It’s been a while since we have been to Sparks lake so decided to head up. Still patches of snow but great weather. Boys got in to swim. Hunter, Preston and his buddy Caleb from the neighborhood.
Noah wanted to do a backpacking trip with some friends for his birthday. Unfortunately, one of them broke his foot, so it was just 4 of us this year. A few years ago we did the same on his 13th birthday.
This trip we went to another one of the cascade volcanoes. Mt. Thielsen in southern Oregon.
Variable terrain from burned out forest to mountain streams coming right out of the snow. Only downside is that the mosquitos were horrible.
Older boys were busy so we went with Abbie and Preston to Edison Butte snowshoe area on Saturday afternoon.
3 Finger Jack is one of the cascade volcanoes. It’s not as high as some of the other volcanoes but has a challenging technical ascent. I went with a group of men from church.
The hike started off wet and cloudy at the car but cleared after a few hours as we ascended up onto the south ridge.
The ridge got steeper and more narrow as we got closer to the summit. There were two critical sections where we roped up the first was called ‘the crawl’ - a 150 ft traverse with over 1000 ft drop below you. Here we set up a fixed line as protection. The second part was the final climb to the summit block which was a fun 5.0, 50 ft climb. ‘The crawl’ was much more nerve racking and scary.
Sunset on the way down.
Overall a great and very challenging day with a great group of men.
I had read about a great overnight backpack on an area on the west side of Mt. Hood (highest Mt in Oregon) called Yocum Ridge. It was an 18 mile up and back hike that takes you up high almost to the tree line.
We invited our friends the Swansons to come with us and we decided to make a go at it!
It was a long hike up that ended up being longer than planned due to getting off on the wrong trail briefly which added a couple miles perhaps to the first day. We reached the lower meadow camp spots as the sun was getting close to going down. Everyone was tired so we found a good spot to camp for the night.
After a filling dinner we were greeted with a mostly full moon as we got ready to sleep. As can sometimes be the case in the mountains it went from clear to cloudy with rain overnight and we awoke to thick fog and wetness everywhere - classic pacific north west conditions for the walk down. However by the time we were back down near the trailhead the weather had almost totally cleared up - big difference in a few hours and several thousand feet of altitude change.
Previous years:
- 2014 - Sparks Lake, OR
- 2015 - Benson Lake, OR
- 2016 - Tam McAuthor Rim, OR
- 2017 - Deschutes River, OR
- 2018 - Big Lake, OR
- 2019 - South Central, OR
For many years we have been doing an annual August family camp trip before heading back to school. This year we went for 4 days to Paulina lake from August 20-24. August 20 is of course Abbie’s birthday so we celebrated both at home and in camp the first night. And we always go get abbie a free birthday drink at Dutch bros coffee.
Friday was a mixed bag of weather. Lots of clouds and a little cool. Our friends the Bercots were camping for 3 nights so we decided to go to the hot springs on the north side of the lake.
Saturday was probably our best weather day. Calm, no wind so a great day for being on the lake. Normally it gets choppy in the afternoon but it was as smooth as glass most of the day. We even tried to get holly on the paddle board. She put up with it for a while before jumping in and swimming to shore.
Sunday was also good other than some smoke that started to roll in from Oregon fires. Not enough to smell it which was great be it put a haze in the air. Our friends the Christoff’s came up for a few hours in the afternoon with their kids.
Hunter, Noah and I hiked Middle Sister today. We did the renfrew glacier route. Middle sister is 10,056 ft in elevation. The route we did gains a little under 5500 ft of elevation and we hiked about 18 miles. It took us a little under 6 hours to summit and a little over 4 to come down Car to car it was about 11 hours. Very long and tiring day but great experience for the boys. Route finding, snow climbing and rock near the top.
To get an early start we camped at the trailhead the night prior.
The hike up went through some amazing countryside before getting on the snow
Summit!
A few additional photos from the trip down.
Originally we had planned to rent a yurt at Tumalo state park near Bend and have a bunch of boys overnight camp with us, but as with most things it was disrupted by COVID-19. The Yurt was cancelled due to not enough staff to satisfy cleaning requirements so we chose to take a smaller group on an overnight backpacking trip! I chose a trip to an area near the mountain 3-finger Jack. It would be an 8 mile loop with about half the mileage each day, give or take but more uphill on the first day and mostly downhill on the second day.
Here is the group getting ready, doing gear checks and loading up at our house.
It took about 1:45 hours to get to Jack lack trailhead up in the high country above Sisters. Here is the excited crew as we get started and through the first few miles as we approach the mountain.
The next phase was to climb above tree line and crest the west saddle, and then drop off trail down the other side of the saddle. As we got on the slopes of the mountain the terrain changes, and got a lot more steep!
Fun Glissading down the snow slop on the south side of the saddle
We set up camp in an amazing remote alpine setting. Complete with towering cliffs and bubbling stream. I cooked a cake on a backpacking stove to celebrate Noah's birthday.
We saw a heard of goats, had a campfire and tree lights to celebrate before going to bed. While the sky's threatened a storm, we didn't have more than a few drop of rain.
The next morning rose glorious and sunny.
We then hiked cross country for 1-2 miles through some really pretty country until we hooked up with a main trail to finish out a couple of hours back to the main trailhead.
A great overnight adventure to celebrate Noah turning 13!
We love little crater campground on Paulina lake. We have been going to this area for years now and the kids know how to get around on their own because its so familiar. This year we will camp there 3 times! Our annual family trip is always late august but Kelly picked up a great site that just happened to be open in June and we will go again in September with a few other families we know.
As is typical in the mountains the weather can change dramatically. While cooler than Bend since we are up high, the weather on Friday (June 26) on arrival was in the mid 80's! By our departure Sunday June 28, we had snow flurries:) The fun of the mountains! Jasper Lovejoy came with us this weekend as Hunter was camping with Jack Lovejoy.
Pictures from the first day. (note the green color in the lake is pine pollen washing up on shore)
Abbie practicing starting a fire with a ferro rod.
Noah and Jasper riding bikes into the lake at dusk.
Saturday after a breakfast of egg bites in the Dutch oven, I took Abbie, Jasper and Noah up to the lake overlook hike. PJ stayed back to hang with Kelly.
Sunday unfortunately was not nice to wake up to, so after trying to keep warm with a mornings fire we packed up and headed out as it started to snow.
