A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

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justpeachy
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A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

Post by justpeachy » July 1st, 2015, 8:24 pm

Six months ago Greg and I made reservations for the Pickett Butte Lookout for the last weekend of June. Of course we had no way of knowing that the last weekend of June would end up being a total scorcher, and we watched the forecast get hotter and hotter in the days leading up to our departure date. Oh well! These reservations are hard to get, we'd already requested the time off work, and we were still going, damn it. We would not regret our decision. Despite the withering heat it was very beautiful. Exhibit A:

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After seeing derwoodynck's trip report for the beargrass extravangaza along the Blair Lake Trail, we decided to take a HUGE detour to see it. So we left early on Thursday and headed towards Oakridge. Despite getting up at 5am, we didn't hit the trail until 10:30. The car's dashboard said it was 68 degrees outside, but it felt more like 80. SOOO worth it, though. The beargrass display was the most amazing either of us have ever seen.

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We got back to the car at 3:30 with many miles ahead of us until reaching the lookout. We passed the time with a Harlan Coben audiobook and at 8:30 finally reached the lookout. See Greg waving?

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Dinner was cucumber and sweet onion salad and veggie burgers. And of course some cold beers. We cooked and ate at the picnic table by the tower to save time (although we ended up having all our meals there), then headed up the tower to enjoy sunset. It was so freakin' beautiful up there.

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Later the stars came out, or at least a few did. The bright moon drowned out most of them.

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Sunrise on Friday morning. Makes you glad to be alive! :D

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The views are pretty nice up here.

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Unfortunately the view includes a nasty clearcut, which you actually have to drive through to get up here. Logging operations were still going on over there and we could hear the sound of chainsaws and crashing trees all through breakfast. :cry:

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After a breakfast of fresh blueberries, grapefruit, and biscuits with strawberry jam, we hit the road for the day's adventures. Our first stop was the Acker Rock Lookout. It's not available to rent until August due to nesting peregrine falcons, but you can still hike up there. Unfortunately, what used to be a quick jaunt on a short trail is now much longer due to a permanently-locked gate. So now the hike is about a mile and a half one way.

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Acker Rock straight ahead. The lookout is on the other side, not visible from here.

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After a mile of hot road hiking we got to the cooler shadier trail.

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Just before the lookout is a potty with a mighty fine view. :lol:

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Arriving at the lookout, which is perched on a rock and hangs out over thin air.

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The views are pretty great. This is looking east. Pickett Butte is one of those humps, I think.

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Looking north:

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While we were at the lookout two people arrived. One of them was Lori Depew, a lookout who was training a new guy at Acker Rock. I knew that the lookout here was not rentable until August, but I didn't know why. She confirmed my suspicions that it's because of nesting Peregrine Falcons.

After chatting with them we bid adieu, hiked back down, and headed to our next stop: the Skimmerhorn Trailhead. Our original plan had been to do a loop hike past Buckeye Lake, Cliff Lake, up to Grasshopper Mountain, and back down. But with the time lost at Acker Rock because of the gated road in addition to the extreme heat, we revised our plans and decided to just go as far as Buckeye Lake, a mile and a half from the trailhead.

The first part starts out through a pleasant forest:

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But then the trail enters a burn zone. I'm sure this stretch was only about half a mile, but it seemed to go on forever. The heat in this shadeless area was incredibly brutal.

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Going back into the forest was such a relief. SHADE!!!

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We finally reached Buckeye Lake, which was more like a marsh than a lake.

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I was put off my the swampy shoreline, but Greg went in for a swim:

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Lots of dragonflies around here:

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Back at the lookout that afternoon we saw a mass of clouds building up in the east. Later we'd hear distant thunder, although we never saw lightning.

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We saved ourselves the trouble of getting food and cooking supplies up the tower and continued to eat our meals at the picnic table. On the menu Friday night: green bean stir fry over rice with peanut sauce. YUM.

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We learned to plan our trips up and down the tower. The stairs were the steepest of any lookout I've ever rented.

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Sunset that evening was AWESOME. I took way too many pictures.

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After dark we tested out the handy solar-charging backpacking lantern that Greg recently got. Works great!

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Sunrise the next morning wasn't so bad either (although I overslept and missed the first 20 minutes).

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After a breakfast of fresh fruit with biscuits and gravy we headed out for the day's activities. Our original plan had been to hike Abbott Butte, but it was WAY too hot and humid for that. So we decided to putter around the area instead. On the drive down off the butte we passed Lori, the lookout we'd met at Acker Rock the day before. This lookout is always staffed starting about mid-July, but due to the high fire danger she was being sent up to our lookout for the day to keep any eye on the area. Good thing we hadn't planned on hanging out up there during the day! (Several recent entries in the lookout's logbook were from renters who had their reservations canceled last summer when the Forest Service decided they needed they needed to staff the lookout sooner than they thought. So we felt lucky that didn't happen to us!)

We headed down towards Bunchgrass Meadows, but were stopped by this:

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Bunchgrass Meadows was a bust, so we headed over to the World's Tallest Sugar Pine. Neato! You may notice a ring cut into the bark of the tree. Here's the story on that 2000 act of vandalism. What the hell is wrong with people???

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A fire crew pulled up while we were at the tree. They said they had driven all night from Montana to get there. They were far too chipper and awake for guys who had been driving all night. I suspect their secret is youth and being in prime physical condition.

Extremely Cool Moment of the Day #1: On our drive out we spotted a doe and her two fawns on the road. After a bit of hesitation from the babies, the trio scampered up the hill, but I still managed to get a few pictures. SO. AWESOME.

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We drove up the South Umpqua River and stopped to check out Campbell Falls. Jeez, it was humid!

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Then we stopped at South Umpqua Falls, which was a total ZOO. We later learned that this is the main go-to spot for residents of Medford and Roseburg who are looking to escape the heat. There were people, coolers, dogs, kids, and blaring music. And lots of people walk up to the top of the falls and slide down. Crazy.

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We found a spot here to sit and dip our legs in the water, but after awhile we left and went seeking quieter waters. We found just such a spot behind Alder Flat Campground. Ah, much better!

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We set up our chairs in the shade and spent the afternoon here. Reading, swimming, eating, swimming, reading, and more swimming. Damn, that water felt good on such a hot day.

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We got back to the lookout at 5, just as Lori was getting ready to leave. She said that lightning had caused a fire over near Lemolo Lake, but that was it so far. We learned that she had worked for the Umpqua NF for years before finally retiring. She now worked as a seasonal. She was full of interesting information. I could have talked to her for a lot longer!

That evening Greg spotted a pair of turkey vultures soaring around the lookout. They hung around for awhile. Very cool!

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We knew Acker Rock was out there somewhere to the east, but we hadn't been able to spot it. The light changed at one point and there it was.

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After a dinner of cucucumber and sweet onion salad with sundried tomato pesto gnocchi, we headed up the lookout for our final sunset of the weekend. It was a doozy! Extremely Cool Moment of the Day #2:

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Later, the moon lit up everything on the mountain top, including the clouds above us.

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We drank wine, ate chocolate, and played trivia before finally falling into bed, tired and happy.

It was completely overcast in the morning. I got up at 5:30 to check on the sunrise, which was a non-starter, and went back to sleep. We woke up at 7:30 and enjoyed smoked salmon hash for breakfast:

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Lori showed up at 9 to staff the lookout again. We were packing up, so it was no big deal. We waved goodbye and reluctantly hit the road It had been a hot weekend and we'd have to revise all our plans due to the heat, but we'd had a lot of fun and it was hard to leave. This is the fifth lookout I've rented and I've enjoyed every single one of them. What I'll remember most fondly about this one were the sunsets and sunrises. Utterly lovely. :D

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greglief
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Re: A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

Post by greglief » July 2nd, 2015, 8:58 am

It was a great trip!

Although the seat was shockingly warm, I enjoyed the "Loo with a View for a Scenic Number Two".

If anyone is interested, I made a feeble attempt to document the beargrass along the Blair Lake Trail with two videos. Thanks again to derwoodynck for bringing this awesome location to our attention!
Greg Lief
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pablo
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Re: A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

Post by pablo » July 2nd, 2015, 11:14 am

Beautiful photos and engaging narrative. And thank you for providing sufficient eye-bleach to overcome the image of Greg on the potty - black rectangle could have been bigger.

--Paul
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

greenjello85
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Re: A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

Post by greenjello85 » July 2nd, 2015, 12:12 pm

That sounds like a great trip! Other than the Greg on toilet, I really enjoyed your photos :lol: The second turkey vulture and the night time shot were my favorites. Thanks for sharing,
Dan

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Arturo
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Re: A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

Post by Arturo » July 2nd, 2015, 1:13 pm

One of the nicest TR's ever! Gorgeous trail. Gorgeous pics. And a generous redact on the loo photo too.

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bellaj1018
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Re: A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

Post by bellaj1018 » July 2nd, 2015, 1:24 pm

Thanks for posting this! My hubby and I stayed at Pickett Butte Lookout a few years ago in November. It was pretty socked in and we almost gave ourselves carbon monoxide poisoning due heating, cooking, and lighting all at the same time:) Looks like we will have to go back in June sometime!
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UTurn
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Re: A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

Post by UTurn » July 3rd, 2015, 6:42 am

Beautiful photos! I'm so glad you got your beargrass fix! I haven't been able to see that this year so I'm really enjoying the trip reports.

Surridge
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Re: A weekend at Pickett Butte Lookout - June 25-28, 2015

Post by Surridge » July 6th, 2015, 9:11 am

Thanks for the TR. We were thinking of renting this come fall. How was the road up to the lookout? Passenger vehicle accessible? Sounds like there is a lot to see in the nearby area.... Anything accessible from the lookout itself? Thanks!

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