Grassy Knobb

Grassy Knobb Wilderness Area on the South Coast not far from Port Orford. Pictured in October 2009.

It's a moderate hike up to the summit of Grassy Knobb. It's steady incline with no surprises. The view from the top is quite nice on a clear day, overlooking the Pacific.

Devil's Staircase Ordeal

It seems foolish we would even go there I suppose. I don't think either of us really expected to see the Devil's Staircase itself. After all, it was only a rumor for years until the site was finally documented in the 1970's. This was after multiple attempts to locate it by teams who spent days traversing the wilds of the Wassen Creek bed. It is, apparently, one of the most remote and difficult to find locations in the Oregon Coast Range. Here is the description from Andy Stahl, who finally put it on the map: The Devil's Staircase.

Sarah and I thought the initial trail to Wassen Creek would make a good day hike. The trail leads from a logging spur road down to the creek bed, but, of course, there is no trail to the Devil's Staircase. At the head of the trail, we saw a sign put up by the forest service warning off potential hikers. The sign explained that the terrain is steep and rugged without maintained trails; GPS units fail to work due to steep ravines and thick overhead canopy; and several parties have had to be rescued with the involvement of the Douglas County Sheriff Dept. (the strongest warning, it seems).

The sign was a bit ominous but the trail ahead seemed clear enough, so we took our hike down the steep trail until we had enough. The trudge back up to the car was difficult as it was a wet October day and the trail was mostly mud. Going uphill was a struggle but we made it back to the car without incident.

Then the trouble was apparent. We were parked on a narrow stretch with a tree fall in front of us. We needed to get turned around carefully without slipping over the steep drop on one side. The problem was that the road surface was all mud which made it quite slippery and sloping uphill in the direction we needed to go.

I managed to get the car turned around with quite a bit of slipping and sliding, but luckily without tumbling over the edge. Unfortunately, once the car was oriented correctly on the "road" the tires spun uselessly in the mud. I wasn't too concerned at first as I assumed there would be a bed of gravel somewhere under the mud. But, as the tires dug deeper into the mud, it became clear there was no gravel and we were stuck.

A little bit of panic set in. Sarah, already thinking ahead, estimated it would take a good day's walk to make it back to the highway on foot, and on this Saturday we had not seen a soul on the logging roads on the way in. It was already late in the afternoon, so, if we couldn't get unbogged, we faced the choice of walking into the night, or waiting until the morning. I didn't like either choice and preferred not to have to make it.

My next attempt was mostly half-hearted as I didn't think it would work and involved taking every branch, twig and bow I could find and jamming it into the ruts in front of the tires. It did no good and the tires slipped on the wet branches just as easily as in the mud. I tried pushing while Sarah worked the accelerator, but it was muddy and I had no purchase, plus I ran the risk of the car rolling back over me or the tires kicking up the branches that I had so cleverly stuck under them.

Then, my final backup plan was to put on the snow chains. Sarah said she was thinking the same. I hoped it would work because I didn't have any other ideas. It was dirty work getting the snow chains on in the carved out ruts of mud.

After wiping off the excess mud from my hands and clothes, we got back in ready to drive off. I started it up and accelerated and the tires spun in the mud. Yet, there was just a little more traction than before, just enough for me to rock the car forward and backward in the ruts building momentum until we finally burst out of the ruts and drove without stopping until we reached the main logging road, less than a mile up, with it's beautiful bed of gravel. I don't think I've ever been so pleased to see gravel!

Sweet Creek Falls

Sweet Creek Falls are near Mapleton, Oregon. We went there a few weeks ago with our trusty Cairn Terrier. It is a nice pleasant walk. There are more little waterfalls along this trail than anywhere else I've been. It is an easy walk with many rewards for a little effort. Great for kids.

Sadly there was someone on the trail with an Akita off leash and uncontrolled. It went after our little Cairn, but he defended himself bravely and in the end, Sarah had to save him by picking him up, but the Akita wouldn't relent until it's lackadaisical owner finally saw fit to take her Akita by the collar and move on.

Our weekend trip to the Oregon Dunes south of Florence.