Joseph Stewart State Park

January 13, 2018

The day started out cloudy and cool, but once the sun came out, we took Katie and headed up to Joseph Stewart State Park and Lost Creek Lake to get in a hike.

Time for another hike at Stewart State Park

Parking in the day use area is free, so we started there and hiked the paved Rogue River Trail towards the marina and campground.  Most of this trail segment is through thickly wooded areas with moss covered portions of trail, but we did have some nice views of Lost Creek Lake as well.  With the lack of rain and snow, water levels are lower than they were last year.

One of many beautiful views of Lost Creek Lake along the Rogue River trail

The 3 amigos - can you guess who is who?

We crossed numerous small creeks and runoffs via bridges, some having water and some already dry due to the lack of rain and snow.

One of numerous waterfalls/runoffs that we came across.

View along wooded Rogue River trail

We took a break near Peyton Bridge after 3.3 miles, then transitioned onto the bike path and hiked through the state park back to the day use area for a total of 6.1 miles.  This segment featured views of the large meadows and old oak trees in the park.

Meadow area of Stewart SP

One of many large barren oak trees in the meadow

Felt great to get out and enjoy blue sky and sunshine!  Plus the wooded areas of our hike had that fresh woods smell!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

White Rabbit & Mike Uhtoff Trails

January 7, 2018

We began our 2018 hiking year by heading over to Ashland and hiking at the Oredson-Todd Woods and Siskiyou Mountain Park.

And we're off....let the 2018 hiking year begin!

In looking back, it has been over two years since we last hiked here.  There is a network of trails, much like the Jacksonville Forest Park, Jacksonville Woodlands, and Cathedral Hills Park, that offer you multiple choices for your hiking route.  Katie also enjoys that it is dog friendly.

Where the clouds and the hills meet.

One very large boulder along the White Rabbit trail

Many of the trails have names from the story of Alice in Wonderland.  We mainly hiked two trails -- the White Rabbit trail and the Mike Uhtoff trail.  The White Rabbit is from Alice in Wonderland, Mike Uhtoff is not.  Mike was the Portland Audubon's first managing director and later moved to Ashland where he helped the city acquire Siskiyou Mountain Park as open space parkland. Thank you Mike!

Proof that there was blue sky.....for a few minutes.

We began our 5.4 mile loop hike at the Lupine Drive trailhead and quickly made our way through some forested sections of the Oredson-Todd Woods.  We then crossed Clay Creek and began hiking up, up, up and up the White Rabbit trail.  That climb sure got our heart and lungs working in the cool air.  Even the sun came out, but only during our climb.

White Rabbit trail along the crest

Once we got to the "crest", the White Rabbit trail wandered through the woods of Siskiyou Mountain Park until we came to the Queen of Hearts trail which was our turnaround point today.  This short connector trail took us to the Mike Uhtoff trail which we then hiked back along and down the crest to return to Clay Creek and the trailhead.

Low bridge on the Queen of Hearts trail

 The Mike Uhtoff trail has many switchbacks (next time we will count them) while descending from the crest and also offers many opportunities to stop and view the surrounding Ashland Hills.

View along the Mike Uhtoff trail on the way down

From our experiences, we would recommend that you hike the Mike Uhtoff trail up to the crest, take the Queen of Hearts trail to connect to the White Rabbit trail, and hike that trail back to the trailhead.  For a shuttle hike you can also hike through the Siskiyou Mountain Park all the way to Lithia Park, but we have never tried that.

One last view of the surrounding Ashland hills.

Well, we never ran into anyone named Alice during our hike nor did we fall down a hole.  But we did enjoy getting out into the woods and hiking these trails, despite the cold and cloudy weather.

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.