Oregon Hikers

I encountered this minor curiosity in the Three Sisters Wilderness yesterday, on the Foley Ridge trail, on my return from Substitute Point:
...Part of the reason this piqued my interest is that I didn't see anything else in the area to which it might obviously be related (although a little earlier on, I encountered a similar ceramic fragment, resting on a fallen tree). In case it's not already obvious, this was in a burn area (one of the Horse Creek Complex fires, I believe, back in 2017). Any ideas?

That is an insulator. Sometimes you see those on trees as they were used to run phone lines from lookouts. You can read about them below.

http://www.bedore.org/PhoneHistory.html

Wow, alright! There used to be a lookout on Substitute Point, so this makes sense. I actually imagined roughly this explanation as a possibility, but dismissed it as too weird to be likely Thanks for the helpful answer!

You can fine these on many trails in the area.

Waffle Stomper wrote: ↑

November 15th, 2021, 3:17 pm

You can find these on many trails in the area.

And even offtrail, I'd wager

Chip Down wrote: ↑

November 17th, 2021, 6:17 pm

Waffle Stomper wrote: ↑

November 15th, 2021, 3:17 pm

You can find these on many trails in the area.

And even offtrail, I'd wager

No doubt.

Those insulators are everywhere but usually higher up on an older tree so you may not spot them so easily. Here's one only 6/10th of a mile up the Grassy Knoll trail: (TR later) (Pic taken on a hike last July) dn

On the Grassy Knoll trail, a couple of them were even on trees lying on the ground...but may have been removed. Along the Banks-Vernonia linear trail there used to be a side trail with a sign mentioning the old insulator with wooden dowel attachment...it disappeared some time ago. Lot's of souvenir hounds out there.

My favorite souvenir to hound: an old Montag stove from a now 110-yhear old section of railroad. I want that ole relic for my backyard flowerbed...but alas, its cast iron and at least a mile off the road. It would be rather heavy and I didn't want it that bad.

The other relic was an old Cascade Crest Trail marker I found in Goat Rocks when I went on one of my very private privy breaks. It was still bolted to the post and I didn't have thee tools necessary to detach the part I wanted. I figure the USFS would care because they tossed it well-off trail and some distance from the junction it once marked.

Happy hunting.

If you are curious to know which trails these were on, look at a map from the 30's or 40's and look for the dots on either side of the trail - this indicated a phone line followed the trail. See below for an example - the trail up to Salmon Mountain and to the Salmon Guard station along the river. This snippet is from the 1938 Mt Hood map. If you know where to look they are ALL OVER the place.