Jacksonville Forest Park 2/19/2022

Take a bowl of spaghetti soaked in red marinara sauce, flip it upside down on a white tablecloth, and voila, you'll have your very own rendition of a Jacksonville Forest Park trail map. And do make sure to clean up the mess before the wife gets home! Messy culinary metaphor aside, the point I'm trying to make is that trails proliferate everywhere in the esteemed woodland park, filling the map with squiggles that resemble a ball of wriggling baby snakes (or bowl of spaghetti) more than a network of well-used footpaths. There are so many paths, routes, and junctions that the very idea of leading a hiking group there would (and should) fill one with trepidation. Appropriately enough, Lane (the designated hike leader for this Friends of the Umpqua outing) was justifiably trepidated. 

A flock of Eagles and Monkeys gather in the forest

Glenn and I had hiked this route just a couple of weekends prior to the official Friends of the Umpqua hike, so I'm not going to rehash the hiking thereof since the club hike was the same route described in my prior blog entry. However, the complexity of the hike presented a degree of difficulty not normally encountered because on our chosen route there were at least 38 trail intersections presenting 38 opportunities to peel inattentive hikers away from the group. Unique challenges require unique solutions, so we'll talk about those instead.

Chuck leads the Turtle charge, such as it is

Because Lane, Glenn, and yours truly were familiar with the route, the 17-member group was partitioned into three teams, based on hiking speed. In order of anticipated rapidity (or lack thereof) the teams were named after animals: Eagle, Monkey, and Turtle; and stickers were handed out to all hikers like so many kindergartners on a field trip. And guess who was in charge of Team Turtle? In response to the cruel japery directed my way by those who felt superior to our slow but mighty team because they could walk faster, I could only remind them that it was a turtle that had won the race against the hare.

A rolling stone gathers no moss, but
standing trees on the other hand, do

Two-way radios were distributed to two leaders in each team (except for the Turtles) and all leaders were assigned code names: Eagle Beak, Eagle Claw, Monkey See, Monkey Do, and Turtle Head.  Additionally, each team leader was given a list of check-in and regroup points and I must say, the whole system worked quite well other than the many turtle insults broadcast over the public radiosphere. I chose not to respond in kind and just retreated into my shell.  

Jacksonville Creek had some water in it

Because I had been here just a couple of weeks prior, I noticed Jackson Creek was carrying a bit more water this time out, thanks to some intervening rain. As always, I had my trusty camera with me but really, I didn't take a lot of pictures, preferring instead to concentrate on my duties as chief turtle herder and overall hike sweep.

An oak, uncertain about which direction to grow

As the hike wore on and the trail trended towards the uphill, some hikers dropped into the next slower group down and accordingly, I soon acquired more turtles in our bale and yes, a group of turtles is really called a bale. At any rate, I preferred to think of the neo-Turtles that were former Monkeys as Turkeys.

Manzanita was in bloom on Upper Twin Peak summit

One of our regroup points was atop Upper Twin Peak where we fed the animals, so to speak. We ate lunch on the wooded summit while soaking in the view of Mt. McLaughlin and Bear Creek Valley, enjoying the hiking camaraderie, and denigrating all things turtle. With so many hikers all chatting and chomping atop the summit, it was quite the zoo. The main thing for the three team leaders was that all hikers were present and accounted for. So far, so good.  

Lichen clings to life on a tree trunk

The good news from a hiking standpoint was that after the summit of Upper Twin Peak, the route was all downhill, causing some of the Turkeys to self-promote back up to Monkey rank. As an aside, the Monkeys were indeed pretty rank all right, but that's another story.

A maple leaf, about to get devoured by moss

It was a pretty satisfied and happy group that last gathered at the trailhead for a final head count when the hike was over. In speaking to some of the participants post-hike, the consensus seemed that as the hike started, there was much grumbling and talk of mutiny because of the stultifying team hiking rules and regulations. However, after the first several dozen trail intersections or so within the first set of miles, everybody saw the need for being organized and all would-be rebellious types soon became happily compliant. Should have named that group Team Sheep.

I wear my badges with honor

My only complaint about the whole outing is that apparently, my new trail name is now Turtle Head. Not sure I particularly like that, I'd gladly shed my turtle shell, but then I'd either be homeless or naked and not really sure which.

Quite the menagerie

For more photos of this hike, please visit the Flickr album.

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Jacksonville Forest Park

So I sort of volunteered Lane to lead a hike in Jacksonville Forest Park. Of course, the one drawback to my diabolical plan was that Lane had never been to the park and I'd been only once. Clearly a scouting trip was in order so Glenn, who is quite familiar with the park's network of trails, was enlisted to show us the way. But Lane called in sick, so it wound up just being me and Glenn, and we all see what Lane did there.

The Rail Trail ambled through the pleasant woods

Starting from the trailhead below smallish Jacksonville Reservoir, our route crossed the dam on a footbridge and set out on the Rail Trail. In short order, we arrived at the ruins of an actual railway trestle. Here, the bridge abruptly ended in mid-air and lest I be tempted to come up with a bunch of jokes about this, a plaque somberly reminded us that in 1917, one Denver Marsh perished in a train accident here. 

Jackson Creek needs more water

The Norling Trail ran next to Jackson Creek and to see the creek in its full glory, you need to be here right after a rainstorm (or during, maybe). On this day, the creek was barely trickling but the sound of water burbling through the trees was reward enough. At Confluence Bridge, where creeks Cantrell and Jackson meet, trails scatter in different directions like so many dandelion seeds floating in a breeze. Here, hikers have to decide in which direction they are going. For us, it would be a continuation on the Norling Trail up Jackson Creek. Norling is a popular name in the park as there is a road, creek, mine, and trail that all carry the name, the oddity being that the Norling Trail does not go to any of the other Norling-named features.

Norling Creek cuts a swath through leafy duff

There were no falls on the Canyon Falls Trail either, although there was a bench that was labeled "Canyon Falls" that offered a look at lethargic Norling Creek desperately trying to make it as far as Jackson Creek before running dry. The hike was a steady uphill endeavor but never overly so, and offered a pleasant walk through woodlands carpeted with a thick layer of decomposing maple leaves. 

Watch your step, the trail is icy!

Small isolated snow patches flanked the trail, which was heavily frosted in places. Virtually all of this hike took place on the shady side of Jackson Creek's frigid canyon and even though the day was sunny, extra clothing layers were an all-day requirement, thanks to the chilly air and general all-around lack of sunlight on our route.

The entrance to Norling Mine was barred shut

This park's history is heavily interwoven with historical mining activity around the rustic town of Jacksonville. Accordingly, our route sideswiped several mines, the first of which was Norling Mine. The mine entrance was just a small hole on a wooded slope, the entrance barred shut to prevent silly people from crawling into the mine and never being heard from again, or maybe to keep pallid cave deer from slithering out.

View of Mt. McLaughlin and Bear Creek Valley

The Atsahu Trail was on an old roadbed that angled upwards through woods increasingly trending to madrone before cresting at an open saddle. At the saddle, we made a hard right turn and Glenn gaily skipped up the path to Upper Twin Peak while I trudged step by painful step, darn younger people anyway. Our reward for all the toil and trouble was a rest on a strategically sited bench with an awesome view of Bear Creek Valley, Mount McLaughlin, and Grizzly Peak, all covered with white snow under a vibrantly blue sky.

No Richard, the hike was named after ME!

It was all downhill from here, thankfully and we switchbacked down the Owl Hoot Trail, passing El Patron (a huge madrone tree) along the way. Hoot man, the downhill was certainly a lot more fun than the slog up Upper Twin Peak! The Owl Hoot met up with the Boulder Trail which in turn led to the Handsome Mine entrance, triggering a lively discussion between Glenn and I over which one of us the mine was named after. This mine was also doored shut, although a tap on a window pane turned on lights inside of the mine, illuminating railway tracks disappearing into the inky black bowels of the very earth itself.

Narrow trail in the deep and cold shade

The Ol' Miner's Trail could have triggered another lively argument between Glenn and I but neither one of us had any real interest in claiming the moniker of Ol' Miner. If it were Handsome Ol' Miner, then maybe. At any rate, after wandering past an old hydraulic mine site littered with rusting mining equipment, the trail spit us out onto Jacksonville Reservoir Road near the trailhead parking lot and just like that, the hike was over. Many thanks to Glenn for helping us out with planning our upcoming hike.

Map of our route

So, I ran into Lane a couple days later and let me tell you, he did not look sick at all. Far be it from me to say he pulled a fast one, but his recovery was a medical miracle on the face of it. However, since I am now the only one with knowledge of the route, I'll probably get stuck leading the hike for him but then again, I could call in sick!

Even the trails have trails

For more photos of this hike, please visit the Flickr album.

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