PCT -- Green Springs Summit (Hwy 66) to Little Hyatt Lake

June 30, 2019

One of our favorite areas to hike is along the PCT in the Green Springs area where one can hike to Hobart Bluff, Boccard Point, or Little Hyatt Lake.  Since we last hiked out to Little Hyatt Lake in 2016 it was time to revisit this section of trail and enjoy the wildflower diversity, sitting by the lake, and at this of year, meeting a few NOBO PCT Thru Hikers as well.  We started our hike on the PCT at Hwy 66 around 8:30 am and finished our hike 5-1/2 hours later.  Lest you think we hiked that entire time, we did take a nice break at Little Hyatt Lake (our turnaround spot) where it was very quiet and beautiful, and we stopped to visit with two couples hiking the PCT that were from Washington State and one man from Poland.  Due to snow in the Sierras this year being 4x the normal, most Thru Hikers skipped over the Sierra portion of trail and are here in Oregon  a little earlier this year.  We did cover 10.8 miles today and below are some photos from an awesome hike in the beautiful Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument area.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

Purple Salsify

Saw lots of Phantom Orchids

Washington Lily

A new one for us - an Oregon Checkerbloom

The dam spillway at Little Hyatt Lake - aka the PCT hiker shower.

Keene Creek

Our view while taking a break at Little Hyatt Lake

A full panorama of Little Hyatt Lake

Boccard Point

June 16, 2018

Over the last month we have read numerous blog postings about hiking to Boccard Point from fellow local hikers and hiking clubs.  All that psychological warfare finally took effect and we headed out for a 10+ mile hike along the PCT and Boccard Point trail to see what all the fuss was about.

Hobart Bluff TH of the PCT - notice the clouds in the background!

One of the highlights of this hike happened before we even began hiking.  As we drove the access road off highway 66 to get to the trailhead, we say deer cross the road and one remain on the road right in front of us.  We also saw something trotting along and crossing the road behind the deer.  As we got closer to the deer on the road, another animal trotted across the road ahead of us -- a wolf!  Yup, we evidently got a rare glimpse of some wolves that are in the Southern Oregon/Northern California area.  Amazing!  The deer in front of us did quickly depart - opposite direction of the wolves and our car.

Hiking into the clouds and through the wind.

Indian Paintbrush was everywhere on this hike.

Columbine also made numerous appearances along the trail

Ok, now to the hike.  When we arrived at the Hobart Bluff TH on the PCT, we were immersed in clouds and the wind was really blowing.  The first hour of our hike was like hiking at the coast.  We had double shirts and jackets on and were still freezing!  It also cut out the various views of meadows and valleys that are featured along this section of the PCT.  Fortunately many portions of the trail went through forested areas which helped to cut down the wind.

Beautiful beautiful area!

VIew of Pilot Rock from Boccard Point trail

As we finished our cloudy & windy 3 mile hike south on the PCT, we connected to the Boccard Point trail which rambles slowly uphill for 2.2 miles, finishing as one might suspect, at Boccard Point.  At times this trail was hard to follow as it appeared that no maintenance had been done recently, but as the sun came out we managed our way to the point and took time to enjoy views of Mt Shasta, the Irongate Reservoir, and Pilot Rock.  We even had our own little stone bench slightly below the point where we took a break out of the wind and enjoyed the newly arrived sunshine and blue sky.

Our natural stone bench break area.

View of Boccard Point with snow covered Mt Shasta in the distance

Trail just below Boccard Point

Usually on an out-and-back hike, the return hike is pretty much the same, just in reverse.  But since we didn't get to see much on the hike out due to clouds, the hike back provided us with lots of opportunities to see the surrounding valleys, large meadows, and enjoy many many beautiful wildflowers --  a few that were new to us.  The Soda Mountain Wilderness is an incredibly beautiful area with such diversity in wildflowers.  Pictures just don't do justice, nor words, to depict how beautiful this hike was in regards to the flora.

Heading through one of the forested areas.

Trail shot through one of many large meadows

Another beautiful large meadow just off trail

We both felt pretty good even after the 10.4 mile hike and no wolves were seen on the drive back out to highway 66.  For those of you who enjoy wildflowers, we have included some pictures from this hike at the bottom of this posting for your viewing pleasure.  Of course getting out and seeing them yourself before they are gone, is even better.  Hope you get a chance to do so.

Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol

 

Pilot Rock

April 14, 2018

Pilot Rock is a well known landmark here in Southern Oregon and played a role in helping guide pioneers who migrated north from California on the Applegate Trail. Yet during all of our hiking days here in Southern Oregon, we have only viewed it from other hikes and never hiked along the short but steep trail leading to it's base.  We decided to change that today.

At the start of the Pilot Rock trail and ready to go!

After driving south on I-5 and then along the old highway 99, we followed a rough 2-mile stretch of Pilot Rock Road 40-2E-33 to the relatively new parking lot that used to be an old quarry.  From the trailhead we, along with Glenn's sister Karen and our dog Katie, headed out on the trail with the sight of Pilot Rock looming in the distance.

Pilot Rock looms

The trail was in good shape and started out as a slow slight incline as we slowly worked our way up the slope.  We soon came across a few lingering patches of snow which Katie took advantage of by rolling and frolicking through.  Please note, no other hikers followed Katie in this moment of exuberance, but it was tempting.

Trail view

Katie in heaven on a large patch of snow.

Eventually our trail came to an intersection with the PCT which we followed with a left turn.  The trail now began to gain elevation and became quite steep for this last mile of the hike. At points the trail was a series of rock steps put on the trail to help against erosion (and maybe to help hikers not "slide" down the trail on the descent).  Soon a series of switchbacks ensued to increase the climb until we came to the base of Pilot Rock.

And on to the PCT we go...

Rock step portion of trail

View over the valley as we near the base of Pilot Rock

The look up was incredible and Pilot Rock is huge  -- much bigger viewed at the base than from the freeway or other trails in the distance.  The thought of scrambling up to the top never entered our minds once we arrived at the base despite a few folks coming done from having done so.  NO WAY!  Climbing up would be bad enough, but coming down again in reverse?

View of Pilot Rock from the base.  The climb up is along the crevice in the middle.  Not Happening!

After straining our necks to look up and taking some pictures, it was time to head back down (down being the key word) the trail.  We did see some Snow Queen and Yellow Bell wildflowers along the trail, but as Spring progresses we are sure more wildflowers will make their appearance.

Yellow Bells made an appearance along the trail

A small pond created by snow melt runoff

Well, another new hike in the books for 2018.  If you haven't hiked to the base of Pilot Rock, we highly recommend it, but be prepared for a steep climb. It is one of those amazing sights in Southern Oregon that you need to see in person. Be sure to let us know if you scramble to the top!


Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

PCT: Green Springs Summit to Little Hyatt Lake

May 29, 2016

After getting a taste of hiking the PCT on the Green Springs Mountain Loop trail, we decided it was time to stretch our legs and challenge ourselves with our first 10+ mile hike of the year.  So back up to the Green Springs Summit we went, this time hiking the PCT from the Summit to Little Hyatt Lake and back --- 10.8 miles when done.

What?  Who you calling "trash"?

The first couple of miles took us in and out of various meadows and wooded areas, but both had one thing in common- wildflowers!  This would be the theme for this hike as we were able to identify 34 different wildflower varieties and had about 4 or 5 that we could not identify!  It was absolutely flower filled -see a few samples below.

Wild Iris

Yup, the elusive Mission Bells again!

Oregon Anemone

Striped Coral Root.  Never seen so many on one hike!

Royal Jacob's Ladder

Eventually we arrived at the trailhead for the Green Springs Mountain Loop trail that we hiked a few weeks ago, but this time we continued on the northbound PCT.  It is always interesting to hike the same trail in a different direction, so in a sense, this was new to us too.  We were treated to views of Pilot Rock and still slightly snow covered Mount Ashland.

After departing from the Mountain Loop trail section of the PCT, we continued on, alternating between meadows and forested areas as well as between uphill and downhill.  We even came across one meadow area with some nice rock cairns which we could not pass up without taking a picture.

Another Pitcairn cairn???

No, it's a Katie Pitcairn cairn!

We finally started to hear water and knew we were getting close to Little Hyatt Lake.  How do you hear a lake you ask?  The PCT goes past Little Hyatt Lake just below the little dam and overflow which today made quite a pretty waterfall.  For the backpackers at the lake, it made a nice natural shower.

Little Hyatt Lake dam overflow - great natural shower.

We hiked just a short distance off the trail and found a nice area where we could sit down and drink and eat, while taking in the beauty of Little Hyatt Lake.

Katie posing in front of Little Hyatt Lake.  Ok, begging for food.

Little Hyatt Lake

Downstream from the Little Hyatt Lake dam overflow

Our return hike offered us a second chance to take in all of the beautiful meadows, woods and of course wildflowers that we had seen earlier in the day.  We did cheat a little by taking the connector trail portion of the Green Springs Mountain Loop trail rather than hike the PCT the entire way south.

One of many wooded meadows

As we arrived back at our car we were tired and had some sore feet but we sure enjoyed all of the beauty on this hike.  Sometimes it takes long hikes to get you way out in the woods where you can enjoy the silence and the sounds of nature. Who knows, maybe we will come back again to the Summit and hike the PCT southbound next time.  We hear there's a nice hike to Hobart Bluff that way.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol