Fifteenmile Creek Loop

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bobcat
Posts: 2764
Joined: August 1st, 2011, 7:51 am
Location: SW Portland

Fifteenmile Creek Loop

Post by bobcat » June 2nd, 2014, 4:29 pm

On a balmy late spring day, the Fifteenmile Creek Loop in the Barlow District of the Mt. Hood National Forest is a glorious lope through glades and meadows and rock gardens, mostly on ridges, but also in the cool bottomlands of Fifteenmile Creek. The two trails, Cedar Creek Trail (which actually runs along a ridge for its entirety) and Fifteenmile Creek Trail (also partly on a ridge), are used by mountain bikers more than hikers and, even though there is winter blowdown in stretches of diseased forest, the routes get logged out early and are well-maintained. In fact, I saw only two bikers on the Cedar Ridge Trail (They didn’t see me as I was off the trail botanizing) and none on the Fifteenmile Creek section; no other hikers either. It’s a long drive for a day hike – two hours from Portland – and the scenery and the wildflowers make one prone to dawdle, so even though I had ambitions for a longer foray down the Fifteenmile Creek Trail, I ended up sticking with the 10 ½ mile loop.
Ponderosa pines, Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Showy Jacob's ladder (Polemonium californicum), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Heart-leaf arnica (Arnica cordifolia), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Common bastard toad-flax (Comandra umbellata), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Bitter root (Lewisia rediviva), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Rockpiles, Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Alpine alumroot (Heuchera cylindrica), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Silver crown luina (Cacaliopsis nardosmia), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
View down the valley, Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Spurred lupine (Lupinus arbustus), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Arrow-leaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza saggitata), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Thick-leaved peavine (Lathyrus lanszwertii var. aridus), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Oak and balsamroot slope, Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Slender godetia (Clarkia gracilis), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
The area is in the transitional zone from east to west, and thus you’ll see more conifer species here than just about anywhere else in our area, with even a few western junipers clinging to the rims. Also, you’re getting into a different wildflower zone, with a mix of slope, creek, and grassland species. The balsamroot was at its prime and lupine was blooming at all but the highest elevations. A few trillium were still in flower near the trailhead and there were whole meadows of death-camas on the Cedar Creek Ridge. The highly weathered andesite outcroppings are typical of the Barlow area; I can imagine ancient myths telling how they are the petrified remains of primordial beings who may have displeased a capricious deity.
Nevada deer-vetch (Lotus nevadensis), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Columbia frasera (Frasera albicaulis), Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Footbridge over Fifteenmile Creek at the lower junction, Cedar Creek Trail.jpg
Fifteenmile Creek, Fifteenmile Creek Trail.jpg
Cedar bottomland, Fifteenmile Creek Trail.jpg
Calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa), Fifteenmile Creek Trail.jpg
Rim above the creek, Fifteenmile Creek Trail.jpg
Thompson's paintbrush (Castilleja thompsonii), Fifteenmile Creek Trail.jpg
Andesite outcropping, Fifteenmile Creek Trail.jpg
And yes, "common bastard toad-flax" pips "naked broomrape" as my favorite flower moniker . . .

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mattisnotfrench
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Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
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Re: Fifteenmile Creek Loop

Post by mattisnotfrench » June 2nd, 2014, 9:27 pm

Of all the hikes in my book, Fifteenmile Creek is one of my absolute favorites. Your photos more than do it justice. LOVE this place!
Author of Extraordinary Oregon!, PDX Hiking 365, 101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region, and Off the Beaten Trail. Website: www.offthebeatentrailpdx.com

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TheOtherBob
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Joined: March 22nd, 2014, 4:59 pm

Re: Fifteenmile Creek Loop

Post by TheOtherBob » June 3rd, 2014, 5:21 pm

Thanks for sharing, Bobcat. You found some great specimens... and worked in the word "lope."

I'll never forget the first time I ran across Calypso bulbosa. I was hiking up Eagle Creek and was getting restless, because it was a bit flat. A few miles in, I passed the trail that turns up to Benson Plateau and decided to pop up a thousand feet to burn some steam off and get some pictures. That trail doubles back and goes past some larkspur (or did at the time) and then goes up a ridge that is very peaceful after being in the crowd down on Eagle Creek. Anyway, I was clipping along and loving how large the trees are up there, even though the ridge falls off pretty fast on both sides and then... there was this little lonely orchid 8 inches off the ground, radiating beauty everywhere, being completely ignored by the entire world, and consigned to die underappreciated in the shade of some tall firs and other unworthy brush. It was inspiring for a few seconds because it took the scenery up to a new level, but then became intensely distressing to me. I thought about it for a solid week.
That flower is long dead, but before I left, I made sure to immortalize it.
00_you never forget your first fairy slipper.jpg

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miah66
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Joined: July 6th, 2009, 8:00 pm

Re: Fifteenmile Creek Loop

Post by miah66 » June 3rd, 2014, 8:31 pm

TheOtherBob wrote:...there was this little lonely orchid 8 inches off the ground, radiating beauty everywhere, being completely ignored by the entire world, and consigned to die underappreciated in the shade of some tall firs and other unworthy brush. It was inspiring for a few seconds because it took the scenery up to a new level, but then became intensely distressing to me. I thought about it for a solid week.
That flower is long dead, but before I left, I made sure to immortalize it.
00_you never forget your first fairy slipper.jpg
Freaking fantastic! Speechless!
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