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.
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.
And yes, "common bastard toad-flax" pips "naked broomrape" as my favorite flower moniker . . .
Fifteenmile Creek Loop
- mattisnotfrench
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Re: Fifteenmile Creek Loop
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
- TheOtherBob
- Posts: 161
- Joined: March 22nd, 2014, 4:59 pm
Re: Fifteenmile Creek Loop
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.
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.
Re: Fifteenmile Creek Loop
Freaking fantastic! Speechless!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.
"The top...is not the top" - Mile...Mile & a Half
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