Tag: Mt. Jefferson Wilderness

The Hikes of 2025 – A Look Back

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 1, 2026
2 Comments on The Hikes of 2025 – A Look Back

2025 was the first time in several years where we weren’t focused on achieving a specific hiking goal. It also marked the first year in which I had significantly more vacation time than Heather. We also adjusted our off-season modus operandi from “one hike a month” to “at least one hike a month and more if the weather cooperates”. These factors along with some medical restrictions resulted in a very different set of hikes in 2025 than previous years. For the first time since 2014 we didn’t spend any time backpacking, spent minimal time hiking in either Eastern or Southern Oregon, and for only the second time since 2012 failed to hike at an elevation above 8000′. In fact, it was the first year in which the average highest elevation of our outings came in under 3000′ at 2947′.

One thing that did not change was our focus on visiting new trails or, in the case of areas we’d visited before, new sections of trail. Together, Heather and I spent 46 days exploring trails, and I headed out on an additional 20 days. The 66 days for me marked the most days hiking in a calendar year topping the previous high of 64 in 2017. With multiple stops on several of the days the number of trailheads I started off from was 98 (75 for Heather). Fifty-eight of those ninety-eight stops, and twenty-eight of the days were entirely new. The only hike that was 100% on trails previously hiked was to celebrate our friend’s birthday with a hike to Dimple Hill in the McDonald-Dunn Forest. The hikes on our 46 days together came to 402.8 miles with another 245 miles on my 20 solo hikes resulting 647.8 miles for me in 2025. Of those miles 440.6 were new. Our shortest hike was just 0.9-miles when we stopped to check out McCredie Hot Springs on the way home from Bend in October, and my longest was the 17.8-mile Obsidian Loop in the Three Sisters Wilderness in July.

As far as where we spent our time the Central Cascades were at the top followed by the Oregon Coast & Coast Range, NW Oregon, and Washington. The hikes in Washington were one of the reasons for the low number of hikes in Eastern and Southern Oregon. Our two vacations were spent at National Parks in that state, Olympic and Mt. Rainier.

Locations of the trailheads we started from in 2025. (There are 96 THs since we hiked multiple trails on a number of days.)

Our northernmost hike this year, Ozette Triangle in Olympic National Park, was also the furthest north we’d ever hiked. This was also the furthest west we would be all year.

Looking north from the most northerly location we’ve been.

Our southernmost hike was on the Cow Creek Trail SE of Roseburg, OR in the Umpqua National Forest.

Downed trees that marked my turn around point, and southernmost point, on the Cow Creek Trail.

Not surprisingly our easternmost hike was our sole hike in Eastern Oregon in the BLM’s Criterion Tract.

Roughly the furthest point east we reached this year.

The 2025 wildfire season was comparatively tame to the last few years however there were still more than 1,100 fires from early June to mid-October. According to the Office of the State Fire Marshal over 700 of those fires were human caused which is disappointing as these are by and large avoidable.
While none of the fires directly impacted our plans this year, sadly 200 homes and structures were lost this past year and several trails we’d previously hiked were burned.

On a more positive note, we once again were blessed to be able to see and experience so many beautiful places. So many in fact that in addition to our usual wildlife and wildflower galleries we’re adding one for the waterfalls we saw in 2025.

January – Driftwood Beach, OR

February – Clackamas River from Milo McIver State Park, OR

March – Catherine Creek/Coyote Wall, WA (This area burned in July 2025 in the Burdoin Fire.)

April – Devil’s Lake Fork, Tillamook State Forest, OR

April – Basket Slough Wildlife Refuge, OR

May – Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, OR

May – Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park, WA

May – Devil’s Punchbowl, Olympic National Park, WA

May – Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, WA

May – Little Badger Trail, Mt. Hood National Forest, OR

May – Deschutes River, BLM Criterion Tract, OR

June – Blue Lake, Hampton Family Forests (Private Timberland), OR

June – Fivemile Butte Lookout, Mt. Hood National Forest, OR

June – Champoeg State Park, OR

June – Clearwater River, Umpqua National Forest, OR

Elk Camp Shelter, Willamette National Forest, OR

July – Mt. Hood, OR

July – Bays Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR

July – Three Sisters Wilderness, OR

July – Craig Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR

July – Big Lake, Willamette National Forest, OR

August – Walupt Lake, Goat Rocks Wilderness, OR

August – Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

August – Mt. Freemont Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

August – Snow Lake, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

August – Naches Peak Loop, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA

August – Lava Canyon Trail, Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, WA

September – Zigzag Canyon, Mt. Hood Wilderness, OR

September – Twin Rocks, Rockaway Beach, OR

September – Three Sisters Wilderness, OR

September – Duffy Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR

September – Fuji Mountain, Willamette National Forest, OR

September – Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, WA

September – Charlton Lake, Deschutes National Forest, OR

October – Head of Jack Creek, Deschutes National Forest, OR

October – Nehalem River, Nehalem, OR

October – Silver Falls State Park, OR

October – Maxwell Butte, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, OR

October – Willamette Mission State Park, OR

November – Silver Falls State Park, OR

November – Clear Lake, Willamette National Forest, OR

December – Little Rock Creek, Santiam State Forest, OR

Looking ahead to 2026 there are still trails we’ve yet to explore and many that we’d be more than happy to revisit. We’re looking forward to continuing the journey for as long as we are able. Happy Trails and have a wonderful New Year!

Tags adventure, champoeg state park, Goat Rocks Wilderness, hiking, Milo McIver State Park, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, mt. rainier national park, nature, Olympic National Park, Oregon, Silver Falls State Park, Three Sisters Wilderness, travel, Washington, Willamette mission State Park

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Duffy Lake Trail to Jorn Lake – 09/17/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 22, 2025
6 Comments on Duffy Lake Trail to Jorn Lake – 09/17/2025

For the second hike of my September vacation I decided to revisit one of our earliest hikes. Our first visit and only previous visit to Duffy Lake (post) had been over 15 years ago and was only our 14th day spent hiking. Since that time I have spent 774 more days on trails. My plan for this outing was to revisit Duffy and Mowich Lakes and to continue on to Jorn Lake which we had visited on a 2016 hike starting from the Marion Lake Trailhead (post). I left open the option to hike up Red Butte depending on the amount of wildfire haze, and how I was feeling.

I obtained a Central Cascades Wilderness Day Use Permit for the Duffy Lake Trailhead and arrived shortly before sunrise (I had expected to be delayed by road construction.)

There were already a lot of cars at the trailhead.

I set off on the Duffy Lake Trail which was quickly joined on the left by the main spur of the Duffy Lake Trail which begins at Big Meadows Horse Camp at the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness boundary.

It’s 3.3-miles and 750′ of elevation gain to Duffy Lake from the trailhead which makes for a pretty gentle climb. Both Heather and I prefer to have shorter sections broken up by markers (preferably no more than 1.5-miles) and for this hike I used a couple of trail junctions to do just that. From the junction with the cutoff to Big Meadows Horse Camp it is approximately 1.4-miles to the Turpentine Trail.

The first of two rock fields along this stretch. I heard a couple of pikas but was unable to spot any of them.

The second rock field.

You can loop back to the trailhead by combining this trail with the Big Meadows Tie Trail which brings you to the Duffy Lake Trail coming from the horse camp about a half mile from the junction near the trailhead. Heather and I did that in 2010, but I opted not to add the additional three quarters of a mile to my day.

From the junction with the Turpentine Trail it is another mile and a half to the next junction with the Lava Lakes Trail.

The North Santiam River’s dry bed alongside the trail.

The trail crossing the riverbed.

A small part of Duffy Butte visible ahead.

The Lava Lakes Trail connects to the Maxwell Butte Trail (post) 2.8-miles away at Twin Lakes.

Three tenths of a mile from the Lava Lakes Trail I arrived at a 4-way junction at the SW end of Duffy Lake where a day use area provides a nice view.

Signs at the 4-way junction. The day use area was to the left and the faint 0.4-mile Duffy Prairie Trail forked off to the right.

Day use sign on the tree at the bottom.

Lousewort

Aster

After a quick stop at the day use area I continued along the lake stopping on a footbridge over the outlet which feeds the North Santiam River when the lake is full enough.

Common merganser

Shortly after crossing the bridge I arrived at a junction with the Blue Lake Trail which marks the end of the Duffy Lake Trail. The Blue Lake Trail is eight miles long with one end a tenth of a mile to the right (east) of the Duffy Lake Trail at a junction with the Duffy Prairie and Santiam Lake Trails and the other end at the Marion Lake Trail. In 2010 we had forked right onto the Duffy Prairie Trail then we took the Santiam Lake Trail to visit Santiam Lake and returned to the Blue Lake Trail via the Dixie Lakes Trail. I knew I wasn’t going to visit Santiam Lake since we had revisited that lake from the Pacific Crest Trail in 2021 (post). I was considering taking the Dixie Lakes Trail on the way back and cutting down here on the Blue Lake Trail though.

For now I continued straight on the Blue Lake Trail passing more great views of Duffy Lake and Butte.

It was just over three quarters of a mile from the Duffy Lake/Blue Lake junction to Mowich Lake which required gaining nearly 300′ of elevation. Along this section the trail passed in and out of the 2003 B&B Fire scar.

Meadow near the end of Duffy Lake.

Duffy Butte from the fire scar.

Huckleberry bush

The trail leveled out before arriving at Mowich Lake.

No campfire sign just before the lake. I took the spur to the left which led down to the lake while the Blue Lake Trail continued to the right.

Heading down to Mowich Lake.

Red Butte to the right.

Instead of returning to the trail via the spur I’d come down I decided to follow the lake shore for a bit thinking I would just pop back up on the Blue Lake Trail when another use trail appeared.

American pipit

Opting to follow the lake shore turned out to be a bit of a poor choice. I wasn’t seeing any other use trails and I could see on the map that the Blue Lake Trail veered uphill away from the lake near its middle. After checking my GPS and seeing that I was getting pretty close to where the trail would be turning away, I decided to just turn uphill and bushwack to it.

The trail is up there somewhere.

Found it!

Duffy Butte behind Mowich Lake.

The trail climbed gradually through the fire scar and past the junction with the Dixie Lakes Trail.

It was approximately 0.8-miles between the spur trail down to Mowich Lake and the Dixie Lakes Trail junction.

The trail leveled out at the junction and continued a third of a mile to a use trail just before Alice Lake.

Pearly everlasting along the trail.

Level trail in unburnt forest.

At the use trail I faced the choice of continuing straight to Jorn Lake or detouring up Red Butte. I was feeling up to the 500′, half mile climb and more importantly the visibility was good. The issue I ran into was there were three tents set up nearly on top of the trail. Not wanting to trapse through their camp I cut through the forest and started up the butte hoping to pick up the use trail at some point.

Alice Lake below.

The summit of Red Butte.

After climbing almost two tenths of a mile I spotted the use trail.

The use trail in the dirt area in the middle of the trees.

Following the use trail.

Penstemon

Bumble bee on thistle.

Maxwell Butte from the use trail.

Scott Mountain (post) on the left and Diamond Peak (post) in the distance to the right.

Mt. Jefferson behind the trees.

The summit of Red Butte.

Once I was at the summit I headed south to an overlook of Mowich Lake.

The two Dixie Lakes are visible in the forest to the left of Mowich Lake.

Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, and the Three Sisters.

The Three Sisters behind Mt. Washington.

After admiring the view from this end of the butte I headed back across the summit to get the view to the north.

South Cinder Peak (post) between the trees and Rockpile Mountain to the right of them.

A little scrambling over the downed trees to the left resulted in a great view to the north.

Northern flicker

Saddle Mountain and Marion Mountain (post) to the left with Jorn Lake below and Mt. Jefferson in the distance.

Jorn Lake

Mt. Hood peaking up to the left of Mt. Jefferson.

Fritillary on thistle.

After soaking in the view headed back down the trail looking for a little shade to take a break in.

I used this log as a bench to have a snack and change out my socks before following the use trail down to Alice Lake.

Milk kellogia

I passed a little closer to the tents on my way back to the Blue Lake Trail then turned left and headed toward Jorn Lake.

Red Butte across Alice Lake from the Blue Lake Trail.

The tents on the far side of Alice Lake.

The trail began to descend toward the Eight Lakes Basin losing approximately 200′ in nearly a mile to a junction with the Bowerman Lake Trail near Jorn Lake.

Aster

Green Peak, Saddle Mountain, and Marion Mountain

Jorn Lake

I turned right onto the Bowerman Lake trail for a moment then took a use trail down to the lake.

After visiting the lake I headed back up the Blue Lake Trail. Two tenths of a mile from the Bowerman Lake Trail junction I veered downhill on a faint use trail to visit Red Butte Lake.

The top of Three Fingered Jack from the trail.

The use trail.

Three Fingered Jack from Red Butte Lake.

From Red Butte Lake I cut back up to the Blue Lake Trail and climbed back up past Alice Lake to the Dixie Lakes Trail junction.

From what little I could see of the Dixie Lakes Trail it appeared to be in good shape, so I veered left and headed for the lakes.

After half a mile I spotted North Dixie Lake through the trees.

I found a good use trail and headed down to the lake for a closer look.

Once again I decided to follow the lakeshore instead of returning to the trail and followed it to the southern end with a good view of Red Butte.

From North Dixie Lake I crossed a meadow and arrived at South Dixie Lake.

Woodpecker

Elk and deer prints in the mud.

It was a lot easier to cut back over to the trail from South Dixie Lake than it had been from Mowich Lake.

Not long after leaving South Dixie Lake the trail began to descend to its junction with the Santiam Lake Trail.

This was the only tree down along the trail which clearly receives maintenance from time to time.

The Three Pyramids (post)

Paintbrush

It was a total of 1.6-miles from the Blue Lake Trail junction to the junction with the Santiam Lake Trail.

I turned right on the Santiam Lake Trail and followed it 0.4-miles to the 3-way junction with the Blue Lake and Duffy Prairie trails.

Unsigned junction with the Duffy Prairie Trail on the left and the Blue Lake Trail on the right.

Since we had taken the Duffy Prairie Trail in 2010 I forked right onto the Blue Lake Trail which descended steeply to the junction with the Duffy Lake Trail in just a tenth of a mile.

The junction with the Duffy Lake Trail.

I turned left onto the Duffy Lake Trail and followed it 3.6-miles back to the car. There wasn’t much new to see on the way back. I still wasn’t able to spot any of the pikas I was hearing in the rock fields. Outside of small birds, chipmunks, and squirrels the only other critters I saw were a couple of grouse including one in the trail near the trailhead.

This hike came in at 15.3-miles with a just over 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

While most of the hike was on trails that we’d previously hiked I managed to get a small amount of new trail. While we’ve covered a lot of the area around Three Fingered Jack there are still some trails/sections left to explore.

There were a lot of people on the trails here, which was a little surprising given it was a Wednesday in September, but they were pretty spread out so no location that I visited felt crowded outside of the trailhead. The view from Red Butte is a really good one and well worth a visit. Happy Trails!

Flicker: Duffy Lake Trail to Jorn Lake

Tags Alice Lake, Blue Lake Trail, Dixie Lakes, Dixie Lakes Trail, Duffy Lake, Duffy Lake Trail, Duffy Prairie Trail, hiking, Jorn Lake, Mowich Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon, Red Butte, Red Butte Lake, Santiam Lake Trail

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Craig Lake – 07/17/2025

Disclaimer – This hike requires map and navigational skills due to portions of the route using abandoned trails and some off-trail travel.

For the final outing of my solo vacation I decided to attempt a visit to Craig Lake in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. This is one of Hike Oregon’s “Members Only” hikes. I decided to combine that described hike with a visit to the Berley Lakes, which Heather and I had visited in 2021 (post).

At one time there had been official trails to all these lakes but at some point, possibly after the 2003 B&B Fire, the trails were abandoned by the Forest Service. The old trails aren’t shown on my GPS map, but I found them on CalTopo and made sure I had a copy of them with me. The hike starts at the Santiam Pass Pacific Crest Trailhead which requires a NW Forest Pass to park, but not a Central Cascades Wilderness Permit for day hikes (you do need a permit for overnight stays).

A short connector trail leads from the trailhead to the PCT where I turned left.

Water left for thru hikers.

The PCT climbs gradually through the 2003 fire scar with increasingly good views to the south of Mt. Washington, the Three Sisters and Broken Top.

After 0.2-miles on the PCT the Old Summit Trail heads off to the right (post).

Broken Top, North Sister, Middle Sister, and Mt. Washington (L to R).

It was a good beargrass year, but the bloom had happened a few weeks before my visit.

The lupine however was near peak bloom.

Tent caterpillars

Scarlet gilia and lupine.

Three Fingered Jack

Penstemon

At the 1.3-mile mark I arrived a junction with the Santiam Lake Trail which I turned left onto.

The Santiam Lake Trail descends gradually providing some decent views of Three Fingered Jack.

Thistle

The trail passes this unnamed lake shortly after splitting from the PCT.

Scarlet gilia

Buckwheat

Sub-alpine mariposa lily

Lupine along the trail.

Scarlet gilia and lupine

Broken Top, North Sister, Middle Sister, Mt. Washington, Hayrick Butte, and Hoodoo Butte.

Penstemon lining the trail.

I followed the Santiam Lake Trail for a mile and a half before I spotted the former Berley Lakes Trail splitting off to the left.

Even with the wood over it the tread was obvious at the junction.

The Berley Lakes Trail sees just enough use for the tread to be reasonably visible, but the lack of maintenance requires some effort to stick to the path.

Beargrass at the dry bed of Lost Creek Lake.

Plume moth on arnica

Columbine

According to the CalTopo map it was 0.4-miles between junction with the Santiam Lake Trail and the old Craig Lake Trail. It also showed it was just on the other side of another seasonal branch of Lost Creek. Unlike the Berley Lake Trail juction with the Santiam Lake Trail the Craig Lake Trail wasn’t obvious. Without the trails being on the GPS map as well I was forced to try and compare the CalTopo map to the GPS. I could tell by comparing the maps that I had gone too far so I decided to simply turn off the Berley Lakes Trail and head in the general direction of the missing trail in hopes of picking up the tread along the way. I discovered later that I missed the Craig Lake Trail by less than 100 yards, but I didn’t manage to find the tread on the way up to Craig Lake.

I needed to get up this butte to find the lake which was some 250′ above the Berley Lakes Trail.

I angled through the forest, but I didn’t angle far enough SW to find the Craig Lake Trail. This was partly due to needing to find a passable route up and partly due to not matching my route closely enough to the alignment shown on the CalTopo map.

Forest at the base of the butte.

Starting up the butte.

Hummingbird

Three Fingered Jack

I was hoping this was going to be the trail when I spotted it from a distance, but it was nothing more than a steep game trail.

I eventually gave up on trying to find the trail and instead focused on getting up to some flat terrain. I knew that if I could reach the lake then I would more than likely find the trail there and be able to follow it down.

I headed more or less straight up here.

Finally some level terrain.

My adventure wasn’t over just because I’d reached the plateau where the lake was. I had come up north of the lake and still needed to make my way there. In a classic lost person move my initial attempt resulted in a 0.2-mile loop as I over corrected while picking my way through the trees. I paid closer attention to the GPS on my next attempt to reach Craig Lake and was successful however this time I hadn’t drifted far enough east to reach the trail and instead found myself on a rock peninsula.

North Sister and Mt. Washington from the peninsula.

Craig Lake

Penstemon

After regathering myself I headed back off the peninsula and worked my way east to find the Craig Lake Trail which I was able to do.

The peninsula from the Craig Lake Trail.

At times the Craig Lake Trail was fairly obvious.

My next mistake came after following the Craig Lake Trail for a tenth of a mile. I lost the tread in some blowdown and vegetation. The trail had turned right to climb up some rocks, but I stayed straight and wound up on some cliffs with a view to the south.

From the viewpoint I scrambled up the rocks and wound up picking up the trail again near a campsite.

Where I went up the rocks.

Woodland beardtongue

One of the campsites on the east end of Craig Lake.

Three Fingered Jack from Craig Lake

Craig Lake

I took a break at one of the campsites and had some food while enjoying the view.

My break spot.

Aster

The view from the campsite. The mosquitos were an issue at the lake shore but they weren’t too bad up here.

When it was time to continue on I followed the Craig Lake Trail around the lake to where I would have come up had I been able to find the trail earlier.

Bunchberry

View across Craig Lake.

The Craig Trail heading down from the plateau.

The upper portion of the trail was obvious but after 0.2-miles of descending I lost the tread in a meadow.

The meadow where I lost the trail.

View of the Craig Lake Trail entering the meadow.

Here again I used the GPS to head for the Berley Lakes Trail which I arrived at in another tenth of a mile, just a few yards from where CalTopo Map showed the junction.

The old trail veered further right (south) in the meadow than I did.

Orange agoseris

Phacelia

Butterfly

The Berley Lakes Trail.

I turned left on the Berley Lakes Trail planning on visiting Lower Berley then Upper Berley Lakes. In hindsight I should have saved our 2021 track to the GPS because after just a third of a mile I made yet another mistake. I came to a fork and incorrectly chose to stay left on what was an obvious path but not the old alignment of the Berley Lakes Trail. I figured out my mistake pretty quickly and the tread petered out leaving me to follow game trails and any other route I could find while I used my GPS to get me to Upper Berley Lake. (I’d passed Lower Berley and didn’t want to back track to the trail, so I just skipped visiting that lake today.)

Checkerspot on an alpine false dandelion.

Stellar’s jay

Still on the trail.

The trail passed through a number of flowering meadows.

At this point I was off trail just trying to get over a rise to be able to drop down to Upper Berley Lake.

I wound up following a draw that was lined with lingering snow patches and full of mosquitos.

Witch’s butter

Looking back up the draw.

Pussypaws

I finally located the Berley Lakes Trail between the two lakes and turned left to reach Upper Berley Lake.

Shooting stars

Mountain heather

Three Fingered Jack from Upper Berley Lake.

I followed the old trail to the east side of the lake to its historic end. From there it was a 0.6-mile cross country hike through meadows to reach the Santiam Lake Trail.

Paintbrush

Sub-alpine mariposa lilies and pentstmon

From here I could see the Santiam Lake Trail.

The Santiam Lake Trail, a welcome sight.

I turned right onto the trail and followed it 2.7-miles back to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Dwarf lupine

Alpine wild buckwheat

Lost Creek

There were a lot of nice wildflower meadows, but this was the best one of the day.

Buckwheat, lupine and scarlet gilia.

Pond along the trail.

Fritillary on an orange agoseris.

Clodius parnassian on penstemon.

Looking back at Three Fingered Jack.

Maxwell Butte (post)

The Pacific Crest Trail junction.

From the junction it was mostly downhill for the 1.3-miles back to my car.

Woodpecker

Leaving the wilderness.

I wound up hiking 10.8-miles and climbed a cumulative 1500′. The hike was challenging due to the abandoned trails compounded by my mistakes leading me cross country a couple of times.

The orange portion marks the Craig Trail alignment.

The blue is my track overlaid on the CalTopo map showing the historical trail alignments for Berley and Craig Lakes.

It was a fun, and at times, frustrating morning but I was glad to have been able to visit another of the lakes in the Cascades. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Craig Lake

Tags Berley Lakes Trail, Craig Lake, Craig Lake Trail, Hike Oregon, hiking, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Santiam Pass Trailhead, Three Fingered Jack. Santiam Lake Trail, Upper Berley Lake, wildflowers

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Woodpecker Trail to Jefferson Park – 09/13/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 16, 2024
1 Comment on Woodpecker Trail to Jefferson Park – 09/13/2024

Our first visit to Jefferson Park was way back in 2011 and it made such an impact on us that we revisited yearly up to 2017 when the lightning sparked Whitewater Fire forced us to skip a year. We returned in 2018 (post) and then decided to take a break from our yearly visits. Then in 2020 the Lionshead Fire, driven by strong easterly winds, raced through the area before combining with the Beachie Fire on 9/7/20. There are still closures in effect due to that fire, but the Woodpecker Trailhead has since been reopened and we thought it was time to revisit an old friend.

We had used the Woodpecker Trailhead for our 2016 visit (post) prior to either of the fires impacting the area. This was also before the Central Cascade Wilderness Permits were enacted. Currently the Woodpecker Trailhead only requires a free self-issued permit for day-use which can be obtained at the trailhead. Overnight permits are required for the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness regardless of which trailhead is used from 6/15 to 10/15.

Heather and I had set different goals for the day. I had my sights set on finally visiting Sprague Lake which is located just below Park Ridge (post) and requires off-trail navigation. Heather had set a more sensible goal of stopping at Scout Lake which is the first lake that you reach when entering Jefferson Park from the SW. Given our different goals we established a meeting spot on the west side of Scout Lake and set off at our own paces.
Another reminder that overnight permits are required in the wilderness.

Due to the two recent fires having burned over the entire route of our planned hikes the vast majority of the trails up to Jefferson Park are devoid of any tree cover. Luckily for us it was in the upper 30’s when we set off and the highs were set to be in the upper 50’s in Jefferson Park and low 70’s at the trailhead. It was also forecast to be mostly clear skies as recently cooler temperatures combined with rain and even some snow at higher elevations had helped to suppress the numerous fires currently burning in other parts of the Cascades and eastern Oregon.
Low clouds in the valley.

Mt. Jefferson through some of the snags with a few surviving trees on the right.

After an initial steep climb the trail levels out then descends slightly into a patch of trees that survived the fires. At the 1.2-mile mark it enters the Mount Jefferson Wilderness.

Just under a half mile later the trail climbed to an unsigned junction with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).
Mt. Jefferson from the junction, note the rock cairn on the left marking the PCT.

The cairn at the junction.

We turned left on the PCT and followed it through the fire scars for 2.6-miles to a crossing of Russell Creek.
Triangulation Peak (post) getting hit with sunlight with Whitewater Lake (lower right) in Mt. Jefferson’s shadow.

Whitewater Lake

Triangulation Point and Bocca Cave (Trailheads still closed.)

Tarn 0.3-miles from the junction.

Mt. Jefferson reflecting in the tarn.

Ducks on the tarn.

The Sentinel Hills with Park Butte behind to the right. The Whitewater Trail (post) traverses the hillside below the Sentinel Hills, but that trailhead is also still closed.

The fires did open up fairly consistent views of the mountain.

A few remaining penstemon blossoms.

Heading down to the Russell Creek crossing.

This can be a tricky crossing at times, but there was a makeshift bridge which made it fairly easy this time.

Aster and pearly everlasting near the creek.

Beyond Russell Creek the PCT climbed for half a mile to a junction with the Whitewater Trail where we turned right sticking to the PCT.

We started seeing more trees that had survived the fire as we got closer to Jefferson Park.

Gentians and aster

Grass-of-parnassus

From this junction it was just under a mile to the first of several signed trails leading to Scout Lake off the PCT.
There were patches of burned forest along this stretch.

Approximately 0.4-miles from the junction the trail crosses Whitewater Creek.

From the other side of Whitewater Creek the views of Mt. Jefferson are amazing.

Based on the barred sides I believe this is a black-backed woodpecker.

Unofficial use trails are an issue in Jefferson Park which has prompted the Forest Service to install a number of “Closed for Rehabilitation” sign such as the one on the left side of the trail.

They’ve also added quite a few signs to indicated sanctioned trails. Typically in wilderness areas the Forest Service tries to keep signage to a minimum, but overuse has led them to add additional signs.

Another sign with Park Butte in background.

Since I was headed for Park Ridge I ignored the trails to Scout Lake for now and continued on the PCT for three quarters of a mile beyond the first sign for Scout Lake to a sign for Russell Lake on the right side of the trail.

The last of the pointers for Scout Lake.

PCT heading for Park Butte and Park Ridge.

Russell Lake pointer.

Tags hiking, Jefferson Park, mountain goat, Mt. Hood National Forest, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, Park butte, PCT, Russell Creek, Russell Lake, scout lake, Sprague Lake, whitewater creek, whitewater trail, Willamette National Forest, Woodpecker Ridge, Woodpecker Trailhead

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Grizzly Peak – 08/20/2022

While we completed our goal of hiking portions of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s 4th edition of “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Central Cascades” in 2020 (post) there remain a few “loose ends” that we’d like to take care of. We have established some guidelines for considering a featured hike “done” allowing us some wiggle room. For instance we might start at a different trailhead than Sullivan’s description but still visit the main attraction(s) he describes. It might also mean starting at the trailhead described but due to closures might cut the hike short. The two most common dilemmas we faced though were featured hikes with a short and long option and featured hikes that included multiple stops/destinations. Regarding the short vs long options we’ve tended to opt for the longer option assuming the distance is reasonable, under 16 miles (maybe not reasonable to all), but when the longer options are close to or more than 20 miles we’ve settled for the shorter.

For the featured hikes where there are multiple stops/destinations we allow the hike to be checked off once we have completed either the longest option, and/or visited the hike’s namesake. A perfect example is Featured Hike 23 in the Central Cascades book (4th edition). The hike is titled “Pamelia Lake & Hunts Cove” with three options given, all beginning at the Pamelia Lake Trailhead. The shortest is a 4.4 mile out-and-back to Pamelia Lake while the longest is a 12.4 out-and-back to Hunts Cove. Sandwiched in between is a 10 mile out-and-back hike up Grizzly Peak. We had been to Hunts Cove once (post) and Pamelia Lake twice (once on the way to Hunts Cove and the other on an attempt to reach Goat Peak (post)) so going by our self-imposed rules we checked the hike off, but we had yet to visit Grizzly Peak. To put a ribbon on the featured hike we obtained a pair of Central Cascade Wilderness Permits (required at this trailhead) and once again set off for Pamelia Lake.

This was at least the third posted notice so there is no claiming you weren’t aware that a permit is needed.

The roughly two mile hike to Pamelia Lake never disappoints.

Pamelia Creek

Fireweed along the creek.

We turned right onto the Grizzly Peak Trail at its junction a short distance from the lake.

The trail crossed the dry outlet creek and then began the nearly 2000′ climb to Grizzly Peak.
Pamelia Creek only flows underground here much of the year.

Heading up.

The trail climbs for two and three quarters of a mile to a former lookout site through a nice forest with limited view for the first two miles.
A glimpse of Mt. Jefferson.

That might be Woodpecker Hill, it was hard to tell exactly which ridge we could see with nothing else visible to help orient.

This looked like it might be a nice little waterfall with enough water.

That’s not enough water.

Heather below one of several switchbacks.

Just over two miles from the junction the Grizzly Peak Trail we came to a viewpoint on a ridge. Here the trail made a sharp right and followed the ridge SE. There were multiple views along this ridge, the one issue we had though was it was still fairly early and the angle of the Sun was catching all the haze in the air.
Turning up the ridge.

The haze was probably a combination of morning cloud/fog and smoke from the Cedar Creek Fire near Waldo Lake.

Pinedrops

We were too late for most of the flowers but there were a few pearly everlasting going.

There’s that pesky Sun again.

After following the ridge for 0.4 miles the trail veered to the right leaving it and traversing up a forested hillside with views north towards the Bull of The Woods Wilderness where we got our first good look at the fire scars from the 2020 Labor Day fires.

Aster

Lousewort

Lots of burnt forest out there.

Triangulation Peak and Boca Cave (post)

A quarter mile after leaving the ridge the trail came to another ridge and made a hard right following this ridge up to the summit. This section provided views south to Three Fingered Jack, the Three Sisters, and Broken Top.

Broken Top to the far left blending into the haze and Three Fingered Jack to the right with the Three Sisters in between.

Just below the summit.

Pamelia Lake below Mt. Jefferson.

We spent a little over half an hour at the summit checking out different views and watching several butterflies and some large black flying insects.

Hunts Creek flowing into Pamelia Lake.

Had to hunt for a view of Three Fingered Jack.

A hard to make out Mt. Hood beyond the far ridge which consists of Bear Point to the left (post) and Dinah-mo Peak to the right.

Mt. Hood

Beardtongue

A fritillary butterfly.

A skipper

We returned the way we’d come opting not to visit the lake on this trip since we have permits to return next month for a second attempt at Goat Peak.
Goat Peak is to the right of Mt. Jefferson.

Mt. Jefferson and Pamelia Lake from one of the viewpoints along the ridge.

Cascade toad

One more of Pamelia Creek.

One other hiker had arrived at the summit a bit before we headed down and that was the only other person we saw until we were headed back down. We encountered one couple coming up the Grizzly Peak Trail and a number more on the Pamelia Lake Trail. It was a little surprising because the trailhead parking lot had looked nearly full when we had arrived that morning. The hike was nice and the well graded trail kept the 2700′ of elevation gain from ever feeling steep. It also allowed us to be home before 2pm which gave us time to unpack and clean up before heading of to a friends house for their annual margarita (and dinner) party. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Grizzly Peak

Tags Central cascades Wilderness Permit, grizzly peak, Grizzly Peak Trail, hiking, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon, Pamelia Lake Trail, pamelia Lake Trailhead

Hiking Year-end wrap up

The Hikes of 2021 – A Look Back

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 31, 2021
No Comments on The Hikes of 2021 – A Look Back

It’s hard to believe another year has passed but here we are once again looking back on 12 months worth of hikes. While 2021 was an improvement over 2020 in almost every way it still had its share of ups and downs including losing our remaining cat Hazel in June and my Grandmother in October. While the challenge of finding places to hike due to COVID in 2020 were no more, the same couldn’t be said for COVID itself and it seems like it will be around for awhile. Wildfires once again were a large factor in deciding on our destinations, another issue that doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

Despite these issues we had some great hikes in 2021. I slipped an extra three hikes in during the month of April to wind up hiking on 58 days for a total of 641.5 miles while Heather got 55 days in and 614.7 miles. Forty of the hikes were entirely new to us while only one, Tumalo Mountain (post), was an complete repeat. We had done that one over after failing to catch the sunrise on our first try and boy was it worth it.

Our first and final hikes of the year were on converted railroads.
Banks-Vernonia State Trail in January. (post)

Row River Trail in December. (post)

Over the course of the year we managed to complete several of our long term hiking goals. A trip to Cottonwood Canyon State Park in May marked our first hike in Gilliam County which is the last of Oregon’s 36 counties that we had not hiked in.
John Day River from the Lost Corral Trail

Trips in June and July took us to the final four of the 46 designated wilderness areas (open to visitors) that we had yet to visit in Oregon. In all we spent twenty-one days hiking in 15 different designated wilderness areas.
Ninemile Ridge in the North Fork Umatilla Wilderness in June. (post)

Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in July. (post)

Black Canyon Wilderness in July. (post)

Monument Rock Wilderness in July. (post)

By the end of July we had also completed our goal of hiking at least part of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Oregon Coast” guidebook and in August we did the same with his “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington” guidebook.
Ledbetter Point, the last of the hikes from the coast book. (post)

Badger Lake, the last hike from the northwestern book. (post)

Finishing those two books in addition to the central Cascades book we completed last year (post) left just the eastern and southern books. We checked off 14 featured hikes from the eastern book but were unfortunately unable to make any headway on the southern book due to the wildfires and persistent smoke that plagued southern Oregon and northern California for much of the hiking season.

Our northern most hike was at the aforementioned Ledbetter Point while our southern most hike was on the Oregon Redwoods Trail near the California border (post).
Redwoods

The western most hike was, as usual, along the Oregon Coast at Cape Argo State Park. (post)

This marked the first time 3 hikes from the same guidebook marked the furthest in different directions. For obvious reasons the eastern most hike was not from the coast book but from the eastern book. That was our hike on the Wenaha River Trail. (post)

As we have done the last couple of years we plan on putting together 2021 wildlife and wildflower posts but we’ll leave you with a few of our favorite sights throughout the year. For the most part the weather was good but wildfire smoke often impacted views.
Falls Creek – February

Cascade Head from God’s Thumb – March

Columbia River from Mitchell Point – March

Mt. Hood from Sevenmile Hill – March

Dalles Mountain Ranch – April

Mt. Adams from Grayback Mountain – May

Navigating a downed tree along the Pawn Old Growth Trail – May

Rogue River Trail – May

Golden Falls – May

Lenticular cloud over Mt. Hood from Surveyor’s Ridge – May

Whychus Canyon – May

Deschutes River – May

Whychus Creek Overlook – May

Forest on Mary’s Peak – June

North Fork Umatilla River – June

Tower Mountain Lookout – June

Malheur River – June

Meadow on Round Mountain – June

Santiam Lake – July

Three Fingered Jack from Lower Berley Lake (and a butterfly photobomb) – July

The Husband and Three Sisters from Substitute Point – July

Ochoco
Mountain Trail – July

Red Sun through wildfire smoke from the Monument Rock Wilderness – July

Canyon Mountain Trail, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness – July

Aldrich Mountains – July

Mt. Mitchell summit on a rare poor weather day – August

Mt. Bachelor – August

Cottonwood Camp, Big Indian Gorge in the Steens Mountain Wilderness – August

Wildhorse Lake, Steens Mountain Wilderness – August

Evening at the Steens Mountain Resort – August

Little Blitzen Gorge – August

Riddle Ranch – August

Morning in the Pueblo Mountains – August

Oregon Desert Trail, Pueblo Mountains – August

Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake – August

Harmony Falls – August

Loowit Falls – August

Mt. St. Helens from Norway Pass – August

Mt. Hood from the PCT in the Indian Heaven Wilderness – September

Mt. Adams and Soda Peaks Lake, Trapper Creek Wilderness – September

Jubilee Lake – September

Rough Fork Trail, Blue Mountains – September

Heritage Landing Trail, Deschutes River – September

McDonald-Dunn Forest – October

Cascade Mountains from the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness – October

Three Fingered Jack from Round Lake – October

Mt. Hood from the Flag Point Lookout

Mt. Hood from Lookout Mountain – October

Silver Falls State Park – October

Laurel Hill Wagon Chute – October

Barlow Ridge, Mt. Hood Wilderness – October

Fern Ridge Wildlife Area – November

Here’s to an even better 2022. Happy New Year and Happy Trails!

Tags Black Canyon Wilderness, Deschutes River, Devil's Staircase Wilderness, hiking, Monument Rock Wilderness, Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, North Fork Umatilla Wilderness, Oregon, Washington, Wilderness Areas, William L Sullivan

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Round and Square Lakes – 10/9/21

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 14, 2021
1 Comment on Round and Square Lakes – 10/9/21

We were hoping to get a backpacking trip in over the holiday weekend but the forecast called for rain/snow in the mountains starting Saturday night through the rest of the weekend so we opted instead for a day hike instead. The good news was that the forecast for Saturday was for partly to mostly sunny skies so we were hoping for some nice views. We’d chosen a hike to Round and Square Lakes near Three Fingered Jack and the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness which was the shortest of the drives (a little over 1 1/2 hours from Salem) that we had been considering. While we hadn’t been to Round Lake yet we had passed by Square Lake on a loop hike in 2012 (post). Earlier this year on our hike to Santiam Lake (post) we had retraced some the beginning of that loop. For this hike we would also be starting at the Pacific Crest Trailhead at Santiam Pass but would be retracing the final 4.5 miles of the 2012 loop between Booth Lake and the trailhead.

Both Reeder and Sullivan describe hikes to Round and Square Lakes but each of their descriptions are for out and back hikes starting at the Round Lake Trailhead which is closer to the Sisters/Bend area. Starting at Santiam Pass cut off some driving but it did add approximately 5 miles of hiking to our days total. We arrived at the trailhead just in time to catch a bit of color from the sunrise.

Black Crater (post)

After 0.2 miles we turned right at the junction with the Old Summit Trail.

The Old Summit Trail traverses a hillside above Highway 20 through snags left over from the 2003 B & B Complex (Bear and Booth Fires). The lack of larger trees provides plenty of views south to Black Crater, Broken Top, the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, Hayrick Butte and Hoodoo Butte. The over night clouds were quickly breaking up as we hiked revealing more and more of the mountains.
Black Crater and North Sister

Black Crater, the top of Broken Top, some of the Sisters, and part of Mt. Washington.

Hayrick and Hoodoo

Between Mt. Washington and Hayrick Butte is Scott Mountain (post).

Cache Mountain is the high point furthest to the left.

Broken Top and the Three Sisters

Mt. Washington

The Three Sisters. The summit of South Sister is between North and Middle Sister behind 9321′ Prouty Point.

Black Butte (post)

Near the 2 mile mark we entered the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. The wilderness sign provided a good reference for comparing how much taller the trees were this time versus in 2012.

Mount Jefferson Wilderness sign A different angle from 2012.

Shortly after entering the wilderness we began descending toward Square Lake. Three Fingered Jack was somewhat hidden behind a cloud further to the north.

The only deer we spotted during the hike popped out of some brush below the trail for just a moment before disappearing back into it. As has been the case more often than not this year I did not have my camera at the ready so all I got was one of their white rumps.
One white rump with a black tail amid the ferns near the center of the photo (good luck).

The trail wrapped around the lake past a large campsite to a junction with the Round Lake trail approximately 2.5 miles from the trailhead.

The only paintbrush we would see all day.

The top of Mt. Washington is just visible on the other side of Square Lake.

At the junction we followed the pointer for the Round Lake Trail and continued along Square Lake.

Mt. Washington’s spire again.

A rainbow was trying to form to the west.

We soon left Square Lake and continued through the recovering forest.

Lodgepole pine seeds require fire in order to be released from their tight cones.

The Round Lake Trail is just about 2 miles long running between the junction and the Round Lake Trailhead to the east. Several maps show the trail passing near Long Lake Lake along the way. It does not but rather veers away form that lake. It may have been an older pre-fire alignment but Reeder mentions this discrepancy in the map and warns “don’t even bother trying to find it unless you’ve got lots of time and patience”. I’ll be honest and say this sounded like a little bit of a challenge so when we were able to spot the western end of Long Lake we decided to make an attempt for it.
Our first sighting of Long Lake (zoomed in).

Using our GPS and a paper map as backup we angled cross country toward the lake which quickly was hidden from sight. There were plenty of downed trees to climb over or around and one line of snowbrush to push through but we also were able to follow some game trails which helped us find ways through the obstacles. It was also evident that the area around the lake can be pretty wet and probably muddy meaning getting as close as we did probably wouldn’t be possible at other times.

We reached the western end of the lake after three tenths of a mile. It took less than 15 minutes but without a map and some route finding skills we wouldn’t advise it.

Ducks taking off from Long Lake.

Any thoughts of walking around the north side of the lake quickly vanished when we saw how dense the vegetation and downed trees were.

We did however return to the Round Lake Trail by bearing NE. It took a little over 21 minutes to find the trail just over a half mile from the lake.

This is one of the areas that we could see getting pretty muddy/wet.

Rainbow

The Round Lake Trail just on the other side of the downed tree.

Long Lake is back down that way somewhere.

We turned right and continued east on the Round Lake Trail.
Back on the Round Lake Trail.

Black Butte shedding the morning clouds.

The top of Three Fingered Jack behind some thin clouds.

Green Ridge (post) in the distance with a little smoke rising from the Metolious Basin where the Forest Service had ignited a prescribed burn over the preceding two days.

A better look at Three Fingered Jack.

First glimpse of Round Lake.

The trail descended to a small parking area at the trailhead next to the Wilderness Lakes Retreat.

We’d seen some maps showing a trail around the north side of the lake through the retreat to some camp sites on the eastern end but we weren’t sure if the retreat was private property or if it was okay to hike through so we opted to follow Forest Road 600 from the trailhead around the south side of the lake.

When we spotted a path heading down off the road we took it and made our way down to the lake shore.

The partial rainbow returned as we took a break at the lake.
IMG_5923_stitch

We eventually pulled ourselves away from Round Lake and headed back toward Square Lake. We were feeling a little moisture in the air and based on the clouds ahead we were expecting to find ourselves in some misty fog at best by the time we made it back to the Old Summit Trail.

Starting to look kind of grey.

A mountain bluebird adding a splash of blue to the green backdrop.

Clouds over Square Lake.

A few scarlet gilia blossoms.

Instead of heading straight back onto the Old Summit Trail we turned right in order to revisit Booth Lake. From Square Lake the Old Summit Trail switchbacked uphill gaining 400′ in the next mile to a gap between a rock outcrop and a rocky hill. We remembered seeing a small lake amid the rocks over on the opposite hill and as we climbed this time we began thinking that it might be possible to get to the unnamed lake.
The unnamed lake is about halfway up the far hillside.

Black Butte and Long Lake from the trail.

Heading toward Three Fingered Jack we got back under blue skies.

Square Lake still under a clouds,

The unnamed lake that drew our attention.

Unnamed small lake in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Similar view from 2012.

We stopped momentarily at the gap discussing what route we would take if we did try and reach the lake. I was pretty certain I wanted to give it a shot but I decided to wait until we were headed back in case I changed my mind after reaching Booth Lake.
The trail at the gap. It was grey and cloudy to the west.

Still at the gap, it was blue skies to the east.

Beyond the gap the trail climbed just a bit arriving at its high point above Booth Lake in 0.3 miles.
There is Three Fingered Jack.

A good look at Green Ridge.

A lupine that was late to the party.

Booth Lake

Heather opted to stay at the high point instead of visiting the lake which was roughly 0.4 miles away and 150′ below. I shuffled down the trail and made my way to the familiar sandy lake shore.

It didn’t look that much different than it had in 2012.
Three Fingered Jack from Booth Lake

I returned to Heather and we started back toward the gap. I was still planning on trying to reach the off trail lake but Heather was not. She had decided that she would only attempt it if the Three Sisters had been uncovered from the clouds. I went ahead of her and left the trail at the gap working my way up around rocks and over downed trees while climbing up a semi-steep slope. I trusted the deer tracks that I was trying to follow and sure enough made it to the little lake.

The trail cut on the far hillside.

The rock cliffs holding the water on the eastern side made for some easy walking and great views down to Square Lake.
Black Butte, Long Lake, and part of Square Lake.

Square Lake along with Broken Top and the Three Sisters (Mt. Washington was hiding in the clouds still).

Part of the rock ledge.

Three Fingered Jack had once again disappeared.

As I was admiring the view I thought was hearing things but as I was making my way back along the ledge I spotted Heather on a small hill on the opposite side of the lake. The Three Sisters had been visible so she stuck to her word and had followed me up.
Where’s Heather.

After satisfying our desire for adventure we returned to the trail and headed back to Square Lake where we made a quick stop at the campsite.

20211009_130751

We spent the return hike watching the clouds almost clear from Mt. Washington just to reform over around its top.
20211009_132540 View climbing away from Square Lake.

Three Fingered Jack and Square Lake Similar view in 2012.

Square Lake 2012

Finally clear!

Hayrick Butte and Hoodo as we neared the trailhead.

This hike was a lot of fun with some new sights and some familiar but different sights. I wound up doing 14.8 miles according to the GPS and although no climbs were particularly long the up and down nature of the hike provided approximately 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Tags Booth Lake, hiking, long lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Old Summit Trail, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, round lake, Round Lake Trail, Round Lake Trailhead, Santiam Pass Trailhead, Square Lake, Three Fingered Jack

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Berley and Santiam Lakes- 07/03/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 7, 2021
8 Comments on Berley and Santiam Lakes- 07/03/2021

For the Fourth of July weekend we had originally planned on a trip to Central Oregon but the drought conditions that were exasperated by the recent heat wave had us reconsidering not being home to guard against rogue illegal fireworks (a house in our neighborhood lost a fence and tree last year on the 4th). Our decision was made final when, following the heat wave, mostly dry thunder storms passed over the Ochoco Mountains where some of our hikes were planned. Lighting caused fires have kept firefighters busy since then as the race to contain the fires that are still cropping up from that storm system. We turned to Plan B, which was in part a modified Plan A, and spent the weekend hiking in the Central Cascades. On Saturday we stuck to our originally planned hike to Berley and Santiam Lakes but instead of continuing on to Bend afterward we drove back home.

This hike is covered in Matt Reeder’s “101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region” and provided us an opportunity to revisit some places as well as discover some new ones. The hike starts at the Pacific Crest Trailhead along Highway 20 at Santiam Pass.

For now this is one of the trailheads where a Central Cascade Wilderness Day Use Permit is not required but a NW Forest Pass ($5/day or $30/annual) is, as well as completing a free self-issue permit. Note that for overnight trips a Central Cascade Wilderness Permit is needed for any visits to the Mt. Jefferson, Three Sisters or Mt. Washington Wilderness areas.

We had started another hike here in October of 2012 when we hiked to the base of Three Fingered Jack then returned on a loop past Martin, Booth, and Square Lakes (post). We were interested to not only see the area during a different season but also to see what had changed in nearly 9 years. This was particularly interesting to us due to the area having been burned badly in the 2003 B&B Complex and this would give us an idea of how the forest was recovering. Given the huge swaths that were burned in the September 2020 wildfires this might give us a small frame of reference for what to expect for some of the areas. The first thing that we noticed was that post fire trees seemed larger than we remembered which was confirmed by comparing some pictures of the Pacific Crest Trail junction with the Old Summit Trail 0.2 miles from the trailhead.
Trail sign at the junction on 10/13/2012.

Trail sign at the junction on 07/03/2021.

What we didn’t really notice though was just how many of the snags were now missing.
Entering the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness in 2012 (0.3 miles from the TH).

Entering the wilderness in 2021.

We followed the PCT a total of 1.2 miles to a junction with the Santiam Lake Trail. The view to the south was as spectacular as we had remembered with several Cascade Mountains in view along with several distinctive lesser peaks.
Cache Mountain, Black Crater (post), Tam McArthur Rim & Broken Top (post), North & Middle Sister, Mt. Washington, and Hayrick Butte (flat top on the right).

To the north the top of Three Fingered Jack was occasionally visible.

There were a few more flowers in bloom now than there had been in October.
A thistle

Penstemon

Bleeding heart

Pussytoes

California stickseed

Another penstemon

Shortly after passing a small unnamed lake we arrived at the junction.

Mountain bluebird by the lake.

We turned left onto the Santiam Lake Trail at the junction striking off on new to us trail. The Santiam Lake Trail headed slightly downhill to the north passing a series of small ponds/lakes before making a sweeping turn to the west then meeting up with the now abandoned Santiam Lodge Trail (coming uphill on the left) one mile from the PCT.

There was a good amount of scarlet gilia blooming along this section of trail.

Three Fingered Jack

One of the ponds.

Queen’s cup

Another pond with Maxwell Butte (post) behind to the right.

Unnamed lake along the trail with Maxwell Butte behind.

Lupine

Dark-eyed junco

Sub-alpine mariposa lilies

Woodpecker

The view south.

Seasonal pond

A half mile beyond the abandoned trail (there was part of a sign still hanging, partially hidden on a tree) we came to an unsigned fork.

We admittedly hadn’t read Matt’s hike description recently and had conveniently forgotten that there were no maintained trails to the Berley Lakes and this unmarked fork was where he would have had us turn. It wasn’t shown on the GPS map and since we hadn’t bothered to re-familiarize ourselves with the hike we continued on the Santiam Lake Trail but were still looking for the trail to Berley Lakes.

We crossed the nearly dry bed of Lost Lake Creek (There was enough water around to host a healthy population of mosquitos though.) and continued through a meadow filled with lupine into some unburned forest.

Beargrass

The combined presence of the trees and more water in Lost Lake Creek (which the trail was now following) was a perfect recipe for even more mosquitos. We hustled along as quickly a possible to try and keep as much of our own blood as possible.

Recent snow melt is another recipe for mosquitos.

Another creek crossing.

Shooting star

Mountain heather. Typically if we see this blooming we expect there to be mosquitos.

Fortunately the creek soon faded out in an open rocky landscape where the heat of the sun kept the buggers away and we were able to slow down a bit.

A sulphur

Alpine false dandelion

One of several snow patches at the tree line.

Nearing the end of the opening.

More snow in the trees.

A checkerspot

By the time we’d reached the open area it was obvious we had missed our turn and should have taken the fork we’d seen since we were now past the Berley Lakes. That was fine though as the original plan had been to visit those lakes first and hook up with the Santiam Lake Trail beyond Lower Berley Lake then continue on to Santiam Lake and return via the Santiam Lake Trail. Our new plan was to visit Santiam Lake then find the route to Lower Berley Lake, visit it, then check out Upper Berley Lake and return to the Santiam Lake Trail at the fork. Beyond the open plain the trail began a 250′ descent through more unburned forest to Santiam Lake.

Trees & melting snow = more mosquitos.

Not Santiam Lake but a very pretty unnamed lake just to the left of the trail approximately 0.4 miles from Santiam Lake.

Not sure what type this is but the orange on the wing was pretty.

We turned off the Santiam Lake Trail at a “No Campfires” sign and followed a familiar path down to the lake.

It had been almost 11 years since we visited this lake. On our previous visit we had come up the Santiam Lake Trail from the Duffy Lake Trail (post).

Mt. Jefferson behind Red Butte

Duffy Butte on the left.

Three Fingered Jack

Paintbrush, shooting stars, and buttercups.

We set off to hike around the west side of the lake but we encountered quite a bit of recent blowdown and decided it was a little more trouble than it was worth.

Just one of several large uprooted trees along the shore.

Taking a break along the shore and enjoying the view would have been nice but the mosquitos weren’t interested in letting us sit peacefully so when we came to the third bunch of downed trees we called it good and headed back for the Santiam Lake Trail. We followed it back to the open plain where the mosquitos hadn’t been bad and stopped to study the map in Reeder’s book (still weren’t smart enough to take the time to re-read it though) and we could see that from this end his track showed him heading for Lower Berley Lake just before a topographic feature. We made our way across the plain where butterflies were busy flying from plant to plant.

The “topographic feature” ahead on the right where we planned on turning for Lower Berley Lake.

Mountain heather along the trail, it was warm and sunny enough that the mosquitos weren’t as bad this time by.

Threeleaf lewisia

Getting closer to the hill where we planned on turning.

California tortoiseshell butterflies in the bed of Lost Lake Creek.

Later when we finally did read the hike description Reeder mentioned a cairn marking a user trail but we didn’t notice any cairn (and admittedly may have turned too soon) but we spotted what appeared to be faint tread along a hillside above a dry stream bed and took a right onto it.

The track on the map showed the route on the south side of the lake but this trail was leading to the south side of Lower Berley Lake. It led past a couple of campsites to some rocks above the lake.

Three Fingered Jack from the rocks.

We picked our way down through the rocks to the lake shore and followed a user trail west until more downed tress forced us to climb back up above the rocks.

More tortoiseshells

A butterfly photo bomb

Once we were back above the lake we came across what looked like another user trail leading away from it.

We thought it might be a side trail to Upper Berley Lake so we turned right on it but soon realized that we were following a dry bed instead of a trail.

The bed was popular with the butterflies.

A GPS check showed we were heading too much to the NNE and needed to be NNW so we left the bed and used the GPS units to find Upper Berley Lake, but not before startling a doe.
Cross country to Upper Berley Lake, the doe was in this meadow and headed in the direction of the patch of snow at the far end.

Upper Berley Lake

Reeder mentions a view of Three Fingered Jack from this lake as well but we were on the wrong side of it for that. The lake shore where we were was pretty thick with small trees so we would have needed to back track to make our way around for a view but we decided to save that for another time. We took a slightly more direct route back toward Lower Berley Lake and found what seemed to us a bit of a random Day Use Only sign.
We wound up finding the same “user trail” and followed it down to the lower lake.

What we could see was a clear trail heading south past the lake. We went down to the lake shore to see if we could pick something up since the track in the book showed it at the SW edge of the lake. We couldn’t make out any clear trail but that could have been because it was covered in butterflies.
California tortoiseshell butterflies along Lower Berley Lake.

Three Fingered Jack and about a half dozen butterflies.

We did another comparison of the track in the guidebook and the topographic map on our GPS units and came to the conclusion that we were in the right spot and just needed to hike over a saddle between two hillsides. As we made our way up we found an obvious trail.
The hillside on the right was rocky.

The trail dropping down from the saddle with Mt. Washington and the North Sister ahead.

This trail was at times easy to follow and at others non-existent.

Just under three quarters of a mile from Lower Berley Lake we ran into three hikers heading for the lake which we took as a good sign. Just a short distance later we came to the dry channel of Lost Lake Creek.

It was hard to tell where the “trail” crossed or where it was on the far side. Reeder’s track showed the alignment converging with the Santiam Lake Trail at an gradual angle but we could see that we were only about a tenth of a mile from that trail as the crow flies so we abandoned all attempts at following the user trail. We headed straight for the Santiam Lake Trail and found it without much difficulty.
Found it!

We were a tenth or two of a mile from the actual junction which wound up working in our favor. We had rejoined the Santiam Lake Trail just north of the seasonal pond where there were now dozens of butterflies hanging out and this time they weren’t all the same types.

We made our way back to the PCT then followed it south back to the trailhead but not before stopping at a viewpoint for one last look at the mountains.
Yellow beetle on lupine.

Orange agoseris

Back at the PCT.

Bumble bees on penstemon.

Cicada in the grass.

Black Crater, Broken Top, North & Middle Sister, Mt. Washington, Hayrick Butte, and Hoodoo Butte from the viewpoint.

Three Fingered Jack from the viewpoint.

Track for our 12.9 mile, 1300′ elevation gain hike

After a great day of hiking we spent the evening with my Grandma and parents. It was a great start to the holiday weekend. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Berley & Santiam Lakes

Tags Berley Lakes, butterflies, cascade mountains, hiking, Lower Berley Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Santiam Lake, Santiam Lake Trail, Three Fingered Jack, Upper Berley Lake

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 Year-end wrap up

The Hikes of 2019 – A Look Back

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date December 30, 2019
3 Comments on The Hikes of 2019 – A Look Back

2019 turned out very differently than we’d originally planned. Not long after our first planned long trip to Joseph, OR one our cats, Buddy, had some health issues. After some time at the veterinarians he was doing better but he needed to be prescribed 3 daily medications (two twice a day). We decided that being there for our friend of 17 years was more important than our remaining plans so we cancelled nearly all of our overnight trips and spent the rest of the year doing day hikes from Salem. Buddy is still with us and seems to be doing well although he sleeps more than ever and has taken to wearing sweaters for warmth.
20191102_134933

With us only doing the one long distance trip we didn’t make it to as many new areas as we have been in recent years. On that trip we stopped at the Umatilla Wildlife Refuge near Hermiston (post), OR and hiked in the Hells Canyon (post) and Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness areas (post).
McCormack Slough MCormack Slough in the Umatilla Wildlife Refuge.

Looking into Hells Canyon from the Summit Ridge Trail Looking towards Hells Canyon from Freezout Saddle.

Wenaha River Canyon

Thanks to my parents willingness to take care of the cats we also managed to take an overnight trip up to Seattle in September to watch a Seattle Seahawks game stopping on the way up at Mt. Rainier National Park (post).

Cancelling the majority of our overnight trips had a couple of effects. First it reduced the number of days of hiking from an original 60 to 54. These would have been shorter hikes back to the car after backpacking or on the drive home from wherever we’d been. It also compressed the area in which we were able to hike keeping it under a 3 hour drive from Salem.
2019 HIkes

One thing that wasn’t affected was our tendency not to repeat hikes. Of our 54 days hiking only two days were repeats. For the first time we were able to hike with my brother and his family from Missouri taking them to Jawbone Flats and the Little North Fork Santiam River (post).
Little North Santiam River

The second repeat was to the old lookout site atop Maxwell Butte (post) to get the view that eluded us on our first hike there (post).
Mt. Jefferson, Santiam Lake, and Three Fingered Jack from Maxwell Butte

A visit to Four-In-One Cone, also to get a view that had previously eluded us, (post) was nearly a repeat but we started from a different trailhead making the first (and final) .4 miles new to us.
View from Four-in-one Cone

Thirteen other days did include some trail that we’d previously hiked and three more outings had turn around points that we’d previously been to but from an entirely different route. That left 35 days with entirely new trails to us. To put those figures in miles we hiked a total of 627.7 miles (according to my GPS). Only 70.6 of those miles, or just over 11%, were on portions of trails that we had hiked on in previous years.

I say “trails” but in reality not all the miles we hiked were on actual trails. Some of it was spent on paved roads, decommissioned roads, and some was entirely off trail/road.
Scoggins Creek Recreation Area Road walk at Henry Haag Lake

Decommissioned road to Baty Butte.

North Sister and the headwaters of Soap Creek Cross country to Thayer Glacial Lake.

2019 was a really good year weather wise. Aside from some rain/snow showers on our Freezout Saddle hike in June and a brief stint of rain at Cascade Head and in the Mollala River Recreation Area precipitation was almost non-existent during our outings.
Marks Cabin Trail a bit below us Snow falling on our Freezout Saddle hike.

Salmon River through the fog Rain shower approaching at Cascade Head.

Huckleberry Trail Taking cover under a tree in the Mollala River Recreation Area as a rain shower passes overhead.

Even on those three hikes with measurable precipitation there were breaks allowing for some sort of views.
Rainbow framing the Wallowa Mountains from the Feezout Saddle Trail.

View from the Cascade Head Trail View from Cascade Head after the shower.

Veiw from Amanda's Trail View from the morning across the Mollala River Canyon.

Between the cooperative weather and a lack of significant wildfires in the area made 2019 a great year for viewpoints. In fact there was only one hike, our second to the summit of Huckleberry Mountain (post) where we felt skunked on views. That hike began in the Wildwood Recreation area and the interpretive trails along the Salmon River made up for the lack of views up top.
3d Model of Mt. Hood along the Cascade Streamwatch Trail Neat 3D display at Wildwood Recreation Area.

Viewpoint on Huckleberry Mountain View atop Huckleberry Mountain.

Even on that day blue sky made an appearance before the end of our hike.
Mt. Hood behind some clouds

We also never got much of a view (but we did see blue sky) on our visit to Silver Star Mountain (post) but the point of that hike was to see the flower display.
Wildflowers along the Silver Star Trail

As always our hikes included a variety of landscapes, natural features, and some man-made ones. A sample of which follows. (We will cover wildflowers and wildlife in separate posts later.)
Gales Creek – Coast Range

Dry Creek Falls – Columbia River Gorge, OR

Camassia Natural Area – West Linn

The Two Chiefs and Table Mountain Two Chiefs and Table Mountain – Columbia River Gorge, WA

Nature Trial at Oak Island Oak Island – Columbia River

B.C. Creek Falls – Wallowa Mountains

Wallowa Mountains including Hurricaine Point and Ruby Peak Wallowa Mountains

Harins Butte Harsin Butte – Zumwalt Prairie

Sardine Mountain – Willamette National Forest

Gorton Falls Gorton Creek Falls – Columbia River Gorge, OR

Mt. Hood from Lost Lake

Mt. Hood from the Vista Ridge Trail Mt. Hood from Vista Ridge

Sand Mountain Lookout – Willamette National Forest

Cape Kiwanda and Haystack Rock from Sitka Sedge Beach

High Lake – Mt. Hood National Forest

Tidbits Mountain – Willamette National Forest

Bunchgrass Meadow – Willamette National Forest

Top tier of the Breitenbush Cascades Breitenbush Cascades – Willamette National Forest

Mt. St. Helens from Cinnamon Ridge – Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

View from Bear Point Mt. Jefferson from Bear Point – Mt. Jefferson Wilderness

Sawmill Falls – Little North Fork Santiam River

Three Fingered Jack with Three Sisters and Mt. Washington beyond Red Butte Three Fingered Jack, The Three Sisters, and Mt. Washington

Scramble route up Baty Butte Scramble route to Baty Butte – Mt. Hood National Forest

Boulder Lake – Mt. Hood National Forest

Drift Creek – Drift Creek Wilderness

North Sister and Thayer Glacial Lake – Three Sisters Wilderness

View from Four-in-one Cone North Sister, Middle Sister, and The Husband from Four-In-One Cone – Three Sisters Wilderness

Mt. Hood from Tumala Mountain – Mt. Hood National Forest

Bull of the Woods Lookout – Bull of the Woods Wilderness

Mt. Hood and Barret Spur from Elk Cove Mt. Hood from Elk Cove – Mt. Hood Wilderness

Mt. Jefferson and Hunts Cove – Mt. Jefferson Wilderness

Mt. Jefferson with Monon, Olallie and Timber Lakes View from Olallie Butte – Warm Springs Indian Reservation

Lillian Falls – Waldo Lake Wilderness

Olallie Mountain Lookout – Three Sisters Wilderness

King Tut – Crabtree Valley

View from Ruddy Hill Mt. Jefferson from Ruddy Hill – Mt. Hood National Forest

Henry Haag Lake – Scoggins Valley

View from the north summit of The Twins Waldo Lake and the Cascade Mountains from The Twins – Deschutes National Forest

Bobby Lake – Deschutes National Forest

Patrol Cabin at Indian Henry's Hunting Ground Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground – Mt. Rainier National Park

Fog over the valley from Trail 17 (Theodore Trail) Fog over the valley from Mt. Pisgah – Eugene, OR

Twin Peaks and Gifford Lake – Olallie Lake Scenic Area

Mt. Adams from Lookout Mountain – Badger Creek Wilderness Area

Huckleberry Trail Mollala River Recreation Area

View from the PCT and Indian Mountain Trail junction View toward Washington from the Pacific Crest Trail near Indian Mountain – Mt. Hood National Forest

Clackamas River at Alder Flat Clackamas River – Mt. Hood National Forest

Maple Trail Forest Park – Portland, OR

Tilikum Crossing – Portland, OR

There were many more great places and sights that we visited but they can’t all be included here. It was another amazing year of discovering God’s creation and we are looking forward to seeing what next year brings. For the first time I have two sets of planned hikes going into next year, one is in the hopes that Buddy continues to do well on his medications leading us to stick to day hikes through the year and the other includes long distance trips in the unfortunate event that we have to say goodbye to our furry friend.

Either way we know that we will be blown away yet again by whatever we see on those hikes. Happy Trails and Happy New Year to all!

Flickr: Album List

Tags Freezout Saddle, Hells Canyon, hiking, Mt. Hood, Mt. Hood National Forest, Mt. Hood Wilderness, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, Portland, Wenaha River, Zumwalt Prairie