As a first look, I scouted the south end of Rho Ridge today taking the Rapidan trail along the forest boundary to Collawash Mtn to see what is south of Cachebox Meadow. The Rapidan trail trail head is just north of the point where fr46 takes a sharp turn at the southern reach of Rho Ridge and goes west to Detroit. The trail is fairly easy to follow at the start but becomes more vague until just towards the end I lost it altogether. From there, the topo map I have has a section of the 546 Rho Ridge trail running from south of Collawash Mtn and cutting across clearcuts to meet up with the road and the rest of the trail at Cachebox Meadow – I did not find any trace of trail in the area so until I see evidence otherwise I have to say the USGS cartographer might have been posting some wishful thinking.
The Rapidan trail has a nice viewpoint – this is Jeff and Brietenbush Mtn in the foreground.
The best views were from Collawash Mtn. From looking at Google Earth it seemed like the summit might have some viewing potential and I was not disappointed.
Looking north towards Hood on Collawash Mtn
Battle Ax from Collawash Mtn.
Lots of open spaces along the ridge of Collawash Mtn for views to Jeff, Ollalie Butte and to Bull of the Woods where I took these fire pictures.
Welcome Lakes area?
In this shot I think we have Schreiner Peak on the right and Knob Peak on the left. If I recall correctly we are looking at 2 fires – on the left from a couple of years ago and on the right the most recent.
Here's a more northerly shot – I think that is Janus Butte blocking the view at the bottom.
Here's a map of my travels up to Cachebox Meadow. The big print versions of this map and the other photos can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21209133@N06/sets/72157624910785425/
Thanks for posting the photos, Paul. It appears as though the fires are out (I don't see any smoke in your photos). The previous reports of Welcome Lakes being "charcoal" look pretty accurate from your photos. It will be interesting to see the details of how the area was affected by the fire and how it affected the trails in the area. I'm so glad I got to hike those trails this summer....
Just curious, but how far was your hike? And where were those road closed signs? I didn't think they closed any of the roads surrounding Rho Ridge? I thought it was 6370 and 6380 that were closed to create a fire line if needed.....
Several have looked for that "Sure Would be Nice" trail from Rho Ridge to Collawash Mtn (which I think was differently named before). No one ever finds anything. But it would be cool to have the best route flagged.
So is there an actual meadow at Cachebox? When I looked around there I figured it was grown in with lodgepole. Like Rho Mdw.
That Collawash Divide is a rich Heritage area. I am surprised is was allowed to be so roaded and cut.
Very nice pictures.
We should adopt the Rapidan Trail into our District.
Donovan
Rob Williams said:
[...]
Just curious, but how far was your hike? And where were those road closed signs? I didn't think they closed any of the roads surrounding Rho Ridge? I thought it was 6370 and 6380 that were closed to create a fire line if needed.....
Probably 12-13 miles with a bike ride of similar distance. I drove up to Rho Ridge trail head at Graham Pass where I parked and hopped on my bike to ride down the hill to the Rapidan trail head. The road closed signs I saw were at the 6355 road at Cachebox Meadow and the road next to the trail head at Graham Pass. The picture is of the sign blocking the Rho Ridge trail and I believe it is placed there in error as I called the district office and received assurances the Rho Ridge trail was open for its entire length. Likewise the MHNF Clackamas District trail listings on the MHNF web site specifically states which trails are closed (BOTW) and the Rho Ridge trail is not one of them.
I'm looking forward to when BOTW is reopened, I hope it is before the snow flies.
--Paul
Donovan said:
Several have looked for that "Sure Would be Nice" trail from Rho Ridge to Collawash Mtn (which I think was differently named before). No one ever finds anything. But it would be cool to have the best route flagged.
So is there an actual meadow at Cachebox? When I looked around there I figured it was grown in with lodgepole. Like Rho Mdw.
That Collawash Divide is a rich Heritage area. I am surprised is was allowed to be so roaded and cut.
Very nice pictures.
We should adopt the Rapidan Trail into our District.
Donovan
Donovan,
Going along the ridge on Collawash Mtn would be my choice for a route - coming off the north end was a little brushy with young trees but once on the flat travel was easy. I wasn't paying attention and I wandered off the track winding up doing a road walk rather than hiking through the flat.
Here is a picture from Cachebox Meadow looking back at Collawash Mtn.
--Paul