Another adventure!
We arrived at Lava Lake TH at about 10pm on the 23
rd. Expecting to find an empty parking lot,
we were surprised to find it packed so crept through the nearby campground looking for a campsite. Finding none, we went back to the TH parking lot and slept in the van. We’ve found the advantage of spending the night in the van is that there is no camp to break in the morning, just slap on our packs and get moving. We hit the trial by 7. The first ¼ mile was familiar territory as we took it last hike, but from there it was a different world. We hit lava immediately and spend most of the morning hours on it.
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| On our way... |
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| Looking South---that's where we were 2 weeks ago! Amazing how far our feet can carry us! |
We saw the Mackenzie Pass Observatory but didn't want to take the time this trip to see it as we'd been there before. Not far after crossing the HWY we found our favorite Trail Magic--PIZZA!
Soon we came to Belknap Crater and with a little coaxing, I convinced Jeff to do a quick slack pack (no backpack) to Little Belknap. It was only about 1/4 mile long but had a few challenging climbs to reach the summit. The view was worth it.
The smoke from the nearby forest fires created a heavy cloud cover and unique photos but didn’t present much of a breathing problem even though we could definitely smell it.
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| Finally off the Belknap lava flow. What a relief! |
The hardest part of Friday was the lava trail. If you have ever hiked on lava, you know it can be rough. But there were no significant climbs or events of the day and we easily made our 20 mile goal and camped at the trailhead off the Santiam Hwy.
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| Not the official way to hang the bear bag, nor did we need it, but it looked kinda cool and official hanging there! See the moon over the trees? It was really cool when it got dark. |
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| Sun setting on our camp. We wrap our packs in a bag at night to keep the dew off them. |
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| The sunset... |
Saturday the 25th
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| If it wasn't lava, it was sand--just like the beach only courser. |
We set our goal for 23-25 miles today. We hoped to camp at Shale Lake. A little later start but still we’re on trail by 7:30.
A lot of ups and downs today but overall, decent trail. Several burnt forests. We had a lot of variety of scenery-burns, new growth, lava, mountains and lakes. We leap-frogged with several thru hikers: Bone Lady, Cheese, Houdini, Bucket and few others.
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| We'll spend the night beneath 3 Fingered Jack. |
At Rockpile Lake we all seemed to stop so had a nice visit. There
Houdini told us about another Tillamook hiker, Beef Nugget who should be
either just ahead or behind us—probably meet him at camp tonight if we
all make the same location. Not 5 minutes later Beef Nugget showed up so
we got to meet him. It’s such a great small world.
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| Rockpile Lake. You can see some of the hikers through the trees. |
More elevation today. It seemed like we did a lot more climbing. Did I mention I really dislike climbing? That is until we have to go down, then I don’t’ like down, or, through brush, then I really don’t like brush…*sigh* I love hiking…Jeff and I huffed and puffed up and up some more over some yucky trail (not terrible, but not as pleasant as some) and later when Houdini passed us, we asked him what he thought about it? He smiled, 'what about the trail, it’s great!' I guess it’s the culling of the through hikers from the weaklings like us. Gosh, I’m looking forward to being able to say “great trail!” next year and not be panting while I do.
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| Houdini's 'easy' climb! Argh. |
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| Dusty, dusty, dusty. See the trail on the distant hillside? |
It started getting
late and we got tired so when we came across a nice site with a view of Mt. Jefferson, we decided to make camp—no Shale Lake but still 20 miles so we’re satisfied. Besides, I really wanted to camp where we might get some good sunset/sunrise photos. Problem was, the campsite had only recently been vacated of its snow cover so was quite buggy. We didn’t linger out of the tent in the evening. Fortunately, mosquitoes seem to sleep in so they weren’t a problem in the morning.
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| cool reflections on an unknown lake |
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| If all the trail could be like this! |
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| Felt just like any crooked hwy...isn't this wild??? |
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| As you can see, the weather was perfect and so were the flowers |
It
was a fabulous day. Decent trails, lots of the normal up and downs. An
unusual event for us this trip was there were few creek crossings. Which brings up carrying water. We
always go safe and try to carry 3 liters of water each which, many of the
thru hikers say they only carry one and refill often. At this time, we
are still using tablets to treat our water, so need the extra in order
to always have some to drink while some is “cooking.” We’re
rethinking/reconsidering a water filter in order to carry a little less
water. That would potentially drop our pack weight a couple of pounds!
We
did have one creek crossing. It looked kind of scary as we approached.
It was rushing pretty good and looked to be-above-the knee deep but
finally we took the plunge and…it was like there was no current and it
was another case of looking worse than it was. It felt so cool and
refreshing! As usual for me, I turned around and did it again.
Our next
landmark was crossing the Russell Creek. Notorious as a rough water
crossing I was a bit nervous but so far, we’ve been able to deal with
whatever the trail has tossed at us. Were we ever surprised to round the
corner to see a snow bridge over Russell Creek. Not just a little one
either. It was pretty impressive. Fortunately, there was a thru hiker
just finishing the crossing so we were able to see how he did it and
where. He was thoughtful and waited a few minutes to make sure we got
off okay before taking off. Thru hikers are so nice and cool and I can’t
wait to be one of them...The bridge was a bit daunting, but once we
made it across we could see the thickness of the ice and there was not
much danger of falling through except I suppose over the place where the
water was raging.
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| Russell Creek Ice Bridge |
We
ventured up trail more until we hit the Jefferson Wilderness Park. Wow.
It’s a place to visit. Many of the little lakes were dried up or nearly
so, but even yet, it was spectacular with the blooming wildflowers,
trees and fantastic views of Mt. J. The trail was flat and perfect.
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| Mt. J park wildflowers. Can't capture the beauty! |
We
kept hearing a loud big helicopter and couldn’t figure out why it kept
doing circles around the park. We remembered reading that there was a
lost hiker in the area earlier in the week so we supposed they were
looking for him. Then a second helicopter came in and we could see that
they were getting water from the nearby lakes to fight the fire and the
first helicopter was a news crew recording the action. It was kind of
cool. I suppose if they showed any scenic shots of the event on the
evening news you might have seen us a little blips in the woods.
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| heli with a water bucket |
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| zoom in on the glacier. Impressive! |
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| View from below. |
The
day was picture perfect. Then we had to leave the PCT to go to the
South Breitenbush Trail TH. This was the detour route for PCTers for the
Waterfall Fire on the other side of Mt. J. The good news was that just
today the PCT had been reopened to thru hikers. So of course, since we
aren’t we couldn’t continue on… Jeff
had read that this was still a bit tricky, with snow and mud hiding the
trail. We were a little nervous leaving the PCT but also had the
advantage of several PCT footsteps to follow. Almost
immediately, a COLD wind picked up and we hit a large snow patch that
did indeed cover the trail. It had melted quite a bit since the report
though and we only had to look a little bit to find the trail. The cold
temperature stayed with us though as we climbed down a trail that
doubled as a rough creek bed. It was nasty. Several small creek
crossings and lots of bugs. Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore…
We had just crossed the largest creek of the trip and were putting on our coats when
a
thru hiker came up trail to us. She was very excited as she asked if
the PCT had been reopened and nearly cried with joy when we told her it
had. She explained that she’d taken the required detour but being a
purist hiker (one that has to hike the actual trail) she had hitchhiked
and hiked several miles back to make up the
4
miles she’d missed. And thus, Busted Magic entered our lives.
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| Busted Magic |
Her plan
was to catch these 4 miles then hitch hiked back to where she’d left the
trail at Timothy Lake to get back on track. Long story short, we
explained that we were parked not too far from Timothy Lake and would
give her a ride tomorrow. She was overjoyed and as she headed up the
trail toward the PCT, she gave us the news—the South Breitenbush trail
was a “CRAPPY” trail and all uphill coming this way. I smiled and said
at least we get to go downhill.
Crappy
doesn’t even fit. It was the trail from H. We knew we would be cutting
it close at our hiking rate and the distance—it was a 6 mile trail we
SHOULD make it to the TH by 8 at the latest. As I mentioned, it was a
creek bed so there many large rocks and boulders and crevices. It was
still wet and muddy in places and it was a real ankle twister and
blister maker. It was probably the worst trail we’ve been on. Indian
Springs is a close second, but it was only a couple of miles so this one
is worse! We hiked along and bit our lips as the blisters started to
form. The sun began to go down and we kept thinking the parking lot
should be around the corner—just the next corner or the next, or…the
next…or…8 came and went and the thick forest made the setting sun even
more noticeable. We kicked around finding a site (there weren’t many to
pick from it was very brushy) and stopping but since we were so close,
we decided to push on. Eight came and went, then 8:15 and it was getting
very dark but our eyes were still somewhat adjusted to the lack of
light so we could still see and kept marching. Finally, it got too dark
and we donned our headlamps at about 8:30. We should have reached the TH
by now, had we missed our trail? We had to do some scouting for the
trail in a couple of places but felt pretty confident we were on it.
Neither of us were scared of anything
other
than the possibility of having to backtrack this horrible trail
tomorrow. Just about when we were ready to give up, we came to the TH
sign. We made it. We marched across the large gravel parking lot, found a
grassy spot and made camp. We later learned from Busted Magic that this
trail was closer to 8 miles rather than the 6. No wonder!
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| This is not the aurora borealis but they are cool clouds and grey mountains... |
As
we made camp, I marveled at the sky. It appeared to be an aurora
borealis. The entire sky was full of rolling clouds and blues and pinks
and it was the most beautiful sky ever. The clouds stayed as the colors
rotated and the moon moved in and out of view. As exhausted as I was, I
couldn’t stop ooohing and aaahing and desperately trying to get a photo.
We
rose at our normal 5:30 happy to be at our TH and rolled over and went
back to sleep so happy to be here so we could! Steve and Amanda showed
up as scheduled and we were on our way home. We did take Busted Magic to
her drop off point and had a wonderful time visiting with her and
picking her brain about the PCT. She’d hiked all but 180 miles last year
so being the purist she is, she was doing the entire trail again this
year in order to complete it. She was awesome and fun and we were
excited to get to know her.
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| View from the Highway--not as pure as from the trail! It's so cool to say "we've literally been there!" |
We love hiking!
Jeff 'n Sue
We
did have one creek crossing. It looked kind of scary as we approached.
It was rushing pretty good and looked to be-above-the knee deep but
finally we took the plunge and…it was like there was no current and it
was another case of looking worse than it was. It felt so cool and
refreshing! As usual for me, I turned around and did it again.
Busted Magic, that's her trail name I guess. Love the pic! I love to hike and I get to go pretty often, just not too far. Hiking takes my life and twists the values around till they root in the ground again. Keep it up!
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