Hart-Tish Campground sits on the shores of Applegate Lake, a popular recreation lake located north of the Red Buttes Wilderness Area. Visitors enjoy swimming, cycling, boating, canoeing, fishing and hiking the various trails near the lake. Collins Mountain Trail, named for two brothers who mined in this vicinity during the 1850s and 60s, begins at the Hart-Tish Park picnic area. The trail crosses Upper Applegate Road and drops down to Grouse Creek, where it passes an abandoned miners’ cabin and several mine adits, as well as an an inactive Bigfoot trap. Leaving Grouse Creek, the trail climbs steeply for one mile to the ridge top, gaining 1,000 foot elevation, and begins a long traverse of the western slope of Collins Mountain. Panoramic views of Applegate Lake and the Siskiyou Crest are seen at several locations along the trail. The inactive Bigfoot trap, found at the beginning of the trail, was built in 1974 by the North American Wildlife Research Team. The trap was inspired by a miner who lived near the Applegate River who claimed to have found 18-inch-long, human-like tracks in his garden. The organization operated the trap, keeping it baited with carcasses for six years, but caught only bears. Currently the Forest Service keeps an eye on the trap, but otherwise does not maintain it.
