South Siskiyou: Boundary Trail, Elk Valley, and Summit Valley

Six Rivers National Forest

Klamath National Forest

Smith River National Recreation Area


DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5

 


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I decided I should probably continue along Boundary Trail rather than follow the one along the west side of Chimney Rock as I originally planned. It just adds a mile and three miles of little to no trail with no maintenance since the fire could easily be harder than four miles of maintained trail and road. I walked what I could find of the trail again and found it harder to see in the light than it had been in the twilight. (It's to do with glare.) For all I know, what little track is there with tiny cairns along it just turns off to Buck Camp Ridge and there is nothing heading down to Chimney Rock. The character of the topography the trail traverses looks a bit like some of the bits that had needed it reestablished, which could further complicate actually getting through. I started down Boundary Trail instead and found it lined with rocks. There's a lot more attention on that one.


sun touching the nearby peaks
The morning sun as it touches Buck Camp Ridge.

The pond sang with frogs in short spurts during the night, so I paused by it to see if there were newts too. There were. There's actually a small stream draining from the lake that comes above ground near where I was camped, so I wonder how long it lasts, but there were plenty of amphibians taking advantage.


newt in the water with its belly showing
Rough skinned newt just floating around in a seasonal pond.

newts tangled in the grass
Some of the newts were interested in the grass, or maybe aware of me and trying to hide.

Sawtooth Mountain
I didn't get very far from Sawtooth Mountain before finding camp.

small body of water among burned trees
Passing by above the pond.

rock lined trail
Rock lined trail. My other camp option was beneath the green trees, but green trees in a burn area aren't trustworthy either. This would have been a better sunrise point.

The rock lining didn't last as the trail started descending, but there were plenty of cairns so that they generally weren't even hard to find. I quickly encountered little streams of water, too. In this season, there are lots of opportunities for water, even up high.


a few of the numerous irises along the trail
There were such lovely irises along the trail. These were distinct from the first ones I saw on the trip in that they are particularly yellow and a bit extra frilly.

I found a particularly large log with a particularly narrow slot cut through it. Trying to keep the stock from the rest of the trail? The old cedar log still smelled really nice as I passed through.


green meadow
Bigger streams came with bigger spots of green and greater challenges to keep my feet dry.

The trail gets to climbing and falling and climbing again. It does so in a way a bit more direct than is optimal from an erosion standpoint. I would characterize its directness not so much refreshing as tiring.


trees and rocks down the valley
The view down the valley as the trail starts traversing ridges to the right.

pond in the rock hills
Another pond along the way.

newt in the shallows of the pond
The pond is occupied by more newts.

three more newts in the pond
Even more newts!

I stopped at the top of one ridge where the azimuth mark for Sawtooth Mountain should be. Somewhere. Somehow southwest of where the trail comes up and also a short way east of the trail that proceeds southeast. I looked in a few places, but didn't find the disk. I started down the long downhill along Blue Creek. It passes by a high up lake where the extra trails make it hard to sort the correct route, then is nice and clear all the way down. This is popular trail.


small lake high on Blue Creek
The high lake near the trail.

rocky and tree covered
Going down.

rock lumps and pockets of trees
It's an interesting terrain with pockets of trees around very rocky ares.

Blue Creek
Blue Creek grew quickly with the descent although it is marked as seasonal on the map.

rock with a bit of undercut
Chimney Rock. That looks like a tough climb from some angles.

Nothing marked the trail where it leaves the road nearly at the end. The area is a de facto campground of dispersed sites. I wandered up to the end of the road where another trail continues an unknown distance up Elk Valley. I then walked down looking for where G-O Road turns to cross Siskiyou Wilderness and found nothing. How can a whole road go missing? I wondered if maybe there had been a plan that was put on the map and never actually built. I've encountered a couple examples of roads that were put on the map when planned and never got updated to the actual route once built, so it could happen. That could make it a much harder day than expected. I plunged into the forest to look for the road a little way away from the junction and found the clear road. It turns out junctions can vanish while the route stays clear even with roads. It has a huge blockade on either side of the creek, where it crosses into the wilderness, but is otherwise generally clear. I still didn't know what to expect. The Forest Service topo map still shows it as a road. Their visitor map marks it as a continuation of Boundary Trail. That map at my start doesn't show it at all, so if I'd paid more attention to that, I'd have been particularly concerned. What I found was an old road wide enough for two way traffic without difficulty. A few spots have bad erosion. It is not being maintained as a trail, but one particularly large tree has been cut to let people by way on the side. It was still the easiest bit of trail of the trip. My feet got extra pained from the surface hardened by traffic.


end of the road
Elk Valley at the end of the Orleans side of G-O Road.

road climbing up
A bit of the road climbing back up from Elk Valley.

>snow capped mountains
Both Trinity Alps and Marble Mountains are visible along the way. The Trinity Alps are more southern and more snow covered.

hills covered in standing dead, but the distance has trees
Arrived in the burn again.

I found the a wide spot for parking and the trail past Chimney Rock to be visible enough as it meets the old road. It could just go up the rock for all I know as this looks like the easier way to approach it. That was not in my plans, so I just continued rolling along the ridge. I ignored the one stream along the way, the only water for miles, but stopped hourly to put my poor sore feet up. I passed many fire rings placed randomly along the way like someone just sees how far they can go, carrying all their water, then stops and builds a fire.


trail past the west side of Chimney Rock
There is trail here where the road crosses the ridge by Chimney Rock.

G-O Road
Parking area for up to four cars on either side of the road near the trail. Looking out and wondering if that is Summit Valley in the distance.

top of Eightmile Creek
Looking down Eightmile Creek. I went right around the top of it so wouldn't have to cross it again.

bright red plant with no chlorophyl
Some very healthy snowplant. After seeing lots of a couple other parasitic plants, it was fun to find the one I was told was "the" parasitic plant.

The Gasquet side of G-O Road came up a bit sooner than I expected. The Forest Service topo shows the pavement extending into the wilderness, so half a mile to the line on the map, I stepped over one last hill and looked down on the end of the pavement just past a wilderness sign. A big, proper, wood one. It was the only one I saw on the trip.

wilderness sign
Up above a huge tank trap in the old road, a big beautiful sign.

I had six miles of road walking down, three miles of paved road walking to go. That's a lot of road walking. Uphill wasn't hurting so bad and downhill, but downhill is what lay in front of me for the most part. Oh, and I was regretting ignoring that last little creek. The pavement is good, but it's down under a lot of loose rock and downed trees. Had I tried to drive to the end of the road, I'd have had to move some big rocks and one tree. I passed one car, maybe hiking Peak Eight, then it carefully passed me. All along the sides, more irises, both the ones I'd seen earlier and the ones I saw at the start.


view from a turnout
One long ridge behind me from a big turnout.

road with rocks across half the way
The road in a not so bad spot. Rock are mostly confined to one side and who really needs a non-pulverized guard rail?

clump of yellow irises
Rainbow irises? Lovely and frilly and yellow behind the guard rail.

trail to Summit Valley
Up ahead, the just visible old road is the trail up to Summit Valley.

more irises, but more common colloration
Douglas irises? Oregon iris? They're looking rather nice too. Also a bit frilly. They could be just another coloration of the same, but the two seemed to stay distinct.

There was a really big turnout a quarter mile down the road from Summit Valley Trail, but next to it was nothing but a bit of gravel forced by people desperate to park next to the sign.


barely any signs
Very limited signs at the trailhead for Summit Valley Trail. One marks the wilderness (a bit early) and one warns of the dangers of a burn area.

I was quite happy to leave the road. I was less happy to find that I was on another old road although this one was getting very overgrown with sagebrush. There was a fire lookout at the top, so the old road wasn't entirely surprising. It was surprising when the old road, at that point in better shape, went off along the ridge downward and an unmarked trail started up toward the ridge.


looking back along the road
Looking back toward the end of G-O Road. Gained back the elevation quickly.

road on the left and trail on the right
The trail leaves the road. The trail on the right follows the suggestion on the map wherever the road goes.

more irises with lots of blue edges
The irises look nicer away from the road.

As the trail started to dip away from the top of the local peak, I headed the few feet more up to the top and then north to something slightly more top and the benchmark. It took a little care to avoid the irises. Station and references took a bit of searching, but they were all there.


distant reflective thing
That shinny bit that draws a line across the world at its edge is definitely the Pacific Ocean.

mounds of land with dead trees
This is the high point, but the fire lookout was two bumps on. It is nearly as high there.

across the drainages
Just right of center is Baldy Peak where the previous fire lookout was.

Then I headed down to the trail and along the trail again. The numerous wilderness signs stopped as it dropped down the east side of the ridge and actually into Siskiyou Wilderness. I was gambling that where the trail dipped down between the high point and the old lookout, I would find water. I'd been seeing streams above spots marked as seasonal streams on the map, so I expected I would here too. I first saw a pond, then a tiny flow into it, then started crossing larger streams. A safe camp was going to be harder to find, so I kept on going to the open space marked on the map noting a couple possible spots on the way.


stream and pond
There's lots of water here in this season. I just had to pick which I liked. I liked about four streams later.

lovely green meadow surrounded by standing dead
Large meadow where the trail leads. From here, it is harder to follow.

It was a huge green meadow and the intensity of it drew me on once I saw it. Off to the right, there was a well used campsite. By my estimation, it was well within the range of the taller trees at the edge. I didn't much care for that nor that the usual sleep spot was half puddle. I turned back to try an area of potential flat where the trees were short and easier to avoid and the ground was higher so drier. I found something that looked safer and more comfortable and went to gather water for the camping and a little more for hiking the next day. It wasn't quite what I planned. I planned to get water from wherever I needed to (which might have been halfway through the day) and continue up to the old lookout, but water is heavy and my feet were done walking.


Continue to the next day ⇒





©2020 Valerie Norton
Written 13 Jun 2020


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