Tag: hawk

2022 Wildlife Gallery Part 1 – Feathered Friends

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 23, 2023
1 Comment on 2022 Wildlife Gallery Part 1 – Feathered Friends

We thought we’d do something different this year and split our 2022 wildlife gallery into two posts to keep them a little shorter. It made the most sense to us to do a post with the different birds we saw during 2022 and then one of the other wildlife. As with our wildflower post any corrections or additions to our attempts at identifying what we’ve photographed is greatly appreciated. One last note, while we really enjoy taking pictures as a way to record what we see on our hikes, we are by no means photographers. We use our phones and a point and shoot camera on the auto setting, so the pictures are far from professional, but we hope you enjoy them.

We’ll start small which, aside from some of the raptors, is where we have the most difficulty identifying the various species (ducks and sea birds can be tricky too).
Hummingbird at Memaloose Hills in May.

Hummingbird at Upper Table Rock in May.

Black capped chickadee at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Yellow-rumped warbler (Audubon’s) at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Wren (marsh?) at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

White-crowned sparrow at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Sparrow? at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Common yellow throat at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Yellow-rumped warbler (Myrtle) at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Tree swallows at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

White-crowned sparrow and a wren at Miller Woods in May.

American goldfinch pair at Miller Woods in May.

Another sparrow at Miller Woods in May.

Hermit warbler? near Kings Mountain in May.

House finch? at Upper Table Rock in May.

Rock wren? at Upper Table Rock in May.

Ash-throated flycatcher at Denman Wildlife Area in May.

Unknown at Denman Wildlife Area in May.

Swallow at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Some sort of warbler? at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Purple martins at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Another wren at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Unknown at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Sparrow? at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Warbler? at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Black phoebe? at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Mountain bluebird near Union Peak in September.

Red-breasted nuthatch (best I could get) at Crater Lake in September.

Red crossbilss at Crater Lake in September.

Wren on the Eagle Creek Trail in November.

Dark eyed junco at Waverly Lake in December.

Going up a bit in size now (and a little easier to identify).
Canada jay (grey jay) along the Crown Zellerbach Trail in March.

California scrub jay along the Balfour-Klickitat Trail in April.

Stellar’s jay along the Hood River Pipeline Trail in May.

Female red-winged blackbird at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Red-winged blackbird at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Spotted towhee at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Starlings along the Hood River Pipeline Trail in May.

Brownheaded cowbird at Upper Table Rock in May.

American robin at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Tropical kingbird? at Denman Wildlife Area in May.

Black-headed grosbeak (also all I could get) at Applegate Lake in May.

Lazuli bunting at Roxy Ann Peak in May.

Cedar waxwing at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Western tanagers, Siskiyou Wilderness in July.

American dipper (Ouzel) near South Umpqua Falls in September.

Townsends solitaire at Crater Lake National Park in September.

Clark’s nutcracker at Crater Lake National Park in September.

Varied thrush along the Eagle Creek Trail in November.

Unknown at Cascade Head in October.

We also struggle with a few of the woodpeckers.
Forest Park in January.

Northern flicker at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April. We seem to see flickers on nearly every hike, but they don’t often sit still long enough for us to get a decent picture.

Pileated woodpecker at Chehalem Ridge Nature Park in May. We rarely see these but like the flickers, when we do they are very difficult to get a photo of.

Acorn woodpecker at Denman Wildlife Area in May.

Hairy? woodpecker near Twin Lakes in the Umpqua National Forst in June.

Red breasted sapsucker at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area in July.

Either a hairy or downy woodpecker along the Eagle Creek Trail in November.

Unknown, Sky Lakes Wilderness in late September.

Next up are scavengers and birds of prey including those pesky hawks.
Crow along the Crown Zellerbach Trail in March.

Raven at Upper Table Rock in May.

Turkey Vulture at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

American kestral along the Crown Zellerbach Trail in March.

Osprey along the Hood River Pipeline Trail in May.

Another osprey at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Bald eagle at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Eagle in the Sky Lakes Wilderness in September. Not sure if it is a bald or golden.

A bald eagle and hawk at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Pair of hawks at Denman Wildlife Area in May.

Hawk at Denman Wildlife Area in May.

Hawk at Julia Hansen Butler Wildlife Refuge in June.

Hawk along the Pacific Crest Trail near Carter Meadows Summit in August.

Hawk at Crater Lake National Park in September.

Barred owl at Noble Woods in May.

Great horned owl at Denman Wildlife Area in May.

Young great horned owl at Roxy Ann Peak in May.

Moving on to game birds, a few of the species we saw this year were at the E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area at their breeding facility in June.

Ring-necked pheasant

Silver pheasant

Near the breeding facility at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area.

Mourning dove at Roxy Ann Peak a in May.

Grouse? in the Siskiyou Wilderness in July.

Grouse in the Mt. Adams Wilderness in August.

Grouse in the Sky Lakes Wilderness in September.

Bodies of water attract a lot of birds and provide us with a less obstructed view vs the forest.
Long billed dowitchers? at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Killdeer at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Sandpiper? at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Great blue heron at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Kingfisher at Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge in June.

American bittern at Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge in June.

White pelicans at Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge in June.

Hooded mergansers at Yakona Nature Preserve in February.

Common mergansers along the Klickitat Trail in April.

American coot at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Cinnamon teal at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Ring-necked ducks (and an American coot) at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Northern shoveler at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

White-fronted geese at Ankeny Wildlife Refuge in April.

Mallard along the Hood River Pipeline Trail in May.

Wood duck at Denman Wildlife Area in May.

Not sure if this is a ruddy duck at Waverly Lake in December.

Mostly American widgeons with a green winged teal and a female bufflehead or two mixed in at Talking Water Gardens in December.

Bufflehead at Talking Water Gardens in December.

Canada geese at Applegate Lake in May.

Domestic geese near the Klickitat Trail in April.

Domestic or hybrid? ducks at Waverly Lake in December.

Hiking

Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge – 04/15/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date April 16, 2021
3 Comments on Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge – 04/15/2021

Having visited the Ankeny and William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuges on Tuesday (post) and Wednesday (post) respectively I visited the third refuge comprising the Willamette Valley Complex, Baskett Slough on Thursday. For the final in this trifecta I had the chance to hike with my Father so I picked him up just after 6am and off we went. Like the other two refuges in the complex I had visited Baskett Slough before, most recently in May of last year (post) during the initial COVID lock down when many places weren’t open and we were trying to stay close to home. We began our hike at the Baskett Butte Trailhead.

Mt. Jefferson from the trailhead.

The Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop Trail begins here and we followed it uphill to the start of the loop where we forked left continuing uphill to a second junction with the side trail to the Rich Guadagno Viewing Platform. We were just a couple of weeks earlier than Heather and my visit from last year but it made a big difference. The hill had been covered with wildflowers during that hike but there were just a few out now.

A few lupine and buttercups

Camas

Castilleja levisecta – Golden Paintbrush

A few little flowers starting to open up.

View from the deck.

Western meadowlark

We returned to the loop and continued into the woods on the side of Baskett Butte where we kept a streak of mine alive by spotting deer in this area.

There weren’t nearly as many flowers here as there had been in the woods at Finley NWR but a few fawn lilies and toothworts were blooming.

The rangers had been busy cleaning up after the ice storm based on some large piles of debris but it also appeared there was more work to do.

We turned left at a sign for the Moffiti/Morgan Loop Trail and headed downhill toward Moffiti Marsh.

Camas pretending to be part of a lupine plant.

White crowned sparrow

Hawk

Lesser scaup

American wigeons

Pied billed grebe

Yellowlegs

Red-winged blackbirds

Savannah sparrow

We turned right along a path parallel to Smithfield Road following it to a small trailhead (where Heather and I started the 2020 hike). The fences across Smithfield Road were popular with the feathered community.

Swallows

A robin, a western bluebird and swallows

A green winged teal and a cinnamon teal in a small marsh.

We took the path from the trailhead to Morgan Lake where there were a lot of ducks doing their best to stay as far away from us as possible.

This scrub jay wasn’t shy.

Neither was this serious looking spotted towhee

Norther shovelers heading to the opposite side of the lake.

A bufflehead and some lesser scaups

Canada goose flyover

Mallard pair

After passing the lake we got a wild hair and instead of following the loop up around the north side of Baskett Butte we decided to stay on a fainter grassy track around the eastern side of the butte.
Old out building below Baskett Butte.

This seemed to be a good way to avoid the elevation gain of going up and over the saddle on Baskett Butte but along the way the grassy track disappeared into a field. There was another track heading uphill toward the butte but we were set on not climbing so we sallied forth.
Not only was this uphill but we didn’t know for sure where it might lead.

Along the field we went.

On the bright side our little adventure led us to the only blooming checkermallow we’d seen all morning.

At a row of vegetation if briefly appeared we might be turning back but a break in the brush provided us a way through (it appeared to be a popular route with the resident deer and elk.
Looking uphill along the row of brush.

On the other side of the brush we found a huge flock of geese (or several smaller flocks that had merged)

An extremely small portion of the geese.

We veered right away from the geese not wanting to be the cause of what we could only imagine would have been quite a commotion and cut across another field directly to the trailhead which was now visible.
Baskett Butte from the field.

Our route may have actually been a little shorter than if we had stayed on the trail as my GPS showed 4.8 miles while the route as described by Sullivan is 4.9 miles. It also saved a little bit of elevation gain and allowed us to see a little part of the refuge that we hadn’t before. It would have been pretty ugly though if it had rained recently though as I can only imagine those fields would be muddy messes. While not quite as exciting as the other two refuges Baskett Slough has always managed to deliver wildlife sightings and is definitely worth a visit. Happy Trails!

Our route with the “highlighted” section showing the off-trail route around Baskett Butte

Flickr: Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge

Tags Baskett Butte, Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge, Canada Goose, Cinnamon Teal, duck, Green-winged teal, hawk, hiking, lesser scaup, Moffiti Marsh, Moffitti Marsh Trail, Morgan Lake, Morgan Lake Trail, Oregon, Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop Trail, Savannah Sparrow

Hiking Old Cascades Oregon Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trip report

Rattlesnake Mountain – 09/06/2020

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 12, 2020
3 Comments on Rattlesnake Mountain – 09/06/2020

After spending the night at Wiley Camp (post) we grabbed our day packs and crossed the West Fork Muir Creek on the Wiley Camp Trail.

Smokey skies turning the Sun red.

We followed the cairn and flagging that we had found the day before and picked up the trail on the far end of the meadow.

The Wiley Camp Trail entered the trees where we had to navigate around and over a number of downed trees.

Despite the numerous obstacles the trail was easy enough to follow and it passed a number of huge trees.

Little trees surrounding a giant.

A downed giant.

Three quarters of a mile from Wiley Camp the trail entered a large meadow where we finally lost the tread.

Madia

Paintbrush

We used the GPS to relocate the trail at the upper end of the meadow in a saddle.

The trail then dropped a tenth of a mile to the Wiley Camp Trailhead on Fish Creek Valley Road 870.

On the far side of the road was a pointer for the Whitehorse Meadows Trail.

This trail reentered the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness and dropped into another meadow following a small stream.

Goldenrod and other flowers.

Arnica?

Columbine

20200906_082143 St. John’s wort

Fleabane (or aster) and coneflower

Three quarters of a mile from the road we arrived at Fish Creek where the trail briefly disappeared.

Heather found the trail on the far side of the creek where we turned left along the edge of the meadow before turning right at a tree with another trail sign.

Just beyond the trees we came to the unsigned Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail.

Here we turned left following this trail a quarter of a mile where the Whitehorse Meadows Trail split off uphill to the right.

The trail sign on the left wasn’t particularly descriptive.

The Whitehorse Meadows Trail climbed steadily through meadows and forest for 1.2 miles to a four-way junction at Windy Gap. The highlight of this section was an owl that flew by and landed in a nearby tree.

The owl is in the center of the picture behind the branch with green needles.

Small stream crossing

Chipmunk

Windy Gap

We took a break on some logs at the gap before heading up the Rattlesnake Mountain Trail (which was on the right as we arrived).

The sometimes faint Rattlesnake Mountain Trail gained over 800′ in the next 1.2 miles as it climbed via a series of switchbacks, steeply at times to a large rock cairn. It had been a little smokier than the previous day but as we climbed we managed to get above the smoke.

Along the way we passed an impressive rock outcropping.

Near the upper end of the 1.2 mile section we entered a burn scar with views of Mt. Bailey, Mt. Thielsen and Crater Lake.

Mt. Thielsen

High points along the rim of Crater Lake above the smoke.

A bee photobomb with Mt. Bailey and Mt. Thielsen to it’s right.

Flagging in the burn scar.

Nuttall’s linanthus

20200906_100351 Owls clover

Golden-mantled ground squirrel.

The rock cairn.

The Rattlesnake Mountain Trail continued NE at a much smaller cairn at a switchback below the larger cairn. We missed this on the way up, it appears that it had not been maintained since the 2017 Rattlesnake Fire.

From the large cairn we simply headed uphill through the meadow to a viewpoint on the west side of the mountain.
Nearing the summit.

The air was okay where we were, but the smoke was impacting the views. We were able to make out the top of Mt. McLoughlin beyond Fish Mountain.

Mt. McLoughlin

Hillman Peak and The Watchman at Crater Lake

We tried taking a break amid the trees near the summit but we wound up attracting a number of yellow jackets (and I don’t do yellow jackets) so we decided to instead stroll around the fairly level top of Rattlesnake Mountain where we located the old lookout site.

Butterfly and bees.

We did a small loop around the forested top and dropped back down through the meadow to the cairn and returned to Windy Gap.
For some reason this cracked us up.

20200906_114812 Heather spotted this cricket on my shoulder (I always have some sort of insect on me for some reason).

At the 4-way junction at Windy Gap we went straight following a sign for the “Tie Trail to Castle Creek Trail No. 1576”. (Not a trail name that just flows off the tongue.)

Approximately .2 miles from Windy Gap we passed a sign for a faint unnamed trail leading uphill to the right.

The next .2 miles were interesting as the trail grew faint and then disappeared in a meadow.

This section of trail was not shown on the GPS so we couldn’t use that to stick to where the trail was supposed to be so we wound up crossing the meadow and then heading uphill to the Castle Creek Trail which was shown on the GPS.
We’d lost the trail here and were just heading for the Castle Creek Trail.

We came across this faint tread in the trees before reaching the Castle Creek Trail and started following it.

Apparently it was the actual trail as it popped us out at a trail sign along the Castle Creek Trail.

We turned left on the Castle Creek Trail, which followed an old roadbed downhill for 1.1 miles to the end of Fish Creek Valley Road 877 at the Happy Camp Trailhead

Rattlesnake Mountain

Happy Camp Trailhead

We followed the road to the left 100 yards to the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail.
Rattlesnake Mountain

Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail

The trail dropped into a meadow and crossed Fish Creek. We followed this trail three quarters of a mile to the junction with the Whitehorse Meadows Trail where we had turned uphill earlier in the day.

Snake in Fish Creek

Scarlet gilia

We then retraced our steps to the Wiley Camp Trail and the Fish Creek Crossing where we refilled our water supply.
Fish Creek

Fish in Fish Creek

Frog in Fish Creek

As we climbed past the meadow beyond Fish Creek we spotted several hawks and one deer who crashed off before we knew what had happened.

We recrossed Fish Creek Valley Road 870 and returned to camp on the Wiley Camp Trail.

No sooner had I sat down at camp when a bat flew by and landed on a nearby tree.

I’m not sure why it was out during the day but it stayed on the tree for a minute or two then flew off across the creek. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the creek (which was really cold).
Monkshood

This frog decided that under Heather’s pack was a nice spot to chill.

We didn’t see another person the entire day which was nice but in a way also a shame. The area is beautiful but it clearly sees little maintenance and appears to see most of it’s visitors during hunting season. The lack of visitors likely contributes to the lack of maintenance which in turn discourages visitors. It’s really a shame. We enjoyed the privacy though and had another nice evening alone with the critters. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Rattlesnake Mountain

Tags backpacking, Bat, Castle Creek Trail, Fish Creek, Fish Creek Valley Road, Happy Camp, Happy Camp Trailhead, hawk, hiking, Oregon, Rattlesnake Mountain, Rattlesnake Mountian Trail, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, West Fork Muir Creek, Wiley Camp, Wiley Camp Trail, Wiley Camp Trailhead, windy gap

Hiking Oregon Portland Trip report Willamette Valley

Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 14, 2017
1 Comment on Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge

We made a late addition to our scheduled hikes when it became clear that the weather on the day of the Give and Get Social for Trailkeepers of Oregon (TKO) was going to be too nice to pass up. We had short two featured hikes in Portland from William L. Sullivan’s 100 Hikes in NW Oregon & SW Washington that we had not been able to work into our future plans. The TKO event was taking place at Dig a Pony which was conveniently close to one of these two hikes, Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.

We began our hike uncharacteristically late, just after 1:15pm, from the north parking area on SE Milwaukee Ave.

We followed a paved path downhill to a sign for the Oaks Bottom Bluff Trail.

Here the trail split and we stayed left crossing a small footbridge. We would return via the right fork after completing a loop around Wapato Marsh.

The amount of water in the marsh increased as we went. The first wildlife we spotted were small birds, squirrels and a hawk.

As the amount of water increased we began to see a number of ducks. Several species were present, some of which we were unfamiliar with.

Green-winged teal

Wood duck

Ring necked duck?

Mallard

Not sure what kind of duck is in the upper left hand corner.

At the far end of the marsh trails from Sellwood Park joined at a meadow. Across the meadow to the west the Holiday Express train was preparing to depart.

We continued around the marsh passing under the train tracks and turned right on the paved Springwater Corridor. The Holiday Express passed us as we went.

From this path we spotted some other birds including several herons, a cormorant, and a kingfisher.

We passed a viewpoint of the Willamette River to the west before passing back under the railroad tracks.

Before passing back under the the tracks we took a short path to the west toward the river where a few pieces of art could be seen amid the trees.

We turned off the paved path at a hiker only sign and passed through a wooden fence.

We were quickly back at the start of the loop and returned uphill to our car. A nice three mile or so stroll with lots of wildlife to watch. We ended our day at Give and Get where we had a good time despite not winning any of the raffles. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge

Tags Cormorant, Dig a Pony, duck, Green Winged Teail, hawk, hiking, Holiday Express, Kingfisher, Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, Oregon, Ring Necked duck, TKO, Trail Keepers of Oregon, Wapato Marsh, Wood Duck

Crater Lake Area High Cascades Hiking Mt. Theilsen/Mt. Bailey Area Oregon Trip report

Mt. Scott (Crater Lake National Park) & Tipsoo Peak (Mt. Thielsen Wilderness)

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 5, 2014
9 Comments on Mt. Scott (Crater Lake National Park) & Tipsoo Peak (Mt. Thielsen Wilderness)

After a semi-rest day (Sparks Lake) we headed to Crater Lake National Park for our third visit hoping this time to actually be able to see the lake. In 2012 smoke had made it nearly invisible and earlier this year clouds had completely blocked the view. This time we were not disappointed.

August 2012

June 2014

October 2014

Our plan was to hike to the former lookout tower on Mt. Scott, the highest point in the park at 8938′ and then head north on Hwy 138 to the Tipsoo Peak Trail and also summit that 8034′ peak. The two hikes combined would be just over 11 miles with a combined 3000′ of elevation gain making them very doable in a single day.

The Mt. Scott Trail sets off along a broad plain at the base of the mountain giving a clear view of the entire peak as well as the lookout tower on it’s northern end.

The trail climbs around to the south side of the mountain and then up to the long ridge along Mt. Scotts summit. Not only were the skies clear above Crater Lake but we were able to see mountain peaks from Mt. Shasta in the south to Mt. Jefferson up north along the way. The views started early along the trail and just improved was we climbed.

Mt. Shasta, Mt. McLoughlin, and Union Peak to the south.

Crater Lake

Mt. Bailey

Mt. Thielsen and Diamond Peak

The Three Sisters

Mt. Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack

While we were traversing the ridge over to the lookout tower we spotted a hawk soaring high above the park.

After checking out the tower we headed back down to the car to start the drive to the Tipsoo Peak Trail. We had to make a couple of stops just to take in the beauty of Crater Lake.

We left the park and drove up to the Tipsoo Trail where we were surprised to find a much nicer forest than we had expected. Our previous trips in the Mt. Thielsen Wilderness had been through lodgepole pine forests which are not exactly eye candy.

We were also surprised by the number of mushrooms we spotted.

The climb was very gradual making it fairly easy going as we approached the summit. Near the top the trail passed by the edge of pumice filled Howlock Meadows where Howlock Mountain, Mt. Thielsen, and Mt. Bailey were visible.

Red cinder covered the top of Tipsoo Peak and the 360 degree view revealed several mountains and lakes.

Red Cone

Howlock Mountain and Mt. Thielsen

Diamond Peak

The Three Sisters, Broken Top, and Mt. Bachelor

Mt. Bailey and Diamond Lake

Lemolo Lake

Miller Lake

Madieu Lake

Lucille Lake

These were a couple of really nice hikes if you are looking for big views without a long or steep hike. Both hikes were on the shorter end (4.6 & 6.5 miles) and both trails climbed very gradually making them very nice options. The access road for the Tipsoo Peak trail was a bit rough and would probably require a high clearance vehicle though. Happy Trails!

flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157647888703099/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10205149429002517.1073741914.1448521051&type=1

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Three Sisters Area Trip report

South Sister Loop – Day 3

After not being able to fall asleep in the wake of an amazing second day the third day of our backpacking loop started way to early. I woke up just after 5am needing to empty my bladder. Looking out our tent to the East I could see an orange glow through the trees indicating that the Sun was coming, but not for awhile. I threw my headlamp on, grabbed my camera hoping to get a shot of the horizon, and started to walk toward the edge of the plateau that Demaris Lake sits on. I was scanning the forest with my light when I noticed a pair of glowing eyes about 50yds to the left of our tent. They were fairly low to the ground and I couldn’t tell what it was. Since I didn’t know what kind of animal was staring at me I wasn’t sure if I should get big or slowly back away. Not being fully awake my solution was to take a picture using the flash to see if I could figure out what it was. That may not have been the best idea, but when the flash went off I could see that it was a deer that was bedded down.

She got up after I took the picture and began walking along the ridge in front of me so I stopped heading that way and thought I would loop around behind to get my horizon picture. Apparently she didn’t like that because when I looked back in the direction she had been headed she had turned around and was now walking toward me with her head down.

She stopped when she realized I’d spotted her and I backtracked down to the lake shore and tried taking a wider loop around a rocky outcropping to get my picture. I got to good viewpoint and after scanning for the deer I set about trying to get a decent picture.

After taking a few pictures I suddenly had a strange feeling. Glancing to my right there was that crazy deer again staring at me with those glowing eyes. I headed back down to the lake and hurried back to the tent site to grab my poles and wake Heather up thinking that maybe the presence of a second person would deter the stalker deer. It must have because we didn’t see her again and were able to watch the sunrise light up the mountains and trees above the lake.

After a deer free breakfast we returned to the Camp Lake Trail at the North Fork Wychus Creek. A nice little waterfall lay just downstream from the creek crossing.

Soon we entered the area burned during the 2012 Pole Creek Fire.

The forest is only starting to recover from the fire so there wasn’t much to see as we made our way to the Green Lakes Trail and Soda Creek.

We turned right on the Green Lakes Trail and headed south toward Park Meadow. The first section of trail remained in the burn area but we were now headed back toward the mountains so we at least had a view.

After recrossing the North Fork Wychus Creek and then crossing the South Fork Wychus Creek the trail passed between a pair of ponds at the edge of the burn. The large pond on the left was empty while the much smaller pond on the right was filled with ducks.

After leaving the burn area our next marker was the West Fork Park Creek in Red Meadow.

There weren’t many flowers in the meadow but a hawk provided some entertainment as it watched us from a nearby tree.

From there it was just under a mile to our next trail junction located in Park Meadow.

After taking a quick look at Park Creek we continued on the Green Lakes Trail passing through Park Meadow. The meadow was quite large with a good view of both Broken Top and the South Sister. Although it was fairly dry many gentian flowers dotted the ground along with the occasional aster.

We were looking for a side trail about a mile from Park Meadow that would take us to Golden Lake. There was no sign marking the .7 mile trail to the lake but as we made our way toward the lake we did see signs announcing the areas restrictions.

It was easy to see why this was a popular spot.

We hiked around to the far end of the lake and decided to follow the inlet creek up looking for a place to set up our tent far enough from the lake to fit the 250′ restriction. We knew that there were a pair of tarns about a mile up from Golden Lake which we had originally planned on visiting after we had found our camp site and dropped off our gear. We weren’t having much luck finding a site, but the scenery was once again spectacular. Wildflowers lined the creek and the water was as clear as glass. We were headed straight at Broken Top and the South Sister loomed across the creek to our right.

We eventually reached the beginning of the creek as it flowed out from the bottom of a rocky hillside.

We began climbing the hill expecting to find the first tarn at the top.

We were not disappointed.

The water in the tarn was crystal clear and the views extended to Mt. Jefferson to the North.

A path led up another hill to the second tarn. It was quite a bit smaller and there was a hiker with a dog splashing around in it so we headed back down to the first tarn and went about setting up camp. We had found our spot for the night.
Second tarn

South Sister over the first tarn

Our campsite back in the trees on the far side of the tarn.

We had views all around from the site.

The nice part was we had arrived just after 1pm so we had plenty of time to soak our feet (the water was way too cold for anything else) and watch the wildlife that would occasionally stop by the tarn.

We decided to try and turn in early (or at least take a nap) since we didn’t get much sleep the night before so we laid down in the tent around 6pm. Heather fell asleep but I wasn’t having any luck so I got back up shortly after 7pm and took a few more pictures. It had been hazy to north all weekend but I could now make out Mt. Hood in that direction, and rays of sunlight shot through the gap between the South and Middle Sister.
The Three Sisters, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Hood at 7:04pm

Broken Top at 7:07pm

I went back to the tent and laid back down after taking the picture of Broken Top hoping to finally get some sleep. About 20 minutes later I smelled smoke. Thinking it was a campfire I lay there for a minute wondering if someone wasn’t able to follow the restriction on campfires. The smell kept getting strong so I sat up and looked around. Smoke was filling the basin below Broken Top and when I turned around I could see a line of smoke passing between the Sisters. The whole valley below us was full of smoke and it looked like it was rising up from somewhere on the other side of the South Sister.

I woke Heather up and we began discussing what to do. Another hiker came up to the tarn and she was wondering what was going on as well. She had a satellite phone and had managed to talk to a friend in Bend but they didn’t have any knowledge of a fire near the Sisters. There were some fires near Oakridge, OR 40 miles to the South but it didn’t seem possible that this smoke was coming from there. Looking at the smoke column we weren’t sure if we would be able to hike out via Green Lakes since it appeared to be rising from somewhere in that direction so we considered our Plan B evacuation route back through Park Meadow to the Three Creeks Campground. We were also debating on if we should try and stick it out through the night of if we should just pack up and try and get out before it got any worse. We quickly agreed that neither of us would be able to get any sleep under these conditions and if the smoke got any worse it would certainly be unhealthy even if we did manage to fall asleep.

We loaded everything up grabbed our headlamps and started back down toward Golden Lake just after 8:15pm. We were watching the smoke column still unable to decide exactly where it was emanating from when arrived back at Golden Lake. No one had any new news at the lake so we decided to attempt to hike out as originally planned past the Green Lakes as it looked like the smoke was coming from the far side of the South Sister.

This was our first experience with night hiking so we didn’t know exactly what to expect. Our adrenaline was pumping as we began climbing the Green Lakes Trail to its high point above the Green Lakes. To our surprise and relief the smoke lessened as we went. By the time we arrived at the Green Lakes area the sky was full of stars and the smell of smoke had all but vanished.

I managed one picture of the elusive Green Lakes having once again missed seeing them in the light of day.

We were now committed to leaving though so we kept hiking. It turned out to be quite a bit of fun. We missed out on seeing a lot but the sky was beautiful and we spotted some things we would not have seen during the day like toads and the glowing eyes of many deer.

We were fortunate that the Green Lakes Trail is well used and easy to follow. By 11:40pm we had reached the trailhead and our waiting car. There was no sign of fire anywhere around and as it turned out the smoke had come from the Deception Creek Complex of fires near Oakridge. The wind had apparently shifted just right flooding the area with smoke. Although it would have been nice to have spent the night by the tarn and been able to wake up to that view we felt like we made the right choice. Experiencing our first night hike was something to remember and it brought our day 3 total to a nice round 21 miles. It truly was a trip to remember.

Happy (and smoke free) Trails!

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