The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
This was the view from the top of McCulloch Peak yesterday. Usually you can see the whole south Willamette Valley and Corvallis. Not so with all of that fog.
Mike zipping up to fight against the cold.
Our bikes.
In my tights.
Mike on his bike.
Some of the destruction on Starker Forest land just to the west of the OSU research forest.
This afternoon I went on what turned into a 15 mile hike from Chip Ross Park to Dimple Hill then onward to McCulloch Peak and finally terminating at Oak Creek when I ran out of light. Brent was kind enough to pick me up and take me back to my car. On the path between Chip Ross Park and Dimple Hill, I stumbled upon this rather large snake. No clue what species it is. The head didn’t look correct to be poisonous and there was no rattle. I still gave it a wide berth.
After reaching the top of Dimple Hill, I descended down the north face. This was the first time in a number of years that I had taken this route. It is still just as fun as the last time I did it.
A panorama from partway down the trail. Click for a much larger version.
On top of the false summit of McCulloch Peak. There is a gravel quarry operation just below me.
The real summit of McCulloch Peak. After taking this, I ran down the mountain to Oak Creek where Brent came and collected me. 15 miles in four hours is quite good. Next time maybe I will continue onward to Fitton Green and end up at Bald Hill.
Today I took a hike up toward McCulloch Peak.
The treat of rain was ever-present but I pressed on anyway.
Spring is a month late to Oregon this year.
Ferns uncurling their fiddle heads.
Moss sending out spores to start the next generation.
I turned off the road leading to Uproute Trail onto a side spur that turned into a muddy single-track path through the forest. Lots of bike tracks on the path but no footprints. Someone recently had done some work on the fallen logs to make them easier to pass over with a bicycle.
A tree fallen over a creek buried deep in a ravine.
Someone recently notched this tree out.
Partway up to the 7071 road, I found a plank course setup across some pick-up-sticks fallen down trees. The route isn’t quite finished at the end yet but it’s getting close to being done. I wonder who is building out in the forest. The College of Forestry would probably be pretty irritated if they discovered all of this work in their forest lands.
I would suggest getting off at the bottom of this plank set. Otherwise you’ll end up halfway down a log with nowhere to go except to the ground — crashing to the ground.
The approach and first two plank routes.
RIDE THE PLANK!
Another notched log to aid in the passage of bicycles.
A notched and flattened log across a creek. All the bike tracks lead to that log. Epic crossing.
The top of the trail. It comes out part-way along the 7071 road.
The trail.
Looking north along the road. The trail is just to the right of me.
I was planning to continue up to the top of McCulloch Peak but the clouds suddenly set down on me and the wind picked up. Already being wet from the underbrush on the trail, I decided to head downhill rather than find myself on top of a mountain in a rain storm.
Partway down, the clouds lifted for just long enough to get a picture looking toward Sulfur Springs and Soap Creek.
Some happy moss protected by jealous poison oak that is still dormant but yet quite capable of producing the skin condition that so many people are susceptible to while tromping through brush.\
The verdant creek bottom.
The forest stream making happy little noises.
