and our first hike in the Illinois River Valley - which is the valley W of the Applegate (SW of Grants Pass). We decided to start with the short (but steep) Kerby Peak trail (BLM Kerby Pk, Kerby Pk) because it promised views - which came about even on what was an unexpectedly overcast day - and a glimpse at the Brewer spruce, which is found only in this region. This is hike #69 in the Falcon Guide Hiking in Southern Oregon.
The trail, which curiously doesn't appear on any topo maps, is nonetheless well-maintained and easy to follow. It starts with a series of switchbacks through an oak / madrone forest,
and into a mostly fir forest.
This region has little pockets of droopy-limbed Brewer spruce,
and is just NW of the Brewer Spruce Research Natural Area (USFS Brewer spruce), so we may have caught a glimpse of one of these rare trees. After an invigorating mile or so of "up", the trail crossed a saddle with a view into the fog-shrouded Illinois River valley.
It then contoured around to the E, which gave us views of snow-capped Mounts McLoughlin and Thielsen,
then started climbing again. A series of storms went through here recently but they left only about 2" of fresh snow above 5,000'.
There were a few sun-break sucker holes in the clouds and once the Loved One saw her shadow, there was hope that we'd have a little more winter (or at least snow).
The summit of Kerby is a rocky outcropping, with certain Easter Island-like qualities,
and increasingly expansive views.
Finally, the summit and a snack, with the Red Buttes on the far horizon.
The summit used to host a lookout, which was burned down in 1966, presumably (per the BLM) to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. Apparently the LO was not vaccinated and there were huge crowds of people on the summit back in the day.
Despite the overcast, we did catch some views to the NE of peaks that stood out because of their snow cover (M, McLoughlin, C, Crater Lake, D, Diamond ?, B, Bailey ?, T, Thielsen, S, South Sister). Peakfinder.org identified almost every bump we could see except these snow-covered ones.
Grayback was a reassuring presence to the E.
And then it was back down, through shaggy forests,
past yawning clear-cuts,
to the TH. A good little hike (6.4 mi, 2,676' EG) with great views despite the overcast (and hence likely to have awesome views on a clear day).
