Sterling Mine Ditch Trail -- Deming Gulch TH

September 3, 2018

We decided to spend our Labor Day laboring on the trail.  But since it was a flat and fast trail, there wasn't much laboring, just blue sky above the beautiful woods.

Time to hike!  The trail awaits.

The Sterling Mine Ditch Trail from end-to-end is 26 miles long.  We have hiked various portions of the trail from 4 of the 7 trailheads available, and today we hiked another portion from our 5th trailhead, the Deming Gulch TH.

View along the flat Sterling Mine Ditch Trail (ditch to the right)

As mentioned earlier, the SMDT is a flat trail and our from the Deming Gulch TH to our turnaround spot, proved that point.  Only the occasional dip of the trail into the "ditch" provided any uphill or downhill grade.  There were also two basic scenery views along the trail.  Some sections were in the open sunshine which provided views of the surrounding Applegate Valley, while other sections passed through forested ravines that provided cool shade with lots of trees to enjoy.  Both were welcomed and enjoyed.

Some sections provided views of the Applegate Valley

Other sections were dominated by trees and shade.

After hiking toward Grub Gulch for just over 3 miles, we took a break and then backtracked to our starting point.  We then hiked a portion of the trail between the Deming Gulch TH and the Armstrong Gulch TH to add a few more miles to our hike.  I guess you could say we did an out-and-back hike in two different directions.  When all was said and done, it was an enjoyable 8.3 mile labor of love.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

Sterling Mine Ditch Trail - Armstrong Gulch TH

January 28, 2018

The Sterling Mine Ditch trail is over 20 miles long and currently has 7 different trailheads.  We have hiked sections of the SMDT from the Tunnel Ridge TH and the Bear Gulch TH,  so today we decided to hike another portion of the trail starting from the Armstrong Gulch trailhead.

Time to get hiking!

We actually parked at the horse trailer area for the Armstrong Gulch TH and hiked up a half mile series of switchbacks to the SMDT.  We then made a right turn and hiked over 3 miles out and along the trail.

View along the very flat Sterling Mine Ditch trail

Trail with the Sterling Mine Ditch to the right- hard to see in some sections.

The first mile was mostly in the shade and featured lots of trees and even a few areas with large groupings of ferns. We then entered the more sun exposed segment of the trail which featured great views of the Applegate Valley and surrounding mountains, some of which were still covered wtih a little bit of  snow from the last storm.  No wildflowers were seen yet, but it is still early in the year.  It was not however too early for those wonderful little friends of hikers known as ticks.  Yup, they were out already, but we only collected (and discarded) a few.

View from the trail with some slightly snow covered mountains in the distance

As the sun came out in the afternoon, we peeled off our sweatshirt/jacket ---  it actually felt hot! After turning around and retracing our steps, we finished our hike at 7.3 miles, which still leaves us with plenty of the Sterling Mine Ditch trail to explore in the future.

If you are interested in this trail, click here for the website which gives the history of the Sterling Mine Ditch and maps showing the various trailheads and hiking distance in miles.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

Enchanted Forest & Felton Memorial Trail

December 17, 2017

As the year is closing out, we looked back at the hikes we've done this year and realized that very few were "new"  hikes, ones that we had never done before.  So with Glenn getting a rare day off and no rain in the forecast, we took Katie and headed out to the Applegate Valley to hike not just one, but two new trails.

Time for a new hike!

The Enchanted Forest trail is an out and back hike totalling around 3.4 - 4.0 miles, depending on when  you stop and start back.  During the spring there are fields where wildflowers abound, but not on this December day.  Instead most of our trail, especially up through the canyon, was covered in fallen leaves.   The trail worked it's way slowly uphill in the canyon before taking a left turn where the trail became very steep up to a saddle with a 3-way intersection.  It was at this point that we turned around although there are options for going a little further.

It was cold, but sometimes that adds to the beauty of a hike.

Old rusted & abandoned truck at the half mile mark.

Leaf covered trail.

We were treated again to the trail of leaves which were interrupted at times by groupings of bright green ferns and mixed with various large moss covered trees.  When we came to the trail intersection with the Felton Memorial trail, we took a left turn and headed out on this 1.5 mile trail.

On to the next new trail.

Lots of bright green ferns

The Felton Memorial plaque

This trail offered a little more variety as the trail had ups and downs and wound itself around various ridges and canyons.  Once we arrived at the memorial, we took a few minutes to enjoy the silence and refuel for the hike back.  The memorial is to three BLM workers who died in a helicopter crash at this location while doing a logging operation in 1993.

Autumn decorations

View along the Felton Memorial trail

Loop portion of Enchanted Forest trail -- where's the forest?

Once back to the Enchanted Forest trail, we turned off and hiked the loop portion back to the trailhead.  It featured another meadow area that will probably be full of wildflowers in the spring.

Looking up at all the trees along the trail

 We enjoyed our 7.1 mile hike and it felt great to hike a new trail and enjoy the beauty and quietness that comes with the season.  This hike also helped us break our record for most miles hiked in a year. Hopefully we will get out another time or two.  Till then, have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

P.S.  Other blogs about these two trails were done by Boots on the Trail, the Oregonator, and the Wanderingyanucks.

Mule Mountain Trail

May 3, 2015

Just seeing the words Mule Mountain Trail on a trailhead sign would be enough to stop some folks from even attempting the hike.  Add to that these two facts: 1) Mule Mountain is said to have received its name during the Indian War period when mules, pulling a howitzer (a small artillery piece) supposedly slipped off the trail and fell in to the creek. 2) It was on the Mule Mountain Trail that the Friends of the Umpqua Hiking Club first used the phrase "Richard Hike" to designate a long, uphill both ways, tough hike, which in this case was led by one of it's members - Richard.

So despite all those facts, we decided to call our hiking friend Richard (the same as noted above) and plan a hike up the Mule Mountain Trail -- after all, we have never hiked this trail and how do you know how tough a trail really is until you have hiked it?

After meeting Richard in Ruch, we drove up the Applegate Lake Road to a turnout just past mile marker 12.  Sometimes the trail sign is knocked over which makes finding the trail start a little more challenging, but today it was there in plain sight.....and so the adventure began.

Uphill we go.....lots of tall grass and poison oak along the trail too.

The first 1 - 1.5 miles of trail were uphill, but it was a slow steady uphill, not too bad, as we hiked up through a shaded forest area filled with wildflowers.  Stops were made often on this hike as there was not only a large variety of wildflowers, but also large quantities of each of those varieties!  This trail is a great wildflower hike, but I digress.

Having completed the first "section" of the trail, we then entered the next 1 - 1.5 miles  of trail which was very similar except for one slight difference, gone for the most part were the trees and shady areas -- replaced now by sunshine and heat.  The actual steepness also remained about the same so we were still skeptical about the stories and warnings as noted in the first paragraph of this post.  On we trekked, enjoying Lupines,  Starflowers, Cat's Ear, and the many other wildflowers as well as the incredible views of the surrounding mountians and valleys.

Starflower

Cat's Ear

Lupine

Then we came to the last portion of our 4.2 mile hike out to the base of Baldy Peak.  Still great views....still lots of wildflowers.....still lots of sunshine and increasing heat.......but the trail went into another gear and we found ourselves steeply climbing to  what we could see would be our turnaround point.  It seemed so close, but seemed to take a long time to reach.

After much effort we made it to a lone large tree below Baldy Peak which provided us with shade as we took a much needed break for food & drink.  The toughness of the trail though was quickly lost as we took in the views and the sound of silence during our break.  Occasionaly the wind would blow through and it was so nice just to sit there and take it all in  - it was worth the effort.

One of the many views

But all good things must come to an end and eventually we knew it was time to head back down.  As much as uphill hiking can be tough, sometimes it is the downhill that wears on our knees the most.  So even though our bodies wanted to head down the trail quickly, we had to pace ourselves so that we would live to hike another day.  Once again we were treated to an incredible display of wildflowers and got to see the mountain and valley views that we did not see on the way up.

One of the locals checking us out near Baldy Peak

Yes, the heat does affect Glenn in strange ways!

Yes we were tired after the 8.5 mile hike was done, but we were also glad that we could and did hike this trail.  We fared far better than those mules in the Indian War period and we survived a "Richard HIke" as well. Not bad for one day of hiking.

Trekking Together

Glenn & Carol

P.S. We want to say a special "thank you" to Richard for joining us on this namesake hike and for also sending us some pictures that we could use on our posting.  Please visit Richard's hiking blog by clicking here.  He should have his side of the story posted soon and usually includes a link to pictures of each hike.