Now that we're "locals," I've been exploring parts of the trail in anticipation of a thru hike once the days get a little longer and warmer (no need to wait for the snow to melt - there isn't any). We checked out the trail S of Grayback on a recent hike to Mt. Elijah and the Oregon Caves (Mt. Elijah TR), its center section with a hike to Cedar Basin (Butte Fork TR), and it's southern terminus with a hike through Cook and Green Pass (Cook & Green TR). Today's effort was aimed at the charmingly named Sucker Gap, located N of Cedar Basin and S of Mt. Elijah. I started at the Steve Fork TH on the E side of the crest (Hike #73 in Sullivan's 100 Hikes in Southern Oregon),
then hiked up through a lush forest, incluidng the rare Brewer's spruce,
to a junction with the Boundary Trail,
at a meadow in Sucker Gap.
From there it was N through more forest on the Boundary Trail,
which was a good shape except for the few occassions where the forest had joined the trail (walking stick is 5' long).
My goal for the day was the summit of Swan Mountain, which soon came into view,
along with that of ever reliable Mt. McLoughlin.
From Swan's summit, I could look S to the Gap (G) and the meadow (S) where I would later find the Sucker Creek shelter.
It was a day of on-and-off cloud cover, but I could see Preston Peak (arrow), the highest peak in the Siskiyou Wilderness to the SW,
prescribed burns in the Illinois Valley and the coast range to the W,
and Lake Mountain (L), Mt. Elijah (E), Craggy Mountain (C), and Grayback Mountain (G) to the N.
There was a lookout on Lake Mountain that blew down in 1953 and supposedly one here on Swan Mountain but there's no obvious evidence of that left. The last entry in the summit register was 2011 - which just confirms what I've been finding - that "crowds" are not a problem on many of the trails and summits in this region. After lunch on the sun washed summit, I turned back and along the way caught a quick glance of a large bird swooping through the trees and then landing high in a tree (arrow).
At first I thought it was a grouse but when it swiveled its head 180 degrees, it was obviously an owl.
But spotted or barred? Same genus and really hard to tell apart at a distance and their ranges now essentially overlap. Since the government is busy shooting barred owls to protect spotted owls, I assume someone can tell them apart in the forest?
After the owl, it was on to the Sucker Creek shelter, which is below the trail,
on the edge of a large meadow overlooked by Swan Mountain.
The shelter was built in the 1920s by a cattle rancher and restored in 2001 - it has a dirt floor and an elevated sleeping bench and is probably a great place to meet mice (all night long).
Then up and over the Gap, with a stop at a small lake just below it - unnamed on the USGS map but called "Cirque Lake" by Sullivan -
before retracing my steps to the Steve Fork TH. Good hike (11 mi RT, 1800' EG) with views, history, rare trees, and rarer wildlife.
