Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

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bobcat
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Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by bobcat » June 26th, 2022, 4:10 pm

* Yamsay Mountain *

After driving over the Cascades from Portland, my first stop in a multi-day trip, mostly in Lake County, was Yamsay Mountain. This unobtrusive peak, a sprawling shield volcano that seems almost insignificant in the surrounding landscape, is actually the highest point, at 8,200 feet, in what is considered the “eastern arc” of the Cascades, which extends from the Newberry Caldera to Medicine Lake in California. Also unobtrusive, since the trail on the shorter, western approach is not marked on any Forest Service map, is the series of twists and turns on unmarked forest roads to the trailhead, the final couple of miles being a snowbrush alley, with twiggy pinstripe applications decoratively stroking (or screeching against) the side of your vehicle.

There was a Forest Service truck at the trailhead, so I knew I would meet fellow humans at some point. The trail, marked as a cross-country ski trail with blue diamonds, actually follows the old lookout road, liberally and annoyingly bermed all the way to the top, in a forest of lodgepole pines with a few white fir and sugar pine here and there. Soon, evidence was presented as to why the FS crew were up there. I had known there was a lot of deadfall on the trail. That day the crew of four logged out all of them. There were no real views on the way up, but I passed each of the crew members in turn as I neared the summit.

Trailhead, Yamsay Mountain.jpg
Through the lodgepoles, Yamsay Mountain.jpg
Saw work, Yamsay Mountain.jpg
Whitebark outcropping, Yamsay Mountain.jpg

The summit itself makes the 3 ½ mile gently rising hike worthwhile. There were views of all the major Cascade peaks between Mt. Shasta and the Sisters. To the north, east, and south, I could see Fort Rock, Table Rock, Hager Mountain, Sycan Marsh, and Gearhart Mountain. There’s a healthy whitebark pine forest here, and Clark’s nutcrackers flitted between the trees. An immature bald eagle flapped out of Yamsay’s north-facing cirque.

Lookout foundations and Mt. Scott, Yamsay Mountain.jpg
Cirque rim, Bailey, Thielsen from Yamsay Mountain.jpg
Yamsay cirque and the Three Sisters, Yamsay Mountain.jpg
Forest Service trails crew, Yamsay Mountain.jpg

The FS trails crew, dressed in their chainsaw chaps, soon arrived and broke out their non-alcoholic craft beers (they recommend Athletic). I took the occasion to quiz them on several things about which they were most knowledgeable:

* Yamsay’s 80-foot lookout tower was taken down in 1973. There are still the foundations of a shed and the lookout itself.

* The Fremont National Recreation Trail, 135 miles long, has its eastern terminus at the top of Yamsay Mountain. The crew said they wanted to establish the terminus at the trailhead where I parked, and they promised that they would soon be signing (and hopefully brushing out) the road and getting it on the next map set.

* I asked about the Gearhart Mountain Wilderness, which was in the center of the Bootleg Fire last year. All the old growth at the Lookout Rock Trailhead was killed, but the area between the Palisades and the Dome experienced little damage. The diseased forest on top of Gearhart itself was burned, mercifully, but old growth on the north side of the wilderness has survived.

They had quite a year last year, but I found them enthusiastic, positive, and extremely well-informed and curious about their neck of the woods. They also expressed that it was unusual for them to encounter their “public” (meaning me) while on the job. Their trails are not highly trafficked, with most of the use coming on weekends when they're not working.


* Hager Mountain *

I camped at Silver Creek Marsh, where the mosquitoes were quite tolerable, and was at the Hager Mountain Trailhead by 8:00 a.m. the next morning.

Campsite, Silver Creek Marsh.jpg
Hager Mountain from FR 27.jpg

I took the “long route”, eight miles round-trip, as I would pass two higher trailheads on the way up. The route, also part of the Fremont NRT, begins in a ponderosa pine parkland that was blooming with balsamroot, lupine, paintbrush, and larkspur. Just above the “upper” trailhead at the end of a spur road is Hager Spring, but a mere trickle protected by a pole and rail fence. Higher up, I passed out of the forest into thickets of mountain mahogany and open sagebrush slopes, with good views to the Mt. Shasta, the southern Cascades, Yamsay Mountain (looking insignificant), and Sycan Marsh.

Trailhead, Hager Mountain.jpg
Balsamroot woods above middle trailhead, Hager Mountain.jpg
Balsamroot and paintbrush, Hager Mountain.jpg
Wavyleaf paintbrush (Castilleja applegatei), Hager Mountain.jpg
Junction with upper trailhead, Hager Mountain.jpg
Hager Spring, Hager Mountain.jpg
Pouch fungus (Cryptoporus volvatus), Hager Mountain.jpg
Whiskerbrush (Leptosiphon ciliatus), Hager Mountain.jpg
Upland larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum), Hager Mountain.jpg
Yamsay Mountain from Hager Mountain Trail.jpg
Mountain mahogany thicket, Hager Mountain.jpg

At a trail junction, the Fremont NRT spins off and the Hager Mountain Trail wraps around the summit in shady woods before finally ascending to the lookout, where views of the Cascades were slightly more distant compared to Yamsay but this time extended from Shasta to Jefferson.

Lewis flax (Linum lewisii), Hager Mountain.jpg
View to Sycan Marsh and Shasta, Hager Mountain.jpg
View to Three Sisters, Hager Mountain.jpg
Table Rock from Hager Mountain.jpg
Lookout buildings, Hager Mountain.jpg
Lookout cabin, Hager Mountain.jpg

Yvonne, the current lookout, was welcoming and showed me her Osborne fire finder and other accouterments. This is her third year, but last year’s experience was truncated by evacuation due to the threatening Bootleg Fire. The morning weather check came in on the radio while I was there as the dispatcher went through the several other fire lookouts in the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Yvonne makes a round of her balcony to scout for fire plumes every 20 minutes. There was nothing on that day except for a very persistent dust devil to the south, a vertical tornado-like spout that sucks up ashes and debris from the Bootleg (we had seen it the previous day from Yamsay). Yvonne told me that several fire lookouts remain staffed in this national forest because the horizon is so distant compared to the closely packed lookouts of the Cascades, which had a much narrower scope of vision. She had begun duty on June 15th – in the off-season the lookout can be rented by the public. Her current troubles related to her truck parked below – marmots gnawing at her radiator for the antifreeze and a packrat setting up a nest in the engine compartment.

justpeachy
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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by justpeachy » June 26th, 2022, 7:10 pm

Excellent report, thank you! I've heard that wildflowers on Hager can be nice in late June / early July and from your report that looks to be true. I'll be in the area next week so maybe I'll try to swing by there.

greenjello85
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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by greenjello85 » June 26th, 2022, 8:39 pm

bobcat wrote:
June 26th, 2022, 4:10 pm
* The Fremont National Recreation Trail, 135 miles long, has its eastern terminus at the top of Yamsay Mountain. The crew said they wanted to establish the terminus at the trailhead where I parked, and they promised that they would soon be signing (and hopefully brushing out) the road and getting it on the next map set.
That sounds intriguing. I'm gonna have to research that a bit and might give it a go. Do you know if it's just a hiking trail or will I be dodging OHV's along the way? I love that area down there.

Thanks for a report from one of the less traveled parts of Oregon!

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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by justpeachy » June 27th, 2022, 5:39 am

greenjello85 wrote:
June 26th, 2022, 8:39 pm
Do you know if it's just a hiking trail or will I be dodging OHV's along the way?
I don't think it gets a ton of use from any one group, but from what I've heard it's more popular with equestrians and mountain bikers than with hikers. It's definitely not an OHV trail (at least not officially).

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bobcat
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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by bobcat » June 27th, 2022, 6:54 am

greenjello85 wrote:
June 26th, 2022, 8:39 pm
I'm gonna have to research that a bit and might give it a go.
The Fremont NRT was previously known as the Southern Oregon Intertie Trail. You will have to research carefully. I hiked various segments of it on this trip, but many parts of the trail were affected by recent big fires: Watson Creek 2018, Brattain 2020, Cougar Peak (which merged with the Bootleg) 2021. Long sections are perhaps better suited to bikers and equestrians but there's a lot of deadfall that would be a huge challenge to both. I know the section east from the summit of Yamsay to the Antler Trailhead needs to be logged out. Also I saw a Trail Closed sign on the segment leading west from Silver Creek Marsh. The east (north) terminus of the trail is at Vee Lake, at the south end of the Abert Rim.

Edit: The trail has a spidery design, not particularly linear like the PCT, so there's another branch that heads south down the North Warners past Crane Mountain.

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by Don Nelsen » June 27th, 2022, 2:36 pm

Thanks for the great report and pictures. Both peaks have been on my radar for a while so the beta is particularly welcome since I plan to do both later this summer.

dn
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"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

JBG
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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by JBG » June 27th, 2022, 4:40 pm

Great trip report as always. My first backpacking trip was down that direction up on Mt Gearhart more than 20 years ago, and I haven't made it that far south since. It was really remote then - didn't even see any cars on the road. Maybe one day I'll make it back.

pablo
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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by pablo » July 1st, 2022, 8:27 pm

Hey bobcat, nice report, and interesting details. I did this hike today, sad to report there is now a single downed log on the trail. I hear you on the berms although I was thinking some of them seem more like water bars. A lot of dead trees in this area, going to burn hot when it goes but maybe it needs a fire to clear out the bugs that are causing all the damage. One item to add - another USGS benchmark with a misspelling, intentional?
Benchmark.jpg
Banchmark on Yamsay Mtn
--Paul
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

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bobcat
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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by bobcat » July 2nd, 2022, 8:35 am

Nice to hear from you, pablo! I didn't take a close look at that benchmark, but the FS crew did and didn't point out any spelling errors. Of course, it's an approximation of a native word (Klamath for 'north wind') so English transcription may have varied over the years.

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BurnsideBob
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Re: Yamsay Mountain & Hager Mountain 6-22-22

Post by BurnsideBob » July 4th, 2022, 6:55 am

Another interesting trip report, Bobcat!

Assuming you drove to Silver Creek Marsh Campground from Silverlake, how did you find the road in? We drove it in an F-350 pick up and those 6" wide cracks in the paving were bone jarring!

I was travelling with other people so didn't have the time to explore Silver Creek Marsh, but I found it interesting. At the south end of the campground where we stayed there was a channel with a good flow of water. It appears to be a braided stream, so between all the channels there could have been a really good flow of water but the willows were something else. Good moose habitat that!

There was a bird I was unfamiliar with calling back and forth. I never saw it.

I'd like to revisit with more time.

Thanks for your report!

Dave
I keep making protein shakes but they always turn out like margaritas.

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