The Bull of the Woods Wilderness is a

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

located in the

Mount Hood National Forest The Mount Hood National Forest is a U.S. National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon, located east of the city of Portland and the northern Willamette River valley. The Forest extends south from the Columbia River Gorge across more than of fore ...

in the northwestern Cascades of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was created in 1984 and consists of including prime low-elevation

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

, about a dozen lakes of at least and many large creeks and streams. Adjacent areas, including

Opal Creek Wilderness The Opal Creek Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the Willamette National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon, on the border of the Mount Hood National Forest. It has the largest uncut watershed in Oregon. Opal Creek and nearby Opal Lak ...

to the west, create a pristine area of nearly . There are seven trails that access the wilderness area with an additional seven trails within the protection boundaries themselves. Combined the system provides of challenging terrain for both pedestrian and equestrian recreation. The name of the peak and thus the wilderness area comes from

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

jargon in which the "bull of the woods" was the most experienced logging foreman in an operation.

Topography

tall Battle Ax summit is the highest point in the Wilderness. Among other tall peaks are Schreiner Peak, Big Slide Mountain and Bull of the Woods Mountain, from which the area derives its name. An abandoned fire lookout stands at the top of Bull of the Woods Mountain, from which views of the Cascades and the surrounding territory can be seen. The mountain slopes are quite steep, with lower inclines ranging from 30 to 60 degrees and upper inclines from 60 to 90 degrees. The wilderness contains the headwaters of the Collawash, and Little North Santiam rivers.

Vegetation

The forest consists almost solely of coniferous species such as

Douglas Fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

Western Hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

, and

Western Red Cedar ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae, w ...

, but deciduous

red alder ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description Red alder is the largest species of alder in North A ...

is also prevalent along creeks.

Pacific yew ''Taxus brevifolia'', the Pacific yew or western yew, is a species of tree in the yew family Taxaceae native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. It is a small evergreen conifer, thriving in moisture and otherwise tending to take the form o ...

is also common in certain parts of the wilderness, and

rhododendrons ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

can be seen blooming profusely throughout many areas around early June. Bull of the Woods contains one of the last stands of

old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance (ecology), disturbance, and thereby exhibits un ...

in western Oregon, and is home to the

northern spotted owl The northern spotted owl (''Strix occidentalis caurina'') is one of three spotted owl subspecies. A western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus ''Strix (genus), Strix'', it is a medium-sized dark brown owl native to the Pacific No ...

Recreation

Primary recreational activities in Bull of the Woods include camping, hiking, wildlife watching, and soaking in the

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

. It is possible to see relics of the 19th century

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

, such as deserted mine shafts and old mining equipment. Various trails lead to a fire lookout at the peak of Bull of the Woods Mountain, with fantastic views of the Wilderness.

Gallery

Image:Rhododendrons botw.jpg, Rhododendrons blooming against a forest backdrop File:Creek in Bull of The Woods Wilderness Area - Oregon.JPG, Welcome Creek in spring File:Rapids on Elk Lake Creek in Bull of The Woods wilderness, Oregon.jpg, Rapids on Elk Lake Creek File:Hidden off-trail waterfall in Bull of The Woods wilderness, Oregon.jpg, A hidden off-trail waterfall on Elk Lake Creek Image:Lookout-Oregon-Bull.jpg, Fire lookout atop Bull of the Woods

References

External links