December 2007 Snow Camp

[deschutestrout]

Nope, my kids are staying home...Zane will likely join us on the spring outings....bring your boy along if you want...won't bother me. Hope you can make it John.

[DjEep]

Yes, I have two-way radios...8 mile range which means 1 mile unless a squirrel or rabbitt is in the way...heaven forbid a tree or two. Stay tuned...Bob and I will be somewhere you can find us

Don't forget about falling leaves and dandelion seeds.

[hambone]

Hope you can make it John, won't be the same without ya. Eva will be staying home this trip, too cold for her I think.
We'll be EASY to find, much less complicated than our Clacky trips. Don't let that dissuade you.
Still no snow at Detroit:


A Natural History of Breitenbush

By Tim McDevitt & Michael Donnelly

Antiquity
The hot springs at Breitenbush were created by a combination of volcanism and glaciation thousands of years ago. Native Americans were the first humans to visit the springs. Although the Santiam band of the Kalapuya lived closest, numerous tribes in a radius of hundreds of miles visited the springs to hunt, fish, pick huckleberries, and use the springs for healing and ritual purification.

Invasion
The first Europeans to visit the springs were Hudson Bay fur trappers out of Fort Vancouver, probably in the 1840s. In 1873 John Minto led an expedition up the North Santiam Canyon in search of a pass through the Cascades to eastern Oregon. Minto recorded in his journal: "We penetrated up the valley through about seventeen miles of narrow gorge ... to where Breightenbush makes in from the north; found John Breightenbush - a one-armed hunter and nothing else - there ahead of us, and named the beautiful affluent for him." And so the springs were named.

Judge John B. Waldo, Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, visited the springs in the 1880s and wrote in his diary: "I have read Thoreau’s Maine Woods through at this camp and am going over some of it a second time. He reads well far off in this boughy and aromatic forest of the Cascade Mountains where the foot of the lumberer he detested has never trod." In fact, Judge Waldo was so moved by his visits to the springs and environs that he wrote to President Grover Cleveland: "There are educational uses in mountains and the wilderness which might well justify a wise people in preserving and reserving them for such uses ... where, in communion with untrammeled nature and the free air, the narrowing tendencies of an artificial and petty existence might be perceived and corrected, and the spirit enlarged and strengthened." The result of their correspondence was the creation of the Cascade Forest Reserve, from which came all of the national forests of the Oregon Cascades.

The springs were homesteaded in 1904. President Theodore Roosevelt granted the homestead patent to one Claude Mansfield, over vociferous objections from the then incipient U.S. Forest Service.

In 1927, Merle Bruckman purchased Breitenbush. Bruckman’s father had made a fortune by inventing the first machine to mass produce ice cream cones, allowing Merle to purchase the land and build the lodge and other buildings, thus realizing his dream of operating a wilderness health spa.

Merle operated Breitenbush for 20 years, then retired and sold the property in the mid ‘50s. The property changed hands a number of times until 1972, when after two devastating floods the business was closed, strung with barbed-wire, and posted with armed guards. An era had come to an end.

Rebirth
In 1977, Alex Beamer bought the land after looking at old spas throughout the Cascades. Breitenbush was his choice to begin the building of an intentional community to operate a retreat and conference center at the hot springs.

The Detroit Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest became the largest timber cutting district in the 48 states at precisely the time Alex and friends began the Breitenbush experiment. All 10 historic trails were abandoned or roaded over. The sounds and sights of industrial forestry - chainsaws and ever-growing scars on the hillsides - impacted heavily the nascent community.

Resistance
Starting in 1979, the new residents of Breitenbush began questioning Forest Service plans for the area. By 1981, Dinah Ross had filed many timber sale appeals and recruited dozens to help her campaign for an end to logging and protection of the forests around the springs.

In 1984, the entire area of Devil’s Ridge was added to the Wilderness System by a vote of the U.S. House of Representatives, thanks to the tireless work of Dinah and friends. However, when the legislation reached the Senate, the area was removed from the protected list.

In 1986, the Reconstituted Man Timber Sale went forward in Mansfield Creek - the scars remain today in view of the Meadow Pools. Later that year, logging began on the North Roaring Devil Timber Sale, which saw cutting for the first time across the South Breitenbush River in the majestic forest at the base of Devil’s Ridge. The Community literally drew a line in the road and supported the blockade of the Cathedral Forest Action Group.

The Breitenbush Community and the Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) filed suit. Before we won the precedent-setting Cumulative Effects lawsuit, the only bridge over the South Breitenbush was built, 1.2 miles of road was constructed, and 63 acres of ancient trees (some more than 700 years old) were clear-cut.

Accent on the Positive
Community members and friends slowly reclaimed the trail network. Now, more than 20 miles of trail radiating out from the springs are available. It’s estimated that over 12,000 people hike the reclaimed trails each year, with the Breitenbush Gorge Trail and the Spotted Owl Trail featured in various hiking guides.

With the advent of the Clinton Forest Plan in 1993, most of the area above Cleator Bend is part of a 49,000-acre Late Successional Reserve (LSR). While the LSR doesn't have the protection level of wilderness, no plans for future logging within it are on the table.

As it has been for thousands of years and has continued with the 25+ years of Breitenbush, as people come and go Mother Earth is the constant, tirelessly pouring forth her healing waters for all species to enjoy.

[hambone]

So let's pick one:

1. Shady Cove Campground. Developed but next to a river and a trail. Slightly lower elevation.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/willamette/recr ... f3338.html

2. Breitenbush River dispersed camping. Unknown sites but near abandoned hot springs. Probably higher elevation so more snow to navigate.

[deschutestrout]

So...are you talkin' bout just driving up the Breitenbush River out of Detroit until we find a good spot? The Breitenbush Campground is closed for the winter.

[LiveonJG]

I'm for wherever we end up.

-John

[hambone]

Glad to hear John! I knew ya'd do it.

Yeah Mark, the only open official campground is Shady Cove. Everything else would be backwoods stuff, basically a pulloff where we'd all fit by the river somewhere.

[deschutestrout]

I'll contact the FS station up there and see what gives with the subsidiary roads off of Breitenbush River....can't wait to freeze my ass off with you guys

[DjEep]

....can't wait to freeze my ass off with you guys

Saw the hot springs on GE, looks pretty accessible, about 4200'. I think we should try for that.

[hambone]

Well, the official hot springs are a hippy fancy wellness resort, but somewhere right near em' are hot springs that are part of ANOTHER abandoned resort. Don't know much about it except for that. It would be fun to try to find them though. The map does show a trail heading down to the river in the appropriate place, who knows? Adventures are always vague!

[deschutestrout]

....can't wait to freeze my ass off with you guys

Saw the hot springs on GE, looks pretty accessible, about 4200'. I think we should try for that.

4200 with snow forecast......hummmmmmmmm. Bring your mucklucks and enough canned chili to get you through to the spring thaw

I'll call the ranger station tomorrow and see what gives....we're looking at somewhere in the Breitenbush area...give or take...I'll see what they suggest and where the snow is. Breitenbush is about 2500 feet or so.

[DjEep]

I meant it's about 2200'.

[deschutestrout]

I meant it's about 2200'.

Dat's otay....would have hated to see you off camping by yourself somewhere....only to read about the neat bus that hikers found in the spring Sounds like we're all talking the same place. Bob and I are targeting one of the FS roads off of the paved road that follows the river to the spring...I'll hopefully know more tomorrow.

[hambone]

Campground's not a bad option either, at least it should be accessible. We'll figgur it out fellers.
I'm goin ta bed....

[hambone]

Detroit (1600') forecast. Looks like it's gonna be a snow-camp!
We shouldn't get too far up, ya never know...Hope you all have chains. I'm buying some tomorrow.

...SNOW ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO
5 AM PST THURSDAY FOR THE CASCADES OF SOUTH WASHINGTON...NORTH
OREGON...AND LANE COUNTY..

AN APPROACHING PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEM WILL BRING 5 TO 9 INCHES OF NEW SNOW TO THE SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADES THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT AND WILL BRING FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES OF NEW SNOW IN THE
NORTH OREGON CASCADES AND THE OREGON CASCADES OF LANE COUNTY.
GUSTY WINDS MAY BRING SOME DRIFTING OR LOCAL BLOWING SNOW AS THE COLD FRONT MOVES ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS TONIGHT.

SNOW LEVELS WILL BE WELL BELOW MOUNTAIN PASSES...BETWEEN 1500 AND
2000 FEET.

A SNOW ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
USE CAUTION?!? THAT'S NO FUN AT ALL.


Today: A 20 percent chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 41. South southeast wind between 5 and 7 mph.

Tonight: Periods of showers. Low around 33. South wind 7 to 14 mph becoming west. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.

Thursday: Periods of showers, mainly before 10am. High near 41. West wind between 9 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%.

Thursday Night: A chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 32. West southwest wind 7 to 9 mph becoming east. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Friday: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. East wind around 7 mph becoming south.

Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28.

Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 38.

Saturday Night: A slight chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28.

Sunday: Snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 41