Tag: Santiam Lake Trail

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

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

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Throwback Thursday Trip report

Throwback Thursday – Three Fingered Jack

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date May 17, 2018
6 Comments on Throwback Thursday – Three Fingered Jack

This week’s Throwback Thursday hike is a 13.5 mile loop taken on 10/13/12 partly along the Pacific Crest Trail in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. We started our hike at the Pacific Crest Trailhead near Santiam Pass along Highway 22. Our plan for the day was to follow the PCT to the SW flank of Three Fingered Jack then return on a loop by leaving the PCT on the way back above Martin Lake and hiking cross country past that lake to the Summit Lake Trail.

We arrived just before daylight and were rewarded with some amazing sights as we waited for enough light to start hiking. Three Fingered Jack/PCT trailhead

Morning from the trailhead

Mt. Washington in the morning from the trailhead

Mt. Washington

The trailhead is located in the fire scar of the 2003 B & B Fire. One of those B’s is for Booth Lake which we planned on visiting as we returned on the Summit Trail. Pacific Crest Trail

Pacific Crest Trail

A short distance after passing the junction with the Summit Trail the PCT entered the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. Entering the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness on the Pacific Crest Trail

From the wilderness boundary Three Fingered Jack was only about 3 miles away but was hidden behind the rise of the land. There were plenty of views to be had to the south though. Hayrick Butte and Hoodoo

Hayrick Butte and the Hoodo Ski Area

View from the Pacific Crest Trail

Mt. Washington and the North and Middle Sisters

We spent a lot of time looking over our shoulders as the views only got better as we made the gradual climb toward Three Fingered Jack. Black Crater, Broken Top, the North & Middle Sister and Mt. Washington

Mt. Washington

North and Middle Sister

Broken Top

Three Fingered Jack finally came into view when the trail leveled out on a plateau.

Three Fingered Jack

At the 1.25 mile mark we arrived at a junction with the Santiam Lake Trail. Pacific Crest Trail junction with the Santiam Lake Trail

We continued on the PCT through the silver snags of the B & B Fire which were a surprisingly nice contrast to the bright red Fall huckleberry leaves. Pacific Crest Trail

Contrasting colors in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness

Another impressive view came two miles from the Santiam Trail junction. Three Fingered Jack

Three Fingered Jack

View from the Pacific Crest Trail

Looking south

The PCT had steepened a bit as it climbed to this view on a ridge which it now followed into green trees. Three Fingered Jack

Pacific Crest Trail

The ridge passed above Booth and Martin Lakes which lay to the east. Martin and Booth Lakes and Black Butte

Black Butte (post) beyond Martin and Booth Lakes

Just under a half mile from the viewpoint we passed a spot along the ridge where we would head cross-country on the way back. We were still gaining elevation which gave us a view of Diamond Peak even further south. View from the Pacific Crest Trail

Diamond Peak

We also noticed that the stubborn Pole Creek Fire was still putting up a smoke column from the Three Sisters Wilderness. Black Crater, Broken Top, smoke from the Pole Creek Fire, Mt. Bachelor, The Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, The Husband, Big Lake, Hayrick Butte, Scott Mountain, and Diamond Peak

Broken Top and the Pole Creek Fire

To the west we spotted Lower Berley Lake.

Three Fingered Jack disappeared again for a bit but not long after crossing a rocky section of the ridge the PCT rounded a corner and Three Fingered Jack came back into view.

Continuing on just a couple tenths of a mile more brought us to even better views of the volcano’s western face. Three Fingered Jack

A climbers trail was clearly visible heading up toward the summit. Three Fingered Jack

We followed the PCT to the junction with the climbers trail which was approximately 5.5 miles from the trailhead. Three Fingered Jack

It was tempting to head up the path but apparently only for me. Heather and Dominique were good turning around here so they took a short break as I went up a very short distance. The trail was fairly steep and the loose rock made it more effort than I was willing to expend so I quickly returned and we began our hike back.

On the way back along the PCT we spotted a trail heading off to the right (SW) just over half a mile from the climbers trail. This short spur led to a rock outcrop with spectacular view. View from the Pacific Crest Trail

From here we could see at least a part of 7 Cascade Peaks: Broken Top, Mt. Bachelor, All three of the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, and Diamond Peak. Black Crater, Broken Top, Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sisters and Mt. Washington

From left to right: Broken Top, Mt. Bachelor, North Sister, the summit of South Sister, Middle Sister, and Mt. Washington.

Scott Mountain and Diamond Peak

Diamond Peak

After a nice long break soaking in the view we continued south on the PCT past the rock section along the ridge. Pacific Crest Trail

Shortly after the rocks we headed downhill at a low point along the ridge into the least steep looking gully we had seen on the way by earlier. Off-trail route to Martin Lake from the Pacific Crest Trail

The route was fairly steep but the good news was that the lake was at the bottom of a bowl so we basically just needed to stay heading downhill and we would by default find Martin Lake. The trees were sparse enough to make travel easy and we soon found ourselves along a fern covered hillside. Cross country route from the Pacific Crest Trail to Martin Lake

Fern covered hillside near Martin Lake

This was our first real foray into off-trail travel but between the map, GPS and knowing that the lake was at the bottom of the bowl we had no trouble finding the water after traveling approximately .4 miles. Martin Lake

Several deer had been on the far side of Martin Lake but ran as we emerged from the trees. They had been in the area of an old trail that ran from the Summit Trail to Martin Lake but had not been maintained since the B & B Fire.

Martin Lake

We made our way around the south shore of the lake to its east end hoping to pick up the trail we had seen from the west end. Martin Lake

The trail was basically non-existent though. Cross country route to the Summit Trail

The good news was we knew that the Summit Trail was due east from Martin Lake and to make things easier so was Black Butte. We used the 6436′ butte as our guide as we traveled the half mile from Martin Lake to the Summit Lake Trail.

We were a little concerned that the Summit Lake Trail might be hard to spot so I occasionally checked the GPS to make sure it wasn’t showing that we’d crossed it. We wound up having no problem identifying the dusty Summit Lake Trail though and turned right onto it. After a quarter mile we took a short spur to the right to Booth Lake.

We were joined by an eagle who landed in the snags on the far side of the lake. Eagle on the far side of Booth Lake

From the shore Three Fingered Jack was visible peaking over a ridge. Three Fingered Jack from Booth Lake

There was a decent breeze which created some eerie sounds as it passed through the dead trees. We left Booth Lake and continued south on the Summit Lake trail which remained in the B & B scar for the rest of the hike. Three Fingered Jack

Mt. Jefferson Wilderness along the Summit Trail

Colorful hillside along the Summit Trail

The trail climbed gradually for 3/4 of a mile to a saddle before descending more steeply for a little over a mile to Square Lake. Square Lake, Broken Top, North & Middle Sister and Mt. Washington

As we began descending the clouds over the North Sister formed into an interesting shape. Cool cloud formation passing over the North Sister

We took another short break at the lake where the only view we had was east to Black Butte. Square Lake

Square Lake

We followed a pointer for the Santiam Pass Trailhead at the junction with the Round Lake Trail. Trail sign for the Santiam Pass Trailhead

It was roughly 2.2 miles back to the PCT from Square Lake. The trail climbed away from the lake gaining a final view of Three Fingered Jack to the north. Three Fingered Jack and Square Lake

We then passed along a hillside covered in golden ferns with decent views of Mt. Washington but an increase in clouds and slight drizzle began obscuring the views of the other mountains. On the way back to the Santaim Pass Trailhead

Mt. Washington

After completing the loop and arriving back at the trailhead we drove to my parents house near Bend. They were away for the weekend but the house was being watched carefully by their guard owl. Owl in Central Oregon after the hike

We had another hike planned for the next day in the Three Sisters Wilderness so we spent the night at their house and set off the next day on what would become known as “The hike that shall not be named“. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Three Fingered Jack

Tags B & B Fire, Booth Lake, Hayrick Butte, hiking, Hoodoo, Martin Lake, Mt. Washington, Oregon, owl, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, pole creek fire, Round Lake Trail, Santiam Lake Trail, santiam pass, Santiam Pass Trailhead, Square Lake, Summit Lake Trail, Three Fingered Jack

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Throwback Thursday Trip report

Throwback Thursday – Duffy Lake

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date February 23, 2017
8 Comments on Throwback Thursday – Duffy Lake

We’re going all the way back to July 28, 2010 for this weeks throwback hike. This was our first visit to the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness as well as the first time we attempted an off-trail scramble. We started at the Duffy Lake Trailhead taking the Duffy Lake Trail toward Duffy Lake.

Duffy Lake Trail

The trail followed along the North Santiam River which was running real low but not yet dry for the season.

Wildflowers along the North Santiam River

North Santiam River

We passed the a junction with the Turpentine Trail at the 1.5 mile mark and crossed the river just over a mile later before reaching another junction in a meadow near Duffy Lake. Although we couldn’t see the lake from there Duffy Butte rose above the trees.

Duffy Butte

A number of trails were present in the Duffy Lake area. The first junction after crossing the river was with the Maxwell Butte Trail which forked to the right. Before reaching Duffy Lakes outlet creek we took the next fork to thw right which was a short connector trail to the Santiam Lake Trail which we then turned right on following it for about 3/4 of a mile through wildflower meadows to Santiam Lake and a great view of Three Fingered Jack.

Santiam Lake Trail

Three Fingered Jack and Santiam Lake

Three Fingered Jack from Santiam Lake

After visiting the lake shore we headed back the way we had come for .6 miles then turning right on the Dixie Lakes Trail at a pointer for the Eight Lakes Basin.

Trail sign at the Dixie Lakes Trail

This 1.8 mile trail would lead us pass the small Dixie Lakes before joining the Blue Lake Trail. Much of the trail passed through forest burned in the massive 2003 B&B Fire.

A Dixie Lake

South Dixie Lake

A Dixie Lake

North Dixie Lake

Beargrass

Junction with the Blue Lake Trail

The trail junction was near Alice Lake which was where our off-trail scramble up Red Butte would start.

Red Butte

Alice Lake

Being our first off-trail experience we weren’t exactly sure what we were supposed to be looking for but we knew that the route started on the west side of the lake and headed up the butte. It was quite the adventure. Just when we thought we might be following a use trail we’d lose it. Some of the butte had been burned in the fire so there was plenty of downed trees and limbs to navigate. The good news with that was we knew we could follow the edge of the burn downhill and we’d wind up back on the trail near Alice Lake so we weren’t too concerned with getting lost. As we neared the summit of Red Butte the vegetation began to give way to more and more cinder where it was much easier to pick out the use trail.

Snow on Red Butte

Looking down from the summit we could see little Alice Lake below.

Alice Lake from Red Butte

To the south we had a great view of Three Fingered Jack and beyond that loomed Mt. Washington, North Sister, Middle Sister, and The Husband.

Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, The Three Sisters and The Husband

The Three Sisters and Mt. Washington

Mt. Washington in front of the North & Middle Sister (with the summit of South Sister behind them all)

Around to the north was Mt. Jefferson.

Mt. Jefferson

Just to the SW of Red Butte was Duffy Butte and Mowich Lake.

Mowich Lake and Duffy Butte

Mowich Lake

We had a much easier time following the use path on the way down and successfully completed our first scramble. We turned right when we arrived back at the Blue Lake Trail and followed it for a mile to the southern end of Mowich Lake where we could look back across the water to Red Butte.

Mowich Lake

Another 3/4 miles along the trail brought us a junction with the Santiam Lake and Duffy Lake Trails.

Trail junction near Duffy Lake

We took a moment to visit Duffy Lake and Duffy Butte.

Duffy Butte from Duffy Lake

We walked along the lake to its outlet where we picked up the Duffy Lake Trail and headed back toward the trailhead. A nice lollipop loop with a couple of side trips to Santiam Lake and up Red Butte the total distance was a little over 13 miles with approx 2000′ elevation gain. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157632953676368

Tags Alice Lake, Blue Lake Trail, Dixie Lakes, Dixie Lakes Trail, Duffy Butte, Duffy Lake, Duffy Lake Trail, hiking, Mowich Lake, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, North Santiam River, Oregon, Red Butte, Santiam Lake, Santiam Lake Trail, Three Fingered Jack