High Temp: 99.3
Low Temp: 44.4
Humidity: 92% - 22%
Rain: Zip
Cheryl's News from Camp Webegone
Rich's birthday.
The day begins with me asking Rich what birthday breakfast he would like. He requests French Toast drizzled with local Huckleberry Syrup. After that, it's time to head out for Rich's Birthday Hike.
As ever, everything takes longer than you plan. So, a
bit later than expected (10:27 to be exact) and 60 degrees outside, we drive to the
Boundary Springs Trail entrance at Mazama Viewpoint. After the 21
mile drive to get there, the temperature has risen to 68 degrees. With a mild forecast for the day, we
energetically begin walking down the Upper Rogue River trail.
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| C&R Heading Out |
The beginnings of the trail is set atop a ravine that follows a creek that we can hear but not see. The
trail on the left side drops off into the ravine - a long tumble if
you fall. The trail on the right is a rather
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| Desolate Woods |
Growing beside the trail is lupine. In May and June when the lupine
is in bloom, the trail must look stunning - a half mile trek lined with
purple blooms. Perhaps we will visit it again in bloom, to see it in its full splendor.
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| Noble Fir |
Rich and I continue on until we reach a
fork in the trail. Nailed to a tree is a very, very faded trail
marker. If you look closely and know beforehand what the sign should
say, you can make out "Boundary Springs". We follow the left side of the
fork to Boundary Springs and see our first glimpses of the Rogue
River. At one point the trail is set atop a high ridge with the
Rogue River way down on the right, and the creek way down on the left.
The terrain in this area is quite lush. Surrounding us is a dense forest filled with white pine, sub
alpine fir, noble fir, mountain hemlock, shasta red cedar, and acres
and acres of huckleberries. The noble fir are picture perfect for a
holiday tree.
I take special note of the huckleberry. There are two kinds of huckleberry in the area:: mountain huckleberry and huckleberry I am used to seeing in the
Pacific Northwest. And I snapped a few pictures of the mountain huckleberry.
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| Mountain Huckleberry |
One of the special things about this is place is that along and within the Rogue River, there are
lots of meadows. Meadows of wildflowers.
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| Wildflower Meadow |
Meadows of grass.
Meadows of bushes.
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| Bush Meadow |
For lunch we sit beside the Rogue River and marvel
at the beauty of the meadows.
The goal of our hike is the the origin of the Rogue River. It's actually not
much farther from where we stopped for lunch. And after
wandering down a few unmarked trails, we finally arrive. I find it very beautiful. But what surprises me is the volume of water at the
origin is just about the same volume that flows through Natural
Bridge.
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| Rogue River Origin |
As of yet, the powers that be have not determined where
the water comes from that forms the origin of the Rogue River. At any
rate, it is already a mighty underground river before reaching topside.
Rich
and I hang out beside the river enjoying the peace, beauty and quiet.
We've met only two other hikers on the entire trail. Of course, occasionally we
do smell smoke from the Crescent Ridge fire. Can't ever quite get away from that up here.
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| Rich at Boundary Springs |
Eventually, it's time to head back to camp. No sadness today, though - as we pick about two cups of huckleberries
along the way. (Huckleberry pancakes for breakfast is in our near
future!) We get back to the car at about 5:15,
and it's now 81 degrees. Warm, but pleasant. And after dinner at Beckies, we head back to camp.
This was a new hike for both Rich and I. At camp we
reflect on the beauty of nature, the quiet, the peace, the power of a
river and the abundance of life a mighty river feeds. We marvel at
the variety of birds observed: flickers, chickadees, robins,
nuthatches, jays and humming birds. A wonderful day to celebrate a
wonderful man on his 69th birthday.
Cheryl
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