Indian Butte and Horse Mountain

Six Rivers National Forest

(Map link.)

Road trip! Well, maybe not so big as that. I wanted to return to Bug Creek without the finish of driving at the stroke of midnight, so I elected to do a bit of camping. As long as I was camping, I might as well be out a few days and perhaps even see the rest of Forest Route 1 starting with the familiar and moving right along. One other thing I wanted to do was explore the area of Horse Mountain in less snow and tag Indian Butte while I was at it. I found plenty of room to get out of the way of traffic at the road toward Indian Butte from Horse Mountain. This road is closed at the moment in a effort to protect the Port Orford cedar from killer fungus, which suits me quite well.

big road closed to all comers — The start of the hike at the junction between public road and seasonal road.

The weather was seeming a bit unstable, blowing clouds across the mountain, leaving sun sometimes and murk near or far to mess with the views most times. With all the water in the sky, the weather computer wasn't expecting it to come dropping down.

opening, both in the clouds and in the trees — There's an opening! Both in the clouds and in the trees. In this area, they are often called openings, too.

rocky ridge in the clouds — As the clouds blow, there's a rocky ridge out there.

I wanted to find fawn lilies while out on this trip and that was quickly accomplished. There were more and more and more. They are simply everywhere! When I found them before, they seemed to congregate in wet spaces. I had a few plans to pass by streams to catch them, but I just needed to have my eyes open to find them. Not that there wasn't water flowing near the road even though practically at the peak.

white drooping flowers — Just a few of dozens of, I think, California fawn lilies. Oregon fawn lilies are very similar and also occur in the area.

tall trees and a small waterfall — Incense cedars towering over a small waterfall as a stream tumbles to the road level.

small stream caught by the side of the road — Onions and, perhaps, irises are popping up among the moss in the little stream.

Of course, it being spring, there's plenty of other flowers out to bloom.

white flowers on a bush — The serviceberry bushes are full of flower.

the backs of drooping white flowers — Another patch of fawn lilies.

The road would be mildly rough if I was driving, but easy for walking. It drops slowly for a while before ending just short of the saddle between Indian bluff and the rest of Horse Mountain.

road with a wooded peak through some trees — The road and Indian Bluff in the background.

white flowers filling in a lot of space between sparse, small leaves — Carpets of flowers, some low, some high, were one of many types of ceanothus making the bees happy, like the bumble bee near the center.

Getting down to the saddle was easy and up the other side to a bald spot just took picking an appropriate path.

yellow flowers among spiked leaves — Oregon grapes are making themselves bright with flowers.

break for a taller peak — It's a pretty view down Ruby Creek and out toward the Trinity Alps, especially as the clouds break to allow seeing it.

furry little flower — The pussy ears are out. They're a very cute Mariposa lily.

snowy mountains between the trees — The higher position has a few more trees in the way, unfortunately. Those distant peaks ought to have a bit more snow on them at this time of year.

After the bald spot with a bit of view, everything got heavily brushy. I worked my way falling off toward the east side through bushes that would be a grand fight in the other direction. They were heavy with water from the clouds blowing across and maybe even some rain and I was getting very soggy from my thighs down. It was slow going and I decided there were better things to be doing with the rest of the day, particularly if this was going to be a timbered peak.

timber covered round hill — Indian Butte certainly appears to be a timber covered peak.

It took two tries, but I turned back. I made my way along the west side, which does seem to be the "correct" side. West sides are often drier since they get their sun in the hottest part of the day. It was still a small battle back to the bald spot, but then an easy trek back to the end of the road and on up road and old fire break and very old utility road to the top of Horse Mountain.

upright flower of yellow — Composite flowers can be quite fascinating with their ray flowers and a series of tubes in the center.

red flowers with white at the center — There is still current to be found.

wheel nailed to a tree — Railroad nails and a wheel for... snow level surveys?

There was a utility worker parked under the antenna next to the peak to emphasize just how much of a drive up Horse Mountain can be. It was a few snow play and hiker sorts when I was up before, but this time the leisure sorts were target shooters. Is that even legal in the botanical area? The opening in the clouds had closed back up once I got to the top and it got worse as I waited.

over a building top — The views from the top of Horse Mountain are usually just blocked by the numerous antennas and auxiliary buildings.

I headed down along the road, turning onto an old track because it had me turn away from the target shoorters below sooner. It was easy enough to walk up until it ended above the current road due to the cutout. I managed to make a careful way down to the current road to finish the loop.

©2021 Valerie Norton
Written 31 May 2021

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Comments

Chris Valle-Riestra said…

In the past, some CNPS types were pushing for developing a trail system in the Horse Mtn. area, though that effort seems to be dormant. It looks like Indian Butte would be a very nice destination to work into a trail plan. If one were really ambitious, one could create a trail all the way from East Fork Campground, going through nice old growth across the slope into Ruby Creek, then up Ruby Creek and climbing the northeast side of Indian Butte. But that's a surprising 3000 foot vertical climb.

31 May, 2021 17:16

Valerie Norton said…

That sounds like an excellent place for a trail to me. The roads were, well, roads, and the bit in between had a minor scramble and the trees kept going from magnificent to logged the way I went. A trail is always more pleasant with the trees closer, and it would have been nice to miss the old clear-cuts. The 3000 foot climb seems to be a common amount for coming up out of a valley, so it's a good conditioning hike. Depending on how much they let it flirt with the creek, it might have good summer use. Northerly canyon and trees make it cooler. It was giving off a lot of sound, so don't actually cross the creek to make sure it's usable in winter.

From what I can tell, even if you've got enthusiasm in the right places, getting a new trail will still take a decade of sustained advocacy and maybe fund raising. However, this whole stretch of highway constantly surprises me in its complete lack of trails. One here so campers can explore their spot without driving somewhere. The other side of Willow Creek, I think something from the rest area to Hennessy Ridge and the not-really-world's-largest tanoak would be reasonable. I'd really like a hike up to the Brush Mountain Lookout.

Then I think of how I want to hike up from Wooley Creek to English Peak, too, and there's even a trail there, but it only exists in reality for the first two miles because someone decided to exercise their firefighters there. Then again, maybe it's not a zero sum game for what gets attention. Maybe if there were trails along this main corridor of travel (CA-299) there would be more people thinking about trails in the area and the trails around them would get attention. (Maybe that one's not quite close enough to get attention, but maybe Horse Ridge National Recreation Trail is?)

Anyway, CA-299 definitely does need trails so people can stop and explore and this is an excellent space for one.

01 June, 2021 08:58

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