Tag: Diamond Peak Wilderness

Salt Creek Falls to Vivian Lake – 07/23/2026

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 27, 2026
No Comments on Salt Creek Falls to Vivian Lake – 07/23/2026

For the third time during the week the forecast for a planned hike in the Cascades showed clear skies when I went to bed but then it showed areas of patchy smoke when I rechecked in the morning. The first two times I pivoted to a hike on the Oregon Coast but on Thursday I decided to risk the “areas of smoke” before 11am forecast for Salt Creek Falls and Vivian Lake. The smokey conditions are the result of numerous lightning caused wildfires. Over 2000 strikes were recorded in Oregon on 7/15/26 and another reported 8357 ground strikes occurred on 7/22/26. The staggering number of strikes combined with extremely dry conditions led to some large fast-growing fires in Central and Eastern, Oregon. At least two of my high school classmates have had to evacuate due to the Akawa Butte Fire north of Sisters.

The area around the Diamond Peak Area had thus far avoided any large fires and the handful of small starts had all been quickly contained which is why I had looked at revisiting our 2013 hike from Salt Creek Falls to Vivian Lake (post). I arrived at the Salt Creek Falls Day Use Area just before 6am and was happy to find that there was no smell of smoke in the air.

I started by heading for Salt Creek Falls where there is ongoing construction at the main overlook. (A sign noted that the area is closed when construction is happening and other access routes need to be used, but there was no construction happening yet today.)

Beyond the construction there is a viewpoint of the falls and the start of the Salt Creek Falls Trail.

While we’d been to this waterfall twice before we had never gone down the trail.

The trail descends steeply losing approximately 200′ of elevation to a railed viewpoint of the 286′ waterfall.

Salt Creek Falls is an impressive waterfall, and the basalt cliffs add to the visual appeal.

I trudged back up from the lower viewpoint and followed the paved path along the cliff to the top of the falls.

From the top of the falls I stayed right at junctions and crossed Salt Creek on a footbridge where a sign announced the Diamond Creek Falls Trail.

Salt Creek

On the far side of Salt Creek, and after crossing another small footbridge, the trail split.

The split is the start of the Diamond Creek Falls Loop.

The trail to the right provides the shortest distance to Diamond Creek Falls and also offers access to Too Much Bear Lake so that is the direction I headed.

Warning sign at the start of the loop.

After a brief climb I came to the first cliff edge viewpoint.

I then detoured down a use trail to visit Too Much Bear Lake.

The first use trail didn’t provide much a view of the lake.

One of two great blue herons that I did see from the first use trail.

Back up on the trail along the basalt cliffs.

I detoured again down to Too Much Bear Lake on a better use trail that did bring me to the edge of the lake.

After my second foray down to the lake, I continued on the loop.

There were several short spurs that led to viewpoints on the right.

This spur led to an obstructed view of Lower Diamond Creek Falls, which according to the NW Waterfall Survey, has a height of 180′ over 4 drops.

Lower Diamond Creek Falls from the viewpoint.

Zoomed in on the waterfall.

Continuing on the loop the trail passes near the top of Lower Diamond Creek Falls.

The trail continues a gradual climb to a junction 1.3-miles from the start of the loop. The trail to the right is signed “Lower Diamond Creek Falls” however this is an error, and the spur trail actually descends to Diamond Creek Falls.

I turned down the spur trail and descended to a footbridge over Diamond Creek.

Musk monkeyflower

Shortly after crossing the bridge the trail brings you to 134′ Diamond Creek Falls, in my opinion one of Oregon’s prettiest.

The setting adds to the beauty.

In 2013 we had visited on July 4th and were hounded by mosquitos, but today the waterfall was mosquito free, so I was able to enjoy the waterfall and explore as I liked.

Yellow willowherb

I’m assuming this is an arnica of somesort.

After spending some time at the waterfall I returned back up to the loop and continued on to an overlook of the waterfall.

Sickletop lousewort near the overlook.

Just beyond the overlook the trail split again at an unsigned junction. The loop continued to the left while the Vivian Lake Trail headed uphill to the right.

I headed right and began the 2.2-mile climb to Vivian Lake. For the first 0.3-miles the trail crossed some swales, Diamond Creek using a road bridge, and climbed to a railroad crossing.

Prince’s pine

Bugbane

>
Columbine

Approaching the road.

Fireweed

Diamond Creek

The trail continuing on the other side of the bridge.

Gnome plant was prevalent in the forest.

More swales

The railroad tracks.

No trains today but the tracks are in use.

On the far side of the tracks there are two trails, an obvious old roadbed and a narrower trail to the roadbeds right. They will both get you to the same place, but the narrower trail is the official Vivian Lake Trail (it’s also shorter) and the one I took.

A quarter mile beyond the railroad tracks the trail comes to a wilderness registration box at the edge of the Diamond Peak Wilderness.

While I was filling out the self-issued permit I felt a bite near my right elbow and looked down to see three mosquitos there. There was another on my left arm and none of them had reservations so I dispatched of them and quickly continued on. After 75 yards I realized I no longer had hiking poles so I had to turn around and go back to the kiosk to retrieve them. After gathering my poles I again headed toward Vivian Lake.

Twinflower

Lupine

Sugar sticks

Mushrooms

Hedgenettle

One-sided wintergreen

The trail climbed steeply at times passing a very obscured view of Middle Fall Creek Falls.

You can hear the waterfall much better than you can see it.

There is a much better view of Fall Creek Falls 1.3-miles from the Diamond Creek Falls Loop.

Spur to the viewpoint above Fall Creek Falls.

Fall Creek Falls

Beyond Fall Creek Falls the trail leveled a bit as it traveled above Fall Creek before steepening again prior to reaching a signed junction near Vivian Lake.

Rosy spirea

Clasping arnica

Approaching the signed junction. The trail to the right leads to the lake while the Vivian Lake Trail continues to the left to Notch Lake and eventually the Vivian Lake Trailhead (post).

I followed the trail to Vivian Lake and made my way to some campsites where I took a break on the lakeshore.

There were a few mosquitos in this area, but they were absent from the lakeshore.

Frog in the grass.

My break spot.

My only company at the lake were a few ducks who kept their distance.

Aside from an occasional faint smell of smoke and some haze depending on the direction I was looking the fires weren’t an issue.

Just as I was about to leave the clouds began to break up and I decided to make my way around the lake a bit to try and get a view of the top of Mt. Yoran.

Mt. Yoran

After getting my view of Mt. Yoran I made my way back to the Vivian Lake Trail, stopping often to admire the scene at the lake.

Once I was back to the Vivian Lake Trail I headed downhill toward the Diamond Creek Falls Loop.

On my way down I spotted something coming up the trail below me.

It wasn’t another hiker, but rather a young buck who stopped and stared at me through the trees.

We stared at one another for a while then I told him I was heading that way. Proving deer are smarter than cows he turned around and took a couple of steps down the trail, then left the trail and bounded away from me uphill through the brush. Cows would have taken a few steps down the trail, stopped, looked back at me and then taken a few more steps down the trail. This would have repeated for a half mile or more and resulted in the trail being carpet bombed with cow pies, but I digress.

Back to the hike when I finally reached the Diamond Creek Falls Loop I turned right and completed the loop.

False hellebore

Snacks included blueberries, huckleberries, and a ripe salmonberry.

The Diamond Creek Falls Loop.

Rhododendron lined the trail. The loop is a great hike for rhododendron earlier in the year but that is also typically mosquito time.

Mount David Douglas from the trail.

The trail crossed two roadbeds.

Completing the loop.

I recrossed Salt Creek then turned right looping around the picnic area to return to the trailhead parking lot next to a Diamond Creek Falls Trail sign.

I somehow managed to turn my GPS off after marking the trailhead and didn’t catch it until I was at Too Much Bear Lake so I had to fill in the first part of the track manually. Based on the additional information I did get, this hike was between 9.5 and 10 miles with 1900′ of elevation gain.

Even though it was a Thursday I was surprised that I only passed one other person on the trails, and that was shortly before I completed the Diamond Creek Falls Loop. There were a few cars at the trailhead and people headed to Salt Creek Falls but I’d had the trails almost entirely to myself. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Salt Creek Falls to Vivian Lake

Tags Diamond Creek Falls, Diamond Creek Falls Loop, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Fall Creek Falls, hiking, Oregon, Salt Creek Falls, Too Much Bear Lake, Vivial Lake, Vivian Lake Trail

Diamond Peak Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Trip report

Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls – 10/21/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 23, 2023
1 Comment on Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls – 10/21/2023

After skipping a planned hike due to illness (and some less-than-ideal weather) we got back on track with a trip to the Diamond Peak Wilderness. The plan for the day was to start by taking the Vivian Lake Trail to Vivian Lake in the wilderness then hike the nearby Hemlock Butte Trail up to a former lookout site followed by a second stop to visit Pool Creek Falls. We began at the Vivian Lake Trailhead following the Vivian Lake Trail past an empty wilderness registration box and gaining some views of Diamond Peak.

The trail climbed gradually for 0.6-miles to a junction with the Diamond Peak Tie Trail. We had been at this junction before when we backpacked around Diamond Peak (post).

Along the way we entered the wilderness area.

We continued on the Vivian Lake Trail arriving at Notch Lake after another quarter mile.

We continued beyond Notch Lake arriving at the Mt. Yoran Trail junction after another 0.2-miles.

During our loop around Diamond Peak we’d turned onto the Mt. Yoran Trail here, but today we stuck to the Vivian Lake Trail which spent the next 1.2-miles climbing to a saddle. At times the trail was nearly level while at other times it launched steeply uphill. While it was too late in the year for flowers there were numerous colorful mushrooms and fungi along the way.

It looks to have been a good year for beargrass.

The trail was well maintained with only one small log across the entire route to Vivian Lake.

Another level section.

Pond along the trail.

The saddle at the high point of the trail.

After catching our breath at the saddle we began the mile and a half descent to Vivian Lake. The first two tenths of a mile the trail dropped steeply downhill to a shelf where it leveled out as it passed a pair of unnamed lakes.
Maiden Peak (post) across Highway 58 through the trees.

We passed the smaller of the two lakes a half mile below the saddle.

The second lake, which was just 100 yards from the first, was much larger.

Mt. Yoran from the lake.

Ridge above the lakes.

A tenth of a mile from the lakes the trail began another steep descent along a trickling creek before leveling out next to a marsh.
Just before beginning the descent the trail passed South of a third small pond/lake that was visible through the trees.

Heading down to the creek.

The marsh

Mt Yoran from the marsh. While it looks like a meadow, Fall Creek flows through here, and at times we could see water out in the grass.

Just 0.2-miles beyond the marsh we arrived at a junction with a spur trail to Vivian Lake.

We’d been to this junction before as well, in 2013 we had visited the lake as part of our Salt Creek Falls Hike (post). We turned left onto the spur trail and followed it a short distance to the lake.

We were able to use these rocks to hop across this narrow channel to the North shore of the lake where we were able to get a view of Mt. Yoran.

After exploring part of the northern shore I headed back across the channel and followed the trail around the South side of the lake until it petered out near a peninsula.

While I was exploring Heather was admiring the changing leaves.

When we headed back we took a brief off-trail detour from the Vivian Lake Trail to Fall Creek which we could hear from the junction with the spur trail.

After returning to the trail we headed back the way we’d come. The climb to the saddle was as steep as we’d expected so a rest was warranted prior to dropping down to Notch Lake where we stopped to watch several ducks enjoying the warm Autumn day.
Varied thrush. These continue to be the most frustrating frequently seen bird to try and photograph.

I believe these were ring-necked ducks.

Beyond Notch Lake we finally ran into some other people. We passed a single hiker on the far end of the lake and a group of six near the wilderness boundary. Those were the only people we would see on the trails all day.

Diamond Peak from the trail on the way back.

When we made it back to the trailhead we had the choice of getting in our car and driving a tenth of a mile back up Forest Road 23 to the Hemlock Butte Trail or walk there. We opted to walk and hiked past our car and up the road to the well signed trail.

The Hemlock Butte Trail is just a half mile long but gains 500′ to the site of a former fire lookout. While it was well signed, this trail was not anywhere near as well maintained as the Vivian Lake Trail had been. A number of downed trees combined with overgrown sections and some poor tread made the short climb an adventure.
Not all of the blowdown was as easy as this log to get over/under.

Multiple switchbacks kept the lower portion of the climb from feeling too steep.

The Hemlock Butte Trail succumbing to the vegetation.

The summit of Hemlock Butte is a rocky outcrop which required a fair amount of scrambling over the final 250′ to reach the small flat summit where the lookout once stood.

An obvious spur trail at the base of the rock outcrop leads to a view of Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak. For those not comfortable with the scramble this is a good goal.

The trail to the summit at the junction with the spur.

Scrambling up

Mt. Yoran and Diamond Peak from the summit.

Wolf Mountain to the NW with clouds covering the Willamette Valley in the distance.

The view South.

Looking down from the summit. (The trail is to the right.)

Heather opted to stick to the spur trail viewpoint so after I’d taken in the view I headed back down. We decided that I would go ahead and bring the car up to the Hemlock Trail to pick her up. My hike here came in at 10.4 miles with approximately 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

After picking up Heather we headed for Pool Creek Falls which was located back off of Forest Road 23. The driving directions had been plugged into my phone but at some point during the first hike the route was lost and without signal we couldn’t use the phones to relocate Pool Creek. We had made note of it when we’d passed by that morning though so we started back trying to picture what the area/road had looked like because the creek was not visible from the road. Now the first 15.7 miles this road is paved (save for one very short gravel section) before turning to good gravel for the final 3.7 miles to the Vivian Lake Trailhead and we were both fairly certain that we had been on the gravel section when we’d passed by (wrong) so when we reached pavement we pulled over and used the GPS unit. We found Pool Creek on that map and confirmed that it was still about 2 miles away. We parked along the shoulder of FR23 across from the partially hidden sign announcing the trail.
The “trailhead” was just under 14 miles from Highway 58 or just over 5.5 miles from the Vivian Lake Trailhead.

The trail sign on the right. The Pool Creek Trail #4228 shows up on the Forest Service map, but they don’t have a dedicated webpage for it. We were made aware of the trail by following Hike Oregon, a good resource both online and through several guidebooks.

We had a little trouble getting started as the Forest Service and GPS maps both showed the trail following the right (East) side of the creek for a short distance before crossing over and initially there was obvious tread heading in that direction. The canyon quickly narrowed though, and we came to a large log that would have to be the trail in order for us to proceed any further but it was obvious that it wasn’t really the trail.

What looks like it might be tread ahead is actually the log.

Looking across at the other side of the creek the canyon wall seemed too vertical to be supporting a trail but we weren’t going any further on this side, so we backtracked to what looked like a faint path we had passed near the beginning. We had taken it to be a use trail down to the creek but now that we looked closer, we could make out a trail covered in leaves switchbacking up on the far side.
The Pool Creek Trail to the left of the creek. Here you can see the first switchback turning steeply uphill.

The makeshift creek crossing.

At the third switchback.

The trail was in reasonably good shape with a couple of larger logs to navigate. A little research showed that the Cascade Volunteers have this trail on their radar and had done some work on the trail in 2022.

The reason we hadn’t noticed the trail on the far side was because it climbed quite a bit in an initial series of short switchbacks so from where we had been the trail was already much higher than we’d expected it would be. In the photo Heather is coming up to the third switchback below.

These two trees are mentioned in the May 2022 trail update on the Cascade Volunteers webpage.

This one was high enough to easily pass under. On the far side are more cut logs.

Just under a half mile from the road we arrived below Pool Creek Falls.
First view of the falls from the trail.

Pool Creek Falls

After navigating a slightly slick crossing of the creek I followed a trail up to and behind the falls. We were happy to find that there was enough water flowing this time of year to get to see the falls, but it would be much more impressive in wetter seasons.

We spent some time at the waterfall then headed back to the car and drove home. It had been just under a mile with a little over 200′ of elevation gain for Pool Creek Falls. It had been an interesting day with wilderness lakes, a summit viewpoint, and a waterfall on trails in various conditions. One word of warning regarding FR23 – the paved section has some massive holes/dips and a number of sunken sections requiring alert driving. For once I had actually been looking forward to reaching the gravel portion of the road. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Vivian Lake, Hemlock Butte, and Pool Creek Falls

Tags Diamond Peak, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Fall Creek, Hemlock Butte, Hemlock Butte Trailhead, hiking, Mt. Yoran, Notch Lake, Oregon, Pool Creek Falls, Pool Creek Trail #4228, Vivian Lake, Vivian Lake Trail, Vivian Lake Trailhead, Willamette National Forest

Hiking

Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas (Completed)

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 1, 2022
8 Comments on Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas (Completed)

Several years back we set several hiking goals, one of which being to hike in all of Oregon’s federally designated wilderness areas. At that time there were 47 such areas in the State with two of those being off-limits to visitors (Three Arch Rocks & Oregon Islands are also National Wildlife Refuges that provide nesting habitat for sea birds as well as serving as pupping sites for marine mammals. To prevent disturbances public entry to any of the rocks/islands is prohibited and waters within 500 feet of the refuge are closed to all watercraft from May 1 through September 15.) In 2019 Congress added the Devils Staircase Wilderness to the list giving us a total of 46 designated wilderness areas to visit in order to complete this goal. Staring in 2019 we began posting annual updates on our progress (2020 & 2021) and we are excited to report that, unless any new wilderness areas are established in the future, this will be our last update. We managed to make it to the final four wilderness areas on our list, the North Fork Umatilla, Devils Staircase, Black Canyon, and Monument Rock, in 2021. We have to give credit to Bruce (Van Marmot) over at Boots on the Trail for not only getting to all 46 first but also providing inspiration and a lot of helpful information.

A little over 2.5 million acres are designated as wilderness throughout the State and range in size from 15 acres (Three Arch Rocks) to 355,548 acres (Eagle Cap). Oregon shares a wilderness with three of its bordering states. The Wenaha-Tuccanon is shared with Washington, Hells Canyon with Idaho, and Red Buttes with California. The areas are managed by three different federal agencies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) manages the Oregon Islands and Three Arch Rocks areas while the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages nine and the Forest Service manages forty-one. If you do the math those numbers add up to fifty-two. The reason for that is four of the areas, the Devils Staircase, Lower White River, Hells Canyon, and Wild Rogue are managed jointly by the Forest Service and BLM. Seven of the areas have no official trails, the two off-limit areas, and the Devils Staircase, Rock Creek, Lower White River, Bridge Creek, and Spring Basin wildernesses. Although irregularly shaped (except for the exactly 6 square mile Mountain Lakes Wilderness) the majority of the areas are a single unit. In addition to the Oregon Islands and Three Arch Rocks the Mount Hood (4), Mark O. Hatfield (2), Badger Creek (2),Salmon-Huckleberry (3), Clackamas (5), Soda Mountain (2), North Fork John Day (4), and Steens Mountain (2) consist of multiple separate areas.

We visited our first Oregon Wilderness in 2009 when we visited Henline Falls in the Opal Creek Wilderness. Since then we have spent parts of 215 days in these special places. For sixteen of the areas it was only a single day while we’ve spent part of 30 days in the Three Sisters Wilderness. Below are some of our best memories from each of the wilderness areas. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed visiting them.

Badger Creek: 28,915 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Black Canyon: 13.088 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Boulder Creek: 19,911 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Bridge Creek: 5,337 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Bull of the Woods: 36,869 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Clackamas: 9.465 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Copper-Salmon: 13,724 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Cummins Creek: 9,026 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Devils Staircase: 30,787 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Diamond Peak: 52,477 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-7

Drift Creek: 5,792 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Eagle Cap: 355,548 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-5

Gearhart Mountain: 22,587 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Grassy Knob: 17,176 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Hells Canyon: 131,337 acres in OR (217,613 in ID) Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Kalmiopsis: 179,550 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Lower White River: 2,871 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Mark O. Hatfield: 65,420 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-12

Menagerie: 4,952 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Middle Santiam: 8,845 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Mill Creek: 17,173 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Monument Rock: 20,210 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Mountain Lakes: 23,036 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Mount Hood: 64,742 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-22

Mount Jefferson: 108,909 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-27

Mount Thielsen: 55,151 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-5

Mount Washington: 54,410 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-7

North Fork John Day: 120,694 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-8

North Fork Umatilla: 20,225 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-3

Opal Creek: 20,774 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Oregon Badlands: 28,182 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Oregon Islands: 925 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-0

Red Buttes: 3,777 acres in OR (20,133 in CA) Days Spent in Wilderness-2 in OR, (4 in CA)

This photo is from CA but it actually shows the namesake Red Buttes

Roaring River: 36,548 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Rock Creek: 7,273 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1
Closest thing to a “wilderness sign” we saw for this one.

Rogue-Umpqua: 35,749 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Salmon-Huckleberry: 62,061 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-11

Sky Lakes: 113,687 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-3

Soda Mountain: 24,707 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Spring Basin: 6,404 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

Steens Mountain: 170,202 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-5

Strawberry Mountain: 69,350 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-5

Table Rock: 5,784 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-3

Three Arch Rocks: 15 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-0

Three Sisters: 283,619 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-30

Waldo Lake: 36,868 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-6

Wenaha-Tuccanon: 65,266 acres in OR (176,737 in WA) Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Wild Rogue: 35,221 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

Tags Badger Creek Wilderness, Black Canyon Wilderness, Boulder Creek Wilderness, Bridge Creek Wilderness, Bull of the Woods Wilderness, Clackamas Wilderness, Copper-Salmon Wilderness, cummins creek wilderness, Devil's Staircase Wilderness, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Drift Creek Wilderness, eagle cap wilderness, Gearhart Mountain Wilderness, Grassy Knob Wilderness, Hells Canyon Wilderness, hiking, kalmiopsis wilderness, Lower White River Wilderness, Mark O Hatfield Wilderness, Menagerie Wilderness, Middle Santiam Wilderness, Mill Creek Wilderness, Monument Rock Wilderness, Mount Hood Wilderness, Mount Jefferson Wilderness, Mount Thielsen Wilderness, Mount Washington Wilderness, mountain lakes wilderness, North Fork John Day Wilderness, North Fork Umatilla Wilderness, opal creek wilderness, Oregon, oregon badlands wilderness, Oregon wilderness areas, Red Buttes Wilderness, roaring river wilderenss, Rock Creek Wilderness, Rogue-Umpqua Wilderness, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, sky lakes wilderness, soda mountain wilderness, Spring Basin Wilderness, Steens Mountain Wilderness, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, table rock wilderness, Three Sisters Wilderness, waldo lake wilderness, Wenaha-Tuccanon Wilderness, Wild Rogue Wilderness, Wilderness Area

Hiking Uncategorized

Central Oregon Cascades

Several years ago we set a goal for ourselves to hike all 500 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes…” series of guidebooks (post). In 2020 we finished the first of his five guidebooks covering the Central Oregon Cascades. The achievement became bittersweet just 10 days after finishing the final featured hike at Erma Bell Lakes (post) when a freak windstorm caused the Lionshead and Beachie fires to explode burning a number of the trails that we had hiked on our journey to complete this goal. On the one hand we were fortunate enough to see these areas before they burned but it also means being more aware of what was lost, at least for the time being. The 2020 fires were not the first to burn trails that we’d hiked in the area, sometimes after and sometimes before. Fire is part of a forest’s cycle but their time frames take much longer than ours.

For this post we want to recap our journey to complete the 100 featured hikes while sharing a little of what the area looked like as we experienced it but first a little context. The area that Sullivan covers in the Central Cascades book, as well as his books for the other four areas, isn’t exactly easy to define. The vast majority of hikes could be fit into a rectangle starting with the upper left hand corner in Salem and extending east to Highway 97 then south to the junction of highways 97 & 58, then west until intersecting with a line due south from Salem. (The imaginary line follows I5 south until Cottage Grove where the freeway jogs SW.) That is over simplification though as that description overlaps at times with hikes described in the NW & Eastern books and excludes two featured hikes west of I5 and two east of Highway 97. The first snip below generally shows the described rectangle with the hiker symbols representing trailheads where we have started hikes (not limited to the featured hikes being discussed here). The second snip excludes any hikes that are included in one of the other areas that Sullivan covers.

The area is home to a variety of landscapes and ecosystems and contains at least parts of nine designated Wilderness Areas: Opal Creek, Bull of the Woods, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, Three Sisters, Menagerie , Middle Santiam, Waldo Lake, and Diamond Peak.

The area has been hit by a number of large fires since 2000. The map below covers the same approximate area as the second map above. The colored areas represent fires with yellow being 2000-2005, light orange 2006-10, dark orange 2011-14, and red 15-19.

Not included in the map above are the Green Ridge, Beachie or Lionshead Fires from 2020. The Green Ridge fire did not burn over any of the featured hikes (it did burn part of the Green Ridge Trail) but the Beachie and Lionshead Fires impacted a number of hikes in the Mt. Jefferson, Bull of the Woods and Opal Creek Wilderness and surrounding areas.

The map below includes the Riverside Fire (large fire to the north), Beachie and Lionshead (center left and right which combined after Labor Day) and the Green Ridge Fire (SE).

We were lucky enough to complete many of the hikes prior to them being burned but we also hiked a number post fire and have seen the recovery in process. I’ve done my best to note below if a featured hike has experienced fire since 2000 with the year and name of the fire.

After all of that here are the 100 featured hikes from the 2012 4th edition of “100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades”:

#1 – Ankeny Wildlife Refuge-Hiked 4/6/2014

#2 – Silver Fall-Hiked 2006, 7/30/2010 & 3/29/2018
Middle North Falls

#3 – Shellburg Falls-Hiked 5/23/2011
Burned-2020 Beachie Fire
Shellburg Falls

#4 – Little North Santiam-Hiked 4/5/2012
Burned-2020 Beachie Fire
Snow on the Little North Santaim River

#5 – Henline Falls & Henline Mountain 7/27/2009 & 6/14/2020
Burned-2020 Beachie Fire
Henline Falls

#6 – Opal Creek 7/4/2010, 7/4/2012, 6/21/2014 & 7/24/2019
Burned-2020 Beachie Fire
Jawbone Flats

#7 – Dome Rock and Tumble Lake 7/18/2010
Burned-2020 Beachie Fire
Tumble Lake from Dome Rock

#8 – Battle Ax and Twin Lakes 9/20/2014
Olallie Butte and Mt. Jefferson with Elk Lake below Mt. Jefferson from Battle Ax

#9 – Stahlman Point 5/6/2013
Burned 2020 Beachie Fire
View from Stahlman Point

#10 – Coffin Mountain Lookout 8/2/2013 & 7/4/2016
Coffin Mountain Lookout with the Three Sisters and The Husband beyond

#11 – Three Pyramids 7/18/2020
Meadow along the Pyramids Trail Meadow below the Three Pyramids

#12 – Crescent Mt. 7/6/2014
Beargrass meadow along the Crescent Mountain Trail Beargrass on Crescent Mountain

#13 – Browder Ridge 9/9/2012 & 7/4/2018
Mt. Jefferson from Browder Ridge

#14 – Echo Basin and Fish Lake 6/19/2020
Echo Basin Trail Boardwalk in Echo Basin

#15 – Iron Mt. 7/25/2010 & 7/4/2014
Iron Mountain from the Cone Peak Meadow Iron Mountain from the trail.

#16 – House Rock 11/8/2014

#17 – Rooster Rock 6/12/2016
Rooster Rock from a viewpoint in the Menagerie Wilderness

#18 – Cascadia State Park 6/12/2016
Soda Creek Falls

#19 – Crabtree Lake 9/7/2019

#20 – McDowell Creek Park 2/16/2014
Majestic Falls

#21 – South Breitenbush Gorge 5/11/2013
Burned 2020 Lionshead Fire
Roaring Creek

#22 – Jefferson Park 9/23/2011, 10/13/2014, & 8/8/2015
Burned partly in 2017 Whitewater and rest in 2020 Lionshead Fire
Mt. Jefferson from Jefferson Park Mt. Jefferson

#23 – Pamelia Lake 9/19/2013 & 9/8/2018

#24 – Marion Lake 10/3/2014 & 9/10/2016
Burned 2002 Mt. Marion, 2003 B&B Complex, 2006 Puzzle, 2015 208SRZ Marion
Three Fingered Jack from Marion Lake

#25 – Duffy Lake 7/28/2010
Burned 2002 Mt. Marion, 2003 B&B Complex
Mowich Lake and Duffy Butte from Red Butte

#26 – Three Fingered Jack 10/13/2012
Burned 2003 B&B Complex

#27 – Canyon Creek Meadows 7/28/2013
Burned 2003 B&B Complex
The trail ahead Three Fingered Jack

#28 – Carl Lake 9/1/2018
Burned 2003, B&B Complex, 2006 Puzzle

#29 – Metolius River 7/23/2012
Wizard Falls

#30 – Black Butte 10/13/2013 & 5/28/2018
Burned 2009 Black Butte II
Cupola style lookout on Black Butte

#31 – Alder Springs 8/3/2011
Deschutes River

#32 – Scout Camp Trail 5/1/2016
Balsamroot hillside

#33 – Steelhead Falls 5/1/2016

#34 – Smith Rock 7/14/2006, 7/13/2011 & 6/5/2015
Monkey Face

#35 – Shevlin Park 8/5/2011
Hixson Crossing Covered Bridge

#36 – Tumalo Falls 9/27/2014

#37 – Dillon & Benham Falls 8/1/2013
Benham Falls

#38 – Lava Cast Forest and Lava River Cave 5/28/2017
Newberry Crater from the Lava Cast Forest

#39 – Fall River 9/16/2015

#40 – LaPine State Park 9/16/2015
Deschutes River

#41 – Poxy Falls and Linton Lake 5/3/2014(Proxy Falls) & 7/01/2017(Linton Lake)
Burned (Linton Falls) 2017 Separation Fire
Proxy Falls

#42 – Obsidian Trail 10/14/2012
Burned (tiny portion of trail) 2017 Separation Fire
Obsidian Falls

#43 – Four-in-one-Cone 10/14/2012 & 8/14/2019
View from Four-in-one Cone View from Four-in-One-Cone

#44 – Benson Lake 10/14/2012 & 8/30/2014
Burned (small section of longer loop trail) 2010 Scott Mt. Fire

#45 – Hand Lake Shelter 8/30/2014

#46 – Little Belknap Crater 9/14/2015
Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, and Mt. Jefferson from Little Belknap Crater

#47 – Matthieu Lakes 7/29/2013
Burned 2017 Milli Fire
North Sister from South Matthieu Lake

#48 – Black Crater 10/1/2016
Burned 2017 Milli Fire
Remanants of the lookout tower on Black Crater Former lookout site on Black Crater.

#49 – Chambers Lakes 8/26/2014
Burned 2012 Pole Creek Fire
South Sister from Camp Lake

#50 – Park Meadow 8/27/2014
Burned 2012 Pole Creek Fire
Middle and North Sister beyond Golden Lake Middle and North Sister from Golden Lake

#51 – Tam McArthur Rim 8/31/2013
Broken Top and Broken Hand from Tam McArthur Ridge

#52 – Tumalo Mt. 9/27/2014
Trees near the summit of Tumalo Mountain.

#53 – Todd Lake and Broken Top 8/23/2014
Broken Top from No Name Lake

#54 – Sparks Lake 10/1/2014
South Sister from Sparks Lake

#55 – Green Lakes via Fall Creek 9/15/2015
The third Green Lake

#56 – Moraine Lake and South Sister 9/1/2013
View from the South Sister Looking north from the South Sister.

#57 – Sisters Mirror Lake 9/19/2015
South Sister from Sisters Mirror Lake

#58 – Horse Lake 8/4/2011
Horse Lake

#59 – Doris & Cliff Lakes 9/29/2014
Doris Lake

#60 – Clear Lake 6/15/2014

#61 – Sahalie & Koosah Falls 9/9/2012
Sahalie Falls

#62 – Tamolitch Pool 5/27/2013

#63 – Rainbow Falls and Separation Lake 5/3/2014
Separation Lake

#64 – Horsepasture Mt. 7/7/2018
South Sister and Mt. Bachelor form Horsepasture Mountain.

#65 – Olallie Mt. 9/1/2019
Burned 2017 Olallie Lookout Fire (Lookout burned down winter 2019/20).
Olallie Mountain lookout

#66 – Lowder Mt. 9/1/2019
View from Lowder Mountain.

#67 – Tidbits Mt. 6/29/2019
View from Tidbits Mountain.

#68 – Castle Rock 6/3/2017
Monkeyflower and pletritis Monkeyflower and plectritis on Castle Rock.

#69 – French Pete Creek 5/16/2015
Burned 2017 Rebel and 2018 Terwilliger Fires

#70 – Erma Bell Lakes 8/29/2020
Middle Erma Bell Lake

#71 – Spencer Butte 2/9/2020
View from Spencer Butte Fog over Eugene.

#72 – Mt. Pisgah 10/5/2019
Summit of Mt. Pisgah Summit marker on Mt. Pisgah.

#73 – Shotgun Creek 2/9/2020

#74 – Fall Creek 3/31/2013
Burned 2003 Clark and 2017 Jones Fires

#75 – Mt. June 6/2/2013
Sawtooth Trail

#76 – Goodman Creek 11/10/2013
Small Falls on a branch of Goodman Creek

#77 – Patterson Mt. 5/5/2018
Lone Wolf Meadow

#78 – Tire Mt. 6/8/2014
Wildflowers along the Tire Mountain Trail Wildflowers along the Tire Mt. Trail.

#79 – North Fork and Buffalo Rock 5/10/2020
Buaffalo Rock from the North Fork Willamette River Buffalo Rock from the North Fork Willamette River

#80 – Grasshopper Meadow 7/15/2017

#81 – Blair Lake and Wall Creek 6/11/2015
Beargrass meadow along the Blair Lake Trail.

#82 – Chuckle Springs 5/24/2020
Burned 2009 Tumblebug Complex
Indigo Springs (These springs have not burned.)

#83 – Spirt, Moon, and Pinard Falls 6/17/2020
Moon Falls

#84 – Brice Creek 5/5/2014
Upper Trestle Creek Falls

#85 – Bohemia Mt. 8/15/2020
Bohemia Mountain

#86 – Eddeeleo Lakes 8/25/2018
Lower Eddeeleo Lake

#87 – Waldo Mt. 9/7/2013
Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, The Three Sisters and Broken Top from Waldo Mountain View from the Waldo Mountain Lookout.

#88 – Lillian Falls 8/30/2019

#89 – Fuji Mt. 10/6/2013
View from Fuji Mountain

#90 – South Waldo Lake 8/22/2015

#91 – The Twins 9/14/2019
View north from the south summit of The Twins

#92 – Rosary Lakes and Maiden Peak 9/3/2016
Pulpit Rock from Middle Rosary Lake

#93 – Salt Creek Falls 7/4/2013

#94 – Midnight & Yoran Lakes 10/18/2014
Yoran Lake

#95 – Diamond View Lake 8/22/2020
Diamond Peak from Diamond View Lake

#96 – Fawn Lake 9/22/2018
Huckleberry Bushes along Saddle Lake.

#97 – Divide Lake 8/24/2020
Notch Lake

#98 – Blue and Corrigan Lakes 8/23/2020
Diamond Peak from Corrigan Lake

#99 – Marie Lake and Diamond Peak 8/23/2020
Climbers trail to Diamond Peak Diamond Peak

#100 – Timpanogas Lake 9/17/2016
Sawtooth Mountain from Timpanogas Lake

In addition to the 100 featured hikes we’ve manged to add other hikes from Sullivan’s additional hikes located in the back of his book. In doing so we have also completed all 100 featured hikes in the 3rd edition and are just 2 hikes short of completing the 5th edition as well. There were 14 hikes from the 3rd edition that were not featured hikes in the 4th edition while the 5th edition contains 12 new featured hikes from the 4th edition (Three of these had been featured hikes in the 3rd edition.) Even with all of the hikes we’ve done, and the areas lost to fire in 2020 there are a number of trails in the Central Cascades we have yet to explore. We will continue to work those into our plans as we strive to explore as many different places as possible while we can.

Happy Trails!

Scout Lake and Mt. Jefferson

Tags Bull of the Woods Wilderness, Central Cascades, Diamond Peak Wilderness, hiking, Menagerie Wilderness, Middle Santiam Wilderness, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Mt. Washington Wilderness, opal creek wilderness, Oregon, Three Sisters Wilderness, waldo lake wilderness, William L Sullivan

Hiking

Diamond Peak Loop Days 3 & 4 – 08/24 & 8/25/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 29, 2020
2 Comments on Diamond Peak Loop Days 3 & 4 – 08/24 & 8/25/2020

**Note the 2024 208 MF Fire burned over a portion of this hike near Blue Lake.**

Morning of day three was a little less smoky and we were eager to get an early start to try and avoid doing the long climb from Notch Lake to the divide above the Pacific Crest Trail in the afternoon heat. We were up with the sunrise and after coffee and some granola we were back on the Diamond Peak Trail heading north.

Some blue sky again.

The trail lost 500′ of elevation over the next mile including some steeper drops before arriving at a junction with the Happy Lake Trail.
Happy Lake Trail junction.

We detoured left here for the half mile hike down to Happy Lake.

Unlike the Blue Lake Trail the Happy Lake Trail was fairly level losing less than 100′ of elevation before passing by a large meadow and arriving at the lake.
Just a small part of the meadow.

We set our packs down and then followed a path to a hard to see waterfall along the lakes outlet creek.

It might have been hard to see the whole thing but it sounded wonderful. There were also a lot of wonderfully ripe berries in the area.

A viewpoint along the cliffs gave us a look at the rocky pillar of Mt. Yoran which we would be passing on the way to the divide later in the day.

After enjoying the lake and waterfall (and consuming quite a few berries) we returned to the Diamond Peak Trail and continued on. It was a mile and a half to our next trail junction and we were pleasantly surprise to find that this stretch of the trail had seen some recent maintenance which made the going that much easier.

We think this was Bear Creek. Other than the outlet of Happy Creek no other creek beds had flowing water on this side of the mountain.

Diamond Peak from the trail.

At the junction we left the Diamond Peak Trail and turned right onto the Diamond Peak Tie Trail.

This trail had also recently been cleared and was lined with huckleberries. It was also apparent that this was a much wetter area than we’d been in so far along the loop which meant mosquitoes which kept us from stopping for long.

One of several damp meadows.

The creeks were still dry though.

An unnamed lake.

After two miles on the Diamond Peak Tie Trail we arrived at the Vivian Lake Trail. We had been on the other end of this trail when we visited Vivian Lake in 2013 (post).

We turned right onto this trail and in a quarter mile arrived at rock rimmed Notch Lake.
Small unnamed lake just before Notch Lake.

Another little lake/pond near Notch Lake.

Notch Lake

This was a really neat lake and we would have loved to stick around a bit but all the standing water in the area made for a lot of pesky mosquitoes so we unfortunately had to move on pretty quickly.

IMG_4769_stitch

Beargrass

Approximately .2 miles beyond Notch Lake the Vivian Lake Trail veered left and the Mt. Yoran Trail split to the right.

The Mt. Yoran Trail climbed at an increasingly steep grade over the next 1.7 miles before gaining a ridge and leveling out.

Diamond Peak from the trail; the smoke was back.

Textured mushroom

On the ridge.

The trail followed the ridge with some small ups and downs for a mile before dropping to Divide Lake at the base of Mt. Yoran.

Diamond Peak

Lousewort

Mt. Yoran from the trail.

Diamond Peak again.

Mt. Yoran on the left and the divide on the right.

Passing under Mt. Yoran.

Please tell me that’s a seed and not that the ground squirrels have taken up smoking.

Divide Lake

The mosquitoes weren’t nearly as bad here so we were able to take a nice long break before resuming our trek.
Blue sky making a comeback.

Diamond Peak from Divide Lake

Climbers trail to Mt. Yoran.

Thank goodness it was a seed.

When it was time to continue we followed the Mt. Yoran Trail around Divide Lake and past two smaller unnamed lakes before making the steep 300′ climb to the divide.

Beardtongue

Mt. Yoran from Divide Lake

One of the unnamed lakes.

Starting up to the divide.

After crossing the divide the trail dropped down to the Pacific Crest Trail.

We turned left here and followed the PCT downhill for 2 miles.

Along the way we bumped into another backpacker who was doing the same loop in the other direction. We were able to let him know about the trail conditions ahead and he let us know that the Yoran Lake Trail now continued past Yoran Lake all the way to the Pacific Crest Trail. When we had done our Yoran Lake hike in 2014 (post) we had bushwacked from Yoran Lake to Lils Lake and the PCT so this was welcome news.
PCT

Diamond Peak from the PCT.

Lakeview Mountain

New looking sign at the newly extended Yoran Lake Trail.

Huge tree mushroom at the junction.

The Yoran Lake Trail passed by Lils Lake and arrived at Yoran Lake in .4 miles.

Diamond Peak from Yoran Lake.

We had originally intended to set up camp here but there were already a number of people at this lake and we weren’t (I wasn’t) feeling all that sociable so we decided to press on to Karen Lake which was less than a quarter mile away. I don’t have a lot of patience to begin with and my Garmin had quite working at Divide Lake due to the memory being too full (at least that’s what I hoped it was, and it was) and that had put me on edge.
Dry creek bed (this feeds Trapper Creek).

Right hand fork to Karen Lake.

Things were much more solitary at Karen Lake aside from a lone duck patrolling the waters.

We had camp set up by 3pm and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening enjoying the lake (and the decreasingly smoky skies).

Dragon fly visit.

A little bird joining the duck on the rocks.

Is this a tadpole? We first thought it was a newt then a fish but it’s got feet.

While the smoke was clearing there were more clouds coming and going, but we had kept a close eye on the forecast before leaving and there hadn’t even an inkling of a chance for precipitation for the trip or the next couple of days.

The moon was really showing up well over the mountain.

We had just gotten settled in the tent for the night when the light outside turned orange. I threw my clothes back on to try and catch the sunset which was spectacular.

IMG_4983_stitch

IMG_5006_stitch

After a whole lot of picture taking I got back into the tent and we tried to sleep. It didn’t come easy though. I don’t know if knowing we had less than 5 miles the next day before heading home had us excited or if our spot just wasn’t all that comfy but we had a hard time falling asleep. Then just after 4am we both woke up for some reason. Heather was the first to realize why when she asked why her quilt was wet. It took a moment to register but it was raining! Luckily we always carry our rain fly even if there isn’t any rain in the forecast for just such an occasion. We hopped out of the tent and threw it on before it really started to come down which kept everything pretty dry. We heard a couple of rumbles of thunder in the distance and I never could fall back asleep. The showers had mostly stopped by 5:30 am when we decided to start packing up.
Rainfly deployed

Diamond Peak a little after 6am.

Another light shower passing over as we were leaving.

After some coffee we were on our way. It was before 6:30 so it wasn’t very light but it was plenty light for hiking.
Some funny looking beargrass along the trail.

A half mile from Karen Lake we crossed the dry bed of Karen and Yoran Lakes outlets.

In another half mile we passed a small unnamed lake.

We encountered a little blowdown along this trail but nothing too bad.

Two miles from the little unnamed lake we were passing a large meadow on the left when we noticed another lake at it’s end. I decided to go check it out and left the trail. As I neared the meadow a deer jumped up and splashed off into the grasses.
The lake doesn’t show a name on the map but West Bay Creek flows out of it (of course it too was dry at this time of year).

Over the next three quarters of a mile we encountered two little girls hats laying in the trail. We picked them up and left them at the junction with the Whitefish Creek Trail not knowing if the owners were still at one of the lakes and if so which way they’d come from.

We turned left at this junction following the pointer for the Trapper Creek Trailhead. It was just under half a mile to the closed bridge over Trapper Creek.

While the bridge didn’t appear to be in that bad of shape we honored the posted closure signs and made our way down to the ford.

The water was cold but it was an easy ford and with only .2 miles left to get back to the car we didn’t have to deal with wet feet for long. We completed our loop having covered 13.1 miles on the third day and 4.7 on the final day for a grand total of 48.4 miles. The trip allowed us to cross the Diamond View Lake, Marie Lake and Diamond Peak, Corrigan and Blue Lakes, and Divide Lake hikes off of our featured hikes to-do list leaving us with just the Erma Bell Lakes hike to complete the 100 featured hikes in Sullivan’s Central Cascades book. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Diamond Peak Loop Day 3 & Day 4

Hiking

Diamond Peak Loop Day 2 – 08/23/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 29, 2020
16 Comments on Diamond Peak Loop Day 2 – 08/23/2020

**Note the 2024 208 MF Fire burned over a portion of this hike from Marie Lake to Blue Lake.**

We woke up early on the second day of our loop around Diamond Peak and as the Sun was coming up we realized that it had gotten a little hazy overnight.

Diamond Peak in the morning.

Our plan for the day was to leave camp and hike to the summit of Diamond Peak then come back, pack up, and continue on our loop. We hoped to make it as far as Blue Lake but were also ready to stop at Corrigan Lake if necessary. We took breakfast with us as we set off to the north on the Pacific Crest Trail.

We followed the PCT for approximately 1.2 miles to a rocky viewpoint where we stopped to cook breakfast.
The viewpoint from below on the PCT.

We should have been able to see Summit Lake and Mt. Thielsen to the south from the viewpoint but after a smoke free hike the day before our luck ran out.
Summit Lake and a lot of smoke.

At least the sky above Diamond Peak was still fairly blue.
The north flank and route up Diamond Peak.

After eating we continued 50 feet up the trail to a bunch of cairns marking the summit path.

Fireweed catching the morning sunlight.

Cairns on the left side of the trail marking the route.

Chipmunk inspecting some bleeding heart.

We turned up the well worn path and began to climb steeply through the trees and then onto rocks.
Summit Lake and the route up through the trees.

Here come the rocks.

The path soon split into multiple user routes with cairns, flagging, and green paint marking the way.
Cairn on top of the big rock on the right.

A carin and paint on a rock along the route and some pink flagging on the tree down to the left.

It was approximately a mile between the PCT and the false summit of Diamond Peak and over 1800′ of elevation gain. After leaving the trees the climb got even steeper. Through the loose rocks a few flowers could be found.
Looking up at the false summit.

Paintbrush

Buckwheat

Patches of penstemon.

Seed heads of Drummond’s anemone

As we climbed we passed a couple of small snow patches and gained more views which were all dominated by smoke.
Dark smoke to the SW

A snow patch below the false summit.

Final pitch to the false summit, still pretty blue.

At the false summit we were at 8421′ and could finally see Mt. Thielsen, at least the very top of it’s spire at least.

We had been backpacking there just two weeks prior (post) and were thankful that it hadn’t been this weekend. Looking around, it wasn’t just smoky to the south.
Looking west to a wall of smoke.

Smoke to the east.

Smoke to the NE too.

NW also equals smoke.

20200823_090207 Smoke starting to drift in from the east.

We were still .4 miles and 350′ from the 8777′ true summit of the mountain and to reach it we would need to pass three gendarmes that block the ridge between the summit and false summit. Sullivan describes having to use your hands and “lots of caution” to work around them to the clear path on the other side. We started out and got to the first gendarme where I got up too high following a path. I had to back track and work my way down to Heather who had taken a different track but we still seemed too high. By this point the uncertainty of the best line to take had given us time to really think about where we were and the nerves kicked in. We wound up listening to them and headed back to the false summit deciding that it wasn’t worth the risk on such a smoky day where we wouldn’t get much in the way of views. We expected the view north that we would have had from the summit to be just as smoky given the fact that from the false summit we could see the top of the South Sister which was also appeared to be surrounded by wildfire smoke.

After making the decision to turn back we were able to relax and enjoy the jaunt back down to the PCT focusing on flowers and critters along the way.
One of several Clark’s nutcrackers.

Buckwheat

Paintbrush

Penstemon

Basin with a number of flowers.

Mountain heather

Partridge foot

Another paintbrush

It was slow going but we made it back to the PCT where we noticed the smoke a little more than we had earlier that morning.
A little smoke in the trees.

When we got back to camp we packed up and realized that we’d consumed quite a bit of our water already so we decided to stop by Rockpile Lake again to refill our reservoirs before continuing on our loop.
Slightly smokier Rockpile Lake.

After refilling our water supply we continued to the junction with the spur trail to Marie Lake (.5 miles from the PCT) where we turned left to stay on the Rockpile Trail (at a pointer for the Diamond Peak Trail) and climbed steeply up the side of Diamond Rockpile.

It wasn’t as much of a rockpile as the named implied as it was mostly forested with a single viewpoint near the high point along this portion of trail.

Summit Lake out there in the smoke.

The trail then dropped a bit on the west side of Diamond Rockpile to a 4-way junction with the Diamond Peak Trail 1.2 miles from the Marie Lake junction.

While there were plenty of signs along the trails they often didn’t identify the trail itself but rather pointed you in the direction of other trails or features. This junction was a good example as one sign identified the Rockpile Trail while another directed you to Rockpile Lake and Road 2160.

There were no signs naming the Diamond Peak Trail but there was a pointer to the south for Ruth Lake and a pointer to the north for the Pioneer Gulch Trail (which we thought was the name of this trail at first).

We need to go north so we followed the pointer for the Pioneer Gulch Trail and headed north.

The Diamond Peak Trail rolled up an down for nearly 1.5 miles before arriving at a junction with the actual Pioneer Gulch Trail on the left.
One of the uphill sections.

Note again that the sign is letting you know what is in the different directions but not identifying the trail name.

We stayed on the Diamond Peak Trail heading for the Corrigan Lake Trail which was just over 2 miles further along. These two miles had not been maintained so there were a few obstacles to get around but nothing too difficult. We also regained a view of Diamond Peak along this stretch which was now behind a thin layer of smoke.
Typical obstacle for this stretch.

We turned left down the Corrigan Lake Trail when we arrived at the junction.

It was a little over half a mile and 300′ down to the lake which had a nice view of Diamond Peak.

Lots of insect husks on the plants along the lake.

We took a nice long break at the lake where another couple of groups of backpackers appeared to be planning to spend the night. Our plan was to push on and try and find a spot for our tent near the Diamond Peak Trail junction with the Blue Lake Trail. We were hoping to get down to that lake in the evening but didn’t want to haul our full packs up and down the steep 400′ of elevation change.

We left Corrigan Lake to the other backpackers and climbed back up to the Diamond Peak Trail and continued on our clockwise loop around the mountain. This next section of trail was clearer and in just under a mile we came to the Bear Mountain Trail junction.

Fleabane

Bear Mountain Trail junction.

Look a named trail!

From the junction the Diamond Peak Trail climbed a ridge before leveling off above Blue Lake which was hidden in the trees.

The Blue Lake Trail was .8 miles from the Bear Mountain junction and just before reaching it we spotted what we had been hoping for, an open flat spot for our tent. We set up camp between the Diamond Peak and Blue Lake Trails and then headed down to the lake for dinner and to get more water.

There was a decent amount of blowdown along the upper portion of the .9 mile stretch to the lake which followed a ridge crest (with a view NW down to Happy Lake) before dropping steeply down the opposite side of the ridge via a series of switchbacks. The hillsides had quite a few wet areas and several flowers were still in bloom.
Starting to drop off the ridge.

Arnica

Fleabane

Pearly everlasting and fringed grass of parnassus

Aster and fringed grass of parnassus

Scouler’s bluebells

The trail brought us to an open hillside on the east side of Blue Lake where a landslide left a large meadow.

Lots of coneflower

Fireweed and coneflower

Owl’s clover

We appeared to be the only humans at this lake but we were greatly outnumbered by a legion of little frogs.
20200823_182113

Dragon fly and a bunch of frogs

Chatty squirrel

We spent most the evening at the lake before heading back to the tent when the Sun started dropping.

Despite not making it up to the summit of Diamond Peak, and it being too smoky to get any views even lower, it had been a good day. It had also been a long day. We had been planning on it being somewhere in the 14.5 to 15 mile range assuming that we made it all the way to the summit but our GPS units put us just over 16 miles for the day without the extra .8 out and back between the false summit and summit. We slept well apart from me waking up for a moment when I heard some coyotes followed by a couple of hoots from owls. They weren’t bothering me I just stayed up to listen to them for a bit until they stopped. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Diamond Peak Loop Day 2

Tags backpacking, blue lake, Blue Lake Trail, Corrigan Lake, Diamond Peak, Diamond Peak Loop, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Diamond Rockpile, Frog, hiking, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, Rockpile Lake, Rockpile Trail, Rockpile Trail. Pioneer Gulch Trail

Diamond Peak Area Hiking Trip report

Diamond Peak Loop Day 1 – 08/22/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 27, 2020
4 Comments on Diamond Peak Loop Day 1 – 08/22/2020

Four of the five remaining featured hikes from William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Central Cascades” (4th edition) were scattered around Diamond Peak in the Diamond Peak Wilderness. To check these off our to-do list we decided to hike a four day loop around the mountain visiting most of the highlights of those four hikes. We started our trip at the Trapper Creek Trailhead, a trailhead that we were familiar with having started our Yoran Lake hike there in 2014 (post). After crossing some railroad tracks we arrived at the actual trail and set off into the Diamond Peak Wilderness.

The writing on the sign made us chuckle, it says “If you need a map you should stay home”. All kidding aside you should always carry a map and refer to it as often as necessary.

20200822_073035

Two tenths of a mile from the railroad tracks we arrived at the Yoran Lake/Whitefish Trail junction where we had turned right in 2014. Posted on this sign (as well as before the railroad tracks and on the signboards at the start of the trail) was a notice that the Trapper Creek Bridge was closed due to damage. That was our return route for the final day but we knew there was an established ford so we weren’t too concerned about it.

We stayed left on the Whitefish Creek Trail which climbed gradually following Trapper Creek.

Breakfast time.

While several lakes including Yoran, Karen, and Diamond View drain into Trapper Creek they are seasonal flows yet Trapper Creek was flowing nicely. The main source of water for the creek is a spring between those lakes. As we continued up the Whitefish Trail the sound of running water faded and the forest shifted to dustier lodgepole pine.

Unnamed lake along the Whitefish Trail

Just under 5 miles from the trailhead we arrived at Diamond View Lake. It had been overcast when we began our hike but the clouds were burning off fast and as we sat at the lake taking a break the clouds lifted and gave us a full view of the east side of Diamond Peak.
Arriving at Diamond View Lake

Diamond Peak with Mt. Yoran to the right.

Sharing our break spot with a butterfly

Crossbill near Diamond View Lake

We continued past Diamond View Lake passing a couple small lakes and ponds before arriving at a 4-way junction with the Crater Butte Trail a total of 5.7 miles from the trailhead.

From the junction the Whitefish Trail continues for 3.9 miles to Crescent Lake. The 13.7 mile Crater Butte Trail starts at the Crater Butte Trailhead on the east side of Odell Lake and passes Fawn and Saddle Lake (post) prior to the junction and then continues on to the Pacific Crest Trail. That was where we were headed so we turned right on the Crater Butte Trail which promptly crossed a mostly dry bed of Whitefish Creek.

There were some markers along the trail, possibly mile markers and after two miles on this trail we passed the signed junction for the Snell Lake Trail.
Mile marker?

A lone lupine

Nice looking sign for the Snell Lake Trail.

It didn’t look like the Snell Lake Trail sees much use, at least at this end.

Beyond the Snell Lake Trail junction the scenery became a little greener with heather filled alpine meadows and Mountain View Lake with a great view of Diamond Peak.

The heather was all done blooming but there was a lot of dried blossoms.

The summit of Diamond Peak.

One and a quarter miles from the Snell Lake junction we crossed the small but pretty Mountain Creek before a short steep climb.

After the climb the trail returned to its gradual grade with a few ups and downs.

Just over 5 miles after turning onto the Crater Butte Trail we arrived at the PCT.

Our plan was to set up camp near the junction as we hoped to summit Diamond Peak the next morning from the PCT before continuing on our loop. With COVID-19 significantly lowering the number of thru hikers we weren’t too concerned about taking spots from them so we picked one a bit off the trail and set up our tent.

As it wasn’t quite 1:00 yet we could do some exploring after getting camp situated. We briefly contemplated attempting to summit that afternoon but decided against it due to heat and needing water so instead we headed for Rockpile and Marie Lakes by taking the Rockpile Trail which continued across the PCT from the Crater Butte Trail.

We would be going this way when we continued on our loop but both of the lakes are a bit off the trail and visiting them now gave us the opportunity to relax by the water before turning in for the night. A half mile down the Rockpile Trail on the left we found the signed .1 mile spur trail to Rockpile Lake.
Diamond Peak from the Rockpile Trail

Rockpile Lake

There were a few camps set up along the south side of the little lake. We decided not to stay long here as kids throwing rocks into the lake might be fun but it isn’t exactly relaxing so after checking it out we returned to the Rockpile Trail and turned left toward Marie Lake. After 110 yards we came to a junction with the Rockpile Trail continuing to the left while a spur trail continued .2 miles to Marie Lake.

We followed a trail along the south side of the lake to a view of Diamond Peak. While there were people camped here too the lake was bigger and we found a spot along the lake shore to sit and relax.

From our spot we could see the false summit of Diamond Peak and the route that we would be taking the next morning.

Hikers on the trail to the right coming down from the false summit.

As the afternoon turned to evening more people showed up including some bathers, some floaters and a couple of skinny dippers. We kept the photos to the non-humans at the lake though.

Dragon fly

We had dinner by the lake then pumped water before heading back to our tent. We spent a little time exploring the area around camp and picked some huckleberries before turning in for the night. We had planned on hiking somewhere in the area of 12 miles but we wound up showing 14.3 on our GPS units (they actually agreed this time). It had been a beautiful day, not too warm and pleasantly smokeless given the number of wildfires in California and Oregon. We were hoping that the rest of the trip would be equally nice and turned in looking forward to the next days adventures. Happy trails!

Flickr: Diamond Peak Loop Day 1

Tags backpacking, Crater Butte Trail, Diamond Peak, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Diamond View Lake, hiking, Marie Lake, Mountain Creek, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Rockpile Lake, Rockpile Trail, Trapper Creek, Trapper Creek Trailhead, Whitefish Trail

Hiking Uncategorized

Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 1, 2019
5 Comments on Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas

In our last post we wrote about our ambitious (possibly overly so) goal of completing 500 “featured” hikes in William L. Sullivan’s guidebooks. The topic of this post is another one of our goals, visiting all 45 of Oregon’s accessible designated wilderness areas (Three Arch Rocks and Oregon Islands are off limits to all visitors). This goal should be quite a bit easier to accomplish given the much smaller number of needed hikes and the fact that the wilderness areas aren’t changing every few years. (There is legislation pending that would create the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in the coast range between Reedsport and Eugene.)

The inspiration for this goal came from a fellow hiker and blogger over at Boots on the Trail. This smaller goal fit well into our 500 featured hikes goal too as thirty nine of the wilderness areas are destinations of at least one of the featured hikes. The remaining six: Copper-Salmon, Lower White River, Rock Creek, Cummins Creek, Bridge Creek, and Grassy Knob were still included in the books but as additional hikes in the back. Between the hike descriptions in the guidebooks and Boots on the Trail’s trip reports we’ve had plenty of information to work with.

This was an appealing goal too. Wilderness areas are dear to our hearts and home to many of our favorite places. These areas are the least affected by humans and we feel best reflect God’s work as Creator. To me they are akin to a museum showcasing His finest artistry. Just as we would in a museum we admire and enjoy the wilderness but we do our best not to affect it meaning adhering whenever possible to Leave No Trace principles.

We have made pretty good progress on this goal so far and as of 12/31/18 we had visited 38 of the 45 accessible areas (and seen the other two from the beach). We’re currently on track to have visited them all by the end of 2020.

Below is a chronological list of the wilderness areas we’ve been to (or seen) as well as any subsequent year(s) we’ve visited with some links to selected trip reports.

Opal Creek – 2009, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18

Battle Ax Creek – 2014

Mt. Jefferson – 2010, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18

Mt. Jefferson from Russell Lake – 2016

Drift Creek – 2010

Mt. Washington – 2011, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17

Mt. Washington from the Pacific Crest Trail – 2015

Three Sisters – 2011, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

The Three Sisters – 2014

Three Arch Rocks – 2011, 18

Three Arch Rocks from Cape Meares – 2018

Mark O. Hatfield – 2012, 14, 15, 16

Triple Falls – 2012

Mt. Hood – 2012, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Mt. Hood – 2015

Oregon Islands – 2012, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Bandon Islands – 2018

Mill Creek – 2012

Twin Pillars – 2011

Mt. Thielsen – 2012, 14

Howlock Mountain and Mt. Thielsen – 2014

Table Rock – 2012, 15

Table Rock – 2015

Salmon-Huckleberry – 2013, 14, 15, 17, 18

Frustration Falls – 2018

Diamond Peak – 2013, 14, 18

Trapper Creek – 2014

Waldo Lake – 2013, 15, 18

View from Fuji Mountain – 2013

Roaring River – 2013

Serene Lake – 2013

Badger Creek – 2014

Badger Creek Wilderness – 2014

Middle Santiam – 2014

Donaca Lake – 2014

Bull of the Woods – 2014, 15, 18

Emerald Pool – 2018

Soda Mountain – 2015, 17

View from Boccard Point – 2015

Red Buttes – 2015

Oregon Badlands – 2016

Oregon Badlands Wilderness – 2016

Kalmiopsis – 2016

Vulcan Lake – 2016

Menagerie – 2016

Rooster Rock – 2016

Eagle Cap – 2016

Glacier Lake – 2016

Mountain Lakes – 2016

View from Aspen Butte – 2016

Sky Lakes – 2016

Mt. McLoughlin from Freye Lake – 2016

Lower White River – 2016

White River – 2016

Rock Creek – 2017

Spring Basin – 2017

Hedgehog Cactus – 2017

Bridge Creek – 2017

Bridge Creek Wilderness – 2017

Wild-Rogue – 2017

Hanging Rock – 2017

Grassy Knob – 2017

View from Grassy Knob – 2017

Clackamas – 2017

Big Bottom – 2017

North Fork John Day – 2017, 18

Baldy Lake – 2017

Cummins Creek – 2017

Cummins Ridge Trail – 2017

Rogue-Umpqua Divide – 2018

Hummingbird Meadows – 2018

Steens Mountain – 2018

View along the Pine Creek Trail – 2018

Strawberry Mountain – 2018

Slide Lake – 2018

Copper-Salmon – 2018

Barklow Mountain Trail – 2018

The remaining areas and year of our planned visit looks like this:

2019 – Hells Canyon, North Fork Umatilla, Wenaha-Tucannon
2020 – Boulder Creek, Black Canyon, Monument Rock, Gearhart Mountain

If the Devil’s Staircase is added in the meantime we will do our best to work that in (it is currently on our list of hikes but not until 2023. For more information on Oregon’s wilderness areas visit Wilderness.net here.

Happy Trails!

Tags Badger Creek Wilderness, Bridge Creek Wilderness, Bull of the Woods Wilderness, Clackamas Wilderness, Copper-Salmon Wilderness, cummins creek wilderness, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Drift Creek Wilderness, eagle cap wilderness, Grassy Knob Wilderness, hiking, kalmiopsis wilderness, Lower White River Wilderness, Mark O Hatfield Wilderness, Menagerie Wilderness, Middle Santiam Wilderness, Mill Creek Wilderness, mountain lakes wilderness, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Mt. Thielsen wilderness, Mt. Washington Wilderness, North Fork John Day Wilderness, opal creek wilderness, Oregon, oregon badlands wilderness, Oregon Islands Wilderness, Red Buttes Wilderness, Roaring River Wilderness, Rock Creek Wilderness, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, sky lakes wilderness, soda mountain wilderness, Spring Basin Wilderness, Steens Mountain Wilderness, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, table rock wilderness, Three Arch Rocks Wilderness, Three Sisters Wilderness, waldo lake wilderness, Wild Rogue Wilderness, Wilderness Areas

Diamond Peak Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon

Fawn Lake – Diamond Peak Wilderness

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 24, 2018
1 Comment on Fawn Lake – Diamond Peak Wilderness

A week after scrapping a planned four day backpacking trip in the Diamond Peak Wilderness due to weather we found ourselves heading to that same wilderness because of weather. Our one available day for hiking this week coincided with the one wet day in the forecast. When that happens we usually look at several different areas to find the one with the best chance to stay dry. This time that appeared to be Fawn Lake in the Diamond Peak Wilderness with just a 30% chance of showers. With our plans set we drove to the Fawn Lake Trailhead near Crescent Lake. To reach the trailhead we turned SW onto NF 60 at a sign for Crescent Lake between mileposts 69 and 70 along Highway 58 (in Crescent Junction). After 2.2 miles we continued on NF 60 where it made a right turn at a sno-park. After an additional .3 miles we turned left at a sign for the Crescent Lake Campground/Fawn Lake Trailhead.

It is an interesting trailhead, the parking area is a day use lot located next to the Crescent Lake Campground. A trail sign at the far end of the parking lot pointed to the Fawn Lake Trailhead.

We followed this path and in a tenth of a mile came to a crossing of NF 60.

Another pointer for the Fawn Lake Trailhead lay on the far side of the road.

A short distance later we arrived at a sign for the actual Fawn Lake Trail and a signboard with self-issued wilderness permits.

The Fawn Lake Trail set off in a mostly lodgepole pine forest and just after a 4-way junction with the Metolious-Windigo Trail entered the Diamond Peak Wilderness.

After entering the wilderness the trail climbed gradually for approximately three quarters of a mile through a mix of lodgepole and fir forest to a fork.

This was the start of a loop past Fawn and Pretty Lakes.

We went right heading for Fawn Lake which was just over 2.5 miles away. The trail contoured around a ridge end climbing gradually through a nice forest.

The trail split again at Fawn Lake.

The left fork was the upper end of the loop, but before we started on the loop we had plans to visit a couple of other lakes in the wilderness so we went right stopping briefly to visit the shore of Fawn Lake. We had driven through a number of showers on the way to the trail but so far the hike had been dry. From the lake Redtop Mountain to the SE was cloud free while Lakeview Mountain to the SW was not.
Redtop Mountain

Lakeview Mountain (to the right behind clouds)

We continued on around the north end of the lake to the end of the Fawn Lake Trail at a junction with the Crater Butte Trail.

Here we stayed left and climbed above Fawn Lake.

A mile from Fawn Lake we came to the Stag Lake Trail.

It was clouding up at this point and a light mist was falling. We decided to wait on the side trip to Stag Lake which lay at the base of Lakeview Mountain hoping that it would be a little clearer on the way back.

We followed the pointer for Saddle Lake and continued uphill through the forest.

After .6 miles the trail steepened as it climbed out of a gully to a saddle.

After .3 miles of switchbacks we arrived at the saddle where the trail leveled out for a tenth of a mile to Saddle Lake.

A steady light rain was now falling but not enough for us to need to break out the rain gear.

The weather and the scenery really let us know that Fall had arrived.
IMG_3069_stitch

After a break at Saddle Lake we headed back to the junction with the Stag Lake Trail and turned left onto it.

This fairly level .4 mile trail passed a small pond before arriving at Stag Lake.

The clouds had not lifted so our view of Lakeview Mountain was fairly obscured.

We would get a much better look at the mountain from the car as we were trying to leave (more on that later).

After visiting Stag Lake we returned to the Crater Butte Trail and headed back toward Fawn Lake. Shortly before reaching the lake we turned right on a path we had noticed earlier hoping to pass around the west side of the lake and hooking up with the Pretty Lake Trail to the SW of the lake.

The open forest made cross country travel relatively easy.

Using our GPS we made our way to the SW shore of Fawn Lake where the Pretty Lake Trail was just a few feet away in the forest.

Once we were on the Pretty Lake Trail we turned right for a fairly level .4 miles to the start of a short .3 mile climb.

The trial then crested a low pass and descended slightly for another .3 miles to Pretty Lake.

It was a little under 2 miles from Pretty Lake back to the Fawn Lake Trail junction. The trail descended a ridge with a bit of a view of Odell Butte to the north.

We completed the loop then followed the Fawn Lake Trail back .8 miles to our car. With the side trips to Saddle and Stag Lakes this was a 12.7 mile hike with approximately 1500′ of elevation gain. It would have been nice to have had better views of Lakeview Mountain, but it was still a nice hike and we have a good excuse to go back and redo this hike someday.

The only real negative to the day was as we were headed home. A train was stopped blocking NF 60 and we were informed that it could be a couple of hours before it was able to move. We didn’t have a sufficient road map to figure out which forest roads might bypass the train and after a failed attempt to find an alternate route we returned to the stopped train and waited. As we were driving around though we noticed that Lakeview Mountain was now entirely free of clouds. After sitting at the tracks for a little over an hour the train was finally on its way and so were we. Happy (train free) Trails!

Flickr: Fawn Lake

Tags Crater Butte Trail, Crescent Lake Campground, Diamond Peak Wilderness, Fawn Lake, Fawn Lake Trail, hiking, Lakeview Mountian, Oregon, Pretty Lake, Pretty Lake Trail, Redtop Mountain, Saddle Lake, Stag Lake, Stag Lake Trail

Diamond Peak Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Trip report

Cowhorn Mountain and Indigo Lake

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 21, 2016
12 Comments on Cowhorn Mountain and Indigo Lake

For our final multi-night backpacking trip this year we planned on hiking up a pair of lesser known Cascade peaks located between the Diamond Peak and Mt. Thielsen Wilderness Areas. At the center of our plans was 7669′ Cowhorn Mountain which we would ultimately make a loop around. Our first trail would be the Pacific Crest Trail which passes within .4 miles of Cowhorn Mountain’s summit. We planned on accessing the PCT from the Windigo Pass Trailhead located along Forest Road 60 at Windigo Pass. Forest Road 60 runs between Crescent Lake along Highway 58 and Highway 138 north of Diamond Lake. We came from Crescent Lake and decided to park 3/4 of a mile from the Windigo Pass Trailhead at the Oldenburg Lake Trailhead instead since this would be the trail we used to return on the final day of our trip and we prefer starting with a road walk over ending with one.

We hadn’t been on the PCT long before we took our first off-trail detour of the day. We wanted to check out one of the Windigo Lakes which are located off the PCT to the east. Using topographic maps and our GPS we found our way to the first of the two Windigo Lakes where we had a nice view of Cowhorn Mountain.

We left the lake and headed back uphill toward the PCT. We were aiming for a switchback about a mile from where we had left the PCT. The climb up to the switchback was a good deal steeper than the slope we had originally come down to reach the lake and as we neared the PCT we encountered some tightly packed young trees which dictated where we were able to go. We managed to regain the PCT maybe a hundred yards from where we had been shooting for.

When we reached the switchback that we had been aiming for we could see the lake below.

It was approximately 3.3 miles from the switchback viewpoint to the summit trail. The PCT stayed near the top of the ridge offering several views to both the north and south as well as our next goal.
Cowhorn Mountain

Sawtooth Mountain

Mt. Thielsen

Diamond Peak

The unofficial trail to the summit was marked by rock cairns on the shoulder of Cowhorn Mountain.

The trail was worn enough to be fairly easy to follow as it crossed a cinder ridge.

Halfway along the ridge was an outcrop made of black rock followed by another cinder covered section of ridge. We had our full backpacks on up until this point but we decided to ditch them before crossing the final cinder ridge and left them by a stunted pine tree. The climb to the summit is a class 2/3 scramble to the current high point. The mountain lost it’s spire top in a 1911 storm.

We had a great 360 degree view from the summit. To the west was Sawtooth Mountain which we were planning on hiking up the next day.

To the north the view included nearby Diamond Peak, the Three Sisters, Broken Top, and Mt. Bachelor.

Maiden Peak was in front of the Three Sisters and it was interesting to see how close they looked to that peak from our current location. We had just recently been on Maiden Peak and even though those mountains had been mostly hidden by clouds they seemed further away from that peak than they did now.

To the south Mt. Thielsen and Mt. Bailey rose above several other Cascade peaks.

Tipsoo Peak, Howlock Mountain, and Mt. Thielsen

Mt. Bailey

We had brought a snack with us up to the summit and had hoped to take a nice long break up there but we wound up not staying as long as we planned due to there being quite a few yellow jackets flying around. Heather (and the rest of my family) can tell you I am not a bee person and I am especially uncomfortable around yellow jackets and wasps. I have been doing better the last couple of years with honey bees and bumble bees but I have no use for yellow jackets and can only handle their buzzing around me for a short time before I start to go crazy, and I really didn’t want to do something stupid on the top of a mountain, so we headed back down, retrieved our backpacks, and returned to the PCT.

We continued north on the PCT just over a quarter of a mile to a signed junction with the Cowhorn Traverse Trail.

We left the PCT here and took the Cowhorn Traverse Trail downhill for .3 miles to another junction, this time with the Windy Pass Trail.

We were now in the Oregon Cascades Recreation area, the largest unprotected roadless area left in the Cascades. We headed left on the Windy Pass Trail which followed a ridge west toward Sawtooth Mountain for approximately two miles to a junction with the Indigo Extension Trail.

The Windy Pass Trail continued to the left passing behind Sawtooth Mountain. We would be taking that trail the next day when we climbed Sawtooth Mountain but for now we headed right toward Indigo Lake. The trail passed a nice viewpoint of Sawtooth Mountain before beginning a steeper descent toward the lake via a series of switchbacks.

We decided to take another detour off-trail prior to reaching Indigo Lake to see if we could get to a small unnamed lake shown on the map. We left the trail when we appeared to be at a comparable elevation to the lake and managed to find it without much difficulty. The little lake was a beautiful green and had a nice view of Sawtooth Mountain.

There was also a nice area for a tent so we called an audible and decided to set up camp here instead of down at Indigo Lake.

After getting our camp set up we switched to our day packs and headed back to the trail to go see Indigo Lake. After a few more switchbacks we arrived at the lake’s primitive campground.

We didn’t see anyone else there as we made our way counter-clockwise around the lake.

At the south end of the lake was a talus slope where we spotted a couple of pikas.

The southern end of the lake also provided a glimpse of Diamond Peak.

We finished the loop around the lake and then sat at one of the wooden picnic tables for a bit.

After our break we climbed back up to the unnamed lake and decided to walk around it as well. There weren’t any other people there either but we were far from alone.