April 2021 – Friends of the Umpqua Hiking Group

Hike Coordinator: Richard O’Neill

Narration by Richard O’Neill

Well, we had a good turnout for this one, numbering about twenty or so hikers. It seemed like the fearless leader (me) was the only one familiar with the Cathedral Hills environs so this hike wound up being mostly a collective first time experience.
Cathedral Hills is a smallish park that is located just outside the city limits of Grants Pass. The park sports a woodland vibe with nice forests comprised of oak, madrone, manzanita, cypress, and other assorted conifers. But in spring, the wildflowers put on a show, especially a bright red one we don’t get to see in Roseburg, known as Indian Warrior.

Not only were these floral warriors brightly colored but they were plentiful, a virtual floral army waging a war against mere green forests. These plants are parasitic upon the root systems of madrone trees and there were plenty of those too. Also tapping into the madrone roots were patches of California ground cone, an odd little plant that looks just like a pine cone, as its name suggests. Poor madrone trees, they had to be wishing the kids would hurry up and just move out already!

There are many trails braiding in the park and it seemed like every five minutes we’d be at yet another intersection. That’s why a map is an essential on this hike and fortunately each hiker was supplied a map and cue sheet so we could finish the hike with the same number of hikers we started with. Basically, our route was following the outer contour of the park, starting from high at the Sky Crest Trailhead and dropping down to Espy Trailhead, and then closing the loop by hiking uphill back to Sky Crest.

Because of the park’s smallish size, it’s difficult to get in a hike over eight miles and our route was pretty close to six miles. It was a good day with bright blue sky, mild temperatures, copious amount of wildflowers, green woods, some views of nearby mountains, exercise, and just the overall joy of hiking. I think Cathedral Hills might find its way onto our list of “must do in spring” hikes.

Read about this hike hike on Richard O’Neill’s Blog

More pictures on Lane Harris’ Flickr page and Richard O’Neill’s Flickr page

Pictures below by Richard O’Neill and Lane Harris

[Show slideshow]

Hike Coordinator: John Malone

Narration by Lane Harris

The club has been to Tahkenitch Dunes many times, but on this trip, John decided that we needed to hike it a bit differently than normal. The usual loop through the forest, out to the beach, and then some moderate sand-walking was apparently not satisfying enough. The solid path through the forest was not on today’s agenda, but in its place was, you guessed it, more sand!

The trek out to the beach was quite pleasant, and we all enjoyed the pleasant weather that was bestowed upon us. After collecting sand dollars and gazing over purple starfish in the sand, we headed inland towards Threemile Lake for lunch.

After gnawing on our sandwiches and meat sticks, the drudgery through the thick, soft sand leading back to the trailhead lay before us. Legs and calves burned as each hiker more or less hiked at his or her own pace. This created a good separation between those out front and the rest of us in the rear. This portion of the hike was an opportunity for each of us to be alone in our own Zenlike trance, questioning the great mysteries of life. Like: Why are we doing this??

As much as I don’t care for hiking in LOTS of sand, this is still a great trail that deserves repeat visits. However, I would suggest to forego the torturous sand route and take the forested loop route instead. There is still plenty of sand left on this hike to satisfy anyone with a voracious craving for the soft spongy stuff.