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Backpack from Poker Flat to Raspberry Lake in the Siskiyou Wilderness June 10-14, 2016

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Backpack from Poker Flat to Raspberry Lake in the Siskiyou Wilderness June 10-14, 2016 Backpack from Poker Flat to Raspberry Lake in the Siskiyou Wilderness June 10-14, 2016 Report submitted by Mary “Fireweed” Kwart, pictures by Fireweed, Trailhopper and Mystic Forest Hikers: Nancy “Mystic Forest”, Barb “Bashinka” Settles, Denise “Trailhopper” Fry and Mary “Fireweed” Kwart This 22 mile round trip hike traverses a small part of the 360 mile new “Bigfoot Trail” that stretches from the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness west of Red Bluff in northern California to Crescent City on the Pacific Ocean. Michael Kaufmann, a teacher at Humboldt State University and long distance hiker, conceived this trail to showcase the amazing diversity of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, emphasizing the 32 conifer tree species that populate this area. I backpacked this trail last summer but was stopped from completing this section by a wildfire trail closure at Poker Flat. We would all go to Raspberry Lake and when the group got to Young’s Valley on the return trip to the trailhead, I would part company and proceed SW on the Bigfoot Trail to the South Fork of the Smith River at Sand Camp, completing the missed section. Friday, June 10—5.8 miles from Poker Flat to “Lieutenants” lake “Lieutenants” Lake Mystic Forest, myself and Bashinka Bashinka and Port Orford Cedar carpooled from my place in Ashland on Friday morning June 10 and drove to Grants Pass where we met Trailhopper. We then drove to the Poker Flat Trailhead (which just opened for the season) via the old Happy Camp Road (aka the “Bigfoot Highway”) south of Cave Junction off Hwy 199. It was about 2 ½ hours from Ashland. The weather looked stormy around Ashland, but it was clear by the time we reached the trailhead at 11:30. A cinnamon colored bear quickly vacated Poker Flat meadow and ran away up the hill, crossing the road as we drove down to the trailhead. We ate lunch and started hiking at noon. The temperature was great as long as the wind didn’t gust. The trail to Twin Valley is well graded and wide enough to walk at least two abreast. We meandered down to Twin Valley through serpentine rock and Jefferey pine forest, with great views of snow dappled Preston Peak. We encountered very large Port Orford cedars in Twin Valley for the first time. We crossed Twin Valley Creek and located the trail across the meadow. This inaugurated a very steep, rocky climb (750 feet in about a mile) under the now hot afternoon sun to a ridgeline south of the meadow. We descended through a shady multi-aged forest of Ponderosa pine, Western White pine, Incense Cedar, Douglas fir, White fir, Shasta red fir and Brewer spruce and then climbed to a meadow system and a trailside cairn that indicated the short spur trail to a small unnamed lake below peaks called the “Lieutenants” where we would camp the first night. Bashinka located a great campsite right next to the lake that accommodated all four of our tents. It was cold that night. We either hung our food or used an Ursack. Saturday, June 11—5.2 miles from “Lieutenants” lake to Raspberry Lake Surprisingly, the sun came up over the ridge quite early even though we were camped in a basin with high rock walls. We took our time getting ready because we only had 5.2 miles to hike to Raspberry Lake. The weather was clear. It was much warmer than yesterday. We saw many wildflowers—Indian paintbrush, penstemon, sedum, lupine and also more great views of Preston Peak. We saw two backpackers coming down from Raspberry Lake after we turned onto the Raspberry Lake trail at Young’s Valley. They described the location of campsites around the lake—one of the identifying markers to the best campsite on the west side was a pair of jockey shorts draped over an empty whiskey bottle. We used these directions to locate a large campsite with 6- 7 tent sites next to the lake. Raspberry Lake looked like an impressionist painting in the evening—green vegetation was reflected on the rippling lake surface. There were a lot of small fish jumping. We made a campfire and the smoke discouraged the numerous biting flies. Sunday, June 12—Zero Day at Raspberry Lake or climb to Preston Peak The previous evening was peaceful, but high gusting winds surfaced before midnight and continued through the morning. I thought it would be too cold to hike up Preston Peak until the day warmed. Mystic Forest and Trailhopper settled into a day at camp— napping, exploring, bird watching and taking pictures. At noon, Bashinka and I headed up the ridge route to Preston Peak. The first part of the cross country hike was up a steep scree slope. We followed a route described in the book “The Seven Summits of the Siskiyou” by Aria Zoner. There were good views of Raspberry Lake from Raspberry Lake the ridge. Bashinka went back to camp after a couple hours. I continued to a half way point next to peak 6121 and could see there was more snow than I wanted to negotiate at that midafternoon hour and get back to camp before dark. So I settled for good views of the surrounding peaks and valleys the higher vantage point afforded. A peaceful night without the gusting winds. There was a lot of wood available to keep the campfire going all day because we were one of the first hikers to camp at Raspberry Lake for the season. Monday, June 13—Raspberry Lake to Twin Valley 7.6 miles We got to Young’s Valley at about 10:30 AM and I left the group to continue down the Clear Creek Trail. The group backtracked to the turnoff to Lieutenant’s Lake around noon and decided to hike farther and camp at Twin Valley to put them closer to the trailhead for the hike out to the car the next day. There was a lot of bear sign on the trail and near the Twin Valley camp—trees that had been scraped with claws and piles of bear scat. Tuesday, June 14—Twin Valley to Poker Flat TH The group says a bear came into their camp overnight. They didn’t hear it because they were camped near the rushing water of the creek. In the morning Mystic Forest saw that her bear bag rope had been messed with— perhaps only by the bear running into it. Hopefully, Siskiyou Wilderness bears aren’t becoming acclimatized to bear bag hanging techniques like the bears in the Sierras. Everyone’s food was either in a hanging Opsack bag or an Ursack. The group saw bear paw prints around camp that they hadn’t seen the night before. They don’t think the bear stayed long in the camp and was perhaps scared off by the crinkling of a person turning over on their air mattress. It was very cold and rained starting very early in the morning. The rain turned to snow briefly. People were glad they had packed some cold weather and rain gear. They got to the car at the trailhead at 10:15 AM. They made tea in the car to warm up and got back to Grants Pass by 1:30 PM. .
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