Ruckel Loop July 28 2011

[raveneditions]

What a primo hike! To spend practically all day following knife-edge ridges—but knife edges softened just barely enough to be mossy and shaded most of the time, while retaining plenty of beautiful columnar basalt spires. And then at, of all places, the very top of this 3700-foot trek, just when you're sweatiest, there's a lovely creek big enough to soak your head in. (The creek likely dwindles toward the end of dry summers.)

The R Ridge trail is unofficial, so it doesn't see a lot of feet, but enough to keep it pretty easy to follow, the whole way.
Tons of poison oak on lower R Creek trail.

Flowers in bloom:
Indian pipe just emerging
Slender bog orchid
Western coralroot past its best
Crown brodiaea
Douglas's brodiaea
White brodiaea
Farewell-to-spring
(Those last four, together in a hanging garden on R Creek Trail, are way later than normal)
Hooker's onion
Trail plant
a very few Beargrass at the top
Stinky Bob
Arnica
White hawkweed
Scouler's hawkweed
several more I can't think of at the moment.

[geographics]

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[raveneditions]

Yeah if you're going to do it you need to know there will be no "Ruckel Ridge Trail" signs. It starts out as the (signed, official) Buck Point Trail from the top of Eagle Creek campground, and it just keeps going up the ridge. The Field Guide does a good job on this. If you reach the top end of the Ridge trail at the right spot, you'll see a small sign saying "Ruckel Creek Trail" with arrows both directions along that trail, but no sign pointing back down the Ruckel Ridge trail which you just came up.