Riverview Trail

The North Umpqua Trail is to the Riverview Trail what the cruel stepsisters were to Cinderella. While the North Umpqua Trail gets the all the recognition, glory, and a prince's love on the south side of the North Umpqua River, the Riverview languishes on the north side, as forlorn and unappreciated as a sooty scullery maid taking out the kitchen swill. Nonetheless, there are several compelling reasons for hiking on the Riverview and I can't think of a single one. And yes, I'm joking, there really are some good reasons to hike on the Riverview, just give me minute to come up with one.

Dogwood lights up the forest

When the weather is sunny but cold, like in winter, then the Riverview is on the sunny side of the river I'm always so envious about when hiking on the North Umpqua Trail. And while the North Umpqua Trail tends to be closer to the river than the Riverview, the Riverview Trail actually does live up to its name, providing much better vistas of both canyon and river from several hundred feet above.

The Riverview Trail, in all its well-shaded glory

I've generally hiked on the Riverview Trail in winter only, and my general impression was that the trail's only purpose in life was to provide year-round hikers a rather utilitarian hike along the North Umpqua River in winter, when snow debars hiking in the higher elevations. There's not as much wow in the views and the trail when compared to other epic hikes, or at least enough to zazz up jaded hikers like myself. On a positive note though, the trail is relatively flat and the hiking easy, what with the level grade and wide trail tread. And I must say that, after hiking this trail in the middle of spring, well I'll just have to concede the trail itself can be exceedingly beautiful given the right time of the year. 

Maple trees conduct a floral symphony

I got off to a late start just because I'm retired and I can. The day had already warmed up to the 80's by the time I began my hike, the trail stair-stepping past a series of rocky cliffs looming over the trail like some unassailable castle redoubt. Big leaf maple was in full flowering song, its dangling clusters of yellow-green flowers contrasting quite nicely against the deep blue sky above. Blue-belly lizards skittered in the dead leaves underneath the trees, the sound of which never fails to startle me in what is a vestigial response from all my rattlesnake encounters over the years.

The walls of the castle

The initial climb was brisk but short before the path ducked into the forest proper. The Riverview Trail in its former incarnation, was the old highway to Diamond Lake, and accordingly remains a wide double-track path through the trees above the river. Because it was spring, everything was green and I did not tire of seeing grass growing on the old roadbed.  While birds twittered and flittered in the forest undergrowth, and brooks (and me) babbled across the trail, the green and shady trail was the real star of the show on this day.

All hail our state flower!

Once the trail crested at the high point attained within the first half-mile of hiking, it gradually descended down to Bogus Creek. Periodically, the trail would break out into the open, contouring through arid patches of scratchy ceanothus perfuming the air under a baking hot sun. Sun loving plant species such as deep purple-blue larkspur, white coastal manroot, and wee-sized pink baby star, were all happily flowering in the open sunlight while bees buzzed from from flower to flower. It was warm out in the open sunlight and a ground beetle trudged wearily in the heat and I knew just how that beetle felt. 

The ever so smooth Mr. Madrone

Good thing for me then, that the trail was mostly shaded. The majority of the hike was done in mottled light and shade, thanks to all the surrounding conifer, big-leaf maple, and smooth-trunked madrone trees. The jungly vegetation was an indicator that things can get fairly moist here and several creeks crossed the trail with Alder Creek being the most picturesque, as the stream seeped down the face of a mossy rock before tumbling into a small pool.

Shadow play upon Williams Creek

Williams Creek was the largest creek of the bunch, requiring a stout footbridge to get across. Just after Williams Creek, the Williams Creek Trail made an appearance, commencing its mad charge straight uphill for virtually all of its four miles of existence. I've hiked that trail just once and once was enough as it was steep with thick stands of poison oak encroaching over the trail. It provided no views of any creeks or any Williams and has no reason to exist at all. If I ever say something like "Hey, I want to hike the Williams Creek Trail!", a sharp rap right on the forehead with a stout hiking pole should do the trick.

Fire is very much a part of this area

Anyway, I hiked past the trail junction on a rare uphill section of trail. This area of the Riverview has seen plenty of forest fires in the recent past and there was plenty of evidence of wildfire damage, both old and recent. Many of the trees were charred but still well alive, while in other places, thick brush grew at the feet of ghostly snags completely devoid of any life whatsoever. 

A river view from the Riverview

After about four and a half miles of hiking, it was beginning to feel like it was getting on to late afternoon, so I turned around just about a half mile short of Bogus Creek. It was the same old attractive forest on the way back but the walk was generally level with the odd uphill part every now and then. Periodic openings in the forest on the trail's downhill side provided great views of the North Umpqua River coursing at the bottom of its well-forested canyon. A roar louder than the usual river noise reaching my ears up on high advertised the presence of Steamboat Falls, although I couldn't ever get a real good look at the noisy cascade.

Left over from a cougar's dinner

Near the end of the hike, I spotted a deer skull lying next to the rest of its skeleton at what had been the obvious site of a cougar kill. As I walked just a little bit faster past the grisly scene of that crime, I still couldn't help but feel that it had been a great hike on what really was a beautiful trail. The near constant greenery, forest, flowers, and shade made the Riverview Trail a most gracious host. The deer probably would disagree with me on that, though.

Mossy maple tree

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

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North Umpqua Trail - Mott Segment

It sure seems like I've been hiking on the North Umpqua a lot, lately. It's time to go somewhere else, isn't it? Lane thought so too, and he was leading a Friends of the Umpqua hike up the North Fork Willamette River so sign me up! However, winter decided we needed yet another hike on the North Umpqua Trail. You see, the weekend prior to the scheduled North Fork hike, Lane was unable to reach the trailhead due to snow covering the forest road. Ok, so a Plan B was quickly cobbled together and the McKenzie River Trail was penciled in as a substitute. But nooo...the relentless winter storms dumped snow on that too. Eventually, surrender-monkey Lane waved a snowy white flag of acquiescence and picked the low-elevation (and more importantly, snow-free!) Mott Segment of the North Umpqua Trail.

Fisher Creek crosses the North Umpqua Trail

A small but enthusiastic group of 8 hikers showed up to brave the winter elements on the North Umpqua River. It was cold at the meeting place in Roseburg but it was colder yet at the trailhead: 24 degrees, to be exact. Down jackets, mittens, gloves, and knit caps were the gear du jour at the start and all hiking participants were most eager to commence the hike and stave off frostbite.

Leaf art on a stump

Despite the cold, there was not a lot of ice on the trail, somewhat surprising when you consider the North Umpqua River is perennially shady and cold on the south side of the river. Also surprising, there were campers still asleep at the primitive campground near the trailhead. It was surprising they were camping, not that they were still asleep, just to clarify. Anyway, seeing the campers reminded me that Dollie and I winter camped once. Just once.

The mighty North Umpqua

Much of the North Umpqua Trail tends to be on cliffs 100 feet above the river but the Mott Segment stays at river level for most of its miles. Periodically, Lane and I would bushwhack down to the river's shore to take pictures of the opaque waters rushing by the trail, The river was running wider than normal and like me, was quite impressive to stand close to!

White on top, just like me!

On our periodic forays to the river's edge, we noticed the mountains on the north side were bathed in sunlight. On top of the mountains, the trees were all frosted with snow causing Lane to posit the riddle "What do those mountains and Richard have in common?" Lane...my buddy. Anyway, we were peevishly jealous of any northsiders hiking over there in the sun. Not warm sun to be sure, but we still would have welcomed the psychological warmth a winter sun provides.

Proof it was cold

There is a section of trail that hugs the base of a cliff right next to a tranquil stretch of river. This particular piece of the Mott Segment is paved over with concrete designed to preserve the trail for the mountain bikers, as I imagine the river can cover it up after a good storm. I also say it was for mountain bikers because nobody cares about hikers struggling through on muddy trails (he said, with a just a trace of bitterness).  Here it was icy on the trail, and we carefully walked on the treacherous and slippery concrete. Below a cliff festooned with small icicles, were leafless bushes totally encased in ice. Much photography ensued and once again, Lane and I were bringing up the rear while our cameraless friends continued on.

Mushrooms were everywhere, in spite of the cold

An interesting moment on this hike was when a mysterious supernatural drumming sound reverberated throughout the forest: Boom...boom...boom. The beat was quite rhythmic and my first thought was that we were about to have a profound encounter with spirits of native drummers past. Alas, the drumming had a more mundane, but still interesting origin. A tree had fallen and the base had wedged itself between two trees while the upper portion of the tree dangled in the water. The treetop was bouncing in the river's current and water gurgled where the tree met river. When conditions were just right, about every fifth gurgle, the gurgling made a loud "glunk" sound which then carried through the tree trunk like a giant tuning fork. Nature's amplified subwoofer at work, and how cool was that?

Fisher Creek, at Zane Grey's Camp

A number of named creeks crossed the trail and it goes without saying, a larger number of unnamed creeks crossed the trail. John unsuccessfully tried to convince us that John Creek was named after him but we weren't buying it. The most notable creek was Fisher Creek because it was at Fisher Creek that the famed author Zane Grey camped and fished out of the North Umpqua. A small campsite and commemorative sign mark the spot. As a test, we asked the younger thirty-something members of our party if they had ever heard of Zane Grey and the response was "Doesn't he play for the Seahawks?" and "I think he starred in Titanic" Lane set them straight with "No, he was the Village People dude wearing the cowboy hat". Sigh.

Large cascade on the North Umpqua

When the historic Mott Bridge came into view, that was our cue that this frozen hike was about to end. This hike had been set up as a shuttle which meant that one car had to return to the starting trailhead and then all cars would come back to pick up all hikers. In theory, this meant that there should be a small contingent of hikers waiting at the trailhead for the cars to return. So, it was a little disconcerting when Lane and I finally arrived and there was nobody there. A momentary panic set in as we wondered if everybody else had continued onto the Panther Segment, not realizing they were to stop hiking here. Or maybe they had enough of our incessant stream of bad jokes and atrocious puns. "See, Lane? I told you nobody likes that joke about the one-legged kangaroo!" Fortunately, they were all exploring the nearby Mott Bridge and that should teach us to take less pictures, hike faster, and shut up more. But then again, probably not.

Always the river

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

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Riverview Trail (loop version)

The Riverview Trail is one of those winter standby hikes. The scenery is fairly mundane and unimpressive and normally I wouldn't ever hike on it. On the plus side, the trail is wide (being the North Umpqua Highway in a former incarnation), the tread is smooth and even, and the trail is blessedly snow-free most of the year. Ergo, when snow keeps hikers out of the mountains, the good old Riverview Trail reliably fills in for unappreciative hikers.

The Riverview Trail

The Friends of the Umpqua Hiking Club normally jazz up this hike by hiking straight through and putting out at Fall Creek Falls, shuttling drivers back to the trailhead afterwards. Being in the mood for a longer hike than the 8 miles to the falls, I set up a loop which involved a walk along the North Umpqua Highway and a return on the Mott Segment of the North Umpqua Trail for a nice little 11.7 mile round trip hike.

A chilly start to the hike

The sun was sort of out with some clouds taking issue to the sunshine; it still was pretty chilly, though. It was cosmetic sunshine: it looked nice but lacked the warmth necessary to induce hikers to offer their winter-white legs in grateful tribute to the sun gods. Jackets, vests, beanies, and gloves remained firmly attached to hikers despite the exertion of the walk.

Williams Creek

The Riverview Trail quickly climbs above the North Umpqua River (and highway) before leveling off with limited views of the river peeking through the trees. We were on the north side of the river and sunlight slanted poetically through the forest. At the two mile mark, we crossed over the Williams Creek footbridge. Because of the good condition of the trail, I was making quick time and before long, it was time for me to leave the Riverview Trail and head downhill to the Bogus Creek Campground.

Bogus, dude

I just had to say "Bogus Creek, dude" in my best California surfer accent before exiting the campground and crossing the North Umpqua Highway. A mile long walk along the unusually quiet highway brought me to the Wright Creek Bridge and a crossing of the North Umpqua River. The return back to my car would be along the Mott Segment of the North Umpqua Trail.

Wintertime color

The North Umpqua Trail was narrow, rocky, muddy, and I had to wade through encroaching vegetation. Ah, so good to be on a real trail again! Being on the shadier side of the river, the forest was a dripping and gooey biomass of ferns, moss, mushrooms, and rushing creeks. And always, below the trail coursed the strikingly turquoise colored waters of the North Umpqua River.

Hefty cascade on the North Umpqua

Just past the impressive cascades near Steamboat Inn, I could see the bridge crossing of Steamboat Creek across the river. My car was parked there and it seemed cruel that I had to hike nearly two more miles to return to my car, but that's hiking life for you. The only way to get across the river, short of swimming, was to hike upstream to the historic and picturesque Mott Bridge.

...speaking of hefty

Jennifer, Edwin, and Merle had all agreed to hike the longer loop with me but I had not seen them since we started hiking. Determined to catch up to them I walked at a pretty good clip. Turned out, they had missed the Bogus Creek turnoff and had to backtrack. They too were walking fast, in an attempt to catch up to me.  With all of us trying to catch up to each other, we naturally never made contact until the end of the hike. They stated they'd "...figured we'd catch up to you at some point".  I think I was just called slow.

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