This coming weekend
the Friends of the Umpqua Hiking Club will be
hiking to Cougar Butte and I was entrusted with
leading this hike...mainly, because I was absent
from the planning meeting. It is my penance.
Last time I hiked
this it was in 2004 and believe it or not, it was
January. There was patches of snow covering
the trail but I had good guides in Craig and Jim.
There is a brand new
trail and trailhead installed by Cowhorn Arch and
I was excited because the trail was so sketchy
when I went before. However, once the new
trail joined up with the old trail in 1/2 mile,
then it was all old trail which in places was
virtually no trail.
This area was burnt
in the 2002 Tiller Complex Fire and the trail has
disappeared in the burn area. However, as an
act of mercy, the Forest Service has tacked on
diamond markers on the trees and "Trail"
signs, these markers are very helpful on the
bushwhack up to Cowhorn Point.
Once at Cowhorn
Point, the trail appears again and one can see the
Jackson Creek and South Umpqua drainages.
One can also see Abbott Butte on the Rogue-Umpqua
Divide, my intended destination...time permitting.
The trail dove off
of Cowhorn Point and entered meadows which are all
brown this time of year, this'd be a nice hike in
late spring or early summer. I spent a lot
of time squinting at the brown grass for any sign
of a trail but basically one could follow a faint
path through the meadows all the way to Cow Camp.
When one arrives at Cow Camp then it's:
trail, what trail?
Here's where
experience pays off, I just turned left past the
spring and picked up the trail going into the
forest. Rocky lava beds begin showing up
here and there and after a short climb through
another lava field Cougar Butte summit is reached.
The butte is broad
and round and does not really feel like a summit.
Today was gorgeous and I could see Diamond Peak,
Mt Bailey, and Mt Thielsen. I could also see
Highrock Mtn, Grasshopper Mtn, Rocky Ridge and
Rim, and Hershberger Mtn.
I was just getting
warmed up so after the summit lunch I continued on
the Cougar Butte Trail. The trail wanders
along a ridge with barren pumice deserts.
It's not really pumice or lava but it is
definitely volcanic rock that is causing these
deserts. In one of the barren areas I came
across a signpost signifying a junction of some
sort but there was nary a trail to be seen.
Fortunately, kind souls have laid out a string of
cairns and I was heading in the right direction.
At the end of the
desert a meadow lay at the end of it and I could
not find anything that looked like a trail.
I walked through it and zigzagged back and forth
but no luck. Just when I was beginning to
weigh the wisdom of continuing, I picked up the
tread in the forest and I was back in business.
Then the scary
moment. Have you ever had the feeling you
are not alone? I did, so I stopped and
scanned the forest, senses on high alert. In
a clump of small fir trees I about 20 yards away I
saw an eye, balefully looking at me. At the
same instant my mind registered the eye, the
thicket exploded in sound and fury and about 8 elk
stampeded out of it. And I didn't even
get a picture.
I continued on the
trail, eventually winding up on the Rogue Umpqua
Divide Trail. I wanted to continue on to
Abbot Butte (which was very near) or Elephant Head
but instead turned around at my self-imposed
curfew of 2:30...I wanted to be at the trailhead
by 5:30 as I really did not want to be looking for
trail signs in the dark.
I returned in
lengthening shadows and at one point, the area I
was in did not look at all familiar. I
zig zagged back and forth and found out I had come
out of a barren about 60 yards north of where I
needed to be. Such is life on this trail.
Anyway, I got about 11 miles in and absolutely
enjoyed this hike. See the album at:
