Lemolo Falls

Despite the profound enjoyment received from hiking, one should always be aware there is always an ever present element of danger in any given hike. There are so many ways to get into trouble, from falling trees to landslides to being robbed by rude deer. In my view however, the most dangerous part of hiking is the drive to get there. A recent case in point was on the drive to the trailhead near Lemolo Lake. I was tootling along in that happy empty-mind mode of driving when I felt something crawling on my middle finger. WASP!! I tried shaking it off but the lethally armed insect desperately clung to my middle digit. Finally I just sort of rolled it around between my fingers, frantically scraping it off onto the floor before it could sting me. The malevolent bug was indestructible however, and I could see it already crawling up the car seat to reclaim its rightful throne on my finger. At that point I decided to do the smart thing and pull over and deal with the wasp in a more prudent fashion. It was right then and there I noticed the car drifted across the center line but fortunately no onrushing cars were in the vicinity to further complicate an already complicated situation. Come to think of it, the forest might be safer than the real world!

Ho hum, just another spectacular cascade

That's not to say that the great outdoors does not have it's risk, though. But a lot of trail safety involves risk management decisions, with the outcome dependent on those decisions. For instance, one time I was hiking in the desert when a dreaded rattling sound emanated from the dried grasses in my feet. Rather than scream and flail, I stopped and calmly assessed the situation, located the snake, and made the right move to get out of its venomous reach. But then there's times where in hindsight, I have to ask myself what I was thinking of when deciding what to do, and that was the story on this hike. Spoiler alert: not that big of a deal (this time) and all turned out well but I wanted to make the point that smart people can do dumb things sometimes, like on this hike. 

Small springs seeped onto the trail

Dumb people do smart things on occasion too, and the smartest thing done on this day was simply to get out onto the trail on a warm spring day. Wanting some quality river time with an extra large helping of massive waterfall to go along with, I selected the North Umpqua Trail from Lemolo Lake to Lemolo Falls as the lucky trail of of choice. As the footpath descended through lush woods, it quickly became apparent this would be a good photography day.

A twisted stalk flower hangs like a spider from Mars

The trail was dropping down into the North Umpqua River canyon and the slopes on the right were adorned and bedecked with copious amounts of wildflowers and the slopes on the right had a rushing mountain river flowing below the trail. What to to take photos of? Why, everything, of course! And that again is the story of why I hike so slow.

Columbia windflower plays affable host to a longhorn beetle

It was mostly a white flower slow, with star-flowered Solomon's seal, Columbia windflower, vanilla leaf, inside-out flower, and yellowleaf iris all contributing from that end of the color spectrum. For a little variety in color, columbine (orange), candy flower (pink, sometimes), wild rose (pink, again), and rhododendron (eminently pink) contributed to the floral rainbow. I hardly ever see twisted stalk flowers but did run into a couple of flowering specimens on this hike, their spidery looking flowers dangling below their leaves like so many alien pod babies.

This bug was extremely camera shy

Bugs were crawling all over the vegetation and I added longhorn beetles, lacewings, and one strange bug (who was most camera shy) to my photographic inventory of insects great and small. That shy bug clearly could see me and rotated behind the plant it was on, doing his best to hide from camera view. I finally reached around with one hand and got a quick picture when it split the difference between hand and camera. Still don't know what kind of bug it was, though.

The North Umpqua River, all hike long

The North Umpqua Trail is 78 miles long and I have hiked on most (but not all, amazingly enough) of those miles. The river is not always visible for all of those miles but can be seen often in bits and pieces in many trail segments. However, this river section is one of my favorite river views on all the miles of the NUT that my feet have trod. Here, the river leaps from pool to pool, often doing the leaping via the photogenic medium of scenic cascade or noisy white-watered chute. On a warm day (like this one), the cool air emanating from the river and frequent cascades are always appreciated by overheated hikers.

Thundering Lemolo Falls

After a mile and a half or so, a loud roar announced the presence of Lemolo Falls. The river was still carrying the spring volume so accordingly, the falls were at their cascading best. There is a trail on the other side of the river that provides a great and unimpeded view of the falls but the trail is short so I've never seen it from the other side. From the North Umpqua Trail you get a partial view of the upper half of the falls, although you can get a better view by bushwhacking down a steep slope, holding onto trees for support as you do so. Any complaining about the view being less than all of the falls is just whining in my opinion, for the trade-off is you get a longer hike on the beautiful North Umpqua Trail.

The rhodies were putting on a show

The path below the falls was quickly overtaken by tall rhododendron bushes putting on a spectacular show. The trail was festooned with pink rhodie blossoms and an already slow hike remained slow but the photography was fun. Eventually, the trail dropped down to river level downstream of Lemolo Falls and now we get to talk about the bridge crossing the North Umpqua River.

It was a lot worse than it looked

In years past, a stout wooden bridge crossed the river. Over time and floods, logs began to pile up against the bridge supports. First it was one log, then two, then several and then many severals. You could see the bridge flex and cant to the downstream side with all the weight and pressure of the backed up logs and clearly, it would be just a matter of time before the bridge let go.

Time to walk across a very shaky bridge

The Forest Service sent in a crew to remove the logs and build a stronger bridge. It took some time but the new bridge was made out of metal and was indestructible. Well, at least until a tall tree fell on it. So there I am, looking at this mortally wounded bridge with a "Closed" sign on it and really it didn't look that bad, so I decided to go across. In my defense, if you look at the photos, it really doesn't look that bad, but appearances can be ever so deceiving. The closer to the point of impact, the more the bridge leaned toward the river, and it moved and trembled unsteadily under each of my footsteps. Clearly, this was not the smartest decision I've ever made but at least I did get to the other side of the river unscathed. But, boys and girls, please do as I say and not as I do and avoid scrambling across broken bridges that have "Closed" signs on them.

One of many cascades on the river

I only went about a mile further before backtracking and renegotiating the Challenge of the Bridge. By this time the day had warmed up enough to be considered hot, and it was all uphill to the car. It was still a slow hike, but now my snail's pace had little to do with Mother Nature but more to do with Auntie Gravity as I trudged uphill. Before I began the drive home though, I made a thorough inspection of my car for more wasps, just in case. You see, I do practice safety, except for maybe when it comes to bent and broken bridges.

Random whitewater shot of the North Umpqua

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

Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyHike

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

  

Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyHike

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.

Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyHike

North Umpqua Trail - Lemolo Falls

Last year, hiking buddies Toresa, Lisa, and I hiked on the Dread and Terror Section of the North Umpqua Trail. This year, there had been talk of hiking the whole 13'ish mile section but logistics got in the way somewhat. I'm not sure if hiking the Dread and Terror is going to become an annual event or not, but at any rate we decided to hike the Dread and Terror from the northern end for this year's rendition.

Waterlogged trillium

The day dawned as damp and chilly as last night's hairball left on the living room carpet, but it never actually rained. There was a heavy drizzle in the air and the temps stayed in the low 50's: in other words, conditions were just perfect for hiking!

Water black and cold, like my heart

From the Lemolo Lake trailhead, the North Umpqua Trail dropped rapidly through a drippy forest. Visibly waterlogged trilliums drooped their sodden flowery heads from the weight of the water and I knew just how they felt. Small creeks and runoffs trickled across the mossy trail. As we dropped down into the canyon, the North Umpqua River made an appearance, the cold making the waters seem profoundly black.

"That's no waterfall..."

Well, the river was black when it wasn't white and it was white quite a bit as the river leaped from pool to pool. Some of the leaps were 10 to 15 feet high, causing Toresa and Lisa to inquire if one large cascade was Lemolo Falls. In my best Crocodile Dundee impersonation, which really is not very good, I answered "That's no waterfall. Now THIS is a waterfall!"

Half of Lemolo Falls

After a mile and half or so, the real Lemolo Falls showed up. However, it's hard to get a good look at the falls from our side of the river without executing a dangerous tree-hugging scramble down a near-sheer cliff with wrists not partially fused like mine. There is a trail on the other side that provides a great look at the falls but getting there would require a swim across the cold black river, so we had to content ourselves with an obscured look at the nonetheless spectacular waterfall.

Speaking of works in progress...

From the Lemolo Falls overlook, the trail dropped down to the river where some obvious construction is taking place at the plank bridge over the river. In years past, logs had piled up against the bridge and there were obvious cracks and chunks taken out of the footbridge by the logs. But now, the logs had been cut and removed but judging from all the earth removal and tarped equipment hanging around, the bridge repair or installation is still a work in progress.

Tenants on Baughman Bluff 

Our next work in progress, so to speak, consisted of a steep climb up to Baughman Bluff. The path soon acquired a cliffy flavor as it narrowed and clung to the bluff's face like a baby monkey clinging to its mother's back. We sat down and ate lunch there and were treated to a pair of nesting ospreys calling out to each other as they took turns feeding their nestlings.

The river flows next to the Best Campsite Ever

The next several miles were a steady descent from Baughman's Bluff to the best campsite ever at B.D. Bluff. The campsite is sited right next to the river underneath a dense canopy of vine maple. And I do mean dense, the very air was suffused with a soft emerald glow from the ample leafitude.

One more step to the river

Since we had walked 6 miles to get here, it seemed like a good idea to turn back and that long descent then became a long ascent. It's just not a hike unless it goes uphill! We did stop at a viewpoint atop a rocky needle overlooking the river's canyon. Here, the canyon is quite narrow, and it seems almost possible to reach out and touch the cliffs on the opposite side. However, that would not be a good idea as the canyon floor is several hundred feet below; so narrow and deep is the canyon that the river cannot be seen from this trailside aerie.  Much photography ensued.

Moss carries its own hydration bladder

One more protracted climb away from the river and past Lemolo Falls capped this hike off. The hike came in at 12 miles and a couple of more miles would have equaled the distance covered by the entire Dread and Terror Section. As we bid each other adieu, we all agreed it was a great hike with good friends and next year we should do the entire section. It sounds like hiking the Dread and Terror will become an annual event, after all.

The North Umpqua River, above Lemolo Falls

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

Create Maps or Search for a route from millions at MapMyHike