Lemolo Lake Loop

Last year, the Forest Service installed a brand new trail around Lemolo Lake and I wasted no time hiking on the trail to see what it was like. On that August day, there were two fires burning nearby: the Spruce Lake and Red Blanket Fires. Smoke from the two conflagrations hazed up what could have been a magnificent day for hiking. This year, I led a group on this same hike and of course, there was a fire burning nearby: the Miles Fire. Smoke from that fire hazed up what could have been a magnificent day for hiking. See a trend? Sheesh, finding a clear day is beginning to be like finding a snipe on a snipe hunt. If this keeps up, when I'm older I'll be telling my awestruck great-grandchildren "When I was a boy, the sky was blue..." However, in both renditions of the Lemolo hikes, my complaining about the haze is somewhat tempered by the fact it was nowhere as bad as it had been before and after each hike.

At the start of the hike

Eight of us saddled up, so to speak, at the Lemolo Lake Dam and we headed off on a dusty but well-defined trail that perfunctorily wandered through the lodgepole pines before spitting us onto the asphalt parking lot at the boat ramp. A brief walk on the resumption of the trail took us past busy Poole Creek Campground and up the campground roadway, where a trailhead marked the commencement of the "real' hike. 

Nobody fell, darn it

The trail gets a fair amount of use from the mountain biking crowd and to a lesser extent, a smaller number of hikers. But the path had that real trail feel as it meandered through the forests surrounding the lake. There were several intersections with trails that bypassed the numerous arms of Lemolo Lake, making for a shorter and more concise route around the scenic body of water. It also made for a less scenic route around the lake, too. Accordingly, every time we hit an intersection (which were all unsigned, seeing as how this is a new trail) we took the left turn that kept us closest to the lake but also made our hike longer.

The narrow Lake Creek arm of Lemolo Lake

Lemolo Lake has more arms than North Korea and we hiked around the Poole Creek arm and two lesser arms, proving hiking distance is always more than the proverbial straight line between two points. The Lake Creek arm is what makes the loop a long hike, adding about three miles to the total distance. Although the arm is fairly narrow, there is no way to shortcut across without a boat, airplane, rocket launcher, or catapult. 

...and the crowd went wild!

The arm is probably the most remote section of trail on this hike and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. There was a couple fishing from a boat in the middle of the bay, happily plying their avocation, totally unaware they were being watched by hikers hidden in the forest. The lady hooked a fish and we observed the epic contest between fisherwoman and fish. The fish put up a valiant but losing fight and the triumphant fisherwoman was startled when a round of applause emanated from deep within the forest! She was a good sport though, and proudly posed with her catch; the fish did not share equally in the joy of the moment.

Julie and Chelsea pick their way carefully past a landslide

The trail crossed over Lake Creek right next to paved Forest Road 2614 before ducking back into the forest and following the creek's marshes back to Lemolo Lake. In a couple of places, the lapping waters of the lake had eaten into the soft volcanic soils surrounding the blue body of water, and our trail was either completely eroded or one more storm away from permanently disappearing into the lake. But hey, what's a hike without a scramble or bushwhack or two or three? Despite the precarious position we were in, perched high above the lake on loose and shifting earth, nobody made a gravitational detour down to the lake.

Why we hike

The south side of Lemolo Lake sports some awesome campsites and beaches for backpacking and we visited several before stopping for a lunch and view-soak. Across the lake, forested Bunker Hill reposed under a blue sky and yes, the smoke was clearing up a little bit.

The club hikes through a dead forest

Continuing on, we entered a "forest" comprised of dead lodgepole trees that had met their collective demise in a forest fire from several years ago. No doubt, the East Lemolo Campground had been empty when that fire was ongoing but on this day, it was fairly busy with campers enjoying the lake in spite of the haze. A short section of trail took us from the campground to paved Forest Road 2614 again. 

The clear waters of the North Umpqua River

A road bridge took us over and across the North Umpqua River, which feeds Lemolo Lake, and we stopped to gawk and take photos of the peaceful and photogenic river. From there, it was an uphill walk on a tie-in trail which connected to the venerable North Umpqua Trail and the final leg of our loop hike. 

Why you should always use sunscreen

This section of the North Umpqua Trail is not really my favorite section of the NUT as the road circumnavigating the lake is nearby and you never really get away from the sight and sound of of cars whizzing by below the trail. However, on this day, the road was fairly quiet and as we walked through shady forest, it was easy to pretend we were far away from the uncivilized world. 

Fireweed, going all fiery on us

Shadows lengthened in the afternoon sunlight as we walked through the trees, and as the miles continued to add up, it seemed like there was less and less happy chatter between us. There were a few hints of autumn here and there in the form of bright red fireweed leaves and other small plants going red and yellow. Near the end of the hike, Edwin and his group left the trail and bushwhacked down to the road leading to the dam. Judy, Chelsea, and I continued on the trail because we are good hikers that follow the rules about shortcutting and we wound up right behind the slackers anyway.  

Hazy view of Lemolo Lake

At the dam, we could barely see Mount Thielsen in the haze. I'm going to have to snowshoe around the lake to catch Lemolo Lake on a clear day, apparently. For more pictures of this hike, please visit the Flickr album.

It's just not a hike if no one bleeds

  

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Lemolo Lake Loop

I was reading the News-Review the other day and it was all about politics, weather, sports, blah, blah, blah, when all of a sudden the headline leaped off the page and slapped my hind with a melon rind, fully getting my undivided attention: "New trail coming to Lemolo Lake". Finally, something worth reading! Well, besides well-written and semi-regular stories about hiking in the Outdoors section titled "Richard Hikes", that particular column is always worth reading.

Where mosquitoes come from

Seems the Umpqua National Forest was wrapping up construction on a new trail, making possible a 10'ish mile hike all the way around Lemolo Lake. There already was an existing trail connecting East Lemolo Campground to Lake Creek, and the North Umpqua Trail sideswipes the lake on the north side, but until now, the trek around the lake on established trails was not possible. Also, the the new trail was built with mountain bikers, Nordic skiers, snowshoers, and even us lowly hikers in mind. Accordingly, the trail was designed to be fairly level and wide enough in most places for two bikes to ride side by side. Just saying, but if this would have been a hiker-only trail, it'd have charged straight uphill because nobody cares about hikers and no, I'm not bitter.

View to Bunker Hill from across the lake

Because the trail was built in soft pumice soil, the Forest Service is going to let winter rain and snow tamp down the poofy soil. Therefore, the official ribbon-cutting ceremony is slated to take place sometime next year. All of this was set out in the newspaper article, but what again leaped off the page and slapped my lid with a thawed out squid, was the one sentence towards the end, which stated hikers could "...use the trail after its construction is completed this Sunday." Well, I know what I'm doing next weekend!

Hazy view to Cinnamon Butte

Well, after impatiently waiting through the longest week ever, it turned out that hiking at Lemolo Lake might have been somewhat questionable, since fire season had begun the week prior. Roseburg had been putting on its best Los Angeles imitation, what with solid air being dirty and brown with smoke. All the particulate matter discoloring the sky was primarily from the Spruce Lake and the Blanket Creek Fires (the two would later be combined into the High Cascades Fire) in the Crater Lake area, but things would get worse when North Umpqua Complex fires started up 3 days after this hike.

New trail!!!!

At any rate, I was pleased to park the car at the Lemolo Lake dam, where the air was only slightly hazy. It could easily have been a lot worse. Southern Oregon was in the throes of a protracted heat wave so I was equally pleased to see the temperature was 86 degrees, it could easily have been a lot worse too. What was disappointing, though, were the black clouds of mosquitoes pestering me as I laced up my shoes, it could easily have been a lot less worse, but it wasn't.

I love shade on a warm day

The new trail was prominently visible, as it had been recently cut into the ashy slopes. The trees were festooned with pink ribbons marking the route, which was a good thing in a couple of places, as there were absolutely no signs posted yet. The pink ribbons also made me wonder if Lane had hiked here before me. I was pre-excited to be the first to set foot on this trail but, alas, I noticed other footprints and bicycle tire tracks on the path, some other trail lovers had beat me to the punch. "Good thing I don't really care" I thought to myself, as I blinked back my tears of disappointment.

Confusing trail junction

The dusty trail wandered through the woods before spitting me out onto the boat ramp at Lemolo Lake Resort. After exchanging pleasantries with cabin residents, I followed the trail as it wandered over to the road to Poole Creek Campground. Here, I lost the trail, as I didn't see where to pick it up again on the other side of the road. I followed a use trail along the lakeshore, muttering lots of "excuse-me(s)" as I walked through people's campsites. Eventually the path petered out as I left the campground behind, but I spotted the trail in the forested slope above. Apparently, I had needed to walk up the road instead of going straight across like I did. Oh, well, it's all part of the teething process for an infant trail.

The new trail was in soft pumice

Pumice and volcanic ash had been deposited here about 7,000 years ago, courtesy of Mount Mazama blowing itself out of existence. Nowadays, Mount Mazama's crater is referred to as Crater Lake National Park. The pumice and ash had lain undisturbed for at least 7 millenniums, until a small bulldozer scraped off the vegetation and topsoil when the trail was constructed. My feet sunk a couple of inches into the dusty soil and it was a lot like walking in soft sand.

Lake Creek

Occasional views of the lake allowed me to see the east end of the lake several miles ahead of me. But before I could round the lake, a two-mile detour around the arm of Lake Creek was required. As the trail approached the meadows and swampy area at the Lake Creek inlet, a small herd of deer took off running, startled at my arrival. That felt good: me startling deer, for a change. After a bridge crossing of the fairly large creek running with crystal clear water, the route resumed on a real trail.

Some of the old trail is in Lemolo Lake

Also very real, regrettably, was a noticeable increase of mosquitotude, apparently they are happy to live in creeks, meadows, and swamps. Go figure. The trail climbed up to some pumice cliffs that provided great views of Bunker Hill across the lake. Did I mention the pumice soil was soft? Some of that softness was evident where the cliffs had been eroded, taking a piece of the Lemolo Lake Trail with it. I had to bushwhack above and around the small slide to continue on my journey.

What lodgepole beetles do to lodgepole trees

As I approached the East Lemolo Campground, the trail entered a stand of dead lodgepole pine trees, apparently pine beetles have done a number on the trees here. Both East Lemolo and Inlet Campgrounds are sited near the confluence of the North Umpqua and Spring River(s). The confluence is predictably marshy, swampy, and meadowy and the mosquitotude just ramped up by a factor of 17.1. I took few pictures here because the mosquitoes were truly horrendous, I didn't dare stop for fear of being eaten alive, one mosquito bellyful at a time. I had put on plenty of Deet but it didn't matter, I was below the bottom rung of the food chain and it was feeding time. Amazingly, the campgrounds were full of people apparently willing to feed their small children to the mosquitoes for a weekend.

The North Umpqua River

A short walk on a paved road took me across the North Umpqua River, looking particularly scenic as it rounded a bend before entering Lemolo Lake. The loop around Lemolo Lake would then be closed by walking on the North Umpqua Trail. I had hiked this section of the NUT before, but remember being not particularly impressed. Yes, the trail provides no views of the lake but does provide great views of cars whizzing by on paved Forest Road 2612.

The North Umpqua Trail passes through some burn zones

In 2015, this section of the trail was closed due to a complex of fires burning on Bunker Hill and now, the NUT goes in and out of the burn zones. The shady bits were most welcome but the open burn zones were bursting with sun-loving greenery and the whole vibe was quite peaceful. I'll have to revise my previous snooty opinion of this section of the NUT. After two miles, the trailhead at the dam came into view and the hike was over after crossing the dam.

Lemolo Lake, from the dam

At the dam, Lemolo Lake stretched out before me and the haze had dissipated, leaving snow flecked Mount Thielsen, Howlock Mountain, and Cinnamon Butte eminently visible beyond the lake. Also visible above the mountains was a wall of black clouds: an incoming thunderstorm was coming in. The subsequent week's worth of lightning was sufficient to set most of the Umpqua National Forest ablaze and the highway linking Roseburg and Crater Lake was and will be closed for an extended period of time. Because of the fires, this hike will probably be my last hike in this area until next year but it was nice to get in a new hike on a new trail. Hopefully, wildfire won't ruin this trail before it can even officially open.

Bunker Hill, from the south shore of Lemolo Lake

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

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