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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2021)
10 Summer 2021 Applegater Park features new sculptures, 'Little Library' BY JANIS MOHR-TIPTON A shiny monarch butterfly perches above the pollinators garden just inside the park. Photo: Janis Mohr-Tipton. Friends of Ruch Library board member Janis Mohr-Tipton, left, and library manager Thalia Truesdell check out the growing collection of books at the newly installed Little Free Library in Cantrall Buckley Park. Photo: Barbara Krack. A raven created by metal sculpture artist Cheryl D. Garcia is one of two new members of the metallic menagerie at the park. Photo: Janis Mohr-Tipton. Join me on a tour of three new features with bright colors that have added to the colorful spring bloom scenes at Cantrall Buckley Park this year. Monarch in flight The first stop is at the butterfly and pollinators garden just inside the park, past the fee booth. If you look up you’ll see, on a large pine tree, a bright orange and shiny black monarch in flight above the planted beds—a sculpture by metal artist Cheryl D. Garcia, installed in April. Little Library Also in the garden area, near the bench and kiosk, you will notice our new “Little Library,” with free books available for readers young to old. You can take or borrow items or do an item- for-item exchange. You can even pass a book to a friend to read, too. Learn more details about this great project in the Friends of Ruch Library article on page 17. Large raven Continuing our tour, we slowly drive down to the lower part of the park for another great new sculpture. If you park near the playground and wander into the play area, you’ll meet the large shiny black Common Raven. It is so shiny that reflections from the brightly painted cement tunnel fort nearby dance in red, orange and green on the sculpture frame. If you look closely, you’ll see a song that Cheryl welded on the frame so you, too, could talk Raven. Try it: Rrruk ~ Prruk ~ Prrok ~ Tok ~ Tok ~ Tok ~ Kraa. Outdoor educational programs Jackson County Parks offers the park for outdoor educational programs. This spring the Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council gave classes on watershed studies on the lower terrace by the river and additional training in small-group work for teachers. The goal was to give students a chance to engage in study in the outdoors while still following health guidelines. Both students and the teachers really enjoyed being by the river and in the beauty of the park. You may notice some newly downed logs in the park as trees in this mature forest succumb to drought and disease. The Parks Department allows them to become rotting logs to add nutrients to the living soil community. Get your yearly pass If you have not yet gotten your yearly pass for all the Jackson County parks, you can buy one from the park hosts or nearby at Ruch Hardware at 181 Upper Applegate Road. Volunteers needed We can always use volunteers. Contact me if you are interested in community service in the great outdoors. We hope you can also come and enjoy the sights and sounds along the Applegate River. Janis Mohr-Tipton 541 846 7501 janis.agapark@gmail.com Azalea Lake should be on Applegate residents' bucket lists. Photo: Suzie Savoie. Summer! Time to cool off at an Applegate lake BY SUZIE SAVOIE Escape the summer heat in the valley and cool off at one of the many small lakes accessible by trail in the Applegate watershed. Each lake has unique features and plant communities that add to the biodiversity of our region. Azalea Lake Located at the headwaters of the Butte Fork of the Applegate River, deep in the Red Buttes Wilderness, Azalea Lake is lined in fragrant azaleas and lodgepole pine. With scenic Figurehead Mountain towering above and abundant flowers triggered by the 2017 Knox Fire, Azalea Lake is a bucket-list-worthy destination for any longtime Applegate resident. Azalea Lake can be accessed via the Butte Fork Trail or the Fir Glade Trail. Echo Lake A small, picturesque lake perched at the top of Echo Creek, a tributary of the Butte Fork of the Applegate River, Echo Lake can be accessed from the Horse Camp Trail or Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). It can also be viewed from above on a rock outcrop just off the PCT. Although just outside the official boundaries of the Red Buttes Wilderness, Echo Lake is a wild and rugged place framed by the Red Buttes above. Frog Pond A shallow, large pond lined in colorful leopard lilies and false hellebore, Frog Pond is the site of the historic, and now fallen-in, cabin of local legend, John Knox McCloy, who built the cabin into massive incense-cedar trees on the edge of Frog Pond. You can access Frog Pond via a steep climb along the Frog Pond Trail or Cameron Meadows Trail in the Red Buttes Wilderness. Just above Frog Pond is a rare population of Alaska yellow-cedar trees. Hinkle Lake Accessed via an old, closed road after parking at the Fir Glade trailhead, Hinkle Lake is a little-known gem of the Applegate. Located in the Hinkle Lake Botanical Area, the area is renowned for its floral and species diversity, including many rare plants like alpine liverwort, that grows in only four locations in the world. The lake is more like a shallow, large pond, but the meadows in the Hinkle Lake basin are unbeatable when in full bloom. Kettle Lake Tucked into the forest on the flank of Observation Peak, Kettle Lake is accessed via a short off-trail scramble below the Pacific Crest Trail. The lake is a perfect destination after enjoying the many rare and endemic, serpentine-adapted plant species that grow on Observation Peak. The quickest access to Kettle Lake is via the PCT, starting at Observation Gap on Road 20 on the Siskiyou Crest. Lonesome Lake One of the most remote lakes in the Applegate watershed, Lonesome Lake is perfect for swimming and camping. This deep, gorgeous lake is situated in a cirque basin on the flank of Figurehead Mountain in the Red Buttes Wilderness and can be accessed via the Butte Fork Trail, Boundary Trail, or Fir Glade Trail. Miller Lake A popular destination for families, Miller Lake is a deep swimming lake that is only a short hike in from the Miller Lake Trailhead. Located at the headwaters of Sturgis Creek, a tributary of Carberry Creek, Miller Lake is in the Oliver Mathews Research Natural Area, designated for the botanical diversity of the area, including some of the largest rare Baker’s cypress trees in the world. Although the road is generally in good condition, high clearance vehicles are required to access the trailhead, as you’ll need to ford a small creek where a bridge was washed out by the 1997 flood. Squaw Lakes If you haven’t made a trip to see Squaw Lakes, you’ve been missing out. Squaw Lakes is perfect for day use or camping with family and friends. Extremely popular due to the scenic qualities, recreational infrastructure, and easy access, Squaw Lakes has a $5 day use fee, and camping requires a reservation. Haul in a canoe or kayak a short walking distance from the parking area to enjoy a quiet boating experience, or swim across the lake on a hot summer day! Local guidebooks by locals More information and directions to these lakes can be found in the following hiking trail guides by local, Applegate authors: • Favorite Hikes of the Applegate by Diana Coogle and Janeen Sathre; • Hiking Trails of the Lower Applegate, by Evelyn Roether; and • The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History & Ecology, by Luke Ruediger. Suzie Savoie klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com