Saturday, June 15, 2024
In 2014 I rented the Snow Camp Mountain lookout and drove rough roads to get there. Today I hiked to the lookout.
I parked at the Snow Camp Trailhead on Road 3680:
There was a strange half-circle stone wall thing where many a campfire had been built (and trash left):
The trail heads south, descending through the forest:
Iris in bloom:
Signs of recent trail maintenance!
There was a homemade sign pointing to a water source, but I didn’t check it out:
These trees got singed in a wildfire, but still live:
Wild rhododendron:
Check out that enormous rhododendron bush:
I started seeing forest wildflowers:
Port Orford Cedar:
Then I left behind the forest and entered the burn area:
I could see Snow Camp Mountain and its lookout ahead:
More nice wildflowers:
The trail skirts Snow Camp Meadow:
At the far end of the meadow the trail crosses a creek. There is no bridge but it’s easy to use rocks to get across:
Now the trail began a long traverse along the slope of Snow Camp Mountain. This burned in the 2002 Biscuit Fire and again in the 2017 Chetco Bar Fire:
I reached a junction where the trail continues to a trailhead over on Road 1376. I turned left and headed for the summit:
I reached Road 590, the lookout access road. It’s marked only by a signless signpost:
There’s a parking area here for renters who can’t quite get their cars up the final steep section of road:
I turned left and headed up the road:
It looked like it had recently been graded:
The lookout was being rented, but the renters were out for the day:
The clouds were starting burn off and the views were pretty nice. Plus, there was NO WIND! North:
Northeast:
East:
South:
West:
I walked out to the repeater station on the north end of the summit:
View from the north end of the summit:
Looking down on Snow Camp Meadow:
Heading back:
I took some time to check out the meadow on my hike back. There was a lot of bistort in bloom, along with some camas:
Sun-dappled forest and a HUGE tree:
In the unburned forest I noticed something I mad missed the first time: the rusty remains of a car that had been here for a very long time:
Back at the car I decided to drive down Road 361 to see if I could find the trailhead down near Panther Lake. I didn’t make it very far, though, as 361 was damaged:
It looked like vehicles had managed to drive past it, but I wasn’t going to try it.
Gaia stats: 6.3 miles, 1,660′ elevation gain
