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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2020)
Appeal Tribune | WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2020 | 1B OUTDOORS BRANCH OUT Oregon Redwoods Trail is on Oregon’s South Coast, near the town of Brookings. It’s one of only two places in the state where redwoods can be found. PHOTOS BY ZACH URNESS/STATESMAN JOURNAL See ancient forest, unique trees on these hikes out. They have a grey-ish white, shaggy bark, with an almost golden hue to them. They stick out to pretty much ev- eryone who hikes this trail. One of the reasons they grow in this area is the geologic region — it’s an area known as the Old Cascades. It’s a much older range of mountains compared to the volcanoes of the young Cascades, and the old ones are a lot more biodi- verse. A lot of really interesting wild- flowers and trees all grow here, includ- ing the Alaskas, which are some of the oldest trees recorded — they can age to 1,800 years old and have kind of droop- ing appearance that goes along with shaggy bark. Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK This won’t come across as any sur- prise, but Oregon is home to some of the world’s most spectacular forests and trees. From yew to sitka, ponderosa to red- wood, from redcedar to myrtle, oak, hemlock and Douglas-fir, trees are the star of the show in the Beaver State. A few months ago — pre-pandemic — I sat down with Chandra LeGue, author of “Oregon’s Ancient Forests: A Hiking Guide” and a field coordinator for Ore- gon Wild. We picked our 10 favorite tree- centric trails — hikes that are all about interesting, or unique, or downright bi- zarre patches of forest across the state. Our conversation can be heard online in an episode of the Explore Oregon Podcast. But included here are our 10 picks that include trails in every corner of the state. (Note: While most of Oregon’s out- doors has reopened, double-check be- fore traveling for COVID-19 limits or clo- sures. See the online version of this sto- ry for links to stories with more details, including directions). 1. Oregon Redwoods (Zach pick) My first pick has to be the Oregon redwoods, just because nothing quite compares with the majesty of an old- growth redwood, and because there’re so few places to see them on Beaver State soil. Redwoods just look and feel different from any other tree. There are actually two places to hike 4. Marys Peak East Ridge- Tie Trail Loop (Chandra) Sunlight breaks through the trees in the Valley of the Giants. among Oregon redwoods and both are located around the town of Brookings in the extreme southwest corner of the state. My favorite is Oregon Redwood Trail. It’s a little more remote, a little far- ther back there, and I love this trail be- cause it starts off being pretty nonde- script. You’re hiking through the forest, pretty typical, and then the first grove of giant redwoods show up out of the mist and just tower over everything around them. I love the hikes where the trees really jump out, and that’s true here. (Listen to the podcast for a story on how the grove was saved from plans to log it). 2. Malheur River Canyon (Chandra pick) Here’s a great trail for a unique mix of trees: The Malheur River Trail. It begins about 5.5 miles from the river’s headwa- ters, in the Malheur National Forest southeast of John Day, at the Malheur Ford, and heads downstream past steep canyon walls up to 1,000 feet tall. Designated as a Wild and Scenic Riv- er corridor, the forest along the trail is dominated by big lodgepole and pon- derosa pines and Douglas-firs, with quite a bit of forest diversity. The trail follows the river, climbs to forested benches, crosses small drainages with vibrant riparian vegetation and enters a grove of ancient larch trees. The recom- mended segment of the trail is 4.5 miles round trip. 3. Echo Basin (Zach) For my next pick I am going with Echo Basin, a 3-mile trail off South San- tiam Highway near Tombstone Pass in the Cascade Range. The reason I am picking this trail — which is typically known for spring wildflowers — is that it’s home to one of Oregon’s most impressive groves of Alaska Yellow Cedar. They are a really cool tree that only grows in a handful of places in Oregon and here, they stand My next pick is also best known for the spring wildflower displays in its summit meadows, but the forests that surround Marys Peak, and that shelter the Corvallis water supply, are just as worthy of exploring. Located on the eastern edge of the Coast Range and Siuslaw National For- est, Marys Peak is the highest peak in the Coast Range and not far outside of Corvallis. The recommended 5-mile loop begins on the East Ridge Trail at Conner Camp, climbs through a tall, ca- thedral-like forest of Douglas-fir and vine maple, then gains elevation through a forest that transitions to a unique stand of old-growth noble firs. The loop uses the Tie Trail, which fol- lows a moist slope of Douglas-fir and hemlock forest dotted with huge cedar trees, to return from the summit area. 5. Myrtle Tree Trail (Zach) Next I’m again headed down to southwest Oregon to pick Myrtle Tree Trail — which, as you might guess, I See HIKES, Page 3B Learning to ‘put the ill wind behind me’ Fishing Henry Miller Guest columnist Anyone who has been camping with a bunch of males knows, to put it polite- ly, about “intentionally (releasing) a massive intestinal wind.” That was how Vienna, Austria, au- thorities delicately described an inci- dent at a public park where a man was fined 500 euros (a whopping $564) for “violating public decency” by, ahem, breaking wind intentionally at police. “Members of the city’s police force ‘prefer not to be farted at,’” was the way the reporter for BBC Europe put it in an article about the, ahem, blow-up. You’ve probably heard about it. The story, originally posted in early June, has spread virally like a beer-and- boiled-egg toot between the under- ground parking and the penthouse in the elevator shaft of a high-rise. The story brought on a whiff (sorry) of nostalgia for me with the recent an- nouncement of the re-opening of some campgrounds in the Pacific Northwest. While the phrase “diet and exercise” generally is associated with health and fitness, it takes on a different connota- tion when it comes to hiking, biking, rowing, fishing, hunting and other out- door pursuits among the Y chromosome set. See MILLER, Page 3B Henry’s tried and true one-person tent. HENRY MILLER/SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN