Puffer Butte

Name: Puffer Butte

Elevation change: 643 feet (All Trails) 533 feet (Run Keeper)

Distance: Depends. All Trails says 2.5 miles, Run Keeper says we went 2.77, Washington Trails Association says 4.4 miles **shrug**

Difficulty: not easy, I'd say medium-easy. Steep in places and I accidentally left my hiking poles in the car so some parts were treacherous for me without them. I also am significantly out of hiking shape so it was definitely a workout. 

My friend Lynne and I made camping reservations for Field Springs State Park back in the fall of 2019 before the world went to hell in a COVID handbasket.  But after the spring of triage online teaching we managed to hang onto the reservation and the reopened the camp in early June--just in time for us!  We stayed in the little cabin at the park. 

Field Springs State Park is out in the middle of nowhere. It's perfect. It's south of Clarkston/Lewiston area and north of Enterprise, Oregon. You can find out more here. Because we stayed in the cabin, we didn't really see much of the rest of the park so I can't report on RV or tent spaces.  

We decided to check out the main trail linked to the park, Puffer Butte. This trail goes up and at the top of the butte the view is spectacular. I just can't explain my love of the Blue Mountains but hopefully the pictures will do a bit of justice.  It was June so the wildflowers were exploding everywhere! It was awesome and I saw some I'd never seen before.

It's a well maintained trail. There are several branches off the trail and so that may explain the variances in distances. In fact, the map of the trails for the park is terrible, I'm glad we were able to even find the right one.  

The trail (at least the first half) was well marked and the blue markings on the trees led the way. There were a few parts that had some vegetation overgrowing, but nothing too invasive or that got in the way of the trail. 

There is a cabin up at the top that is evidently available for rental, but you'd have to haul everything up there. Maybe someday...

In the distance there is Hells Canyon and I *think* those are the Idaho Rockies in the very back. There's no way a photo can truly capture how beautiful it is up here. In my college geology class, my professor was super focused on coastal erosion so I don't know every one of the cool forces that made these mountains these shapes, but I love it. Obviously years of water erosion but it just looks so damn cool. Hard angles yet soft. Here's a good overview of the geology. 

And! Fun fact: the Blue Mountains really are blue. Trees emit isoprene as a defense mechanism and when the isoprene interacts with other molecules in the air it creates a blue haze. Additionally, blue light scatters easily so our eyes pick it up. So they aren't really blue (duh) but toss in some chemistry and physics and they are.  Bananas!  We learned this because this AMAZING book was in our cabin as reading material. 

Larkspur

These red flowers were my favorite. They were SO striking against the brown landscape. They are Scarlet Gilia or Skyrocket. Also in the bottom photo is the yellow balsamroot. We also saw honeysuckle, phlox, penstemon, lupine, asters, and so many more. It was a wildflower bonanza.

On the way up we drove up out of Walla Walla toward Pullman, cut over to Clarkston and then south. On the way home we took the much more scenic southern route to Enterprise.  I'd always wanted to do Highway 3, I'd seen pictures and it looked beautiful.

California Redwoods Camping Trip

I recently got back from a wonderful trip to the Redwoods.  If you've never been, I *highly* recommend it.  It's just unreal.

As an Oregonian, I thought I knew trees.  I thought I'd seen big trees.  And I have, it's not like Douglas Firs and Ponderosa Pines are tiny, but I had no idea.  Walking through the towering Redwoods make you feel so small. So insignificant.

We rented a cabin in Prairie Creek (California) State Park, Elk Prairie Campground.  This isn't a campground blog but I'm going to delve into it a bit.  It was a great cabin. It had two bunk beds, double size on the bottom, twin size on top. This is similar to cabins and yurts that we've stayed in in Oregon State Parks.  It was a really nice campground.  The tent and camper sites were deeper into the woods, the cabins were on the edge of a meadow.  I would have liked to be more IN the woods, but whatever, that's neither here nor there.  It was also reasonably priced at $100/night.  That's more than Oregon State Parks, but it's also in the National Park so I thought it was reasonable. There was nothing else inside the cabin, ones we've stayed in in Oregon have had a table and chairs, this one did not.  It did have a fake fireplace heater which came in handy!  The campground did have showers but the setup was really weird and didn't really have space to get dressed after showering without getting wet.  **Shrug** Most people don't have to deal with putting on socks so they can put on their leg brace with their shoes so if you're just putting on shorts or a dress and sandals, you'll be ok.

Not the best angle, but here was our cabin. You can also see the bear locker to store your food in, we just kept ours in the cabin.

Here was the view above the meadow one morning:

We also saw some elk chilling in the prairie:

We stayed pretty far back *like you're supposed to* but some people got much closer. They're crazy and reckless and not respecting the wildlife.

According to California State Parks, there are 75 miles of trails within the park.  We did not do 75 miles of hiking.  The park info doesn't say, but there were several trails that are handicap/wheelchair accessible.  I love it. I believe everyone should have access to our National Parks.

The first hike we did was Cathedral Trees Trail. It's listed as "moderate" and 1.4 miles. It connected to Foothill Trail (2.2 miles, accessible).  It starts out near "The Big Tree" which is a super original name and not even the biggest tree, but whatever.

I didn't take a picture of *every* tree in the forest, but it felt like it.  The problem is that there is just no way to capture the size of these things. Even if there's a person in the photo for scale, it's still just impossible to really gauge the magnitude.

Redwoods actually don't have very deep roots because they get so much moisture from the fog.  

Here's ya girl, inside a tree. Or cluster of trees. It's so big the outer sides don't even show here. It had been hollowed out by fire.  Redwoods are amazing trees. They are incredibly resilient and their bark is essentially fireproof.  This allows many of them to survive fires. They also survive when, say, people cut through them so they can drive through.  We didn't see any of those and despite the novelty, it makes me sad that the tree has been injured.

If you are a podcast listener (or if you're not--start with this one!) I *highly* recommend "Ologies". I have learned so much about so many different topics. I find myself caring about things I didn't know I'd care about.  Anyways, my most favorite episode ever is Dendrology--trees. Alie Ward, the host, interviews Oregon dendrologist Casey Clapp and it's just so freakin' fascinating!  The spend some time talking about Redwoods/Giant Sequoias and how unique they are, including their fire resistance and their growth from saplings. I'm guessing (I'm not the dendrologist) that the trees that I am "inside" of in the above photo was multiple trees because redwoods can grow from shoots that the tree sends out.

The next day we were tourists and went up the road to Trees of Mystery. According to their website, there is like a mile and half of trails. We walked up the trail to the gondola and rode it up the side of the hill (website says 1570 feet up). From the top we could see the ocean, though it was foggy so you wouldn't really know that's what you're looking at:

We rode the gondola back down (did not hike down, though that is an option. It's one mile of "rugged terrain") and walked through the Trail of Tall Tales. Different folks have carved out characters from different tall tales. Here's "Stumpy Wood". Heh.

After that we drove back south and hiked Lady Bird Johnson Grove.  It's a 1.5 mile loop that starts off slow in terms of big tree viewing. I admit, I was a tad disappointed. But not for long! It gets into the big trees and again, one feels tiny and humbled and overwhelmed.

Sarah is in this pic so there's some scale.

This panoramic shot also includes Sarah for scale. Definitely check out this hike if you're in the park.

Here we are inside a burnt (but still very much living!) tree.  She is the person that introduced me to hiking. I'm so grateful for her persistence in getting me outdoors. It's also been our 4th summer camping together and despite living across the state from each other, I'm so glad we still have this tradition. We are already planning next summer's trip!

We also drove up Cal-Barrow Road. It's a 3 mile dead end road near the campground.  It would be a great, strenuous-at-times hike if one were so inclined.  Maybe next time. But it was a GORGEOUS drive. It winds through dense redwoods, it was spectacular.

The last day of our vacation we headed back north and stopped in Jedediah State Park where we re-visited the Leiffer-Ellsworth Loop Trail. A 2.6 mile meander through a large grove of trees.

Again, if you've never been to the Redwoods I highly suggest you go. It is (for me, at least) a spiritual experience. I kept thinking of the hymn we often sing in church, "It Is Well With My Soul". When I am in these woods, amongst these ancient giants, all truly is well with my soul.

Tiger Ridge (I think)

Name: Tiger Ridge (as best as I can tell from USFS website).  It is not listed on the USFS app (which is garbage but improving) and not listed on AllTrails.
Elevation change: 841 feet according to RunKeeper, but you'll read--we also go lost so that's not entirely accurate
Distance: 5.52 miles--but we got lost. So it's probably closer to 4?
Difficulty Level: Just Right

I thought I'd get outside and try a new (to me) trail. I'd heard about Tiger Canyon and according to AllTrails there's several trails up that area, but one is a 19 mile loop--NOPE. The other is a 4 mile out-and-back that's pretty steep.

Then I found this old blog post from a gal named Heather.  She describes a nice loop, 5-ish miles. She gives much clearer driving directions than USFS. So I thought I'd check it out.  I talked my friend Rachel into joining me, I don't like to do new trails alone.

We got the ultimate Eastern Oregon experience.  Up in the Blue Mountains, in the Umatilla National Forest, there were trees!  And SO MANY DIFFERENT WILDFLOWERS! It is a pretty exposed trail so lather on your sunscreen, bring LOTS of water, rest in the shade when you can.

Oh, and don't get lost. I was going off of Heather's description (take a left at every fork in the road). However, there was no fork where there was supposed to be one.  We didn't pay attention because we were looking for the fork. It's not Heather's fault, her blog post was from years ago and it seems huckleberries and other nature has simply grown over the path.  Or there was no path and we're idiots, something.  Who knows.  Heather, if you read this, I don't blame you.

It starts out gradually going uphill. I like gradual. The first like 2+ miles are old forest service road (Road 40 on Google Maps). It's pretty rocky.





Hard to see how rocky, but trust me.  As someone with a leg brace for an ankle that doesn't work, rocky is slow going. But it doesn't stay like this.



This is around the 2 mile mark, roughly. The rockiness is smoother and it ends. We decided to rename this Lupine Lane.



Aha! There is a fork!  This one we expected and we stayed to the left like Heather suggested.  This was around 2.2 miles in.  As you can see, a lot of open spaces. As nauseous as we felt when we made it back to the car, we're sure we had heat exhaustion.  I dunno, drink lots of water, wear tons of sunscreen, maybe don't go right smack dab in the middle of the day...



Ugh, you can *barely* see it in the back because it's so hazy, but there's the WW valley in the distance. You get to this trail heading out of Walla Walla, but the road swings back south to Oregon so we think this is looking toward Milton-Freewater. ish.



Another sweeping vista.  It was really pretty up there.



A road block. We went off the path (sorry nature!) to go around the stump.



After a while, the path narrows considerably.  I can't tell if this photo was taken before we missed the non-existent fork, or after, but regardless, this is what the middle portion of the trail was like.  Rocky in some spots, just dirt in others, but narrow.



Another amazing meadow area, covered in different wildflowers, I wished they all showed up better in the photo.



This is one I hadn't seen before and they aren't in my William Sullivan book so I don't know, but they're small, speckled, and pretty.



Ok, if you reach several boulder-y areas in the trail, you've gone too far.  We crossed several of these precarious areas before actually checking the map.  We hadn't seen any forks in the road!  So we backtracked to where Google said the fork would be. Seriously, no fork.  We cut through about 20 feet of huckleberry bushes and other nature to find the right path (FS 41).





Take a left at this tree to go through to FS 41.  Apologize to nature for going off the trail.



The nature you have to cut through and Rachel at the other side.



You'll come out of the huckleberries here, and it's I don't know how far to loop back to FS 65 which is where you want to me. Best guess 1000 feet but I'm totally making that up.

You'll come back out to FS 65 which is a well maintained gravel road. Some motorcyclists we met on the trail called it Skyline Road.  Forest Service lists it also as Tiger Canyon Road.



From here it's 1.5-ish miles back to the trailhead.  I mean, there isn't really a trailhead.  At least, not well marked.

From Heather's excellent driving directions:
Drive down Mill Creek Road until you reach Oregon. You’ll know it’s oregon because it’ll go from a paved road to a dirt road and there will no longer be a divide in the road. There’s also a weird, confusing caution sign about “high traffic area” or something, which is totally a lie. Keep going down this road for awhile. You’ll pass a blueberry farm, the Whitman wilderness campus and some cool dinosaur sculptures made out of old machinery parts. At some point you’ll see a right turn that requires making your car go down a slightly steep mound and you’ll cross a bridge. Within 5 minutes you’ll see a “Umatilla National Forest” sign and you’ll know you’re on the right road. Slightly past that is a gate, which should be open if all is well. Keep driving on this road (NF-65) for much longer than you expect, a good 20-30 minutes. When you see what looks like a road to the right (it should be road NF-6512), you’ll know you’re almost there . You can hike down that road, but it’s like a 28 mile loop, so I wouldn’t suggest it for your first time. The loop you want to take (or I recommend) is the next road that you come across on the right (NF-40). It’s rocky and looks like a trail, and you’ll know its a trail because it has a little wooden sign pointing to OTHER trails very close to the start. Follow this trail and keep turning left when you come across forks in the road. If all goes well, you’ll end up back at your car.

Here's what the "entrance" to FS 40 looks like.  It's not marked and the sign is further in than you'd think.





Tiger Ridge is there to the left, up past my car.

It was definitely an adventure. We are a couple of out-of-shape gals who went in the middle of the day. Elevation, exertion, and exposure got us pretty good. We were both feeling pretty weak and nauseous but survived.  I've never been so happy to see my car!

I would do this trail again, especially now that I know where to veer off the path, so to speak. If you love wildflowers, this is the hike to do. Or maybe we just went at the right time of year.

On the drive home we saw a little bear! I've never seen one in the wild, it was so cute but scary because I knew mama had to be nearby, I was glad for the safety of the car. Course my adventure partner's body decided she needed to vomit right then so I was super vigilant that they wouldn't come back out by the road!

One last shot because the views were spectacular--I love where I live so much!

Cottonwood Canyon

Name: Pinnacles Trail
Elevation Change: AllTrails says 173 feet for an 9.6 mile out and back, RunKeeper logged my elevation change 526 feet in 6.28 miles.  I don't remember it being ANY elevation change, it's very flat, believe AllTrails on this one.
Distance: We ventured in over 3 miles then turned around but it goes on a lot further
Difficulty rating: SUPER EASY.  It's like you're just out for a walk

Because it looks like this outside and has for several weeks, I've got cabin fever and I'm not-so-patiently waiting for sunshine and better weather so I can get outside!  This was the first post-winter hike we did that year.



Cottonwood Canyon State Park is Oregon's newest (one of it's newest?) State Parks.  It's out in the middle of nowhere--just how I like it.  The park is located off of Highway 206 between Condon and Wasco. It used to be a private ranch so in many parts the "trail" is really an old road. It follows the John Day River and is beautiful in its simplicity.

To me, it is just quintessential  Eastern Oregon with the grassy hills, jagged cliffs, the untamed river, and the sagebrush along the route. The John Day River is the 3rd longest undammed river in the contiguous United States.  I don't fish but I know it's a prime area for fishing.  Horses are allowed on the trails as well.  Watch out for rattlesnakes and ticks.  Personally, I wouldn't go in July or August because there's no shade and it gets pretty toasty that time of year.






This is about where we turned around because it was starting to rain a bit.








Near the trailhead, the trail follows the river

It has been two years ago since I've been there and I know they've since added some rustic cabins at the campground.  But the rest is still pretty primitive.  Vault toilets, no showers or anything. All park info recommends you bring all your own water, there's only potable water at the day use area. There is no cell service.

I'm hoping to get back to this park and this trail this year.  It's such an easy hike!  I'd like to try one of the other trails that are out there too, there's several from the main campground and at least one from the day use area.

For more info on the park, here's the official page.