Tag: sky lakes wilderness

Puck Lakes Backpack – 08/31/2024 & 09/01/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 3, 2024
3 Comments on Puck Lakes Backpack – 08/31/2024 & 09/01/2024

We hadn’t managed to get out on an overnight backpacking trip in 2024 due to a combination of weather, fires, and being focused on finishing our goal of hiking at least part of 500 of William L. Sullivan’s featured hikes in his “100 Hikes” guidebook series (post). We’re now down to having just one featured hike left which we are planning to do as an overnight trip. We have that planned for September so we thought it would be a good idea to break out our backpacking gear for a test run first.

We chose the Puck Lakes in the Sky Lake Wilderness as our destination. These lakes are actually part of one of Sullivan’s featured hikes, but we had missed them due to having started at the Cold Springs Trailhead when we completed part of that hike (post). On that trip we’d combined his featured hike from that trailhead with a loop around Luther Mountain which Sullivan listed as an option for the featured hike from the Nannie Creek Trailhead. Starting at the Nannie Creek Trailhead would allow us visit the Puck Lakes and complete the remainder of Sullivan’s “Sky Lakes via Nannie Creek” hike. With the Puck Lakes being under 2.5-miles from the trailhead they provided a relatively short hike in with our full backpacks, then we could continue on to the Snow Lakes Trail and Margurette Lake which had been part of our loop during our earlier trip.

It was a 4-hour drive to the trailhead from Salem, so we got a later start than we normally would. It was a little before 9am when we set off and already warming up quickly. The forecast was for temperatures at the Puck Lakes to push 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Nannie Creek Trail gradually climbs for the first 1.6-miles making good use of switchbacks to keep the trail from ever feeling steep.

There were hundreds of dragonflies along the trails which were much more welcome than the mosquitos that are a problem here in July and early August.

The trail entering the wilderness.

After gaining approximately 500′ of elevation the trail leveled out for a bit before descending 100′ to the Puck Lakes.
To the left through the trees is Mt. McLoughlin (post).

The currently dry outlet creek of South Puck Lake.

South Puck Lake from the Nannie Creek Trail.

Just under 2.5-miles from the trailhead we turned right toward South Puck Lake at an unsigned junction with the former Puck Lakes Trail.
Someone had taken it upon themselves to craft their own sort of sign for the Puck Lakes Trail.

The Puck Lakes Trail has long since been abandoned but at one time it had covered around 6.5-miles connecting the Nannie Creek Trail and Sevenmile Trail (post). We followed this trail a little over 200′ to South Puck Lake then continued around the western side of the lake looking for a suitable campsite.

The southern end of the lake was closed to camping for site restoration.

South Puck Lake

Use trail around the lake. The alignment of the former Puck Lakes Trail is further back from the lake.

Two of three common mergansers that seemed to be calling the lake home for now.

Our campsite for the night.

We appeared to be the only ones currently at the lake. We’d passed a couple hiking out shortly after starting our hike who mentioned that there had only been one other person at the lake the night before, and then a little later that gentleman passed us. With it being Labor Day Weekend we suspected that the privacy wouldn’t last, but it was an encouraging sign that maybe it wouldn’t be too busy. After getting camp squared away, and starting a list for Hidden Lake of things that we had forgotten, we returned to the Nannie Creek Trail and continued toward the Snow Lakes Trail.

The Nannie Creek Trail made a small climb over the first 0.9-miles from the lake then began a mile long, 400′ descent to the Snow Lakes Trail.

Just after the trail began its descent it crossed a talus field.

Mt. McLoughlin behind Luther Mountain.

Shale Butte and Lucifer Peak (double hump is Lucifer).

Pelican Butte straight ahead with peaks in the Mountain Lakes Wilderness (post) behind to the right.

A faint Mt. Shasta through the haze.

Agency Lake

The trail made a couple of switchbacks through the shale before reentering the forest where we began to encounter a fair amount of blowdown.

A good representation of the trail conditions between the talus slope and the Snow Lakes Trail. Nothing was overly problematic, but it did mean more effort on our part which in turn made it feel even warmer.

Rock cairn marking the junction with the Snow Lake Trail.

Looking back at the hillside we’d descended.

We turned left onto the Snow Lakes Trail and followed it a little under 2-miles to a trail junction between Margurette and Trapper Lake. We were familiar with this trail having hiked the first 1.4-miles as part of our loop around Luther Mountain.

One of several grouse that crossed the trail in front of us.

Entering the fire scar from the 2014 “790 Fire”.

Northwestern Rabbit-tobacco

Martin Lake

Pair of Lewis’s woodpeckers.

One of the Snow Lakes below Luther Mountain.

One of the Snow Lakes.

After 1.4-miles we came to a junction with the Donna Lake Trail on the left. (Deep Lake is the lake visible below through the trees.) We’d turned down that trail on our previous visit, so we stayed right this time.

One of several small, unnamed, bodies of water between the Donna Lake Trail junction and Margurette Lake.

Blue beetle

Hardhack

Margurette Lake

Unsurprisingly there were several people at Margurette Lake so instead of taking our break there we turned left at the junction with the Sky Lakes Trail and continued on.
Margurette Lake

Coming up on the junction.

The Sky Lakes Trail.

This trail descended for 0.2-miles past the end of Trapper Lake to a junction with the Donna Lake Trail.

Trapper Lake

The Donna Lake Trail to the right.

We turned up the Donna Lake trail and climbed gradually for a quarter mile to Donna Lake.

Donna Lake

We didn’t see a shaded spot at Donna Lake where we could take a comfortable break, so we continued another tenth of a mile to Deep Lake.

Luther Mountain from Deep Lake.

There were several unoccupied campsites at Deep Lake, and we picked one with some shade to set up our chairs and finally take a break.

Tiny western toad

It was a lot warmer than we’d have liked so we spent over ninety minutes resting and refilling our water supply. We had considered cooking our dinner there as well, but another pair of backpackers came along, and we didn’t want to be prepping food anywhere near where others might be camping. We left deep lake a little after 3:30 and continued on the Donna Lake Trail to the Snow Lakes Trail.
Signs of Fall.

Lousewort

There was a slight chance of showers/thunderstorms between 5PM and 11PM and it had begun to cloud up while we were at Deep Lake. The clouds continued to build as we made our way back along the Snow Lakes Trail.

Young grouse

Martin Lake

Back at the Nannie Creek Trail junction.

We had been looking for an open flat area where we could stop to cook dinner but didn’t have any luck until we’d traveled 0.4-miles back along the Nannie Creek Trail. After eating our Mountain House yellow curry we began the climb back up through the talus slope.

The cloud cover had increased even more which helped keep the heat from feeling too oppressive.
It was increasingly looking like a shower or two might happen.

A deep zoom in at Mt. Shasta.

We returned to the trail to the Puck Lakes and after a brief stop at camp we continued on to visit North Puck Lake. We were surprised to find that we were still the only people at the lakes.

Pine white

Spotted sandpiper

The three resident mergansers.

The abandoned Puck Lakes Trail.

A dark cloud passing over the Puck Lakes (no rain).

North Puck Lake

After visiting North Puck Lake we headed back to camp and enjoyed the views that the still water and passing clouds created.

We turned in hoping to get a good night’s sleep, but neither of us had much luck for the first few hours. It was still a little too warm to be comfortable, but we eventually dozed off. It didn’t rain and we never heard any thunder which we were thankful for.

I woke up a little after 4am (that counts as sleeping in for me) and started prepping for our hike out. Heather got up about 5am and did the same.
Heather in the tent packing up.

A sliver of the Moon reflecting in the lake at 5:48am.

6:06am

North Puck Lake at 6:22am as we set off.

Luther Mountain from the Nannie Creek Trail in the morning.

We arrived back at the trailhead at 7:45am.

Day one of our trip came in just under twelve miles with a little over 1500′ of elevation gain. Day two was just 2.7-miles with less than 150′ of elevation gain.
Dark blue = day one, magenta = day two, light blue = previous visit.

This was a good test run for our first backpack this year. The heat made it much more challenging than it should have been and provided a good reminder that we’ll need to carefully consider that before heading to Hidden Lake later this month (hopefully). We were also able to make a list of things that we forgot to bring with us so we won’t forget them for that trip. Finally, it gave us a chance to try out our new water filtration system, the Sawyer Squeeze, which has replaced the pump filter that we previously used. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Puck Lakes Backpack

Tags backpacking, Deep Lake, Donna Lake, Donna Lake Trail, hiking, Luther Mountain, Margurette Lake, Martin Lake, Nannie Creek Trail, Nannie Creek Trailhead, North Puck Lake, Oregon, Puck Lakes, Sky Lakes Trail, sky lakes wilderness, Snow Lakes, Snow Lakes Trail, South Puck Lake, Trapper Lake

California Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Crater Lake Area Grants Pass Area Hiking Klamath Mountains Klamath/Siskiyou Mountains Marble Mountains Medford/Ashland Area Mt. Shasta Area Mt. Theilsen/Mt. Bailey Area Oregon Red Buttes Wilderness Rogue-Umpqua Divide Roseburg Area Salmon Mountains Scott Mountains Siskiyou mountains Sky Lakes/Mountain Lakes Area Trinity Alps Trinity Divide

Southern Oregon & Northern California

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date November 6, 2023
9 Comments on Southern Oregon & Northern California

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 completed the first of these books covering the Central Oregon Cascades (post). We followed that up by completing a pair of books in 2021 starting with Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Oregon Coast and Coast Range” 3rd edition (post) followed up by “100 HIkes/Travel Guide Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington” 4th edition (post).

Generally speaking in order to check a hike off our list we need to have hiked a substantial portion of Sullivan’s described hike or visited the main attraction(s) he identifies for the hike. For 66 of the hikes we followed the books described route. For the other 34 hikes various factors contributed to us not completing all of each featured hike. For some we started at a different trailhead, others had portions of trail(s) closed when we visited, and several had longer options that would have required multiple days to complete. In some other cases we did slightly different routes, sometimes by accident.

The area covered by Sullivan in this book, as the title suggests includes parts of Southern Oregon and Northern California. It contains his southernmost featured hike, Caribou Lakes. In general the area covered in Oregon begins just North of Roseburg extending East to Highway 97 (with the exception being Klamath Falls which is included in his Eastern Oregon book), South to California, and West to Marial on the Rogue River. In California the area extends south to the Trinity Alps Wilderness, West to the Siskiyou Wilderness, and East to the Mount Shasta Wilderness.

The hikes inside the red lines represent the location of the featured hikes.

In addition to the three wilderness areas in California mentioned above the featured hikes included visits to the Marble Mountain, Castle Crags, Russian, and Red Buttes Wilderness areas in California. Wilderness areas in Oregon included the Red Buttes (OR & CA share this wilderness), Kalmiopsis, Wild Rogue, Soda Mountain, Mountain Lakes, Sky Lakes, Rogue-Umpqua Divide, Boulder Creek, and Mt. Thielsen.

In addition to the 15 designated wilderness areas there were hikes in two National Monuments – Oregon Caves & Cascade-Siskiyou, and Crater Lake National Park.

#1 North Bank Ranch-Hiked 6/5/2015 6/25/2023

#2 Fall Creek Falls-Hiked 6/13/2022 8/7/2022 6/25/2023
Fall Creek Falls
#3 Little River Waterfalls-Hiked 8/7/2022
Yasko Falls
#4 Boulder Creek-Hiked 9/7/2020

#5 Twin Lakes-Hiked 6/14/2022

#6 Fish Lake-Hiked 9/3/2022

#7 Buckey and Cliff Lakes-Hiked 9/3/2022

#8 Umpqua Hot Springs-Hiked 6/13/2022

#9 Toketee and Watson Falls-Hiked 6/13/2022

#10 Lemolo Falls-Hiked 6/13/2022

#11 Cowhorn Mountain-Hiked 9/15/2016

#12 Miller and Maidu Lakes-Hiked 8/1/2012

#13 Tipsoo Peak-Hiked 10/2/2014

#14 Thielsen Creek-Hiked 8/8/2020

#15 Mount Thielsen-Hiked 9/23/2012

#16 Diamond Lake-Hiked 9/5/2020

#17 Mount Bailey-Hiked 8/12/2012

#18 Boundary Springs-Hiked 6/13/2014

#19 Park Headquarters-Hiked 7/31/2023

#20 Garfield Peak-Hiked 7/31/2023

#21 Discovery Point-Hiked 9/19/2022

#22 The Watchman-Hiked 8/12/2012 7/31/2023

#23 Wizard Island-Hiked 8/1/2023

#24 Mount Scott-Hiked 10/2/2014

#25 Plaikni Falls and The Pinnacles-Hiked 7/30/2023

#26 Crater Peak-Hiked 7/30/2023

#27 Annie Creek & Godfrey Glen-Hiked 7/30/2023 7/31/2023

#28 Union Peak-Hiked 9/17/2022

#29 Upper and Lower Table Rocks-Hiked 6/9/2017 (Lower) & 5/26/2022 (Upper)
Lower Table Rock

View from Upper Table Rock
#30 Lost Creek Lake-Hiked 6/9/2017

#31 Takelma Gorge-Hiked 10/15/2020

#32 Natural Bridge-Hiked 10/16/2020

#33 Union Creek-Hiked 10/17/2020 9/20/2022

#34 Abbott Butte-Hiked 10/17/2020

#35 Hershberger Mountain-Hiked 10/16/2020

#36 Muir Creek-Hiked 5/27/2018

#37 Rattlesnake Mountain-Hiked 9/6/2020

#38 Seven Lakes West-Hiked 9/9/2023

#39 Seven Lakes East-Hiked 9/9/2023

#40 Blue Lake Basin-Hiked 9/18/2022

#41 Mount McLoughlin-Hiked 8/27/2016

#42 Fourmile Lake-Hiked 8/26/2016

#43 Sky Lakes via Cold Springs-Hiked 9/24/2022

#44 Sky Lakes via Nannie Creek-Hiked 9/24/2022

#45 Fish Lake-Hiked 10/7/2018

#46 Brown Mountain Lava Flow-Hiked 8/28/2016

#47 Lake of the Woods-Hiked 10/7/2018

#48 Mountain Lakes-Hiked 8/25/2016

#49 Soda Mountain-Hiked 6/3/2015

#50 Pilot Rock-Hiked 7/29/2017

#51 Mount Ashland Meadows-Hiked 6/3/2015

#52 Lithia Park-Hiked 6/2/2015

#53 Bandersnatch Trail-Hiked 6/17/2022

#54 White Rabbit Trail-Hiked 6/17/2022

#55 Grizzly Peak-Hiked 6/5/2015

#56 Roxy Ann Peak-Hiked 5/30/2022

#57 Wagner Butte-Hiked 6/4/2015

#58 Siskiyou Gap-Hiked 6/16/2022

#59 Jack-Ash Trail-Hiked 5/27/2022

#60 Sterling Ditch Tunnel-Hiked 6/10/2017 5/2/2023

#61 Jacksonville-Hiked 6/8/2017

#62 Enchanted Forest-Hiked 6/11/2017

#63 Observation Peak-Hiked 6/15/2022

#64 Collings Mountain-Hiked 6/8/2017

#65 Applegate Lake-Hiked 6/8/2017 5/29/2022

#66 Red Buttes-Hiked 10/27/2015

#67 Frog Pond-Hiked 6/18/2022

#68 Azalea Lake-Hiked 10/26/2015

#69 Sturgis Fork-Hiked 10/7/2023

#70 Grayback Mountain-Hiked 10/9/2023

#71 Oregon Caves-Hiked 10/30/2015

#72 Mount Elijah-Hiked 10/7/2023

#73 Sucker Creek-Hiked 10/26/2015

#74 Tanner Lakes-Hiked 10/8/2023

#75 Bolan Lake-Hiked 10/8/2023

#76 Polar Bear Gap-Hiked 7/1/2022

#77 Raspberry Lake-Hiked 7/3/2022

#78 Devils Punchbowl-Hiked 7/2/2022

#79 Rough and Ready Creeks-Hiked 5/12/2017

#80 Babyfoot Lake-Hiked 10/9/2023

#81 Eight Dollar Mountain-Hiked 5/4/2023

#82 Illinois River Beaches-Hiked 5/4/2023

#83 Grants Pass Nature Trails 5/3/2023

#84 Rouge River Trail East-Hiked 5/1/2023

#85 Rogue River Trail West-Hiked 6/24/2023

#86 Paradise Lake-Hiked 6/28/2016

#87 Sky High Lakes-Hiked 6/29/2016

#88 Campbell Lake-Hiked 6/27/2016

#89 Paynes Lake-Hiked 7/24/2017

#90 Russian Lake-Hiked 8/24/2022

#91 Hidden & South Fork Lakes-Hiked 8/26/2022

#92 Trail Gulch Lake-Hiked 8/25/2022

#93 East Boulder Lake-Hiked 8/23/2022

#94 Kangaroo Lake-Hiked 7/23/2017

#95 Deadfall Lakes-Hiked 7/25/2017

#96 Caribou Lake-Hiked 7/27/2017

#97 Castle Lake-Hiked 7/26/2017

#98 Castle Crags-Hiked 7/26/2017

#99 Black Butte-Hiked 7/28/2017

#100 Mount Shasta Meadows-Hiked 8/22/2022

In our minds this was by far the most challenging area to finish even though we did so before completing Eastern Oregon. The difficulty with Eastern Oregon mostly revolves around distance from Salem and the size of the area covered. The Southern Oregon-Northern California area is smaller and the hikes not as far away, but it involved a lot of trails that frankly don’t see the level of maintenance that most of the other areas receive. While we’ve encountered rough trails, all over poison oak is much more prevalent down south which doesn’t invite pushing through overgrown tread or bushwacking around obstacles. This area has also been hit harder by fires over the last couple of decades leaving extra work to reopen them as well as remove additional blowdown as the dead trees fall over. When the conditions were good though the scenery and diverse plant and wildlife made for some spectacular hikes. There are many that we’d love to do again and several non-featured hikes that we have in our future plans, so we aren’t done with area yet. Happy Trails!

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Sky Lakes/Mountain Lakes Area Trip report

Seven Lakes Basin Backpack – 09/09/23 & 09/10/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 13, 2023
2 Comments on Seven Lakes Basin Backpack – 09/09/23 & 09/10/2023

As we near our goal of finishing at least part of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivans “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” edition 4.2 (post) there was one backpacking trip left. Sullivan’s Seven Lakes West and Seven Lakes East (hikes 38 & 39 in edition 4.2) start at trailheads on opposite side of the Cascade Crest but both contain a loop through the Seven Lakes Basin and a climb up Devil’s Peak in the Sky Lakes Wilderness. Aside from the different trailheads the only other difference is that he includes a visit to Lake Alta from the west trailhead.

We opted to begin from the eastern trailhead – Sevenmile Marsh. The primary reason for this was the trailhead is roughly half an hour closer to Salem but the Forest Service currently shows the status of the western trailhead (Seven Lakes) as unreachable. (This may simply be an oversight when updating their webpages, but it is a good reminder that it’s always a good idea to double check with the managing agencies before heading out.)
Sevenmile Marsh Trailhead

The trail descended to a crossing of Sevenmile Creek then climbed gradually along a hillside above Sevenmile Marsh, entering the Sky Lakes Wilderness along the way.

Sevenmile Creek

Entering the wilderness

Sevenmile Marsh

The Sevenmile Trail climbed gradually through a nice forest for nearly two miles before joining the Pacific Crest Trail.
Lodgepole pines were the dominate trees along the first part of the trail.

Mountain hemlock took over as the trail gained elevation.

Junction with the PCT.

We turned left onto the PCT and found ourselves losing a bit of elevation before beginning another gradual climb.

There were a few downed trees along this section but nothing difficult to get around.

This twisted tree caught our attention.

Nice blue sky.

Lewis’s woodpecker way up in a snag.

After two miles on the PCT we arrived at Honeymoon Creek which resembled a small pond. Tadpoles splashed around in the mud while larger frogs hung out around the water.

Tadpoles

Frog in the water.

After another 0.6-miles on the PCT we arrived at a signed junction with the Seven Lakes Trail.
Trail sign ahead on the right.

Our plan was to set up camp at Cliff Lake then do the loop and summit Devil’s Peak as described by Sullivan. We could have turned right here and followed the Seven Lakes Trail 1.3-miles past Grass and Middle Lakes to Cliff Lake, but sticking to the PCT for another 0.7-miles then turning the Cliff Lake Trail would save us nearly a quarter of a mile. We decided to save Middle and Grass Lakes for our hike out the following morning and stayed straight on the PCT.

Unnamed creek along the PCT. We were surprised at how many of the seasonal creeks still had flowing water.

Grass-of-parnassus

Huckleberries, there were a lot of these around the basin which we happily sampled.

Devil’s Peak poking up above the trees.

The Cliff Lake Trail.

We turned right onto the Cliff Lake Trail and descended a third of a mile to rejoin the Seven Lakes Trail a tenth of a mile from Cliff Lake.

Prince’s pine

Another flowing seasonal creek.

Crater Lake collomia (Collomia mazama)

The Seven Lakes Trail arriving on the right.

Cliff Lake

At Cliff Lake we turned onto a use trail following it around the eastern side of the lake in search of a suitable campsite. While there were numerous sites most of the sites we were seeing were large enough for multiple tents. We didn’t want to take up one of the large sites with our single tent and we also didn’t want to wind up with neighbors if we could avoid it. We wound up getting separated in the process and after walking back and forth for a bit we found each other and settled on a campsite.

Arnica

Aster

Splash in Cliff Lake from one of many fish that were feeding on insects.

Camp

After getting set up we grabbed our daypacks and headed back to the Seven Lakes Trail. We decided to hike the loop clockwise which meant backtracking along the Seven Lakes and Cliff Lake Trails to the PCT and then turning right to continue southward.
Huckleberry bushes along the Cliff Lake Trail.

Anywhere there was water nearby there were lots of tiny Cascade toads to watch out for.

Back at the PCT.

Larger frog

Monkshood

More grass-of-parnassus

Not only were the toads tiny, they also were well camouflaged.

The PCT climbed steadily providing the first glimpses of the peaks around Crater Lake.
Mount Scott (post) between the trees.

Mount Scott

The Watchman (post) and Hillman Peak (post)

The Watchman and Hillman Peak

Devil’s Peak

Union Peak (post) in the distance.

Cliff Lake with Violet Hill beyond.

Black backed woodpecker

Getting closer to Devil’s Peak.

A much bigger Cascade toad.

Near Devil’s Peak the PCT left the trees and switchbacked up a talus field resulting on great view to the north toward Crater Lake and beyond.

Mt. Thielsen (post) in the center beyond the rim of Crater Lake.

Union Peak with Mt. Bailey (post) behind to the right.

Lots of neat rock formation on Devil’s Peak.

Western pasque flower seed heads.

Buckwheat

Two and a half miles from the Seven Lakes Trail junction the PCT arrived at a pass. The final climb was fairly steep even with switchbacks, so a brief rest was in order at the pass.

Views to the South opened up at the pass including Klamath Lake and Pelican Butte.

Klamath Lake

Devil’s Peak and the PCT coming up to the pass from the North.

Klamath Lake, Pelican Butte, Aspen Butte (post) over the right shoulder of Pelican, Brown Mountain (post) is the small cone on the right, and Mt. McLoughlin (post)

Mt. McLoughlin

A faint Mt. Shasta which, given the wildfires burning in NW California was a bit of a surprise to be able to see.

The view North.

Goose Egg and Ethel Mountain in the forefront with Llao Rock, Mt. Thielsen, and Garfield Peak (post) behind.

Devil’s Peak

While we were resting at the pass we heard a helicopter approaching from the NW. It wound up hovering low above the lakes basin before heading back the way it came.
We were a little concerned at first that it might be picking up water for a new fire but there wasn’t anything hanging from the helicopter so we have no idea what it was actually doing.

A path headed uphill from the pass toward Devil’s Peak while the PCT headed slightly downhill.
The use path to Devil’s Peak on the right and the PCT on the left.

We headed up the use trail which was fairly easy to follow with just one slightly sketchy narrow spot.

The rather ominously named Lucifer from the use trail.

A second use trail coming up from the opposite side.

Western pasque flowers on the hillside above the use trails.

The summit of Devil’s Peak ahead.

The views were excellent from the summit so we took another nice break to soak them in before heading down.
Looking North toward Crater Lake and Mt. Thielsen

Lucifer, Jupiter, and Venus

Lee Peak above the pass.

Luther Mountain (post) in the foreground with Aspen Butte, Brown Mountain and Mt. McLoughlin.

Remains of a former lookout.

The PCT below Devil’s and Lee Peaks.

Goose Egg, Llao Rock, and Mt. Thielsen

Mt. Scott

Mt. Shasta to South through a little smoke but again we felt fortunate to be able to see the mountain at all.

Colorful grasshopper at the summit.

American pipit

We headed down taking the other use trail which angled down along a ridge to the PCT approximately a third of a mile from where we had left it to climb Devil’s Peak.
The Seven Lakes Basin from the use trail down.

South, Middle, North, and Grass Lakes

Heading down the use trail.

Looking back up the use trail.

When we reached the PCT we turned right and headed toward Lucifer.

Western snakeroot along the PCT.

A comma butterfly on western snakeroot.

Painted lady

At a ridge below Lucifer we arrived at a signed trail junction.

Here the PCT forked left toward Luther Mountain while the Devil’s Peak Trail forked right. We took the Devil’s Peak Trail and followed it 1.3-miles to the Seven Lakes Trail. Passing below Jupiter and Venus along the way.
Venus from the Devil’s Peak Trail.

Looking back at Devil’s Peak.

Looking North across the Seven Lakes Basin.

Lake Alta in a bowl below Violet Hill.

Pond along the Devil’s Peak Trail.

Coming up to the Seven Lakes Trail junction. A rock cairn was the only marker.

We turned right onto the Seven Lakes Trail and descended 0.2 miles to a signed junction with the Alta Lake Trail.

We turned left onto the Alta Lake Trail. We followed this trail for a fairly level half mile to the long lake.

Heather took another break at the South end of the lake while I hiked another quarter mile along the lake to get a better look at the northern end.
I was still only about halfway along the lake after the quarter mile. There used to be a campground at the North end.

Common merganser

The southern end of Lake Alta.

On the way back to Heather I detoured to take in the view from the cliffs above the basin.
Cliff Lake below Devil’s Peak and Middle Lake.

Middle and Grass Lakes

I could hear several pikas in the rocks below the cliffs but the only thing I spotted was a chipmunk.

Chipmunk

After rejoining Heather we headed back to the Seven Lakes Trail and continued descending into the basin.
Sulphur butterfly on aster.

Gentian

Fireweed

A mile from the Alta Lake Trail we arrived at South Lake.

South Lake

Another quarter mile brought us to a view of Cliff Lake.

Devil’s Peak from the trail. There were more pikas “meeping” from the rocks here but again we failed to spot any of them.

We followed the trail around to the North side of Cliff Lake and then turned on the use trail to return to our campsite.

Back at camp we refilled our water supply and had dinner then relaxed a bit before turning in for the night. For me this had been a 15.3-mile hike with 2000′ of elevation gain. One and a quarter of those miles was hiking from the Seven Lakes Trail to our camp, and initially wandering around looking for a site and Heather.
Devil’s Peak in the evening.

So many fish in the evening.

In the morning we packed up and headed back, this time sticking to the Seven Lakes Trail to visit Middle and Grass Lakes.

Devil’s Peak in the morning.

Seven Lakes and Cliff Lake Trail junction.

We reached Middle Lake in 0.4-miles.

We detoured left at the northern end of the lake following a pointer for Lake Ivern to find a view back across Middle Lake.

Devil’s Peak from Middle Lake.

We returned to the Seven Lakes Trail and in another half mile we passed views of Grass Lake.
Stream crossing.

Monkshood and grass-of-parnassus

Grass Lake

We didn’t follow any of the use trails down to Grass Lake and instead stuck to the Seven Lakes Trail as it climbed for 0.2 miles to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Arriving at the PCT.

We turned left onto the PCT and returned to the Sevenmile Marsh Trailhead the way we’d come the day before. Of note were the ducks making use of the small pond along Honeymoon Creek.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Sevenmile Trail at the PCT to return to the Sevenmile Marsh Trailhead.

Exiting the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

The hike out came to 6.1-miles with just 200′ of elevation gain.

The red section marks our track out past Middle and Grass Lakes

This was a great trip. The temperatures were pleasant, the views great, lots of huckleberries and only a few mosquitos. We also only saw a total of eight other people all weekend. We are now down to a half dozen featured hikes from the Southern Oregon/Northern California book and if conditions cooperate we may well be finished by November. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Seven Lakes Basin

Crater Lake Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Sky Lakes/Mountain Lakes Area Trip report

Stuart and Red Blanket Falls – 07/29/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 3, 2023
1 Comment on Stuart and Red Blanket Falls – 07/29/2023

We spent a long weekend at Crater Lake National Park as we continue our quest to hike all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” (post). Our plans included the six remaining featured hikes in the Park that we had yet to hike, but before we got to those, we set our sights on a former featured hike. Stuart Falls had been a featured hike in Sullivan’s third edition but washouts in 2014/15 had severely impacted the western approach (April 2015 trip report by Van Marmot). The area was further damaged in the 2017 Blanket Creek Fire leaving the only viable approach to the falls from the East starting from the Pumice Flat Trailhead located at the Lodgepole Picnic Area.

It was a 4-hour drive from Salem so we arrived at the picnic area a little after 9am and set off on the Pumice Flat Trail.

The trail promptly crossed Highway 62 and then ran parallel to the highway for approximately a third of a mile before turning away (SW).
Arriving at the highway.

Trail on the far side of Hwy 62.

The Pumice Flat Trail climbed gradually for three miles through unburnt forest to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Clodius parnassian on a pussy paw.

Much of the trail followed an old roadbed.

PCT junction.

Butterfly on the Crater Lake PCT register. While I was working on getting the butterfly photo a northbound thru hiker arrived. He mentioned not having had a shower in 10 days and being really excited to reach Mazama Village and being able to take one.

After a short conversation we turned right onto the PCT for 0.1-miles to the Stuart Falls Trail.

It took us just over three miles to reach Stuart Falls from the PCT. The extensive damage from the 2017 had left the trail hard to follow in some areas. It wasn’t clear how long it had been since the trail had been maintained but even where it was obvious there was plenty of blowdown to navigate.
Older cut logs helped us locate the trail at times.

Union Peak from the trail (post). (The “trail” is not in this photo.)

It took a second to find the tread in this meadow.

Once we found it though it was easy to follow.

Big beetle. There are also three clodius parnassian butterflies behind to the right.

Typical trail conditions. I spent a good deal of time removing limbs from the larger trees and pulled some of the smaller ones off the trail.

Doe below the trail.

More messy trail.

There was one small stand of unburned forest which provided a brief break from the blowdown.

Checkerspot butterfly

Mylitta crescent and a hoary comma on spreading dogbane.

Paintbrush

I believe that is Tom Mountain and Jerry Mountain.

Bald Top to the right.

Skipper

Mt. McLoughlin

Lorquin’s admiral

This was the worst of the obstacles.

We hadn’t seen a blue diamond since before the PCT but near the SW corner of the Park boundary we spotted a couple.

Post ahead marking the boundary. The trail passed through a narrow gap here where the blowdown was heavy.

The trail left the Park and entered the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

We left the trail briefly to visit a viewpoint above Stuart Falls.

We continued downhill leaving the trail again to visit a large campsite near the base of 40′ Stuart Falls.

Arnica below the falls and fireweed above the falls added some nice color to the scene.

One-sided wintergreen

I had been toying with the idea of attempting to reach Red Blanket Falls which was another mile and a half from Stuart Falls. We discussed things while we took a break at the falls and I decided to go ahead and make the attempt despite the poor trail conditions while Heather would stay at Stuart Falls. We left it open that she would start back if she wanted and I would catch up after I turned around, whenever that wound up happening.

I struck off from Stuart Falls on some good tread that quickly disappeared.

Four tenths of a mile from the falls I arrived at a trail sign announcing that the old Red Blanket Trailhead was 4 miles away.

Another former trail forked left here that used to hook up to the Lucky Meadows Trail and eventually the PCT. I stayed right along Red Blanket Creek using it as an anchor point when I lost sight of the trail.

Small falls on Red Blanket Creek.

Pink monkeyflower

I’d lost the trail here but headed for the patch of bright orange wildflowers to see what they were.

It wound up being a spectacular patch of leopard lilies.

A little further along I came across a small patch of Crater Lake Collomia.

A very tough mile from the first trail junction I arrived at a second signed former junction.

The next tenth of a mile was spent fighting through head high fireweed and feeling around on the ground to find footing in the thick vegetation that was hiding copious amounts of blowdown.

I was a bit bloody and bruised by I made it to Red Blanket Falls and was not disappointed.

Red Blanket Falls

View down Red Blanket Creek

A spring fed waterfall along Red Blanket Creek below the falls.

A second and third tier of Red Blanket Falls just below the upper fall. I wasn’t able to get a clearer view of these two drops. I hiked a short distance down the creek but decided the poor trail conditions and loss of elevation weren’t worth going further down the trail with no guarantee of a better view.

The three drops of Red Blanket Falls

One more of Red Blanket Falls.

I headed back to Stuart Falls finding it a little easier to follow the old trail alignment going uphill. This resulted in some different views of the creek.
Another little cascade.

In my excitement to reach Red Blanket Falls I had spent a little more energy than I had intended so when I got back to Stuart Falls I took a short break. Heather had started back but I needed to cool down, put on a fresh pair of socks, and have a snack.

After recovering a bit, I set off on my quest to catch up to Heather. Several times I found myself following tread that we hadn’t been on earlier.
Along this rock outcrop I found switchbacks that I’d missed on the way to the falls.

This might be a black backed woodpecker.

This cairn was new to me as well. At this point I was quite a bit below our track from the morning and I was afraid that I might pass Heather without knowing it if she was sticking to the earlier route.

Hummingbird

Goose egg on the left.

I did wind up catching up with Heather who was also feeling fatigued from the tough trail conditions. We made our way back to the PCT where another brief break was had.

Painted lady

A checkerspot and a copper on sub-alpine fleabane.

Arriving back at the PCT. We again crossed paths with a thru hiker on the way to Mazama Village.

It was nearly all downhill from the PCT but it was three more miles and we were both pretty beat. It was a bit of trudge back to the trailhead made worse by us both running out of water about a mile from the car. We had failed to make use of our filter and refill at Stuart Falls and we paid for it.

Pussypaws

Dwarf lupine

I tried hustling back to the car to retrieve a Gatorade and water to take back up the trail to Heather but she wasn’t far behind. I met her at the Highway with the drinks but it was the thought that counted.

My hike to Red Blanket Falls wound up being 15.9 miles (0.2 was due to taking the drinks back up the trail) and approximately 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

For an idea of what the hike was like prior to the fire here is a report by Van Marmot from July 2017.

It was nearly 5:30pm by the time we finished the hike. Luckily we were only about three miles from Mazama Village where we checked into our cabin then grabbed dinner at the Annie Creek Restaurant and some supplies from the small store where a number of PCT thru hikers were hanging out including the two gentlemen we’d seen on the trail. Aside from the two thru hikers the only other person we saw all day was a Park Ranger on the Pumice Flat Trail on our way back to the trailhead.

It was a lot longer and harder day than we’d planned for given we had three more days of hiking lined up, but I was happy that I’d made it to Red Blanket Falls. In the end it was worth the effort. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Stuart and Red Blanket Falls

Tags Crater Lake National Park, hiking, Lodgepole Picnic Area, Mazama Village, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, Pumice Flat Trail, Red Blanket Creek, Red Blanket Falls, Red Blanket Trail, sky lakes wilderness, Stuart Falls, Stuart Falls Trail

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Sky Lakes/Mountain Lakes Area Trip report

Sky Lakes Basin Day 2 – 09/25/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 30, 2022
2 Comments on Sky Lakes Basin Day 2 – 09/25/2022

We woke up way too early for the time of year and found ourselves playing Yahtzee on Heather’s phone lest we would be hiking out from our camp at Trapper Lake in the dark. After some less than stellar scores we packed up camp and set off on the Sky Lakes Trail back toward the Cold Springs Trailhead.

Low-light at Trapper Lake.

Sunrise from the trail.

Sunlight hitting the tops of trees.

Just before reaching the Heavenly Twin Lakes we came to the Isherwood Trail where we turned right.

The Isherwood Trail passed by the larger of the Heavenly Twin Lakes.

The trail left the lake and climbed gradually through the forest to a rocky bluff above Isherwood Lake.

Heading up to the bluff.

Pelican Butte beyond Isherwood Lake.

Fall foliage above Isherwood Lake.

About half way along Isherwood Lake we detoured to the other side of the trail to visit Lake Liza.
Heading for Lake Liza through a dry bed.

Great reflection

After returning to the Isherwood Trail and passing Isherwood Lake we passed Elizabeth Lake on our left.

Elizabeth Lake was followed by Lake Notasha on the right with another nice reflection.

Lake Notasha

Depending on the angle the water was a beautiful green.

A short distance beyond Lake Notasha we came to the end of the Isherwood Trail at the Sky Lakes Trail.

We turned right for a third of a mile to a junction with the Cold Springs Trail.

We turned left this time following the Cold Springs Trail pointer. This trail climbed a lot more than we’d expected as it passed by Imagination Peak but after nearly two miles we arrived back at the junction with the South Rock Creek Trail which we had taken the day before.
Parts of the latter half of this trail passed through the 2017 fire scar.

Fireweed seeds

Pelican Butte as we descended toward the junction.

We turned right here for the final 0.6 miles to our car.

Leaving the Sky Lakes Wilderness

Dark-eyed junco seeing us off.

An as of yet unidentified flower.

Another unidentified flower.

I do know this one – bleeding heart.

Woodpecker (it was a busy final 0.6 miles).

Back at the shelter and trailhead.

Our hike out came to 6.6 miles with just over 1000′ of elevation gain.

Dark track is Day 2 while the light solid line is Day 1.

It had been a great Autumn weekend for a backpacking trip and the hikes were great. The only negative to come out of it was Heather’s knee which had been a lingering but manageable issue for most of the year finally decided it had had enough. She has some PT ahead and no hiking so I’ll be on my own for a bit. The good news her knee should be fine and we didn’t have any more featured hikes on our schedule until mid-Spring next year. It also means we might be welcoming some new kitties into our home sooner than we’d expected since she won’t be joining me on the October hikes. Happy Tails! (or Trails!)

Flickr: Sky Lakes Basin Day 2

Tags backpacking, Cold Springs Trail, Cold Springs Trailhead, Heavenly Twin Lakes, hiking, Isherwood Trail, Lake Elizabeth, Lake Liza, Lake Notasha, Oregon, Sky Lakes Trail, sky lakes wilderness, Trapper Lake

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Sky Lakes/Mountain Lakes Area Trip report

Sky Lakes Basin Day 1 – 09/24/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 29, 2022
3 Comments on Sky Lakes Basin Day 1 – 09/24/2022

An excellent weekend forecast allowed us to head back to the Southern Oregon Cascades less than a week from our three night, four day stay in Shady Cove (post). In an attempt to give us the best chance to finish our featured hike goal (post) I’d recently broken a 5-6 day backpacking trip in the Sky Lakes Wilderness into shorter trips. During our Shady Cove stay we did the Blue Lakes Basin hike (post) and now we were back for an overnight backpack in the Sky Lakes Basin to check off Sullivan’s Sky Lakes via Cold Springs and Sky Lakes via Nannie Creek hikes. (Hikes #43 & #44 respectively in edition 4.2 “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California.)

We started at the Cold Springs Trailhead.

Shelter at the trailhead.

We set off through a 2017 fire scar following the Cold Springs Trail into the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

Aster

Fireweed

After 0.6 miles we came to a junction with the South Rock Creek Trail.

Both forks would lead to the Heavenly Twin Lakes but the South Rock Creek Trail would do it in a shorter distance (1.8 vs 2.4 miles) so we stayed to the right and followed that trail through more burned forest.

Comma butterfly

We left the fire scar after about a mile and continued another 0.8 miles to the first Heavenly Twin Lake.
Exiting the fire scar.

Doe watching us through the trees.

The larger lake lay just beyond the smaller and provided a view of Luther Mountain.
Luther Mountain on the left and Lee Peak on the right.

After checking out the view we continued on the Sky Lakes Trail which led along the East side of the large lake arriving at the junction with the Isherwood Trail at the far end.
Sign for the Sky Lakes Trail.

Isherwood Trail junction.

We would be taking the Isherwood Trail the next day on our way back to the car but for now we continued straight for 1.9 miles to Trapper Lake where we looked for and found a campsite for the weekend. Along the way we passed several small ponds and unnamed lakes and one named one. It was clear why the area is notorious for mosquitos until late Summer (we only noticed two the whole weekend).

Lake Land

Luther Mountain from Trapper Lake.

After setting up camp we returned to the Sky Lakes Trail and continued North along the lake passing the Cherry Creek Trail coming up from the right before arriving at a junction with the Donna Lake Trail.
View along the trail.

Sign for the Cherry Creek Trail.

Sky Lakes Trail sign.

Donna Lake Trail to the right.

This was the start of an approximately 8.8 mile loop around Luther Mountain. We had decided to do the loop counter-clockwise so we took the left hand trail which kept us on the Sky Lakes Trail. This trail led around the North end of Trapper Lake for 0.2 miles where it met the Divide Trail.

Divide Trail junction.

We stayed left here and started following the Divide Trail which would lead us to the Pacific Crest Trail in 2.8 miles. Shortly after starting up this trail we detoured right to check out Margurette Lake.

The trail passed close to this lake offering several views of Luther Mountain along the way.

Beyond Margurette Lake the trail began to wind it’s way uphill passing several smaller bodies of water including Lake No-SE-Um where several mergansers had congregated.

The trail turned back to the North passing above Margurette and Trapper Lakes along a shelf before turning West and climbing more steeply via switchbacks.

Saddle Mountain is in the distance with pointy Cherry Peak in the foreground. I believe that is Agency Lake visible in the Valley.

Pelican Butte to the right.

Mt. McLoughlin (post) to the South.

Eagle flyby.

Lather Peak with several more lakes below.

In the distance to the left is Aspen Butte (post) in the Mountain Lakes Wilderness.

Fall is in the air.

On of several small bodies of water along the shelf.

We know there were pikas out there because we heard their “meeps” off and on all day but with so many rocks we were never able to spot one.

Heading toward Luther Mountain.

Pelican Butte on the left and Mt. McLoughlin on the right. The peaks in the Mountain Lakes Wilderness are behind and to the right of Pelican Butte then the small, closer hump is Imagination Peak. To the right of Imagination Peak and slightly further back is Lost Peak and then further to the right (left of Mt. McLoughlin) is Brown Mountain (post). Interestingly according to Peak Finder Mt. Shasta should be visible in between Imagination and Lost Peaks but apparently there was enough smoke/haze in the sky that it was camouflaged.

After passing through the switchbacks the trail straightened out and headed almost due West as it climbed through a rock field on the southern flank of Luther Mountain.

We left the rock field and made a final climb to a saddle where we arrived at the PCT.

Luther Mountain from the saddle.

The Pacific Crest Trail.

After catching our breath we turned right on the PCT which descended slightly to a ridge to the West of Luther Mountain. We followed this ridge, which had been burned in 2014, for a little over a mile to a junction with the Snow Lakes Trail.
Lucifer Peak directly behind Shale Butte.

Lucifer Peak, Shale Butte, Devil’s Peak and Lee Peak.

Blowdown on the PCT.

Luther Mountain

Luther Mountain and Mt. McLoughlin behind us.

Lots of little birds along the ridge but most didn’t stop long enough for even a poor picture.

Sign at the Snow Lakes Trail junction.

We turned right onto the Snow Lakes Trail which passed along another shelf full of small lakes.
Martin, Wind and a Snow Lake from the Snow Lakes Trail.

Hawk circling overhead.

While I was trying to keep track of the hawk this Bald Eagle flew over.

Nearing the end of the 2014 fire scar.

Luther Mountain from one of the Snow Lakes.

Another of the lakes.

Tree on the edge of the shelf.

View from the shelf.

There were many cool rock features along the trail.

Devil’s Peak

Lee Peak and another of the Snow Lakes.

After approximately three quarters of a mile on the Snow Lakes Trail we dropped to one of the larger lakes where we briefly lost the trail.

A tree had fallen over the Snow Lakes Trail hiding it right where a use trail veered off to the lake. Only seeing the use trail we followed it along the lake until it petered out. A quick look at the map showed we were off-trail so we made our way back finding the downed tree covering the actual trail.

After regaining the trail we followed it downhill via a series of switchbacks past another lake.

The trail then began to turn ESE as it continued to descend toward Martin Lake and the Lower Snow Lakes. A total of 2.3 miles from the PCT we came to the Nannie Creek Trail junction.

The worst obstacle for the day.

Pelican Butte from the trail.

Sign at the Nannie Creek Trail junction.

We stayed right on the Snow Lakes Trail at the junction. After 0.4 miles we passed Martin Lake on our right.
Luther Mountain as we neared Martin Lake.

Dragon fly blending in with the huckleberry leaves.

Martin Lake with a view of the shelf that we’d been on.

Two tenths of a mile beyond Martin Lake we came to what was labeled Lower Snow Lakes on our map which was partly in Luther Mountain’s shadow.
Red huckleberry leaves

We found a log in the shade along the shore where we took a nice break.

After our break we continued on the Snow Lakes Trail another three quarters of a mile to a junction with the Donna Lake Trail.

It was another 0.7 miles back to Trapper Lake either way but the Donna Lake Trail led past Deep and then Donna Lakes so we veered left and took that trail.
Deep Lake was up first, just a tenth of a mile down the trail.

Donna Lake was only two tenths further.

Donna Lake Trail

We arrived back at the Sky Lakes Trail at Trapper Lake and headed back to our campsite for dinner.
Back at Trapper Lake.

Dinner didn’t go as planned as we realized when we pulled our water filter out that we’d left all the hoses at home. Fortunately we carry Iodine tablets for just such an occurrence so we had a way to treat water but by the time it was all said and done we decided to skip a warm meal and opted to eat some of the extra food we’d brought. At least we’d have water for the hike out the next day though. It cooled off quickly once the Sun had vanished and for the first time in a while we got to test the warmth of our sleeping systems.

Today’s hike came in at 14.5 miles with approximately 2300′ of elevation gain.

Day one is the dark track with the light solid line being part of day 2.

The number of lakes/ponds was almost hard to believe and the scenery was really nice. The timing was great with almost no bugs and the trails were in relatively good shape, just a few downed trees here and there but nothing too difficult to get past. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Sky Lakes Basin Day 1

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Sky Lakes/Mountain Lakes Area Trip report

Blue Lake Basin – 09/18/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 23, 2022
2 Comments on Blue Lake Basin – 09/18/2022

The second day of our Southern Oregon trip was forecast to be the wettest so we headed for the Sky Lakes Wilderness where the cloudy conditions wouldn’t hinder our views too much. Our goal for the day was to hike to Island Lake via Blue Lake Basin then possibly return via Cat Hill Way. The out-and-back to Island Lake is featured hike #40 in Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” guidebook (edition 4.2). We had visited Island Lake in 2016 (post) but from the other direction. Since that visit only covered 0.1 miles of the featured hike and the hike is titled “Blue Lake Basin” not Island Lake we had not considered it done.

We began at the Blue Canyon Trailhead.

A crisp wind blew through the small meadow near the trailhead encouraging us to hustle downhill on the trail into the trees which provided some relief.
An old fence in the meadow.

Entering the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

Into the trees we go.

It had been a while since we’d actually been cold starting out on a hike and it was kind of nice. We hoped that the wet weather was also present over the Cedar Creek Fire to the north near Waldo Lake. Here there was no sign of smoke as we hiked through the damp forest.

Just over a mile from the trailhead we arrived at our first lake of the day, Round Lake.

We continued on the Blue Canyon Trail another 1.2 miles to Blue Lake where a bald eagle startled me when it took off from a tree directly over my head.
The cliff face above Blue Lake ahead from the trail.

Hiking along Blue Lake.

Blue Lake

The bald eagle across the lake after startling me.

The combination of cool temperatures, wet ground and light rain kept us from lingering too long at the lake and we were soon on our way to the next one. Just beyond Blue Lake we veered right at a trail junction to stay on the Blue Canyon Trail.
The South Fork Trail went to the left past Meadow Lake and the Mud Lake before following the South Fork Rogue River to Road 720.

The Blue Canyon Trail passed to the right of Meadow Lake before arriving at a junction with the Meadow Lake Trail in a quarter mile.
Meadow Lake

Meadow Lake Trail junction.

For now we stuck to the Blue Canyon Trail which brought us to Horseshoe Lake in another half mile.

Just beyond this small pond south of the trail we turned right on a use trail which led out onto Horseshoe Lake’s peninsula.

Camping is prohibited on the peninsula which is signed in multiple places.

After exploring the peninsula we returned to the Blue Canyon Trail and followed it to the next lake, Pear Lake, which was just over a half mile away. We took another use trail down to the shore of this lake which is not at all shaped like a pear. (Unless it’s named after the core then maybe but it would still be a stretch.)

Ducks flying further down the lake.

From Pear Lake it was just over 1.75 miles to Island Lake. The trail climbed up and over a ridge passing above Dee Lake before dropping into Island Lake’s basin.

Grouse

The only flowing water we’d encounter on this day after not crossing any streams the day before at Union Peak (post) either.

Dee Lake barely visible through the trees.

Bigelow’s sneezeweed

Meadow near Island Lake.

A Horse Camp sign.

Island Lake through the trees.

We couldn’t remember exactly where we’d gone down to the lake on our previous visit, just that it had been a short trail to the Judge Waldo Tree. We turned left on a clear use trail which brought us down to the lake but not to the tree we were looking for.

There were a lot of mushrooms down by the water though.

We returned to the Blue Canyon Trail and continued around the lake to another use trail and again turned left. This one looked familiar and indeed brought us to the Judge Waldo Tree.

For those interested the 1888 inscription reads:

Judge J.B. Waldo
William Taylor
H.P. Minto
E. J. Humason
F. W. Isherwood
September 13, 1888

Judge Waldo was an early voice for conservation of the Cascade forests (today he most likely would not have carved his name into the tree like that).

Now that we’d linked the two hikes together we were content to head back. When we’d made it back to the Meadow Lake Trail junction we turned uphill onto that trail.
Pear Lake from the Blue Canyon Trail.

Back at the Meadow Lake junction.

Heading up the Meadow Lake Trail.

This trail was much steeper than the Blue Canyon Trail had been and if we were to do the hike again we most likely would opt to come down this way.

The huckleberries don’t lie, Autumn was right around the corner.

Approaching the ridge top.

Not sure what we missed here but imagine it was some of the peaks in the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

Just over a mile from the junction the Meadow Lake Trail ended at Cat Hill Way.

This trail ran between the Pacific Crest Trail (1.5 miles to the left) and The Blue Canyon Trailhead (2.25 miles to the right). We turned right following a very old roadbed that climbed gradually just below the summit of Cat Hill before descending to the meadow at the trailhead. While the other trails had been well maintained this one had a number of downed trees that were fairly easily navigated. This trail did provide a view of Mt. McLoughlin (post) albeit limited on this day due to the cloud cover.

Colorful fungus

Mt. McLoughlin

A little fresh snow, a welcome sight.

A nice little viewpoint just off the trail.

Passing below Cat Hill.

Back to the trailhead.

Our hike came in at 12.2 miles with approximately 1700′ of elevation gain.

We only saw a few other people which was surprising even with the wet weather given how popular this area is in the Summer. It had sprinkled off and on for most of the morning but we didn’t ever feel the need to put our rain gear on. We drove back to Shady Cove and after changing headed to 62’s Burgers and Brews for a late lunch/early dinner. The clouds were once again breaking up which was encouraging as we were heading back to Crater Lake the following day where we would be hoping for some good views. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Blue Lake Basin

Tags 62's Burgers and Brews, Blue Canyon Trailhead, blue lake, Cat Hill, Cat Hill Way, grouse, hiking, horseshoe lake, island lake, Judge J. B. Waldo, judge waldo tree, Meadow Lake, Meadow Lake Trail, Oregon, Pear Lake, round lake, Shady Cove, sky lakes wilderness

Hiking

Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas (Completed)

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

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

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

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

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

Black Canyon: 13.088 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-1

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

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

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

Clackamas: 9.465 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oregon Islands: 925 acres Days Spent in Wilderness-0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hiking Uncategorized

Progress Report – Oregon Wilderness Areas

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

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

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

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

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

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

Opal Creek – 2009, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18

Battle Ax Creek – 2014

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

Mt. Jefferson from Russell Lake – 2016

Drift Creek – 2010

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

Mt. Washington from the Pacific Crest Trail – 2015

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

The Three Sisters – 2014

Three Arch Rocks – 2011, 18

Three Arch Rocks from Cape Meares – 2018

Mark O. Hatfield – 2012, 14, 15, 16

Triple Falls – 2012

Mt. Hood – 2012, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Mt. Hood – 2015

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

Bandon Islands – 2018

Mill Creek – 2012

Twin Pillars – 2011

Mt. Thielsen – 2012, 14

Howlock Mountain and Mt. Thielsen – 2014

Table Rock – 2012, 15

Table Rock – 2015

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

Frustration Falls – 2018

Diamond Peak – 2013, 14, 18

Trapper Creek – 2014

Waldo Lake – 2013, 15, 18

View from Fuji Mountain – 2013

Roaring River – 2013

Serene Lake – 2013

Badger Creek – 2014

Badger Creek Wilderness – 2014

Middle Santiam – 2014

Donaca Lake – 2014

Bull of the Woods – 2014, 15, 18

Emerald Pool – 2018

Soda Mountain – 2015, 17

View from Boccard Point – 2015

Red Buttes – 2015

Oregon Badlands – 2016

Oregon Badlands Wilderness – 2016

Kalmiopsis – 2016

Vulcan Lake – 2016

Menagerie – 2016

Rooster Rock – 2016

Eagle Cap – 2016

Glacier Lake – 2016

Mountain Lakes – 2016

View from Aspen Butte – 2016

Sky Lakes – 2016

Mt. McLoughlin from Freye Lake – 2016

Lower White River – 2016

White River – 2016

Rock Creek – 2017

Spring Basin – 2017

Hedgehog Cactus – 2017

Bridge Creek – 2017

Bridge Creek Wilderness – 2017

Wild-Rogue – 2017

Hanging Rock – 2017

Grassy Knob – 2017

View from Grassy Knob – 2017

Clackamas – 2017

Big Bottom – 2017

North Fork John Day – 2017, 18

Baldy Lake – 2017

Cummins Creek – 2017

Cummins Ridge Trail – 2017

Rogue-Umpqua Divide – 2018

Hummingbird Meadows – 2018

Steens Mountain – 2018

View along the Pine Creek Trail – 2018

Strawberry Mountain – 2018

Slide Lake – 2018

Copper-Salmon – 2018

Barklow Mountain Trail – 2018

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

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

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

Happy Trails!

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

Year-end wrap up

The Hikes of 2016 – A Look Back

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date January 1, 2017
12 Comments on The Hikes of 2016 – A Look Back

It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to recap our 2016 hiking year, and what a great year for hiking it turned out to be! I spent our off-season (Nov-Apr) putting together a 7 year plan (yes I have an issue) to help us achieve two of the goals we’ve set for ourselves. One is to hike each of the featured hikes in each of William L. Sullivan’s five “100 Hikes/Travel Guide” books and the second is to visit each of Oregon’s 45 designated wilderness areas. (There are 47 but the Oregon Islands and Three Arch Rocks Wilderness Areas are off-limits.) In previous years I had only put together a schedule for the upcoming year, but by looking further ahead I was able to make sure we weren’t going to miss any hikes and they were scheduled at what should be good times to visit. We also now had a handy list of options, laid out by the best times to visit, to pick from if we needed to change plans for any reason. The schedule remains a work in process but as it stands today we will finish visiting all the wilderness areas with Grassy Knob in 2022 and 460 of the 500 featured hikes in Sullivan’s books by the end of 2023. The remaining 40 hikes are too far away for day trips so they are incorporated into vacations that will need to happen further down the road.

The first draft of our 2016 hikes was completed on 12/18/15 and consisted of 57 days worth of hikes totaling 624.4 miles. History had shown that those numbers (and the hikes themselves) would change as the year played out, but it was a solid starting point. That again proved to be the case as 10 of the original hikes were swapped out for others and 4 additional hikes were added, and the total mileage rose by over 150 miles to end at 792.8. We visited 8 wilderness areas for the first time knocking 7 more off the Oregon list. They were the Oregon Badlands, Kalmiopsis, Menagerie, Eagle Cap, Mountain Lakes, Sky Lakes, and Lower White River Wildernesses in Oregon and the Marble Mountain Wilderness in California. In addition to the new areas we hiked in the Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, and Mark O. Hatfield Wildernesses as well as the the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and the Mt. St. Helens Volcanic National Monument.

Our travels took us on hikes further to the west (Cape Sebastian State Park), east (West Fork Wallowa Trail – Eagle Cap Wilderness), and south (Cliff Lake – Marble Mountain Wilderness) than ever before. Our trips to the Marble Mountain and Eagle Cap Wilderness areas were our first 5 day/4 night backpacking trips which proved to be just about the limit on how long we can stay out given our current gear.

The weather was exceptional for nearly all of our hikes. Early winter storms left a more normal snow pack which helped make 2016 a pretty good wildflower year and we only ran into two weather related issues. The first was a slight chance of rain for our vacation week in May during which we’d planned on visiting the desert in SE Oregon. Any precipitation in that area would have made it impossible to reach our planned trailheads so we put that vacation off and headed to the Southern Oregon Coast instead which wound up being a great plan B. The second was a July hike on Scar Ridge in the Old Cascades which was swapped for Fifteenmile Creek on the east side of the Mt. Hood National Forest due to probable thunderstorms.

Although the weather conditions were almost always great the same couldn’t be said for the condition of a few of the trails. During our May vacation we encountered a host of ticks along the Illinois River Trail. Later in the year it was blowdown that proved to be the biggest obstacle. In the Sky Lakes Wilderness a section of the Badger Lake Trail to the Pacific Crest Trail was a mess.
Blowdown over the Badger Lake Trail

This was also the case along much of the Bowerman Lake Trail in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness.

As well as the Hand Lake Trail in the Mt. Washington Wilderness.
More blowdown over the Hand Lake Trail

The one consistent regardless of the location, weather, or trail conditions was the beauty and diversity that makes the Pacific Northwest so special. From west to east starting with the Oregon Coast:
Tillamook Head to the South of the Fort-To-Sea Trail
Tillamook Head from the Fort-to-Sea Trail

Lone Ranch Beach from Cape Ferrelo

View from the Oregon Coast Trail in Samuel H. Boardman State Park

Past the Klamath Mountains in Southern Oregon and Northern California:

Little Vulcan and Vulcan Lake below Vulcan Peak

Kalmiopsis Wilderness

Black Marble Mountain
Marble Mountain Wilderness

and the Coast Range to the north:

Old Growth Ridge Trail in the Siuslaw National Forest

Sweet Creek Falls

across the Willamette Valley: Trail in Minto-Brown Island Park
Minto-Brown Island Park

Bald Hill

into the Old Cascade Mountains:

Coffin Mountain from Bachelor Mountain

Rooster Rock in the Menagerie Wilderness

over the Cascade Mountains:

Mt. McLoughlin

Diamond Peak from the Pacific Crest Trail
Diamond Peak

The Three Sisters from a meaow along the Rebel Rock Trail
The Three Sisters

Mt. Washington

Three Fingered Jack beyond the Eight Lakes Basin
Three Fingered Jack

Mt. Jefferson from Jefferson Park
Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Hood and the Eliot Glacier
Mt. Hood

Coldwater Peak and Snow Lake – Mt. Margaret Backcountry, Mt. St. Helens Volcanic National Monument

into the High Desert of Central Oregon:

Badlands Rock – Oregon Badlands Wilderness

Deschutes River

Painted Hills – John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

NE to the Wallowa Mountains:

Ice Lake and the Matterhorn

Glacier Peak and Eagle Cap from Glacier Lake

Eagle Cap Wilderness

Here is a look at the locations of our hikes. The hiker symbols are the trailheads and the yellow house icon denotes the approximate location of our campsites.
2016 Hikes
An interactive version can been accessed here and includes all of our previous hikes.

In addition to the spectacular views the areas provided a wonderful variety of wildlife and vegetation.

Elk
Elk

Nutria
Nutria

Bald eagle

Chukars
Chukar

Coyote
Coyote

Pronghorn

Deer
Deer

Rabbits
Rabbit

Snowshoe hare

Mountain Goats
Mountain goat along the Lakes Trail

Mountain goat along the Boundary Trail

Bear
Black bear in a wildflower meadow

Grouse
Sooty grouse

Sooty Grouse

Grouse

Dragonflies
Dragonfly

Dragon Fly

Dragon fly

We encountered a number of flowers for the first time this year.
Sea fig
Sea fig

Cows clover

Bigelow's sneezeweed
Bigelow’s Sneezeweed

Cut-leaf anemone

Western blue clematis

Yellow Columbine

Pretty Face

Farewell-to-Spring

Mountain coyote mint

Yellow coralroot

Sea fig
Sea fig

California Lady Slippers

California Yerba Santa

Grass widows

sticky monkey-flower

Some sort of catchfly

Sea thrift

beach morning-glory

Yellow sand-verbena

California pitcher plant (Darlingtonia californica)

Scarlet pimpernel

Dutchman's breech
Dutchman’s breech

Hedgehog cactus

Golden Bee Plant

White mariposa lily

Siskiyou lewisia

kalmiopsis leachiana

Muhlenberg's centaury
Muhlenberg’s centaury

Bridges' brodiaea
Bridge’s brodiaea

There were just too many sights to fit into a year end wrap up so to see a sample from each of our hikes this album contains a few photos from each hike which attempt to show the beauty of each trail. There are a lot of photos (793 – One for each mile hiked) but then again there is a lot of beauty in God’s creation.

Happy Trails in 2017 and beyond!

Tags Darlingtonia, High Cascades, hiking, kalmiopsis wilderness, Marble Mountain Wilderness, Menagerie Wilderness, mountain lakes wilderness, Mt. Hood, Mt. Margaret backcountry, Oregon, oregon badlands wilderness, Oregon Coast, sky lakes wilderness