On our last two trips to Owens and Ricketts Mountains we noticed a couple
more places that looked interesting, first on our way back from Owens Point (see: 89 Owens Point) we found a bluff
top view not far off the road and what looked like hiking opportunities down below. The other was a rock cairn at the south side
of the road as we were driving up to Ricketts Mountain Cemetery (see: 93 Ricketts Knob and Owens Rock).
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looking down into Grand Grotto
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Today I want to check out both these areas, first I head up Owens
Mountain Road off Cowell Road, up the hill to the parking area at the top which
is also a great camping area. I park
here on the big slab of bedrock just off the road and head south to the nice
vista just 100 yards away. Right at the
top of the small drainage, to my left the bluffline heads due south and right
is to the west.
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near bottom of bluffline break
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Hiking west along the top I only go about a hundred yards before finding
a bluffline break that gets me down to the base. First thing I notice are lots of big, jagged boulders out away from the bluffline, I make my way back east to Little
Shelter about 70 feet long at the base of the bluff. Here I realize up tight to the
bluffline with lots of loose rock underfoot is easier hiking than out away from
the bluff on the steep slope with lots of loose rock and a thick layer of dead
leaves.
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in Grand Grotto
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Either way it’s pretty rough going but soon I reach the big grotto
beneath the vista where I started, up above.
This is Grand Grotto easily 200 feet long, after recent rains has a
waterfall at the center point, and the smooth multi-colored rock walls are
beautiful anytime. Just like the last
smaller shelter, Grand Grotto isn’t very deep, only about 20 feet from the
dripline in front to the back wall.
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Leaf Grotto
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Continuing now to the south I have to head downhill away from the bluffs
to bypass a large rock, then it’s back uphill to the bluff and the next
grotto. This one is much smaller and
with a thick bed of leaves inside I understand why it’s called Leaf Grotto, at
the south end of Leaf Grotto is a bluffline break for an easy exit back to the
top.
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bluffline break next to Leaf Grotto
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About halfway up the break I continue south on a nice flat ledge maybe
50 feet around to another grotto, this one also pretty short at around fifty
feet is Upper Grotto. Then not much
farther is Acorn Grotto about the same size as Upper Grotto. Beyond here near the edge of the bluff I can
see that it’s a long way to the bottom, maybe I should have stayed down below.
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Acorn Grotto
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But here is where I find an easy access the rest of the way up to the
top, and after a short distance through the open woods headed east, I stumble
onto a faint trail running north/south roughly parallel to the road. I get on the trail going north which soon arrives
at the top of the same bluffline break that I climbed halfway earlier. From here
the trail goes northeast maybe 100 yards further to the road.
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moss and lichen
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Here where this faint trail ends, across Owens Mountain Road is a rock
cairn marking the trail down into The Courtyard (see: 71 Owens and Ricketts Mt.), I turn north up the road just
over 100 yards to my parked truck. My
hike here at Owens Grottoes ended up very short at only ¾ of a mile and less
than 100 feet of elevation gain.
This could have been a much longer hike since the bluffs extend farther
both to the west and south, but it is pretty rough going, had I gone much
further I probably wouldn’t have had enough energy for my next little hike up
the road on Ricketts Mountain. I drive
back down to Cowell Road at the sharp left turn and left again at the next
intersection onto Ricketts Mountain Road.
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-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 U.S. License
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Passing
the very special parking/camping
area, (click link above for: 71 Owens and Ricketts Mt.) and
in another almost 800 feet is a small rock cairn on the south side of the
road. On the north side of the road is
an ATV trail heading steeply straight up the hill, I park here and pull the
emergency brake.
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at the base of the bluff
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At the little rock cairn an obvious trail heads downhill to the
southeast and right away a bluff forms to my left with sheer rock walls that
will get taller as I continue east.
Leveling out the path soon ends on a ledge up about 25 feet from the
trail down below, I backtrack less than 100 feet to a place where I can make
the descent easily to the lower level and the trail that continues east.
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boulder overhang
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The trail temporarily levels out for the next 100 yards to a fantastic bouldering area with crevices, big jagged boulders and rock overhangs all around.
The abundance of white chalk in handholds and the lack of climber's bolts
tells me this is an area used for boulder climbing without ropes but instead a crash pad.
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bouldering area
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Continuing on, the trail is pretty faint most of the way but
generally follows the bluffline east, it’s downhill around a large boulder then
back up right away where I see a steep narrow bluffline break, a bailout
exit. Just past this emergency exit is a
nice bear-crack but it’s a dead-end so I trudge along, up and down around big
rocks it’s slow going.
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crevice passage
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At a large section of the bluff that has separated creating a crevice
less than three feet wide I take the beautiful passage even though it would
have been shorter to by-pass. Another
200 yards is a nice low shelter up on a dead-end ledge with a huge pine tree
leaning against the bluff. I backtrack
about 50 feet or so to a spot where I’m able to slide off the smooth ledge down,
back on the trail and past the big leaning pine.
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leaning pine
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Beyond I notice another narrow bluffline break up a crevice but keep
going around a corner. Now I notice the
bluff is really getting tall and I start wondering if I’ll find an easy exit
out to the top. Following this bluffline
is very pretty although quite rough. In
about 200 yards is a nice wet weather waterfall in a mossy green crevice, today
with just the sweet sounds of a trickle.
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near Crevice Falls
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Now without any visible trail I go under 100 yards further past the
crevice waterfall to a rugged rock fall area with a small shelter and lots of
big sharp rocks everywhere. The ever-taller bluffs keep going east but I decide to turn around here and head back to
that steep bluffline break I passed a short way back. Yes, it’s steep but a pretty easy climb back
to the top and about a 200 yard walk north through open woods to the road.
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rock fall area
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It’s an easy walk downhill on Ricketts Mountain Road of almost a quarter
mile to my steep parking spot on the
ATV trail and the end of today’s great adventures. The south facing bluffline of Ricketts
Mountain goes on for miles, today I barely scratched
the surface hiking only one mile with a little over 200 feet of elevation
gain.
It’s a rugged bluffline and in the
direct sun, I got pretty wore out, but as always, I wonder what I might have found
had I just gone a little farther. For detailed directions to Owens and Ricketts Mountains see: (71 Owens and Ricketts Mt.).
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-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 U.S. License |
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