Wandering out West: "Fire and Water" Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Oregon Caves

Eight incredible days in Oregon; a 6 day excursion in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, a trip to the Oregon Caves and 2 days on the coast, including a night camping near the beach.

I had originally planned to spend 3 days in the Kalmiopsis and 4 days in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, until a ranger told me that (b/c of snow, of course) i wouldn't be able to get to within 20 miles of the Sky Lakes TH. No big deal; as the highest elevation in the Kalmiopsis is "only" about 6,000', snow wouldn't be an issue there, so i decided to make that a 5 day trip and visit the Oregon Caves National Monument.

Kalmiopsis Wilderness

the lowdown: the Kalmiopsis is a unique botanical and geological area, about 20 miles inland in Oregon, just north of the California border. Due to the uncommon nature of coastal subduction here, the mountain and soil are highly mineralized, and will not support the vegetation native to surrounding areas. But there are over 30 species of plant and flower that have adapted to this environment and exist only in this wilderness. The high mineral content of the soil also attracted mining operations (mostly for chromium) until it was designated a wilderness about 50 yrs ago. The wilderness contains the headwaters of the Illinois and Chetco Rivers,

which have carved incredibly scenic valleys into the serpentine rock.A large fire burned much of the wilderness and the surrounding areas in 2002; though the forest in recovery was a beautiful sight to behold (phoenix from the ashes and all,) the aftermath of the fire (deadfall and landslides) made for difficult travel on trails that barely qualified as such.

dates: June 17-22
mileage, elevation +/-, pinnacle: 35 miles (mostly off trail,) +/- 10,800

conditions: i didn't expect well maintained trails, and i wasn't disappointed. The deadfall and

slides from the fire made travel difficult even when following trail. Much of the hike was of

f trail, along the Chetco River, where i alternated between walking in the river and along the banks.

weather: simply gorgeous, high 80's in the day, 50's at night, and only the slightest trace of rain for 15 minutes one night.
highlights: the beauty of the river, the remoteness, the trout, the flowers, and surviving the drive in on the mining road.
challenges: not so much the difficulty of the travel over fire damage, but what it did to my legs. and the raging case of poison sumac, but even that is confined to my legs and arms, so it could've been much worse.

the hike: The Sourdough trailhead is located just west of Chetco Pass, on the eastern edge on the Wilderness. And just getting there was half the fun. The approach over the final few miles consists of repeated switchbacks up the eastern face of the mountain on an old dirt mining road, gaining 3000'. A road which is now seriously degraded due to the erosion resulting from the 2002 fire. I'm not kidding when i say that my Rescue Beacon was powered on and clipped to my

belt on this drive. I could never have done it without 4 wheel drive and likely couldn't have done it in anything larger than the Jeep Liberty I was driving. I averaged a little better than hiking speed until the "road" became impassable, a little after reaching an

d crossing Chetco Pass. There was no evidence of anyone having been here all season, and i bedded down near the car for the night before heading down into the valley the next day.

Much of this eastern part of the Wilderness burned in the 2002 fire. The landscape of limbless, scorched trees standing dead amidst charcoal logs on the ground is at first impression, bleak.

But time spent hiking in a recovering area can be an incredible experience; to see the profusion of wildflowers and saplings taking root in soil enriched by charcoal, in the sun

unobstructed by tree limbs, the absence of which also reveal previously hidden vistas.

Hiking in a recovering area can also messy, exhausting work. Erosion may wash out sections of trail, and standing trees burned and killed but not consumed in the fire eventually fall, creating obstructions. And by definition, a wilderness area is going to be significantly less maintained than a

national park. So i knew i was in for a tough go of it, at least until I got out of the fire damaged

areas, a little further west and down into the river valley.

To accomplish this i took a route west down into the valley, then up a few hundred feet after crossing the river to follow a ridge west before descending again to the Chetco River. It was a bit tougher than i had expected, but i would've suffered twice as bad gladly had i known how

beautiful, gorgeous and pristine the Chetco River is. It is also teeming with trout! I settled in for the night along the river at Taggarts Bar, to cross in the am.

The next day i continued west along the steep banks of the Chetco and when those banks became too steep i was happy to hike in the river, stopping often to fish, with much success. I spent the night riverside and continued west as far as Chetco Bar the next day where i turned around. I gradually made my way back towards Taggarts Bar, where i spent the night.

After spending a good part of the next morning building a minnow/crayfish trap and catching plenty of the latter and none of the former, i decided against a backcoutry Cajun feast, released my captives and hiked back towards the trailhead, which i made a dark.

I waited for daylight to drive out on the mining road, a doubly wise decision in hindsight, as I blew out a tire on the way out. Fortunately, I was in a Jeep, with a full sized spare so i had my Christmas Story/OH Fudge! moment and went on my way, to a large pancake breakfast before heading over to the Oregon Caves National Monument.

Oregon Caves National