Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - July 27th
Day 102: Saturday 27th July Black Mountain – Grider Creek
I had breakfast in bed while watching the sunrise from my tent and watching deer
feeding nearby. I soon passed “Big Rock”, which was a marble boulder, the size of a
house, which had fallen down from the buttresses of Black Mountain, towering above the
trail. I had hoped for an early morning swim in Paradise Lake, but found that it was
rapidly silting up and was only knee-deep at best. I was surprised to find a couple of
families with children and fishing rods turning up this early, despite the fact that the
lake was only a couple of miles from the road head. This lovely site would have got
crowded later in the day.
Today, as yesterday, wild flowers were growing in profusion and frequently
encroaching on the trail. American Robins were common here. These birds were actually
thrushes, not robins, and I had seen them in practically every habitat from the desert to
the high mountains. The early settlers must have missed the red-breasted robin and
finding this much larger red-brown breasted thrush to be just as tame they gave it an
inappropriate name.
While traversing King’s Castle Ridge in mid-morning I spotted smoke from a fire
on Titus Ridge near Elk Creek. There was plenty of smoke but the fire looked to be
quite small. It wasn’t long before three helicopters appeared and started picking up
water from a high lake and dropping it on the fire, directed by a circling aircraft. I could
also see smoke to the north from another fire which I later learnt was near the resort of
Happy Valley.
After lunch I started the 5000ft drop down to Seiad Valley, fortunately on the
opposite side of the valley to the fire. The springs on the ridge were dry so I was going to
be thirsty by the time I reached Grider Creek. I was caught up by John and Julia, who
reported that the Titus Ridge fire had flared up as they were traversing the ridge. They
had heard that there were at least 15 fires burning in Oregon, mainly started by
lightning in the recent storms.
I walked with them down to Grider Creek, where I stopped for dinner by the bridge
and had a brief swim in an inviting, but very cold rock pool. After dinner I continued
down the creek, through the thickly wooded canyon and camped, as it was getting dark,
on a sandy flood channel of the creek.
Day 102: 21.1 miles 8.59 hours Camp: Grider Creek
I had breakfast in bed while watching the sunrise from my tent and watching deer
feeding nearby. I soon passed “Big Rock”, which was a marble boulder, the size of a
house, which had fallen down from the buttresses of Black Mountain, towering above the
trail. I had hoped for an early morning swim in Paradise Lake, but found that it was
rapidly silting up and was only knee-deep at best. I was surprised to find a couple of
families with children and fishing rods turning up this early, despite the fact that the
lake was only a couple of miles from the road head. This lovely site would have got
crowded later in the day.
Today, as yesterday, wild flowers were growing in profusion and frequently
encroaching on the trail. American Robins were common here. These birds were actually
thrushes, not robins, and I had seen them in practically every habitat from the desert to
the high mountains. The early settlers must have missed the red-breasted robin and
finding this much larger red-brown breasted thrush to be just as tame they gave it an
inappropriate name.
While traversing King’s Castle Ridge in mid-morning I spotted smoke from a fire
on Titus Ridge near Elk Creek. There was plenty of smoke but the fire looked to be
quite small. It wasn’t long before three helicopters appeared and started picking up
water from a high lake and dropping it on the fire, directed by a circling aircraft. I could
also see smoke to the north from another fire which I later learnt was near the resort of
Happy Valley.
After lunch I started the 5000ft drop down to Seiad Valley, fortunately on the
opposite side of the valley to the fire. The springs on the ridge were dry so I was going to
be thirsty by the time I reached Grider Creek. I was caught up by John and Julia, who
reported that the Titus Ridge fire had flared up as they were traversing the ridge. They
had heard that there were at least 15 fires burning in Oregon, mainly started by
lightning in the recent storms.
I walked with them down to Grider Creek, where I stopped for dinner by the bridge
and had a brief swim in an inviting, but very cold rock pool. After dinner I continued
down the creek, through the thickly wooded canyon and camped, as it was getting dark,
on a sandy flood channel of the creek.
Day 102: 21.1 miles 8.59 hours Camp: Grider Creek
E ridge, Black Mountain
Big Rock
Black Mountain
Paradise Lake
Trail on Big Ridge
Smoke from
Titus Ridge fire
Titus Ridge fire
Julia and John
Grider Creek
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