Ogle Mountain Loop…
It’s been 13 years since the last time on Ogle Mountain. Wow!, a lot has changed…especially in the last few years. Not much bushwhacking since the burn, but that should change back in the next decade.
We left the car at 8:00am. It was raining when we left but by 11:00am the rain had stopped and the temps had turned to very mild. Crossing Ogle Creek was a mess. Lots of water in the creek making it impossible to jump or even use stepping stones, so we walked up stream till we found a large tree that had recently fallen across the creek. Not a clean solution, but it worked. After that it was a short walk to the Ogle Mine site. Looks more popular than the last time I was there, unfortunately. From here we headed straight up to the summit of Ogle Mountain, passing four other mine openings. Some quite large. One of them was a vertical shaft, maybe 50’ + deep. I’m wondering if this shaft somehow connects to the lower horizontal mines.
From the summit we walked an abandoned road to one of the main line roads, back to the car…which include a few cross-country sections.
Fun day out with my lovely wife Deb.
Upper Molalla River gushing…
Big active quarry…
Rainy and Grey day…
Looks like an expensive piece of machinery to be left outside in the elements…
Crossing Ogle Creek…
Ogle Mine, the one on the map…
A little deeper…
A nice view of the head waters of the Ogle Creek drainage…
Number 2 mine site…
Number 3 mine site…
This mine has a few different tunnels, leading different directions…
Number 4 mine site… This on is a vertical shaft, 50′-60′ deep.
Looking north down the Ogle Creek drainage. The ridge on the horizon is High Ridge, in the Table Rock Wilderness.
Number 5 mine site…still had snow blocking the entrances, but looked like there were 2-3 different tunnels.
Abandoned road leading off Ogle Mountain summit…
Ugh…short cut.
Looking up the route…
Unnamed drainage…
The day’s route…
