Rebel Rock

 I was a little bit nervous about how this hike would go. I knew that the Rebel Creek trail was almost indiscernible last time I attempted to hike that, but the Rebel Rock trail was the other half of the loop. I knew that it was not nearly as impacted by the fire as the Rebel Creek trail. That fire was over 8 years ago, but still the trail had not been cleared since. It was one of my favorite loops to do and I remembered that even before the fire, the trail could be difficult to locate. So obviously, I was a little bit wary about how this was going to go. From the very beginning, I could tell that it was going to go well. It seemed someone had been out here recently cutting trees out and moving debris from the trail. I was able to just hike and find the trail in most places. 

The trail went uphill pretty quickly. Even by the road, the switchbacks began. I was right at the end of the cross country season, so I was in pretty good shape. An uphill hike was nothing to me and I spent most of my time listening to Bill Bryson tell me a tale on the History of Nearly Everything. It had become my practice to listen to audiobooks while hiking. I used to be a little bit ashamed as I should be out listening to nature and thinking my own thoughts. Given that I work so much, this was my chance to do two things that I enjoy doing at once as reading and hiking are two of my favorite activities. This was a really good book and also a very interesting hike. The trees were in pretty good shape. There were sections that were burned out pretty good and other sections where it looked pristine. All and all, though, it was an enjoyable uphill hike through the forest. I wondered how long it would go before I would run into an impassable section of trail that would turn me around. It just kept going and going though. The trail took me past one big creek crossing which looked like it had flashed at some point in its recent history. It looked like it would be interesting to hike up the stream on a different day. 

It took me through a big meadow that was lined out with flagging. You could tell that someone had done some work on this trail recently. At the top of that meadow, the trail went through a dense wood, than popped out to an amazing view of the Sisters. This meant I was on top and I would then follow that around. As I was doing that, I looked for the old lookout site. It was pretty easy to find with some old pieces of the foundation still intact. This was an awesome lookout when it was still around, but now it was burned to the ground. I looked around for a while and enjoyed the view. It was an amazing day with clear views all around. I could look down and see the ridges and mountain tops for miles. I could see why this was a good place to put a lookout. 

Looking over to the actual Rebel Rock, it made me want to come back and climb to the top of that. I would have to do that and also I was hoping that I could connect with the other side of the trail and make a loop out of it. As I approached the other side of that though, the trail rapidly disappeared. At one point I was just in the woods fighting downed trees and fallen branches. I decided right away to turn around. I had already hiked nearly 6 miles anyway and gained over 3000 vertical feet. This was an excellent conditioning hike and I didn't feel the need to fight the woods for much longer. Turning around I really spent some time on the ridge before dropping back down. 

This was such a nice day with great views, but it was also the middle of November, so the light would be slipping away soon. So I started back down. This was smooth sailing with the trail work recently done, most likely by volunteer trail crews like the Salamanders or the Scorpions. I continued listening to my book learning new facts and interesting tidbits of information on each turn of the trail. I really enjoyed being out here along the McKenzie as there were always new places to explore even if those places I had been to previously. This felt like a brand new hike as it was much different than it was when I tread this trail more than 8 years in the past.