Jack Ash Trail – Anderson Ridge

We loaded 8 hikers into two cars and headed out towards Little Applegate valley. Right on schedule until I took a wrong turn😒…thinking about a recent hike but not today’s hike. Oh well, a u-turn and rumble back down a dirt road got us to our TH just a bit late. 3 more hikers were waiting at the TH with two looking at their watches. After profuse apologies and quick introductions of our new hikers, off we went up the rocky Greenstone Trail.

The trail sign had been mowed down in a hail of bullets😡, so I picked it up and translated what it said around dozens of craters😊. (A shooting moratorium is supposed to go into effect soon. One wonders if there will be any signs remaining?)

The day was cloudy but calm with temps in the 40s as we headed up the trail. At our first turn, we found another sign post knocked down and a few piles of snow! Although the calendar told us it was Spring, Winter still had a say in today’s hike.

As we ascended into the forest below the ridge we started to see patches of snow. Then snow on the trail, and finally snow and ice falling from the trees as wind from the other side of the ridge blew through the treetops.

When we got to the ridge trail we had wind from the up draft but not much more snow. Instead we had an off and on drizzle out to the lunch spot by Anderson Butte Road.

Lunch was enjoyable with more Coffee Buzz chocolate☺, but short as hikers were feeling damp and cold.

So we reversed the hike on the out and back and completed 6.5 miles with 1,000′ of gain.

On the way back along the ridge, we stopped twice for photos of new Spring flowers: Larkspur and Grass Widows😁. And listening to the distant reports from semi-automatic rifles😡.

Back at the cars, there were smiles all around for completing this quick but exhilarating hike.

Hike Leader: Rich Stickle

Photos By: Jerry, John, Randy