day to make this happen. 

I could see Rebel Rock from where I turned around. It was the wise decision. As I was hiking back, I was thinking about why this trail had been abandoned. I thought about the old days when horse travel was a common thing to do to navigate in the wilderness. This would have been a thoroughfare used to get to other parts of the forest. When horses went out of style and the forest service started building roads, this became an unnecessary trail. Since it didn't go to a destination, what was the use of it. I thought that to be unfortunate. Sometimes it seems the forest service uses the designation of wilderness as a way to hide behind not having to maintain an area. This section of the forest was also used for grazing 100 years ago. At one point, there were probably sheep everywhere. I appreciated that they were gone, but the trails were probably in better shape at that point. 

I decided to really look for Beeler Spring on the way back and eventually, I think I found it. It was a damp spot on the ground with a little bit of cut logs around it. At some point, this probably provided water for horses and sheep in this area. Now, it was abandon and had filled in with debris. I wondered what it would take to bring it back to its former glory days. For some reason, it was put on maps all the way back to the 1930s. This was important enough to be on a map, but not important enough to maintain. Kind of like the trail I was hiking today. I made it back to the Olallie Trail finding it a bit easier to hike back on a trail I had already hiked out on. From there I jogged all the way back to the car. It was almost 4 miles all downhill, but I was in good enough shape to make that happen. It turned out to be a great day and when I tried to research more about Beeler Spring, I was stumped by the internet. So, that is why I named my blog post Beeler Spring. I will probably be the only reliable information out there. 

Clear Lake in the Fall

This is a hike we have done as a family many times, but we can't find another one that is easier to see such nice sights so quickly. The issue is that many others have discovered this same thing, so we are often sharing the trail with many people. This day was no different because when we drove up in the early afternoon to the Clear Lake trailhead, there was not a parking spot to be found. There were cars parked in all sorts of odd places. Luckily, being a local in the area, I knew exactly where to park. I drove up about a half mile up the road and there was a dirt road that intersected the McKenzie River Trail. I parked the car and was the only one there. We continued downstream until we ran into the trail around Clear Lake. 

Even though the parking lot was very busy, the trail did not quite seem as busy. There were other things than hiking for people to do, like get out onto the lake in their boats. The real draw were the fall colors that were out in full force everywhere. We enjoyed them a lot especially Jacqueline. We walked south to start and that took us to the parking lot. After a short bathroom stop, we continued down the trail. This was a nice leisurely day for the runners in the family who could use a day off of running. We just walked which was a piece of cake. The trail took us by the outlet where we crossed over the start of the McKenzie River. Then we were back in the trees heading north. 

Here the trail got a little rough in places, but eventually it sent us out into the lava flow that made the lake. A couple of thousand years ago, Sand Mountain which is a volcano, erupted causing molten rock to come down and block up the lake. It is so recent, that you can still see stumps and trees in the lake from when it was formed. The trail by the lava flow is in nice shape, though, because this section is paved. This is also one of the more picturesque spots because you can really see the greens of the lake appearing. Then the trail goes back into the woods and takes you right by the Great Spring. Here, you can see where the water rushes out of the large aquifer that is underneath the Oregon Central Cascades. 

This is really what formed the McKenzie River as the volcanoes in central Oregon are so porous with their soil that most of the snow melt just goes underground rushing out in these large rivers. The Great Spring looks so cold and so clear that the waters of Clear Lake are some of the clearest in the world. The colors all around the Great Spring were really nice too. The trail continues on from here crossing a couple of very nicely built bridges before running into the McKenzie River trail again. We headed back up the trail the way we came to our car, still the only one parked on this dirt road. It was a very comfortable and easy 5-6 mile loop on a Saturday in October to see beautiful colors and have a great day as a family getting outside.



 

South Olallie Trail

 Well I had now been off the PCT for 6 weeks, so it was finally time to go for a hike again. I filled my days with hanging out with the family, going for runs, working around the house, coaching cross country, and of course teaching math. I was well in it as the school year already felt long and it was only a few weeks in. I had a successful run at the Walterville Waddle where I placed first in my age group and ran a personal best 19:36 5K. Conrad was right behind me by only 8 seconds. I got a bunch of cookies as a prize. Most of the time was taken up with coaching cross country, though, as weekends included races in which my kids were doing really well. Still, the need to get out on the trail existed and this day I was going to make sure that I got a good hike in. Since last spring, I had been interested in the Olallie Trail. 

I had hiked every part of the trail except for the lower section. I was going to remedy that today. My drive took me out to the Aufderheide Rd. This road wound through the wilderness to numerous trailheads. I had stumbled on the southern part of the Olallie Trail about a year and a half earlier. This was spring, so I hiked just about as far as I could before snow slowed me down. I turned around at the snow about 3 miles in, but this day I was determined to not let anything stop me. Besides, it was fall and all that could really get in my way were downed trees. The trail starts out at the end of a dirt road. I parked at the trailhead and went on my way. The first little bit is flat and then it charges up the ridge. 

There are numerous switchbacks climbing several thousand feet. This trail is about 40 miles long if you did the entire thing in one day. I have never done that. Instead, I have done it in chunks, first hiking the northern part over 10 years ago into the snow. That part takes you past the O'Leary Trail, then up past Horsepasture Mountain. Conrad and I hiked the section from the Saddle Trail to the 1993 road before it heads to Olallie Mountain and then down to Bear Flat. Today I was planning to hike the southern section from the Olallie Trailhead to Bear Flat. Bear Flat was where I headed off for a loop hike to French Pete once and found myself bushwhacking most of it. All and all I guess you could say that this trail and I had some history.

Today, though, I was determined to finish it and explore other trail possibilities that existed there. The first thing I had to was get farther than I traveled previously. That was done after crossing a creek only about 3 miles into the trail. The trail continued uphill until leveling out right where the trail met the Rebel Creek trail. This trail was really suspect to me and even though there was a sign, I imagined that it was probably a trail to nowhere. I hiked Rebel Creek 10+ years ago when it was in better shape than it is now, and I never saw this part of the trail even though there was likely a junction at some point. It wasn't for me today, so I continued on. The trail was now relatively flat and only a half a mile more brought me to another trail junction. 

This was the Wildcat Trail that would take me out to Wildcat Swamp and Bill Gott Spring. This hike was for another day and I continued on. The trail was not in great shape. It was relatively flat, though, and for the most part I could see how the trees had been cleared to get me through the woods. I felt like I was doing the trail a favor by hiking it so it did not cease to exist. There were times I had to climb over fallen logs, but for the most part, I was able to find my way. At one point, I crossed the headwaters of French Pete Creek. Here is was just a small trickle and there was a campsite nearby. It was a place to get water, but it was easily crossed without a footbridge. 

As I continued on, the trail took me past a swamp and out to an obvious clearing. Here was another trail, but it lacked a sign. This was the first evidence that the Forest Service had just decided to give up on some of these trails. This was a trail that could take me out to Corral Draw and up to Dillon Lake if I so chose. But, it was on the map, just lacked signage. This meant that it was likely out of service. This was sad because it closed off a huge section of wilderness. I would definitely hike it some day, though. Trail or no trail, I was determined to see what was out there. After this trail, it was only another half of a mile or so before I ran into the junction for the Bear Flat trail. When I had done my bushwhacking long hike here, there was a sign. 

Granted, that sign warned that the trail existed no more in sharpie, but the sign was still there. Now it was gone. Another trail bites the dust. The wilderness here used to be invaded by sheep in cattle. There used to be a drive right through these mountains. Now most of this is left to be reclaimed by the forest. Humans really had a way of fixing one problem by causing another. At this point, the wilderness may be a little bit too wild and it could use a little more trammeling. In any case, this was my turn around point. I though about the many opportunities that existed for me to not only explore further out here, but put my stamp on the forest by helping to clear some of the trail. 

There were so many sections where trail was a relative word. This forest, like so many other places, was being left to be overrun. I was going to have to put some time into making this place better at some point. The whole hike was about 18 miles, which took me about 7 hours to complete. Along the way I got to see junctions at 3 new trails that I had never explored all going deep into the heart of the wilderness. Two of those still had signs, which meant there was still hope. All of them needed to be explored. I was determined to really know this wilderness inside and out. This day had brought me one step closer to that and it had been a rewarding long hike to keep me in shape also. All and all, a great day out in the woods.