I always enjoy hiking to the old Kinzel Mine in the Badger Creek Wilderness. In late April I returned again.
A handful of blacktail deer and one elk were spotted, but only one deer was a “poser”.
This is about the most enjoyable mid-elevation hike around. A portion of the trail follows the burbling stream along the valley bottom, reaching the remains of the Kinzel Cabin near a pleasant campsite after four miles.
Nearby is the old Kinzel mine shaft entering the canyon wall for about 80 feet. I’ve never been brave enough to explore the mine by myself.
After a tough ascent to the top of the ridge (a 1,000-foot elevation gain in a little over one-half mile), the trail continues to climb to over a mile high at its upper end where it meets the Divide Trail. But, this time the deep snow stopped me with less than two miles to go.
On the return hike, I enjoyed the wild orchids, lilies, butterflies and open vistas from the upper trail.
Amazingly enough on such a beautiful Saturday, I saw no one else on the trail for the eight hours of my outing.
Dogwood
Old Kinzel cabin
Orange-tip Butterfly (seen its better days)
Blacktail Deer carcass (likely a cougar kill)
Blacktail Deer hasn’t seen me yet
Calypso Orchids
Flowering Red Currant
Old Kinzel mine shaft
Western Oak Duskywing Butterfly
Colorful section of the lower trail
Time to turn around
Larkspur
Into the wilderness
Trillium
One of many blowdowns over the trail
Balsamroot
Enjoy reading about your colorful hikes.
Thanks Spencer. We do live in a beautiful part of the world.
Oh how I enjoyed this hike, John. The deer and carcass, so many wildflowers, wild orchids and trillium, ah, so rich. i love the single dogwood bloom. In the beginning when you talked about the old cabin and mine shaft, I had pictured something else in my mind (more of a cabin, more of a mine shaft). So I loved it when we came to them, and they were so much a part of the earth now. Lovely hike, thank you.
Thanks for the kind words. It’s one of my favorite hikes.
Wonderful images of Spring in the mountains! Never heard of the mine. Great explorations, as usual!
Thanks. The trail is fairly easy to access from the Tygh Valley south of The Dalles.