Sunday, May 12, 2024
After yesterday’s gorgeous hike on the Little Grayback Trail, today I took advantage of the continued good weather and did another nearby hike.
I hiked a portion of Charlie Buck / Baldy Peak Trail #918 from the Mule Creek / Baldy Peak Trailhead from the south, at the end of Road 300. You can access the other end of this trail from the north at the Charlie Buck / Baldy Peak Trailhead at the end of Road 940.
There had clearly been logging along the road just before the trailhead, although there was no equipment around so the operation looked complete. I’m guessing that the bundle of orange webbing at the trailhead had been blocking off the trail from southbound hikers so they didn’t stumble into the logging operation if they continued down the road:
Lots of manzanita here:
I passed this random trail sign that was parallel to the trail, even though there isn’t a junction here:
There were some beautiful ponderosa pines here:
About 0.3 miles in I passed another jumble of orange webbing that been shoved aside, and a “no trespassing” sign. There was no explanation about why the trail would have been closed, and why this was still here when the logging was done was a mystery to me:
The trail entered an open area with a view of Grayback Mountain to the west:
Lovely green hillsides ahead:
Very nice trees:
I saw some nice wildflowers. Lupine:
Fiddleneck:
Miner’s lettuce:
This was a nice big ponderosa, but sadly dead:
Oregon grape:
Pleasant meadow traverse:
That ponderosa straight ahead was a huge old tree:
Popcorn flower:
More mountain views:
Larkspur:
Scarlet fritillary:
At some point along here when I was photographing wildflowers I was passed by a small trail crew from the Southern Oregon Trails Alliance who were headed out to work on the Mule Mountain Trail. Thanks, trail crew!
Longhorn seablush:
Ookow:
Rosy plectritis:
Tarweed:
Balsamroot:
Poppies:
Mountains to the south:
I reached a saddle where the Mule Mountain Trail peels off the Charlie Buck / Baldy Peak Trail. But my destination was Baldy Peak:
There’s no trail to get up there, but it’s not too difficult to go cross-country up the slope. As I hiked up I could see down to where the main trail traversed the slope on its way north:
The trail crew working their way along the Mule Mountain Trail:
At the top of the slope the views were fantastic. Looking east:
Dutchman Peak:
The sweeping view to the south, with Little Grayback Mountain in center foreground:
Cook and Green Butte, Desolation Peak, and Rattlesnake Mountain:
The actual summit is surrounded by trees:
From there you can see a bit to the north:
After a short break up there I made my way back down the hill to the saddle:
This was a very nice little hike before the long drive home!
Gaia stats: 3.1 miles, 800′ elevation gain
