Posts with tag 'Why We Love Central Oregon'

Crater Rim Trail Lightly Traveled

Newberry Crater, including Paulina Peak and Paulina Falls, are often our go-to hikes when the weather doesn't cooperate in exploring the Cascades. At a lower elevation, we can often hike this area well into early winter when snow stops our adventures in the higher mountain regions. And its location, between Bend and La Pine, is an easy drive from home.

Last Saturday, we ventured into Newberry Crater to avoid the choking smoke much of Central Oregon has been experiencing from the Bedrock fire and now Lookout and Petes Lake fires as well. We were fortunate that the air stayed relatively clear during our day there and we could enjoy a great hike.

We found a hike we had never done before last Saturday.  All Trails named it "Lost Lake to Crater Rim Trail" and it was a loop. The suggestion was to park at the Obsidian Flow parking lot, but we drove further down the road to an access point off the main road about a mile past.

Our initial hike was through a lodgepole pine forest, but as we got further away from the road, we began to gain elevation and the trail got closer to the obsidian flow. We saw larger obsidian stones on each side of the trail as the hike got gradually steeper. 

Eventually we reached the Crater Rim Trail. This trail circles Newberry Crater fully and is over 20 miles in length. We didn't want to take this hike today, but rather followed the route we downloaded. This involved a section of Crater Rim, and then a loop which dropped into a canyon that came up by Pumice Flat and rejoined our original trail.  This seemed a bit short for us, so we went back up the loop and then hiked toward Paulina Peak, not fully reaching it but found a terrific lunch spot to enjoy the views of Paulina Lake. We then returned back the way we came. The entire hike was just over 13 miles with 2350 feet of elevation gain. We only saw 4 people during the entire hike - all of them riding mountain bikes.

We hike Three Fingered Jack yearly and always enjoy our experience. Our 2023 hike was no exception and the air was clear, a challenge this summer with the smoke from the Bedrock fire near Eugene coming and going for weeks. 

The Canyon Meadow/Three Fingered Jack hike is one of our less strenuous summer hikes, the entire route taking less than 8 miles with roughly 1700 feet of elevation gain. Traveling through the forest recovering from the 2003 B&B fire, it is nice to see the growth of new vegetation and young trees, and it was easy to sample huckleberries growing along the path. Once you enter unburned forest, it isn't far until hikers reach Canyon Meadow with its green grass, wildflowers, and views of Three Fingered Jack. The "unmaintained" spur path to the mountain had a number of fallen trees to traverse, but past that it was easy to reach the base of the moraine which holds the blue glacial lake. 

It is harder to scramble up the loose rock of the moraine (going down you have to be careful), but we always do this and reach the saddle between Three Fingered Jack and a nearby peak which we have nicknamed "Dragon Mountain". From there, stunning views of the Three Sisters, Broken Top and Mt Bachelor can be seen. Looking the other way, views of Mt Jefferson can't be missed. During this trip, we also saw a nearby mountain goat; these goats were reintroduced to the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness around Three Fingered Jack in 2010 and have grown in number.

Tarn Lakes at the Base of Broken Top are Hidden Treasures

We have hiked to Golden Lake several times in the last few years, and have always enjoyed the experience despite the length of the trek. We have accessed Golden Lake via the Green Lakes trail, hiking past the last lake deeper into the Three Sisters Wilderness before turning off the main trail into the little used Golden Lake Trail and enjoying the gem of this beautiful, isolated mountain lake. However, we noticed several years earlier that the lovely series of waterfalls which feed the lake have a faint path next to the creek traveling higher up the lower slopes of Broken Top. We had never taken this path before due to the length of our day hike via Green Lakes already exceeded 16 miles.

The first weekend in August, 2023, we hiked to these remote lakes through Park Meadow, a hike we had never done before.  The trailhead for Park Meadow is located near Three Creeks Lake, a few miles from Sisters, and the first four miles of trail were through the dry, dusty dead forest which was the result of the 2013 Pole Creek Fire. Volunteers had cleared the first 2.5 miles of blow down, but the next 2 miles were slow having to hike over and around fallen trees. Despite the dead snags, there are signs of life with young trees, wildflowers, grasses and mountain shrubs growing in the burnt forest, especially near water sources such as the several creeks which flow through the area.

Once we reached unburned forest, it was a short mile or so to reach Park Meadow, a beautiful meadow with wildflowers, green grass and views of Broken Top. Crossing the East Fork of Park Creek was a little challenging for those of us wishing to keep our feet dry.

Past Park Meadow the trail gained elevation at a greater rate until we reached Golden Lake. We walked around the lake to the lovely waterfall at the far end and traveled up the faint path another mile or so, following the unnamed creek which had many small waterfalls and wildflowers all the way to the spring from which it began at the base of a glacial moraine. Hiking up the moraine to the top we reached the first tarn lake, which had a beautiful ice blue color we have seen at other glacial lakes. Up the second moraine we reached the last tarn lake where we ate our lunch and enjoyed the views of Broken Top, including the ridge which overlooks NoName Lake. We spotted several people walking along the ridge, but from the distance we were at, the figures were too small to identify.

With the extra mile up and back to the tarn lakes, our total trip was just shy of 16 miles and roughly 2000 feet of elevation gain. Outside of the volunteers clearing the blow down 2.5 miles in, we saw no other people until we returned to Golden Lake. It was a wonderful day exploring Central Oregon's beautiful hikes.

Mt Hood's Clear Lake a Popular Destination

With the recent heavy smoke Central Oregon has been experiencing from the Bedrock Fire, we expanded our hiking locations to include the Mt. Hood area. Last Saturday we enjoyed the hike to Clear Lake, a popular hike located just off Hwy 26 by Skibowl in the Mt Hood National Forest. We started our hike just after 9:00 am after our two hour drive from Bend, and found the parking lot practically full. The hike to Clear Lake was well marked and typically is an easy to moderate in and out loop trail around the lake with roughly 300 feet of elevation gain. However, past the lake, which has lovely views of Mt. Hood on a clear day, there is an option to hike up Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain in the Salmon - Huckleberry Wilderness, a trip that provides for over 1700 feet of elevation gain and lengthens the total hike to over 8 miles.

Upon reaching the rock filled overlook, we continued on another 1/2 mile to the actual summit on Tom Dick Peak, which we discovered is part of SkiBowl recreation area, clearly not part of the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness. Our GPS showed an option to hike down through the ski area, which we did. This involved traversing several diamond runs and connecting with the unused mountain bike trail. Our hike down to the Skibowl buildings by the parking lot was extremely steep and what took over 4.5 miles to gain in elevation we lost in just over 1 mile. We do not recommend this route for most people. However, it was a beautiful day with wonderful views of Mt Hood and a pleasure to be out of smokey Central Oregon.

We have hiked to Camp Lake annually over the past few years. We have always appreciated the beauty of the area with North, Middle, and South Sister as well as Broken Top dominating the skyline. However, the hike to the beauty was especially hard this year due to the heat of the July weather and the large number of fallen trees which needed to be maneuvered around. 

We arrived at the Pole Creek Trailhead, off forest service road 15, early in the day and started the hike in the relatively cool temperature of early morning. The first 4 miles of the hike are through the burned trees of the Pole Creek fire from 2012. The first 2 miles of this dry, dusty trail were cleared from the fallen trees, but once we turned off the main trail onto the trek toward Camp Lake, the blow down was significant. We had to step over, around and on top of many fallen trees, some of which required leaving the trail altogether and potentially losing the way. In situations like this, we rely on GPS. Once reaching unburned forest, the hike is much more pleasant with shade and views of the Three Sisters becoming even better as we gained elevation. 

The crossing at the North Fork of Whychus Creek was challenging this year, however, with more water flowing from Diller Glacier than we had experienced in past years. We crossed upstream of the normal crossing in order to find a safe spot that would keep our feet dry.  

The last few miles to Camp Lake are wonderful. Hikers feel as if they are surrounded, at least 2/3rds of the way, by the towering Three Sisters with Broken Top just over a ridge to the east. The mountains are so close it seems as if it would be a fairly easy jaunt to hike at least the lower shoulders of each of the Sisters. The air was clear and the views spectacular. Once we reached Camp Lake, we sat at the end of the water enjoying the reflection of South Sister in the clear lake water as we ate our lunch. Our stop was not long enough, but we had to return back to our car. The few people we met on the trail were backpacking and would spend the night, not doing the roughly 15 miles we did in one day. We gained around 2000 feet of elevation during the entire hike, but despite the challening path with the multitude of obstacles to get around, the experience was well worth it.