Today’s hike had two objectives:

1. To hike to the Bull of the Woods and look at the remains of the lookout that was destroyed in the fires last year (and also see the burned areas)
2. To explore north of the current trailhead to see if we could find more tread on the old Bull of the Woods trail

This area has not been open too long – it has essentially been closed until about a month ago due to both forest and road closures. Since we were now able to get back there, I really wanted to see the remains of the lookout, and also to scope out the burned areas and also see if we could find any more tread in the old growth south of where we stopped our trip in 2020 (right before the fires).

I realized I hiked this trail in 2020, before the fires, so there will be a few “before and after” type photos, which I think are interesting to see the changes.

We started at our normal time, but got a bit delayed since they are still doing work on 224. We got to the Bull of the Woods trailhead about 11:00. We were greeted by an EXTREMELY overgrown trailhead (you can just barely see the trailhead sign behind the brush):

Here is what it looked like back in 2020:

We parked, got all suited up and headed out. We fought our way thru the brush at the beginning of the trail – it got better but it was obvious that the trail had not seen many visitors recently – it was still pretty brushy in spots. We headed south on the trail and it wasn’t too long before we got our first look at the burn from last year – this was just south of North Dickey Peak:

We went thru that burned area and then went back into unburned forest – we did this a few times:

Before we finally got to the burned area that would continue all the way to the summit:

A little ways farther we got to Terrace spring, which was still flowing, although Kirk had to dig out a bit for the dogs to get a drink (notice the remains of the sign on the tree – it used to say Terrace Spring):

We continued south and soon traveled below South Dickey Peak – this area looked like it burned really, really hot, although Kirk wondered if maybe this burned in prior fires (it hadn’t according to the fire maps):

We continued south and both of us completely missed the junction to Dickey Lake (we found it on the way back – there was a downed log that went over both trails which might be why we missed it). We got farther up the trail and did a few switchbacks. One of them has always had a nice view looking north – Here is looking back at Mt Hood from one of the switchbacks:

I think this is just about the same place from 2020 (before the fire):

A little farther up the trail is a clear area – it had very recent evidence of cutting – we were wondering if they were trying to use to to land a helicopter during the fires last year:

This clearing gave us a GREAT view of Big Slide Mountain to the east:

This was the last push to the top, just before the summit – this used to be heavily wooded in here :

Here is what the lookout looked like in in 2020:

And here is what remains of the lookout now:

Interestingly enough, when we did our flyover earlier this year, all 4 of the legs appeared to be upright – wondering if the snow either kept them up until it melted or if the snow pushed them over.
This is where the outhouse used to be:

This is what the outhouse looked like in 2005 (down the hill):

This is the required view of Olallie Butte and Mt Jefferson from the top of Bull of the Woods:

And also Mt Jefferson and the Three Sisters:

This is what that view looked like in 2020 before the fires:

After enjoying the view, we decided to head down into the shade to have lunch. Previously I’d always eaten lunch in the shade of the lookout – it can be kind of warm up on top of Bull of the Woods when the sun is out. Since the lookout is gone, we headed back down the trail to the first opportunity for shade. We ate lunch and then continued down. Along the way, we cut out a few of the more annoying branches on the trail to make things a little easier.

When we got back to Terrace Spring, Kirk went down to see how well his dug out pond had cleared up – it was pretty clear and the dogs took a long drink. After that, we continued down on a pretty uneventful trip back down. When we got to the junction of the old trail (the old alignment that still shows on the maps) we headed down that down to the 6340 road. On the way down, Ollie and Thor went off the side of the trail to investigate something. Kirk and I continued down the trail. Thor normally pretty quickly catches up with us, but he didn’t so I called him. He didn’t come, and so I walked back up the trail to where he was. He came out with something furry in his mouth and he ate the whole thing! So far, it doesn’t seem to have had any ill effects on him (knock on wood).

After that interesting encounter, we continued down to the end of the old alignment and ended up on the closed portion of the 6340 road. From there, we started part two of this trip, which was to look for tread on the old Bull of the Woods trail farther north – below Pasola Mountain. Our intent was to follow the 033 spur to the 330 spur and then follow that up to an unmapped spur to where we stopped in 2020 (coming from the north). There is a big area of old growth where we think the trail continued thru and we wanted to see if we could find any remnants of it. What we found was that a good portion of the 033 spur is pretty much non existent at this point. Much of it is literally COVERED in trees making travel difficult. We fought our way thru the cut areas, finding bits and pieces of old road but finally popped out onto the 330 spur and then headed east. We found the unmapped road and headed down it – this is the road that does not show on the maps but heads northeast and then north from the 330 spur to a point north of Pasola mountain.

We found a spot on the road that was not too far from the old growth, so we headed up at that point. Once into the Old growth, Kirk and I split up (more on that later). We searched up and down the steep hillside looking for tread or blazes. I was about to give up and started heading north (the direction I last saw Kirk headed) to find him, when I saw some flagging and then found a blaze! I made a waypoint but I should have gotten a photo of it. Nearby, I saw another blaze and some more flagging – I didn’t see much in the way of tread – I tried to follow it a bit, but it didn’t really make too much sense to me. At this point, it was getting really late, so I tried in earnest to find Kirk. I started blowing my whistle but didn’t hear any response. I continued north a bit and continued to blow my whistle but heard nothing. I thought maybe he might be waiting down on the road so I headed back downhill. Part way down, I found some more flagging – I hadn’t realized I had gone so far north, but I followed the flagging and it ended up taking me to the “trail” we followed out in 2020.

I headed back out the trail to the end of the un-named spur and then headed up, blowing my whistle every couple of minutes and never hearing any response. I walked back up to the point where we left the road and waited for 20 minutes or so. I then went back down the road to the end, blowing my whistle but not hearing anything. I was starting to get a bit worried since it was approaching 6:00 and sunset was at 7:00. After waiting a bit longer I headed back up the hill. I was about to head back to the truck and bring it down the road as far as I could, just so that if we found each other we would have less distance to walk. As I was pondering what to do, I finally heard a voice and shortly Thor came running down the road. (Thor had been with Kirk and Ollie). Very glad to have found them, we headed back up to the truck. Kirk had gone back to the truck – I think we JUST missed each other by a few minutes at the spot we headed into the old growth. We decided when we do this kind of off trail exploring in the future, especially late in the day, we should have a plan on where and when to meet back up. I’m just glad it worked out the way it did.

We walked back to the truck and soon headed out. I think we got back to the truck a little after 6 and quickly headed out. There was no one else at the trailhead. Kirk had met someone on the 330 spur when he was walking up, but that really was the only other person we saw all day – no one on the trail or at the lookout.

Since Fearless has been sold and the new owners have not reopened yet, we decided to go to the Old Mill saloon for dinner. It was a great way to end a long day of exploring in the woods. I think we will be heading back here at some point to do some more exploring of the blazes I found.