Walks with Moss: Old Growth Ridge Trail in Oregon

Went camping in Oregon and hiked a trail that I really love, The Siltcoos Lake trail. The trial is only 4 miles but it is pretty.

Sleeping under the trees at Wittaker Creek

Also hiked the "old growth ridge trail" at Wittaker creek. Thank you Mr. Smith for making this trail so folks can see the old growth!

Our destination was Dune City, and that is not a bad days drive from here, but still I thought it would be fun to see something new so I stopped at Wittaker Creek about 14 miles outside of Mapleton on the way down.

I found a nice private campsite and was really liking the campground until two cyclists decided to camp on top of me in the nearly empty campground. It was not really on top of me, but it felt like it since there was a path between the picnic tables in my site and the one they took. The path allowed for no privacy and since the cyclists did not have chairs they preferred to sit on top of their picnic table and look directly at me. I think they were friendly the way they kept staring and saying hello, but I was there for privacy and it really started to annoy me.

I tried playing loud music to drive them off before they pitched their tents, but no dice. When it became clear they were not leaving I decided to leave. I found another spot on the other side of the creek. The spot was not as nice but it was very private.

In the morning I walked the Old Growth Ridge Trail and returned on the Armantrout trail. Both trails were really nice and quite different from my home range. I'm getting very bored with all the trail in the Olympics so it was nice to go somewhere new.

I walked to the top of the ridge trail had coffee and then walked down the Armantrout trail. There were a lot of yummy salmon berries on the lush lower trail, there was also stinging nettles. When I got back to my campsite it was getting hot, so I packed up quickly to save the ice in my cooler and headed for my next camp site on the coast. Camping at this BLM camp costs $10 or $5 for seniors and disabled.

This is the top of the ridge trail, there used to be nice benches here but they have worn out
a bit over the years from what I can tell. We had a coffee break and a dogfood break here.