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FRIDAY January 30, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 11, 2003 Beaver Dam Trail Robert Casserly As a rite of passage, every Oregonian should make a pilgrimage to see our state animal in its natural habitat. We're lucky we still have the chance. In 1969, the state legislature proclaimed Oregon the "Beaver State." Perhaps it was a gesture of consolation, because the American beaver, Castor canadensis, had been nearly exterminated from most of its Oregon habitat by people who considered beavers a cash crop, a destructive pest, or a pleasure to hunt. Fortunately, improved public land stewardship and limited protection has reestablished the beaver in watercourses throughout the state, including protected lands near Ashland. One of the most easily accessible places for beaver sightings is along the fittingly named Beaver Dam Trail, located in the Rogue River National Forest. This day-trip trail weaves among Beaver Dam Creek, Daley Creek and Deadwood Creek as they converge in a mid-elevation forest of old-growth Douglas fir, white pine, white fir and Pacific yew. Before heading out, you can get a map of the Beaver Dam Trail at the Ashland Ranger District headquarters (482-3333). They sell Sno-park permits if you need one. Bill Williams' "Where the Trails Are" also contains a succinct guide to the Beaver Dam Trail. To reach the trailhead, start from the intersection of Interstate 5 and Highway 66 in Ashland. Drive east on Highway 66 for approximately one mile to Dead Indian Memorial Road. Turn left and drive 22 miles to Forest Route 37, marked by large Sno-park signs. If you decide to start from the Sno-park, you can hike, ski, or snowshoe down Route 37 one and a half easy miles to Daley Creek campground. Or, if you have a vehicle which can navigate on unplowed roads, you can drive down Route 37 and park in the campground. Tracking beaver, finding cougar In my experience, late fall is the best season for beaver sightings, and dusk the best time. Beavers do not hibernate, are nocturnal, and their reddish brown or black fur contrasts better against snow than summer's dark foliage. When fresh snow covers the Beaver Dam Trail, look alongside streams and edges of ponds for their webbed footprints, taking care not to confuse them with raccoon tracks, which are very similar. A tell-tale sign of beavers is a faint impression of a dragging tail between the tracks. On a recent excursion, I decided to leave the map in my backpack and simply follow Beaver Dam Creek downstream from the campground. The hush of snow-bound, frozen conifers reaching up into a blue afternoon streaked with cirrus mare's tails, like brush strokes from a celestial painter, held the forest in bracing silence. As I followed Beaver Dam Creek downstream, I searched for the gnawed branches and cone-shaped stumps commonly left behind by "nature's engineer." Before I could locate any, I was astounded to come across the biggest cat tracks I have ever discovered. I could place my entire fist inside the impressions, so suppose that the maker of the tracks was a feline of considerable size and weight. Such a find puts the wild back in wilderness, and does wonders for sharpening the senses of a solitary hiker. An idyllic afternoon A mile downstream from the campground, I finally found a few faint beaver tracks alongside the stream, and, in a nearby deep pool, what looked like a snow-covered beaver lodge of twigs and branches. I bundled up, sat down on a fallen log with my camera close at hand, and waited for our state mascot to appear. As the sun dipped into the trees I tried to blend into the silent, motionless forest, the only movement my breath fog rising into the deepening dusk. I sat there for a couple of hours in the fading light and falling temperature, but eventually reason supplanted desire, and I stood up to stretch my cold limbs and head back home. As soon as I moved I saw a streak of brown against the creek's far bank, barely discernable in the corner of my eye, and then a small splash as something dove into the water. It was all much faster than I could think, let alone command numb fingers to snap a photograph. As the evening stars began to sparkle, I trudged back upstream to my car without the burden of disappointment. I decided to wait for fresh snow to cover my footsteps, and then return to Beaver Dam Trail. That's the beauty of this season: Each snowfall wipes the trails clean, leaving nothing behind but the chance to explore it all over again. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams