Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

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Boozeman
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Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by Boozeman » October 14th, 2011, 7:37 pm

I went to a slide show event on Tuesday by Scott Cook, the author of the "Curious Gorge" guide book (If you haven't purchased this yet, do so. It's AWESOME). During the event he talked about this mysterious hidden stone arch called the "Rock Of Ages" that is right off of a popular trail, but practically nobody knows about . From that point on I was hooked. I had no idea that this would turn into the adventure that it did. This thing seriously turned into a bad Indiana Jones rip-off. First of all, the directions to get to the trail head are vague at best. If you don't know where to look, you won't see it. Secondly, the "trail" almost requires an expert woodlands tracker to follow. I know that it's a primitive trail, but I went off course twice on game trails and wandered around blindly for ten minutes until I corrected myself. After that I had to face the following ordeals...

1) The Weather- It wasn't supposed to rain on this particular day, but right when I started my mad scramble up the hill I started getting pelted by cold autumn rain. This made the already precarious "trail" even more muddy and slippery.

2) Thorns- I must have accidentally grabbed onto these horrific little thorn encrusted vines at least three different times during my climb and have the bloody little holes in my hands to prove it.

3) Frogs- Okay, they're not as scary as a pit full of asps or a cave full of tarantulas but I'm positive that they were somehow trying to impede my progress. There were a bunch of them hopping around the leaf litter and conspiring against me.

4) Other Trails- I mentioned before how I got side tracked on a few of these. One in particular almost killed me. Right at the top of the ridge there's a bunch of little pseudo trails that branch out and I had no idea which one went where. I took the one that looked like it went to the top the fastest. While concentrating on my hand and footholds I wasn't looking where I was going and almost climbed right over the top of the ridge and off the other side. Needed a change of shorts after that.

FINALLY, I hit the right trail and found the legendary ROCK OF AGES!!! I never got any "Fortune and glory" out of it, but it was a pretty cool adventure any way. Hope you like the pics. ;)
Attachments
HF1.JPG
Horsetail Falls. I actually got to see some fall colors out here. Kind of reminds me of East Coast autumns.
HF2.JPG
I saw this sign in another TR, but it's so cool I added it in mine too. Cheers to whoever made this. Nicely done.
HF2a.JPG
This is the view I had when I nearly climbed off the edge of the ridge. I almost got to find out if my water repellant pants were repellant from the inside.
HF3.JPG
This was how far off the original trail I was. That's the "Rock" over there. Ooops.
HF4.JPG
BEHOLD, THE ROCK OF AGES!!!! This was like finally finding a treasure chest after following tons of cryptic clues and poorly drawn maps. Awesome.
HF5.JPG
The view from underneath the arch. I loved how these volcanic ridges looked like parapets on some gigantic castle.
HF6.JPG
I don't know who P & H are, but I hope they break up and have to endure years of heart wrenching loneliness for defacing this natural wonder. If you're reading this P or H...You're A-Holes.
Last edited by Boozeman on October 14th, 2011, 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Boozeman
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Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by Boozeman » October 14th, 2011, 8:16 pm

I just wanted to add this in as an afterthought. I tried to make this TR as fun as possible, but please don't underestimate the risks involved with this particular hike. The trail is confusing and easy to lose sight of and it's very STEEP. Add in some rain and it's very SLIPPERY. Plus you may not be blessed with my fool's luck when it comes to not falling off of cliffs. Use extreme caution on this one. It's an amazing place, but it's not worth getting hurt or dying for.
Last edited by Boozeman on October 14th, 2011, 8:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Peder
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Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by Peder » October 14th, 2011, 8:17 pm

Sounds like you had fun! Thanks for the update on the trail. :D :D :D
Some people are really fit at eighty; thankfully I still have many years to get into shape…

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Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by tomoforegon » October 14th, 2011, 11:00 pm

I did this little jaunt on a dry sunny day this summer and found it exhilerating. There is however a confusing fork in the trail just below the rock arch or I should say just south of it. If you take the left fork that heads up toward the top of a spiny ridge you will likely get "cliffed out." You want to be sure and take the right fork which traverses along the west side of this cat walk and takes you quickly up to the Devil's Backbone and on up the Rock of Ages trail toward Horsetail Creek trail and Nesmith Point.

It's a short hike to the rock arch and the Devil's Backbone from Ponytail falls, and I thought the hardest part was the climb after the Devil's Backbone.
I can't imagine doing this in rainy weather. Brave you are.

Tom

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Eric Peterson
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Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by Eric Peterson » October 16th, 2011, 4:42 pm

Is the stone arch officially called The Rock of Ages?

I thought the stone arch was just called the stone arch and Rock of Ages is way up more
towards the Yeon Plateau passed St. Peters Dome. :?

The stone arch is way cool though Booze! :)

Nice TR too man...

Thum

Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by Thum » October 16th, 2011, 6:39 pm

nice pic of the river/arch boozeman.


eric peterson is correct. the actual rock of ages rock formation is further east near st peters dome. I guess the arch called, the rock of ages arch. or just the rock arch

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IDratherbehiking
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Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by IDratherbehiking » October 16th, 2011, 7:49 pm

I don't know who P & H are, but I hope they break up and have to endure years of heart wrenching loneliness for defacing this natural wonder. If you're reading this P or H...You're A-Holes.
Thanks for the report!

Every time I read a TR with the arch I always think of a trio that was up there a few years back. One was sitting in the arch eating his lunch, another was going in and out of some meditation on the north side of the arch, really didn't get a clear view of her and the other one was doing some, well, shall we say high risk balancing act, walking back and forth on top of the arch trying his best not to fall off. I watched this for a few minutes, listening to him yelling his "whoas" and laughing as he was correcting his balance every couple seconds. He was old enough to know better. I decided that I seen enough and moved on.

Dunno, that could have been a "P" or an "H" :lol:

I hope I never see a scene up there like that ever again.
Last edited by IDratherbehiking on October 17th, 2011, 9:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Tito goes hiking
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Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by Tito goes hiking » October 16th, 2011, 8:27 pm

Great trip report! I found this place from the help of my old "35 hiking trails Columbia River Gorge" book by Don & Roberta Lowe (copyrighy 1980) earlier this spring. Your pic. of where you talked of testing the insides of your rain pants is great. I can relate because I almost tested my shorts at that same spot as well.
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rockofagesemail.jpg
This pic. is from the spring when the water was extremly high

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Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by Lurch » October 16th, 2011, 8:50 pm

You guys are correct, the arch has no official or unofficial name that I know of other than "the rock arch". The actual ROA is quite a ways east. The trail actually runs above the rock, and it is most definitely *not* accessible without extensive rope skills and equipment! (PS. Mount Kiesano is actually the whole ridge that the ROA trail runs.)
arch.jpg
I believe I have this labeled right... someone correct me if I'm off. It's an odd angle to try and match up topography
roa.jpg

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Boozeman
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Re: Boozeman & The Quest For The Rock Of Ages!!!

Post by Boozeman » October 16th, 2011, 10:15 pm

I'm still kind of new to the whole Oregon hiking scene, so I assumed that the arch was the main reason for that trail and hence the name Rock of Ages was meant for it. Somebody needs to name it something awesome like "The Arch of the Cosmic Beaver" or something. The Stone Arch, although appropriate, is sort of weak. Everybody put their minds together and name this poor thing already. :mrgreen:

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