Knobcone Pine Trail @ Jacksonville Forest Park

March 3, 2019

After hearing from local hiking friends Boots on the Trail that the Jacksonville Forest Park had some new trails, we decided to venture out on a sunny Saturday and see if we could find and hike these new trails.  We parked at the P1 parking area and picked up a new map to find 3 new trails either made or "to be made: Knobcone Pine, Rattlesnake, and the Arrowhead Pass trail - which includes the China Ditch area of the park.

The new wildlife viewing shelter at the reservoir.

Katie enjoying the leftover snow!

We decided to head out and try the Knobcone Pine trail since it wasn't too far out in the park and it would also lead us to Granite Falls which we wanted to see.  With all the recent rain and then our snowstorm last Tuesday, we figured the falls and creeks should be full of water.  As we made our way by the Historic Jacksonville Reservoir we came across a new (at least since the last time we hiked here) wildlife viewing shelter which is a great addition, and got to see the P1A parking area being made which will increase parking capacity and also feature restrooms.

On to a new trail!

View along the Knobcone Pine trail of a Knobcone Pine Tree

Madrone bark chips on snow -- looked like chocolate shavings on ice cream

After working our way along the Norling and Siskiyou trails, we came to the sign for the 1-mile long Knobcone Pine trail.  We also came across lots of leftover snow which added beauty to the hike and made for a much slower hike.  Glenn failed to look at the description of this new trail which was rated as "Difficult" since it climbs around 600-700 feet in that one mile, but regardless, it is a great trail with amazing views and will have 2 viewing areas that are currently cleared but not built.

Hiking along the snow filled trails.

Granite Falls - Most water we have seen!

View of falls from other side with sign in view.

We then connected to the Pipsissewa trail and hiked down to Granite Falls.  Most of the year Granite Falls is either dry or barely a trickle, but today there was a descent amount of water and we took time to enjoy this rare view of Granite Falls.

A full and beautiful Jackson Creek

Small waterfall on Jackson Creek

View of Norling Trail on our return hike.

We made our way down the hill and over to the Norling Trail just below the Canyon Falls Trails and enjoyed seeing all the water in Jackson Creek as we made our way back to the parking lot.  A nice snow-filled 5.9 mile hike that took us 3 hours due to the snow and climbing.  On our next trip here we hope to work our way out to the Arrowhead Pass loop trail which is a 1.5 mile loop and will require around 6-7 more miles to get there and back.  This may be a 10+ mile hike in the near future.  If you can, get out to the Jacksonville Forest Park and explore any of the 32 trails available for hikers and bikers.

Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol

Siskiyou & Siskiyou View Trails

May 7, 2017

With all the new trails being made here in Southern Oregon, even the maps for the various hiking parks are outdated once they are printed.  So it was no surprise that we found a newer trail when hiking a new trail that wasn't even on the map at the Jacksonville Forest Park.

New trail......and yes, it was steep and narrow.

When we last hiked at the Jacksonville Forest Park in March, we saw a sign for the new Siskiyou trail. The trail at that time was still being finished so we did not hike it.  But now that the trail is completed and the sun was shining with temps in the 70's, we ventured out to hike at least a  portion of this new trail.

The "Beauty" part of the Siskiyou trail.....

....and the "Beast" part of the Siskiyou trail.

We parked at the main area just inside the park boundaries and began by hiking the Rail trail to the Ponderosa Snag trail till we came to the official start of the Siskiyou trail.  It was only .5 miles to reach the trailhead.  The Siskiyou trail wasted no time in qualifying for "steep" as the first .3 miles were switchbacks and uphill!

One of the many great views along the Siskiyou trail.

The trail then had various uphill and downhill segments as most trail do, but overall stayed level and wound it's way through meadows & forested areas while providing momentary views of the surrounding Jacksonville Hills.  We also saw lots of wildflowers during our entire hike like Paintbrush, Cat's Ear, Larkspur, Sea Blush, Fiddleneck, Balsamroot and more.

Balsamroot

Blue Dicks

Groundcone

At about 2 miles into our hike, we came across another trail, the Siskiyou View trail which was not listed on the map.  We decided to try this side trail and found that it becomes a loop trail with a spur to a viewpoint.  Even though the entire length of the loop and spur trail was only a mile, we were limited on time today. So after completing the loop trail,  we decided to backtrack along the Siskiyou trail to a connector trail for the Norling Creek trail.

What? Another new trail off the new trail?

The end is near.....

....and the end is here!

Once on the Norling Creek trail we headed back towards the parking area but not before hiking through the Norling Creek Wetlands area.  This wetlands habitat is in the process of being restored and we saw a few geese and ducks already enjoying the benefits.  The overflow from the wetlands area cascades down into the creeks below where there was bench for relaxing to the sound of the cascading water.  It appears that maybe picnic tables or other benches are in the works for this area which would be great.

One of the small waterfalls along Norling Creek

Geese enjoying the Norling Creek Wetlands Area

Our hike seemed to end too quickly,  but it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed venturing out on a new trail.  We hope to return to the Siskiyou trail and hike it all the way to the Pipsissewa trail and Granite Falls. But that trail is not scheduled for completion till Autumn of 2017.   Guess that is one hike we will have to wait on.

Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol