Applegater Summer 2018
ATA takes Ruch School
elementary students
on the East ART
You can help keep
trails open
■ APPLEGATE TRAILS
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inviting when not crowded by encroaching
brush or blocked by fallen trees. With trail-
maintenance funding cuts, federal agencies
are prioritizing the trails they maintain or
close. You can help keep trails open by
using them and registering at trailheads
where that opportunity is provided.
You can also join any of several
organizations that maintain trails in
the Applegate. Even as new trails are
being proposed and planned—some
just beginning a lengthy environmental
assessment process—nature is reclaiming
others because of decreased use and
funding cuts.
Applegate Valley Connect website
Visit the Projects section of the
Applegate Valley Connect website at
applegateconnect.org/projects to learn more
about trails in the Applegate Watershed
and the volunteer organizations that help
to maintain them. The accompanying
overview map (see below) shows many trail
locations in our watershed—you might
plan your next adventure on a trail you
didn’t know was there!
While you’re on the Projects page,
check out the other projects described there
and consider posting a community project
that you’re passionate about.
Jim Reiland
Siskiyou Upland Trails Association
jim@manyhandsbuilders.com
BY DIANA COOGLE
On Earth Day 2018, as though she
knew she was being celebrated, Earth
put on her brightest spring demeanor—
her face all shining with blue sky, her
hillside coats of grass embroidered with
wildflowers. So appareled, she was a ready
welcome to students from Ruch Outdoor
Community School (ROCS), assembled
for a hike on the East ART (East Applegate
Ridge Trail). Applegate Trails Association
(ATA) chair, David Calahan, and I, along
with board member Mike Kohn, were
there to tell the children something about
the landscape they were hiking through,
how the trail was built, and other tidbits
of ecological interest.
I was there, in particular, to identify
wildflowers for the kids and give them fun
ways to recognize trees (e.g., to distinguish
between Jeffrey pines and Ponderosa pines,
squeeze the cone. If it pricks you, it’s
Prickly Ponderosa. If it doesn’t, it’s Gentle
Jeffrey)—or to remember names of flowers
(e.g., a mnemonic for Ceanothus is “See I
know this”). However, I was with a group
of about 25 second- and third-graders, who
were too young to be interested in flower
identification. (David, with a similar group
of older students, was more successful in
actually transmitting knowledge.) A child
would point to a flower, ask its name,
then keep on walking without noting the
answer. My lessons evaporated into the
spring air.
21
No matter. The trail itself was doing the
teaching. As we traversed a steep hillside,
with views of the snowy Siskiyou Crest
beyond and of the Ruch valley below, one
little girl marveled at the height: “Look
how high we are,” she said, and her friend
answered, authoritatively, “That drops
300 feet.” (She was close. It actually drops
1,800 feet from the trail to the valley floor.)
“How do they make it so beautiful?”
one girl asked. The boy behind her said,
off-handedly, “It’s nature, you know.”
The boy in front of me kept saying, “I’m
afraid of heights” in a thin voice. I told
him to look at the trail, not at the valley.
His friend stuck close by and occasionally
steadied him with a hand on his shoulder.
In spite of his acrophobia, he wouldn’t turn
back and hiked through to the end.
I pointed out a patch of popcorn
flowers as we passed them, naming them
for whoever was interested. A boy turned
around to say, “I don’t know flowers, but
I do know rocks,” and he proceeded to
give me a pretty good geology lesson,
naming rocks on the trail. Overhearing
our conversation, the girl in front of him
said she had a rock shop and was selling
rocks. She wanted to raise $1,000, with
which to buy dolls.
The children walked about a mile on
the East ART. To some it seemed a long
hike. “Can we go back?” “What if we miss
the bus?” “How many more kilometers is
Students from ROCS hiking on the
East ART on Earth Day. Photo: Mike Kohn.
it?” (What a cosmopolitan kid, I thought.)
Children were given the opportunity to
turn back, but no one wanted to. The
trail held a kind of fascination for them,
whether they knew it or not, the best kind
of lesson for Earth Day.
Diana Coogle
ATA Board Member
dicoog@gmail.com
— Upcoming ATA hikes —
July 15: Enchanted Forest. Moderate.
Three hours, not including an after-hike
stop at Wooldridge Winery for wine and
charcuterie. Bring lunch or eat at the winery.
Meet at Applegate Store at 9 am. Led by
Mike Kohn (utttohhh@gmail.com).
August 4: Mt. Elijah. Difficult but
beautiful, with great views of the Siskiyous
and one of the best wildflower displays in
the Applegate. Five hours. Meet at Applegate
Store at 9 am. Led by Diana Coogle
(dicoog@gmail.com).
For all hikes: Be prepared for the weather,
wear appropriate shoes, and bring water and
lunch.
The Applegate Valley Trails map below was
created by Annette Parsons.
Vicinity Map
Eagle
Point
Grants Pass
Wilderville
27
F
!
Rogue River
Oregon
3
F
!
Applegate
Valley
Murphy
F
!
238
F
!
Jacksonville
13
§
¦
¨
5
! 11
F
F
!
F
!
Applegate
15
5
Ruch
6
12
Kerby
16
¥
199
F
!
F
!
F
!
F
!
18
F
!
17
F
!
9
F
F !
!
24 8
F !
!
F
Legend
F
!
BLM
Applegate_Valley_Trails_20180302
USFS
PacificCrestTrail
Highways
County Roads
®
Red Buttes
Private
NPS
0
3.75
7.5
15
Miles
26
1
19
4
Applegate Valley Trails
Ashland
F 23
!
10
25
F
!
14
Buncom
F
!
Oregon
Caves
Applegate_Watershed
Talent
F
!
F
!
Phoenix
F
!
Williams
Cave Junction
Medford
Applegate
22
Lake
!
F
F
!
2
F
!
21
F
!
20
03/03/2018 AMP
20180303_ApplegateValleyTrails_geo.mxd
Selma
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Sources: Esri, HERE, DeLorme, Intermap, increment P Corp., GEBCO, USGS, FAO, NPS, NRCAN, GeoBase,
IGN, Kadaster NL, Ordnance Survey, Esri Japan, METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), swisstopo, MapmyIndia, ©