New Black Butte trail is actually old

Volunteers will put the final touches on a new hiking trail slated for completion on Black Butte next week - except the new trail is actually kind of old. For many years, Camp Sherman residents and other locals have scoffed at the idea of starting a Black Butte climb from the "official" mid-mountain trailhead. Instead, they have started from the base and ascended all of the landmark cinder-cone's 3,200-plus vertical feet of climbing opportunity.

Black Butte has been used as a principal Central Oregon fire lookout since 1910; and, in those days, there was no mid-mountain trailhead. Everything headed to the summit had to make its way up a trail from the base - the same trail used by the Civilian Conservation Corps to transport building materials to construct the 83-foot lookout tower built in 1934.

Since the present-day trailhead was created at the end of a logging road halfway up the mountain, however, most hikers have used that site as their jumping-off point. Most.

The old trail never really went away, and a small, but dedicated, cadre of hikers continued to use it. Until now, though, that route was not maintained as an official trail. Recent use of the old trail, however, has been on the rise, so the Forest Service began to look for ways to facilitate use of the area and teamed up with the Friends of the Metolius to do just that.

"We want to open up the possibility to hike Black Butte from bottom to top for others besides the locals who have been using the trail for years," said Friends board member Rick Thomas.

The old route still has trees bearing some of the old-style white wire insulators that once carried the fire lookout's telephone line that has been in use since at least 1912. Much of the trail is very well-defined and easy to follow. Other portions have been overgrown and nearly lost among some of the confusing abandoned logging roads on the flanks of the extinct volcano.

One of the problems that delayed the final establishment of an official trail was the lack of adequate parking along the road leading into Camp Sherman. That issue has been resolved by the recent construction of a new trailhead just beyond the turnoff for the Metolius Headwaters and the lower campgrounds. The final steps in establishing the "new" old trail as an official route are to be completed on Saturday, September 15.

Volunteers organized by the Friends of the Metolius will be installing new signage to guide hikers along the new route and completing groundwork to clear and clarify the established route. As part of the effort, volunteers will help further define the approved trail and brush out areas that have been overgrown by manzanita and snowbrush.

Additionally, about 100 yards of new trail will be constructed to tie the new/old trail to the existing trailhead at the mid-mountain point. The present trail ends on the access road, with a scramble up a steep bank, a few hundred feet short of the existing trailhead, where a new permanent toilet facility was added just this year.

Completion of this project will more than double the elevation gain and the distance to travel for a Black Butte ascent. The new mileage will be a welcome addition to the region's trail inventory.

"As with other trail projects we have been involved in, we want to provide alternatives to the Metolius River Trail that hopefully will help to alleviate pressure on that trail," said Thomas.

The new trail is to be a dedicated hiker-only trail. No bikes. No horses. Toward that end, some of the very large deadfall currently blocking the trail will not be removed. Forest Service representative Maret Pajutee said that some of the big downed trees will be purposely left as barriers to other modes of trail traffic, although steps will be notched into the bigger logs to facilitate hiker passage. She noted that there are several other roads and trails open to equestrians and bicyclists in that

area.

Friends of the Metolius is a non-profit conservation organization that focuses on land management and land-use planning activities in the Metolius Basin. They conduct educational, interpretive, and advisory activities, and - in cases such as this one - actively promote environmental enhancement with hands-on activities like this project. Further information can be obtained at

http://www.metoliusfriends.org.

The Friends work closely with the Forest Service and other agencies and organizations. In this case, funding for the lower Black Butte Trail project is made possible by grant money from the National Forest Foundation and the Deschutes Forest Stewardship Fund, with contributions from local recreational businesses and lodges.

The project is part of the National Forest Foundation's Treasured Landscapes "Tale of Two Rivers" conservation campaign for Whychus Creek and the Metolius River, which is raising 1.7 million dollars for restoration work and recreation enhancements. For more information, see http://www.nationalforests.

org/conserve/programs/

conservation/whychus-creek-and-metolius-river-or).

More volunteers are welcome, and persons interested in helping with the project are invited to contact Thomas at [email protected] Thomas said that work-party jobs will be apportioned according to the participants' abilities, and he indicated that a group of teenagers will "help out with the heaviest jobs." Work will begin at 9â¯a.m., Saturday, September 15.

Participants will be rewarded with an afternoon barbecue in Camp Sherman when the project is completed.

The trail is expected to be open to the public immediately following the volunteers' work on September 15.

The new trailhead parking lot is located just off Forest Road 1430. To reach it, turn right at the fork in the Camp Sherman Road (Road 14) about 2.6 miles off Highway 20. After only a couple hundred yards, take the first right onto 1430, then take the first right again into the trailhead parking lot.

All of the newly opened trail lies in the forest, and much of the route is shaded. The first half of the trail is a fairly gentle uphill grade that becomes steeper in the second half as it approaches the mid-mountain trailhead. The steeper section is also home to a stand of older incense cedar trees. One especially scenic tree is a very old, extremely large cedar that is mostly snapped off. Still, it continues to grow and is producing new tops.

The total distance of the new combined trails has not been officially logged but should come in at around eight miles for a round trip to the summit and back.