Sterling Mine Ditch Trail

Back in 1854, a pair of miners (James Sterling and Aaron Davis) discovered gold in Sterling Creek. Word leaked out, the gold rush was on, and the boomtowns of Sterlingville and Buncom sprung up to service the miners. A couple of brothels also sprung up (pun intended) for a different sort of servicing of the miners, but that's a topic best not further explored in this blog. Pity the bypassed Aaron Davis, who had nothing named after him in spite of his co-discovery; all the glory instead went to Mr. Sterling. In 1877, the Sterling Mine Company constructed the 28 mile long Sterling Ditch to transport water from the Little Applegate River to the hydraulic mining operations. The mining activity eventually dwindled beginning in 1883, as the gold and chromite ran out and although the mine reopened from 1933 to 1957, the towns of Buncom and Sterlingville were abandoned and only a few buildings remain in Buncom from that era. Sterlingville was destroyed and nothing remains from that town which had reached a peak population of over 1,500 in its heyday. 

Trail, at the high point of the hike

Unfortunately, the post-Depression resurgence of hydraulic mining devastated and ruined the surrounding landscape and terrain. To this day, we still feel the effects from the damage caused by the mining. I'm not sure where the site of the actual Sterling Mine is or was, but Sterling Ditch and the Little Applegate are full of rocks and gravel, thanks to the mine. Accordingly, the water quality of the Little Applegate is poor but a stressed run of salmon do manage to make the spawning journey each year. And speaking of epic spawning journeys, Sterling Ditch has proved to be a great boon to hikers and mountain bikers alike in  our present time.

The rain never did materialize

In April of 2019, the weather forecast prognosticated floods for southern Oregon, thanks to a very wet weather system blowing in. That may be why only two hikers showed up to my hike, or else maybe nobody likes to hike with me; both possibilities are equally probable. However, the rain was due to arrive the following day, giving us a day to sneak one in before the deluge arrived. Medford hiking buddies Glenn and Carol thought likewise and met us at the trailhead under an overcast sky. Despite the gray sky above, the rain held in abeyance throughout the day.

Sterling Ditch Tunnel, in all its tunnely glory

The main attraction on the Sterling Mine Ditch Trail is the Sterling Ditch Tunnel which is basically a hole bored completely through Tunnel Ridge. A historical point of interest, to be sure, but for me the main attraction is the oak-dotted hilly countryside surrounding the ditch rather than the actual ditch or tunnel. At any rate, this hike was set up as an end-to-end shuttle hike from Little Applegate Trailhead to Tunnel Ridge Trailhead.

Shooting stars brightened up the trail

The climb up from the Little Applegate River to Sterling Ditch was fairly brisk but thankfully short as it gained about three hundred feet in about half a mile. On the way up, it was readily apparent that it was the onset of spring with white-colored oaks toothwort and magenta shooting stars doing their flowery best to distract hikers with cameras. 

The trail wanders through the oak trees

Once we joined up with Sterling Ditch, the left bank of the former canal became the actual trail and the path was either level or just slightly downhill, both grades being equally pleasant to walk on. Hey, this hike was going to be easy and whatever could go wrong? Well, private property boundaries, as it turned out. After a mile or so, the ditch and trail parted ways due to the aforementioned private property parcel, with the ditch continuing its pleasantly level journey while us hikers performed an agonizing uphill slog through a stand of leafless oak trees. Well, of course I'm exaggerating about the agonizing part, but it was uphill and did provide some leg-based discomfort as we climbed. 

Panoramic of the Little Applegate River valley

The slow uphill pace did allow us to enjoy views of the surrounding countryside, though. Above us was bare and grassy Goat Cabin Ridge with Point Mountain rising further above and beyond. Point Mountain was still covered with some snow, but it was patently obvious that the spring thaw was on. To the northwest was the large and deep valley of the Little Applegate River, which abruptly ended in the distance when it ran into the much larger and deeper Applegate River valley. In front of us, laying like the insurmountable object it turned out to be in the late 1800s, was the forested wall of Tunnel Ridge, so named in honor of the tunnel drilled through it by the Sterling Ditch construction crew. 

The ever so elegant grass widow

Underneath the oak trees were patches of grass widow, one of the more elegant wildflowers to ever bloom in southern Oregon. Flanking the trail, manzanita bushes were not only graced with interesting smooth burgundy colored trunks and limbs, but also graced with dangling umbels of pink flowers as is customary this time of year. Needless to say much photography ensued, doing double duty as rest stops too.

The trail and Sterling Ditch were one and the same

What goes up must come down, and once the trail crested a grassy ridge, it plunged at a rate inversely equal to the uphill portion we had just hiked. Clearly, we were on our way down to rejoin Sterling Ditch, our wayward friend. And that's exactly what happened when the trail entered a relatively lush forest in Muddy Gulch, which was not particularly muddy at all.

Tunnel Ridge looks straight ahead of Glenn and Carol

The trail was pleasantly level again, and there was much rejoicing. We were now on the slopes of Tunnel Ridge, and a small and underwhelming hole in the ground was the former entry point of Sterling Ditch's water flow where it had poured into the renown and famed Sterling Ditch Tunnel. It was more impressive to round Tunnel Ridge on the trail and observe the much larger tunnel exit where the ditch emerged from its brief underground journey through Tunnel Ridge. It's really amazing to think that the tunnel was hand-hewn through solid rock by Chinese laborers in the late 1800s, although Katie (Glenn and Carol's dog) seemed more amazed by the banana I offered her as we gazed at the tunnel.

The trail sidehills across Tunnel Ridge

After a lunch, view-soak, and regrouping of our small hiking party, we left the Sterling Ditch Mine Trail for the descent down to the Tunnel Ridge Trailhead. This portion of the route was all new trail for me as I had never been, and I must say it was probably my favorite part of the whole hike.

Manzanita trunks, smooth as the
burgundy they are colored after

The path contoured across steep grassy slopes dotted with sparse oaks as it switchbacked down to the Little Applegate. The mazanitas were huge here, being less like shrubs and more like trees and I stopped periodically to admire the distinctive smooth dark red trunks. When there were not manzanita bushes or trees there was oak, and where there was oak, there was Henderson's fawn lilies growing underneath in lavender profusion.

A veritable herd of Henderson's fawn lily

Henderson's fawn lily rivals grass widow for elegantness, in my opinion. The flowers are fairly large and imbued with a classy and stately pinkish lavender color and there were hundreds, if not thousands, of these floral beauties blooming right next to the trail.

The trail descended off Tunnel Ridge through some oaks

As the trail dropped down at a fast rate, I gave silent thanks to the trail gods that I wasn't hiking up this, that would have been a pretty good workout. But downhill it was, and eventually the trail spit us out onto the trailhead parking lot. From there, we piled into our respective cars, each giving silent thanks to the Sterling Mining Company for having had the wisdom and foresight to create such a great trail at the same time it was destroying the environment.

A clump of manzanita blossoms

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

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Jack-Ash Trail

Regular readers (if there are any) of my blog will have duly noted that I have a new love-affair going, the object of my affections being the East Applegate Ridge Trail (ART). Ambitious in scope, the ART will hopefully connect Grants Pass and Jacksonville via hiking trail. However, there is a companion to the ART project in the Jack-Ash Trail, whose ambition is to connect Jacksonville and Ashland via another dirt trail for hikers. To hike the two trails would be an epic backpack trip, although water is in short supply along the trail. Anyway, I've hiked and fallen in love with the first installment of the ART but had not yet hiked the first installment on the Jack-Ash Trail. Well, it was about time!

Spotted coralroot

Lane is due to lead a hike here so we headed down south to perform a scouting foray for his upcoming hike. Medford hiking buddy Glen joined us so we were three Jack-Ashnees out for a first-time hike, always an exciting venture. Sad to say though, the dirt road leading to the trailhead was lined with trash. I'm shocked but unfortunately, not really surprised at the depravity of low-lifes who think it's OK to dump their garbage on public lands instead of paying the landfill fee. I'd love to pick up the garbage and re-dump it inside their squalid homes but enough ranting, we have a hike to do.

What a pair of Jack-Ashes!

The original plan was to start at the Griffin Gap Trailhead but the "trail" between Griffin Gap and Greenstone Trailhead (the next trailhead in line) was the very same gravel road we had driven up on. So we hopped back into the car and decamped at Greenstone, eager to set foot on this brand new trail with signs already shot up by some target-practice cretins.

Star-flowered Solomon's seal

The well-marked trail soon put uncivilization behind us and we strolled through grassy meadows underneath an uncrowded stand of tall fir trees. In the grass were blooming clumps of Siskiyou iris, along with other flowers such as salmon polemonium and star-flowered Solomon's seal. All of us were camera-toting Jack-Ashers so the hiking was stop-and-go depending what was catching the interest of who's viewfinder. Our attention was pulled from meadows, trees, and flowers by occasional hints of the surrounding Siskiyou Mountains. The views of the mountains would definitely improve later on in the hike.

A happy sign!

We hiked steadily up through the woods and meadows, basically contouring around Anderson Butte. When we crested at a saddle west of the butte, a sigh enticed us...er, I mean warned us of a narrow trail with rocky outcrops and my thought was "be still, my beating heart, I'm in love!" At the crest, all the nice shade stopped and we began a sidehill traverse on the south-facing and exposed sunny slopes of Anderson Butte. The terrain dropped steeply away at our feet, bottoming out at the Little Applegate River.

The views impressed 

Without saying, the lack of trees allowed for some impressive views of the nearby Siskiyous. A prominent peak rose up on the other side of the Little Applegate canyon, I theorized the peak might have been Scraggy Mountain but an at-home perusal of an area map showed we were looking right at Stein Butte. The larger peaks of the Siskiyou crest were more easily identified: Kangaroo Mountain, the Red Buttes, and Grayback Mountain, just to name-drop a few. Closer to our hill-hugging trail were a pair of forested ridges separating Gulches Muddy, Deming, and Grub.

Farewell-to-spring

The mid-day heat had enticed all the bluebelly lizards to caper and frolic on the aforementioned rock outcrops and they watched us pass by, comically doing push-ups like little scaly Arnold Schwarzeneggers. A whole new cast of flowery characters were blooming in the drying grasses and spring azure butterflies had their choice of sipping nectar from California poppies, western flax, fiddlenecks, ookow, farewell-to-spring, and elegant cat's ear. Although, I don't think sipping nectar from a cat's ear would be all that elegant, but then again, I'm not a butterfly and don't have butterfly tastes.

Stein Butte on the horizon

After a mile and a half of angling downhill across Anderson Butte, we arrived at a trailhead with the obvious name of Anderson Butte Trailhead and that was a good place to seek shade, sit down, eat lunch, and deliver a constant stream of bad jokes and atrocious puns from two of us. If it's any consolation Glenn, Lane and I are sorry. All our friends...well, people who know us... offer their condolences. On an interesting side note, there was a register at the trailhead and the noted hiking guidebook author William Sullivan had been here the day prior. But at any rate, after a nice bit of relaxation, it was time to head back the way we came.

Glenn and Lane clear the path of ticks

Because we had lost elevation since the west-facing saddle on Anderson Butte, it stood to reason it would be all uphill to the saddle. But really, it wasn't too bad, we'd only gain a mere 200 feet over the 1.5 miles back to the high point of the hike. Lane and I had wanted to hike this trail earlier in the year but had to scratch due to snow, which was nigh impossible to imagine as we hiked in bare naked sunshine. But at least it wasn't as hot as it can get in the Siskiyou foothills, and for that we were grateful.

Pretty faces

It is possible to make a nice little 8 mile hike by leaving cars at Anderson Butte Trailhead and at Griffin Lane. Apart from the 1.5 mile section of uphill hike that we just did, it would be all downhill for the next 6.5 miles or so, the very antithesis of a Richard Hike. But if we were to hike it in the opposite direction however, my hiking friends (assuming I have any) might refer to me as a Jack-Ash and not in the good way, either.

I want a T-shirt with this logo

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

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East Applegate Ridge Trail

"New trail!" That's all I need to hear before responding "I'm in!". I don't even need to ask where it goes. The new trail could lead into a pit of venomous deer and it wouldn't make any difference, I'm still in. Fortunately, when Medford hiking buddies Glenn and Carol extended an invite to hike on the brand new East Applegate Ridge Trail, it didn't lead to any deer pit, although it did drop down into a valley.

Epic views, all day long

The Applegate Ridge Trail (ART) is the brainchild and pet project of the Applegate Trails Association and when complete, the 50'ish mile ART will connect Cathedral Hills (located south of Grants Pass) to the general vicinity of the quaint town of Jacksonville. But wait, it gets even better!

Glenn hikes through the madrones, oak, and conifer

The Siskiyou Uplands Trails Association is also at work making the Jack-Ash Trail happen. They already have installed a 12 mile section of trail connecting both ends of the Sterling Ditch Trail. When complete, the Jack-Ash Trail will make it possible to hike from Jacksonville to Ashland on continuous trail. But still, it gets better yet! Both the ART and the Jack-Ash Trails share the same terminus in Jacksonville so it will be possible to hike from Cathedral Hills all the way to Ashland. I can hardly wait!

Taking care of traihead formalities

The East ART is a 5.6 mile section of what will eventually be the full-length ART, and it contours above Bishop Creek and Poormans Creek's drainages and naturally, there is a trailhead at either end of the trail. So our choices were to start low and go high, or start high and go low. It really didn't matter all that much, because we were hiking this trail as an out-and-back and we would experience both the best and worst this trail had to offer, with respect to elevation gain and loss.

Didn't take long for the views to show up

Before we started experiencing that elevation loss however, the route was remarkably level for nearly the first three miles. The first view came maybe a quarter-mile from the trailhead and the epic vistas continued for most of the hike. Clouds covered up the sky for the most part but sunbeams leaked through and spotlit the bald grassy ridge we were contouring across.

Look, but don't touch!

Poison oak covered the hillsides in thick clumps, their presence quite striking due to the autumn colors of the accursed itch-spawning plant contrasting with the golden grasses waving in a soft breeze. Other colorful items were the dark red trunks and limbs of manzanita, and ditto for madrone trees, except that their trunks are colored orange just like the President's. Plus, a few oaks were letting the odd leaf here and there turn yellow. The lavender end of the spectrum was represented by a few specimens of coyote mint still in bloom.

I can see the town of Ruch from here!

The autumn plumage of (mostly) poison oak was nice and all, but really this hike was all about the stunning panoramas laid out before us. The hike started out peering down the deep canyon of Bishop Creek running into the much larger Applegate Valley. Looking like some out-sized quilt, the Applegate Valley was covered by a patchwork of farm pastures, some reposing luxuriously in a sunbeam while the rest shivered under a cloud's dark shadow.

Peaks of the Siskiyou foothills

Surrounding the valleys were a series of prominent peaks in the Siskiyou foothills. The geography of this area is not my strong suit but I believe we were looking at Miller Mountain, Mount Isabelle, and Woodrat Mountain. And as a personal slight to me, the Oregon peak-namers made sure that I also was looking at Mount Baldy AND Baldy Mountain. Ouch, they sure know how to rub it in! Behind the foothills rose the Siskiyou Mountains, their presence more felt than seen as they were mostly hidden in the clouds. The view of the valleys constantly changed, shifted, and ever exquisitely evolved as the trail twisted and turned on the grassy ridge.

Madrones reach for the sky

At the end of the level portion of trail, a strategically placed bench provided a place to contemplate the peaks and valleys laid out before us, and we took the opportunity to do that very thing. Just after the bench, the trail dropped down through a forest comprised of a mishmash of conifer, madrone, and oak. We almost mourned the loss of epic views but we were soon out of the forest within a half-mile and back in our happy place: hiking while oohing and aahing at the scenery. Much photography ensued.

Katy enjoyed taking her humans for a walk

Eventually the footpath morphed into an old roadbed, the downhill grade increasing markedly as the road had originally been designed for automobiles and not for hikers. We were nearing Highway 238 and as we sunk down into the valley, the vistas and panoramas were hidden from sight. But hey, at least there was lots of red-leaved poison oak to look at, sarcasm intended. We sat down and ate lunch about a half-mile from the lower trailhead. Katy (Glenn and Carol's dog) was well-fed as she successfully mooched from all hikers in our party.

Rain falls on neighboring mountains

I didn't know it at the time, but I was in the process of getting a flu bug. I had started out with a light headache and sniffles, but I definitely felt ickier once we started toiling uphill. Good thing I was hiking with friends who waited patiently for me as I trudged uphill, feeling like my head was an overfilled water balloon about to pop. Some relief came about halfway up, when the heavens opened up with about a 30 minute rainstorm. The rain felt good though, as it cooled off hot (and feverish) hikers walking uphill.

Autumn is the only time I like seeing poison oak

After a series of uphill switchbacks, we reached the scenic bench and sat down, watching the storm clouds break up after the rain ceased falling. The good news was that the next three miles were relatively level and we got to enjoy the awesome views all over again. From neighboring Woodrat Mountain, paragliders were floating around the summit, looking like multicolored gossamer-winged pterodactyls in search of hikers to eat.

Glenn and Carol hike on the edge of the world

This was an awesome hike and a shout-out to Glenn and Carol for expanding my hiking horizons. If the remaining sections of ART and Jack-Ash are anything like this hike, it will be one epic backpack trip. For now, my hiking list just got a few hikes larger: the completed section of the Jack-Ash trail is on tap, as is the full route when both trail projects are completed. Whoo!

Fellow hiker on the trail

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

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Sterling Ditch

Where have you been all my life, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail? Why have I never hiked you before? Why all the questions? And who am I talking to? So many questions to ponder in that that internal dialogue that takes place when one spends way too many miles alone in the woods.

Picturesque madrone

So much of the Siskiyou Mountains culture and landmarks involve mining in one way or another. The tectonic processes that created the Siskiyous also extruded heavy metals to the surface. The shiny metals embedded in the mountains were then (and are still being) harvested although nowadays we are somewhat more environmentally circumspect than in the days of yore.

A squadron of oaks

There already had been mining in the area of the Little Applegate River but when gold was discovered on Sterling Creek in 1854, the boom town of Sterlingville sprung up to support the sudden influx of prospectors. The town went bust about 50 years later but hydraulic mining continued another 50 years or so, much to the detriment of the Little Applegate River and surrounding topography. To facilitate the mining, in 1877 a 26.5 mile long ditch was dug to divert water from the Little Applegate to the Sterling Mine operations.

Part of the uphill walk up to the ditch

Nowadays, the ditch no longer carries water but the overgrown ditch still is in evidence today and the downhill-side bank makes for a wonderfully level trail for hikers and bikers. Of course the ditch is halfway up Goat Cabin Ridge which meant a brisk walk uphill from the Little Applegate River was required to reach the ditch. But then again, it's just not a hike unless it goes uphill.

View to Bald Mountain

Even though we (my internal dialogue avatar and I) were hiking in the Siskiyou foothills and not the mountain range proper, tall peaks still surrounded the Little Applegate valley. Open and grassy (read: treeless) slopes provided ample views thereof all during this walk. To the west were grand vistas to Point Mountain and the disturbingly named Bald Mountain. Further up the Little Applegate Valley was the tall snow-dusted mountain of Wagner Butte, a totally awesome hike in its own right. 

It was simply a gorgeous day

For the first couple of miles, the trail ambled alongside the ditch but alas, private property intruded into all the pleasant walking. In order to contour around the property line, the trail parted ways with the ditch and headed several miles uphill through grassy slopes studded with leafless oaks, orange-trunked madrone, and equally orange colored ponderosa pines, all situated under a gloriously blue sky.

A tree clings to life on a steep slope

What goes up most come down or so they say. And who are "they" anyway? Why do we care what "they" say? More mindless questions with which to ponder away the miles, but I digress. Anyway, at a wooded saddle, the trail plunged precipitously down into Muddy Gulch, trading sunlit grassy slopes for murky woods. At the bottom of the trail plunge our friend Sterling Ditch rejoined the trail, giving me something to share rambling soliloquies with.  

Trail, next to Sterling Mine Ditch

Most hikers on the Sterling Ditch Trail begin at the Tunnel Trailhead. When the ditch was constructed, a tunnel was bored through the aptly named Tunnel Ridge. The historical oddity of the tunnel is the main destination for hikers but I had started from the Little Applegate Trailhead, about 6 miles away from the tunnel trail. At this point, I had about 5 miles in but the shadows through the trees were getting longer. Unless I wanted to hike back to the car in the dark, I'd have to turn back soon.

The tunnel was a little underwhelming

Fortunately, at the 5.3 mile mark, a small little hole in the ground marked the seemingly insignificant tunnel entrance.  That was good enough for me and I turned around and began walking quickly back to the car. Well, I walked quickly until the trail and ditch split ways again. Remember that steep plunge down Muddy Gulch? Now it was a steep climb out of the canyon, gaining about 500 feet in 0.6 miles.  At least it was short, distance-wise.

The afternoon glow on the way back

It was a magnificent next few miles as afternoon headed into twilight. Shadows lengthened across the grassy slopes while I re-enjoyed the expansive views of the Little Applegate Valley and the surrounding peaks on Goat Cabin Ridge. Isn't Goat Cabin Ridge a cool name? Do goats really build cabins? More questions, I know, and while I don't have the answer as to why I've never hiked the Sterling Mine Ditch Trail before, rest assured I'll be back to further explore this superb hiking destination.

Conversations I have
with myself when I hike

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