Chucksney Mountain

Conrad and I had a day to set off for a hike. We decided to head down Aufderheide to the Box Canyon area to do the Chucksney Mountain loop. This trail left Box Canyon from the Horse Campground and went in a loop around Chucksney Mountain. We took the Grasshopper/McBee trail. It was interesting how many trails left from this same area. There was an old cabin across from the trailhead that at one point was a ranger station. I guess it makes sense if someone is stationed in that area for a long period of time that there would be a lot of trails in that area since it is easiest to build trail where you could return back to your home that night. It got me thinking of what life was like working for the Forest Service 100 years ago. Probably distinctly different from what it is like now. 

We found the right trail and we were off. We crossed some creeks and saw the rhododendrons in bloom. Mostly we just hiked uphill. The weather was fairly cool, but bright and sunny. It didn't matter much to us as we were deep in the forest. The trail was cleared, though, which was a pleasant surprise for us. Because of that we were able to make fairly good time for the first 4-5 miles. At this point the trail split and one part of it went out to Grasshopper Mountain. Unfortunately, this looked like the trail that had been cleared of deadfall, so we started the typical hiking in Oregon which seems to be a significant amount of hopping over deadfall. The trail hugged the ridgeline between two peaks and soon we were popping out into a wide open meadow. You could tell that at one point this had been a burned area, but now it was wide open.

There were views to the west at this point which was really just a lot of forested hills, ridges, and some open meadows. The meadow that we were in was just cleared of snow a few weeks earlier and the plants were getting firmly rooted, but the travel was still fairly easy. The trail was discernible enough that it was not difficult to find and soon we were approaching the other side of the ridge where we were afforded great views of all the peaks. The Sisters were right in front of us and we could see as far north as Mt. Jefferson and as far south as Diamond Peak. We decided that it would be okay to take a side trail up to the top of the peak. This was not too far off the main trail, but since Chucksney Mountain hadn't been a lookout in the past, there was no official trail to the top. 

We found some somewhat comfortable rocks to sit on and enjoyed a bite to eat. We both tried to absorb as much of the view and the beauty of being on a high peak before heading down. Back on the trail there were still some more logs to get over for the next mile or two. We also saw our first group of people. They must have been the other car at the trailhead when we started. They must have gone the opposite direction on the loop as they were still heading up. I thought that meant that there would be a lot of deadfall, but they said it was only another mile or so. They were right as the deadfall stopped right by a little lake. This section of trail was now smooth sailing as it was all downhill and not very fast at this point. It was very gradual and there were still views to be absorbed out to the high peaks beyond at certain points.

Then we went around a corner and the trail started to drop quickly. I could tell on my watch that we were getting close to the trailhead when we ran into the only other people we saw on the trail that day. There were a couple of older guys with their dogs and they talked with us for quite some time. They had questions about the route. I wondered if they would have enough time to make the top today. Probably not, but they seemed content to come back and backpack it if necessary. Conrad was glad to see the dogs leave and with only another mile or so to go, we were back at the trailhead in 4.5 hours for the roundtrip. This was a little over 11 miles, so a decent hike. Conrad did great. It is nice to have a hiking buddy at home to do these kinds of trips with me. A very enjoyable day for all.