The PCT Volume 35: Peaks, Passes, Trails…

[Brad Young]

June 20 and 21:

This thread’s title: “Peaks, Passes, Trails…” describes a lot of what we experienced in this wonderful part of central Oregon. But it also ends without really ending. The list isn’t quite complete. In fairness the list should also include mosquitos by the ton, literally hundreds of lakes, at-times endless forest, open volcanic country and, eventually, incredible, incredible views. We also passed a pretty signifiant milestone at the end of the last day.

We’re far enough north in this adventure now that we need basically a full day to drive back to the trail. On this trip we planned to drive past our last end point at Willamette Pass, directly to a campground near huge Waldo Lake. A campground there would serve as an ideal base for three days of hiking and three nights of camping.

But the National Weather Service gets a word about plans like this. And it can supply good news and bad news. Here, the good news was that the weather looked fantastic for all of our planned hiking days. The bad news though was that on the afternoon and evening of our drive, thunderstorms and hard rain would pound the whole area.

At our age, setting up camp in pouring rain just isn’t high on our “fun” list. We checked into a motel in Chemult, on Highway 97, 40 miles from Willamette Pass (it turned out to be a good decision, it did pound rain):




Our start the next day was routine. But after this long off the trail, it was really, really nice to get going again:







Vicki walked us from the trailhead to the trail:







And then we started a pattern that lasted for much of our first four days, hiking in forests:




To and past lakes. On this first day we passed the three very pretty Rosary lakes (the dogs just love lakes):
















The PCT guidebook describes the many lakes along the first 45 miles of this trip this way: “they support a superabundant mosquito population from late spring through mid-July.” Yep. It is after all mid-June and we knew what to expect before we even started. Superabundant is an ideal descriptor. The lower elevation lakes aren’t terrible, but most of the lakes above 5,000 feet are. Mosquitos. Billions of them. I didn’t take any photos.

The trail climbs briefly out of the Rosary Lakes. On the climb we gained one clear spot that provided the only “grand vista” of the day. And what a view, looking south over the Rosary Lakes, and, beyond, to the much bigger Odell and Crescent Lakes:




We also got a glimpse southward to Diamond Peak. This peak had been shrouded in smoke when we passed it last September. It wasn’t today:




Mount Thielsen from the north:




Per plan, after just over nine miles, we exited the PCT on a side trail to the Waldo Lake Road to meet up with Vicki (A short hike today to set us up for a medium hike tomorrow and a 22 plus miler on day three). Here the girls are waiting for Tricia to catch up at the “exit” trail trail-junction:




While we were hiking, Vicki drove over and set up camp (complete with a few cans of a seemingly-appropriate beer):







A great day. An easy and short hike, but smoothly executed and with great weather. Once again we were on our way!

[briham89]

Good start....where's the rest??? 



I've got a hot cup of coffee and the day off.

[Brad Young]

^^^

As your wonderful wife can now tell you, preparing these reports is time intensive. I'm working on it      

[Brad Young]

June 22:

Often, while the girls and I hike, Vicki does “driving recons” of possible pick-up/drop-off locations or of places to camp. It’s part of how this family adventure is fun for her too. She’s been doing this now for years. We’re careful in our planning and in our preparatory discussions. And, for example, she’s never failed to be at a pick-up spot (she was an hour “late” once though - that was cause for worry).

She did such a reconnaissance yesterday. While we were hiking she tried to drive a seven mile long dirt road from Waldo Lake to a campground at Irish Lake. The campground there is just slightly off the PCT and would make the perfect destination for a 15 mile, second day’s hike.

Unusually for Vicki, this time she failed.

Vicki got two miles out on the road and turned around. Apparently the road was so bad that even turning around was an epic. Here’s a woman who’s so determined to “get there” that in trying to get to us on one trip she inflicted thousands and thousands of dollars of damage on the Expedition (that was in 2011, and we don’t talk about it). And yesterday she couldn't drive this seven mile road.

As seems often the case in life, we saw later that this failure was actually fortuitous. When we eventually hiked past Irish Lake, it was swarming with furiously famished mosquitos (whereas camp at Waldo Lake was only bad early and late in the day). Also, I ran into a “four wheel drive” enthusiast partway through the trip who laughed at any attempt to drive that road, saying he’d only ever seen ATVs there.

But for now the “failure” required a change of plans. Instead of a 15 mile second day, we’d do a really short eight mile day. And then, instead of a 22 mile third day, we’d do 27.6 miles to the Elk Lake trailhead as a backpack with one night out.

Here's the Bobby Lake Trailhead as we get ready to hike back out to the PCT:




Lots of forest hiking again today:




To our surprise we found some snow on the trail:




First we laughed at the small amounts of snow (so different from last year’s difficult hikes). And then (in honor of those hikes) we fed it to the dogs:




With one exception, today’s hike was forest marching. The one exception was a rock-outcrop vista point that allowed great views of Diamond Peak to the south and Waldo Lake to the west (Waldo is so big that I couldn’t fit the whole thing into the viewfinder):













More snow:







Here’s a photo of Tricia changing her shoe-sole inserts. This photo matters because, eventually, these inserts made us change our plans again (the inserts were recommended by her doctor, but Tricia used them incorrectly for the first three days and her feet suffered, and as a result we had to allow more rest time and do shorter hikes than we’d intended - but even this turned out well, allowing us more days on the best part of the hike):




And finally a barely visible teaser shot of what's ahead. We got this view through the trees of a triangular peak and a snow-clad behemoth nearby. I think we were looking at South Sister (the behemoth) and, to its right, an end-on shot of Broken Top (making it look smaller and steeper than it looks from the sides). I'm still not sure that I've identified them correctly. But, whatever their names, they were big. We were impressed:




Our short day ended at Charlton Lake Trailhead. Vicki hiked out to meet us at the lake itself (so many, many lakes in this part of the Cascades!):










Things happen and plans change. We were forced to change here (again). So be it; we kept moving right along.

[squiddo]

Man rough scenery. Beautiful doesn’t seem to do It justice

[Brad Young]

June 23:

On day three we headed back out from Charlton Lake Trailhead, north to Elk Lake near Mount Bachelor (who’s that elf in the second picture, behind the car?):










Charlton Butte burned some years ago. We got some views into the distance. Tricia loved the “Pick-up Sticks” pattern of the now-fallen trees:













We quickly passed into a Wilderness that I’ve often heard about and longed to visit:




And then lake after lake after lake. Irish Lake:







Brahma Lake:




Jezebel Lake for lunch:




Stormy Lake:




And an unnamed “lake” that’s just a puddle. No outlet and no inlet. Snow-melt that diminishes in size as the season goes by:




Am I exaggerating about the lakes? Maybe, but maybe not. There’s not a lot else to see when hiking in such forest. Here, for the discerning reader, is a photo of the area’s map. Lakes? Yeah, just a few (the PCT is shown by the red line):




Desane Lake:




And, finally, S Lake, where, after 16.4 miles, we decided to camp:







The lakes and forests we passed through seemed strangely sterile. Not lifeless, that would be silly. But we saw no fish, no mammals and only one species of bird (a grey and white beauty about the size of our Scrub Jays). Of course we were just passing through and not searching. But less diversity, less life than we expected.

Except for the mosquitos (and really, they’re not “diverse” either). The only refuge in the evening was in the tent (and then it took ten minutes to hunt and kill the invaders who entered the tent with each human):




Dinner was peanut butter sandwiches and bars (no stove needed with just one night out). With the long days of late June, we were fast asleep by dark.

[squiddo]

Man I loving those lakes! Happy 4th

[Brad Young]

Man I loving those lakes! Happy 4th

Yep, happy Independence Day.

Lots of lakes. Lots of peaks and huge lava fields coming up....

[clink]

 Beautiful report. Makes me a believer. I did get 2 hours in on Buzzard Lagoon(next crossroad up canyon from us) today, foot is talking to me a little about it.

 That trail beer sounds good right now.

[Brad Young]

June 24:

The PCT comes within 0.9 mile of Oregon Highway 46 near Elk Lake, west of Mount Bachelor. We intended to come off the trail there and meet Vicki. It worked as planned.

First, the four of us were up at the crack of dawn (along with the 20 billion local residents). Breakfast was cold, homemade “overnight oats.” Vicki and Tricia “cooked” up this idea. Normal three-minute oats combined with water, chopped fruit, a few containers of coffee cream and some agave nectar packets. Left overnight in a ziplock.

It worked as planned too. Oh, except for the part about not having a bowl or a spoon with which to eat near-liquid oatmeal. Crap. Well, necessity is the mother of invention, right (or something like that)? Did you know reader that now-empty Pringles cans will hold enough oatmeal for two? Neither did we. We know now:










More forest-hiking today past lakes:










We crossed Reserve Meadow which seemed to us quite similar to typical Sierra Nevada meadows:




Island Meadow was very big and continuous:




Early to bed and early to rise made us fast on the trail. By 11:30 we’d made the 11 miles to our exit for the day. As it turns out, the exit trail goes through recently burned areas too. For the first time we got mostly-open views of some of central Oregon’s magnificent Cascades. Here are Mount Bachelor and Elk Lake from the PCT:







And, finally, close enough to really impress, this beauty - South Sister:




Tricia’s feet were alarmingly painful by now (beaten up by the improperly used inserts earlier, she was having some trouble recovering overnight). Also, both of us had on at least 20 pounds each of accumulated mosquito repellent.

We decided we needed a rest day. We met up with Vicki and talked about options. This was a Sunday afternoon and, in Vicki’s words, the whole Elk Lake area was a zoo (no parking, every nearby campsite taken, every lake surface area in the vicinity covered with kayaks, SUPs and other types of boats as local Oregonians made full use of a glorious and gorgeous summer weekend day).

We bailed to Bend, 40 minutes away (what a fantastic town too!!).

[F4?]

It’s nit too late to turn around...

[mynameismud]

nice trip

[Brad Young]

June 26:

Holy wow! There’s simply no question about it.

Over the years that we’ve been hiking the PCT I’ve often been asked: “what’s your favorite part?” Single favorite part? Damn, that’s a really tough question. Asking that is kinda like asking: “what’s your favorite pizza?” There’s so many good parts/pizzas, that choosing just one can, at times, seem impossible.

I suppose though that, if pressed, I’d select the ten miles south of Sonora Pass as my favorite part of the trail so far. The jaw-dropping views, the exposure, the whole feel of the area. I could hike that section every summer week and never get tired of it.

If I could add to the list, the “High Trail” from Agnew Meadow to Thousand Island Lake might come in second. On that segment it seems as if one can magically reach out across the canyon and touch Ritter, Banner and The Minarets. They look like they’re that close.

Today we hiked into the north part of Oregon’s Three Sisters Wilderness. And I’ve now got another absolute favorite place on the PCT. Holy wow indeed.

Our plan was to start late and go only a little over ten miles for the day (we think that Tricia’s feet are lightly bruised from wearing the inserts wrong and so we’re going to do this leg in three days instead of the two we’d originally planned).

South Sister and Broken Top from the drive out from Bend:




Fresh and ready to go:










As sometimes happens with human perceptions, the 0.9 mile walk back to the trail seemed half as long going in as it did coming out:




Forest hiking followed, although the lower elevation and drier conditions meant that we had only a few of the voracious winged predators for the first miles:




We got excited by this almost-unobstructed view of South Sister (little did we know that “almost-unobstructed” wouldn’t be a factor for very much longer):




And then, from the top of Koosah Mountain, to the south, nearly 80 miles away, Mount Thielsen again (I still really, really like this peak):




Mount Bachelor to the east:




On that mountain top we also started seeing signs of more recent volcanic activity:







From Koosah we dropped down into the forest (and more residual snow):







We came to the wonderfully named, self explanatory Sisters Mirror Lake (it wasn’t still enough to act as a mirror when we were there):







So much pollen that it looks like paint:




More flat forest past The House Rock:




And then it all changed. We got 75 feet onto Wickiup Plain and saw this:







Tricia and I have hiked a lot of trail together. Thousands of miles now on the PCT and hundreds and hundreds of miles off it. And yet this pumice flat, this Wickiup Plain grabbed us anyway. Dry and mosquito-free, flat and easy to hike. But mostly just shockingly beautiful. Our younger dog Halifax ran about like a wild-woman. Tricia and I found ourselves giggling. She even claims I was swearing (as in “oh my #$%&$  God”):













Next to the plain, between it and South Sister was Rock Mesa. Recent volcanic rock. Bald, jumbled and piled up. Primeval looking:







We soon came to a transition zone between the pumice and older terrain, moving into Mesa Meadow:







Here we found more beauty, consisting of green grass and trees, flowers everywhere and a full and flowing creek. And unfortunately, again, winged beasts. Well, with the better and with the worse, this was home for the evening:










Tricia napped a bit (without mosquitos) while the dogs and I looked around:










And this shot. Is it a joy or a privilege to act as a human chin rest for two wonderful friends? Or both:




Coming up, our middle/full day in the gorgeous, gorgeous northern Three Sisters Wilderness!

[mynameismud]

dig the tent shot, looks like the background is printed on the tent.

[squiddo]

Holy wow indeed

[Brad Young]

June 27:

I love hiking. I love hiking with my daughters and with my wife. The dogs too. I love the desert and the plains. And the mountains. Every day hiking is a good day.

But inevitably some days are better than others. And today’s hike, what we did on June 27, was absolutely “the money.” Hiking - and life -  simply does not get any better than this.

Although I woke up at my customary, in-the-mountains, 5:30 a.m., I stayed as quiet as possible so that Tricia could get extra sleep (she’s a teenager and needs it). It worked; we didn’t start hiking until almost 9:00, but we had all day to go only 14 miles and Tricia got extra rest.

Easy, semi-forest walking early in the day:







Early views of South Sister:




First signs of last year’s fire:




Approaching now Middle Sister:




The day's first view of The Husband:




Sharing the trail with butterflies:




A snack break at Reid Lake (everyone we talked to called it by that name, but it’s not so designated on any map):




More sections of snow (in open, wonderful, alpine terrain):




Tricia catching up after a break:




The husband in front of The Husband:




And then we started to climb a little. Still in volcanic, open country. I looked south. And the view dropped my jaw. Diamond Peak and Mount Thielsen (Thielsen by now over 100 air miles away and, visible next to it the peaks that surround Crater Lake):







And what’s that little white blob between Diamond Peak and Thielsen? A mountain? Yes. Mount McLoughlin there and visible, what, 130 miles south of us. Unbelievable (this pixelated photo was taken with telephoto and also then blown up):




Moving right along to a point due west of Middle Sister:




By three miles later we were approaching serious lava country. Recent stuff, deposited hundreds, not thousands of years ago. My jaw had started to recover. And then we saw this to the north:







Good God! Can it get any better?

Mount Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mount Jefferson, and yes, Mount Hood. All lined up and viewed across unbelievable fields of lava rock.

We kept hiking. No, maybe we were almost floating over the trail by now. What country. What views. What weather. More heavy lava country:







And then the view changed to this:




Now we weren’t only looking at Mount Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mount Jefferson, and Mount Hood from this high point on the trail. There, to the right of Hood, tucked into a low point between lesser peaks was a white blob. Mount Adams. In Washington State. Here’s a highly pixelated close-up:




Now certainly floating (not hiking), we kept going across the lava:




And found “home” for the night near Minnie Scott Spring, still among substantial snow at 6,600 feet:







What a day.

[Brad Young]

dig the tent shot, looks like the background is printed on the tent.

I went back and looked at this (the shot of me and the dogs) since I hadn't noticed. You're right, that pattern looks like it's part of the tent's mesh wall.

[JC w KC redux]

Nice scenic shots and great ending shot.
Looks like a sledding hill behind you in the last shot.

[briham89]

WOW!!!!!! I love the Sierra, but man those lined up Volcano views are totally wild.

[JC w KC redux]

WOW!!!!!! I love the Sierra, but man those lined up Volcano views are totally wild.

That is what the Sierra used to look like a few million years ago before uplift, weathering and erosion took over. No meanderthals were harmed during the making of the current scenery