For Hunter's 13th year, I wanted to do a Father-son get-away so we planned a backpacking trip for July. We decided to try something outside of central Oregon and planned to do an 18 mile loop in the Strawberry Wilderness in north eastern Oregon just south of John Day.
Day 1
Friday afternoon we left Bend, drove 3 hours to John Day and had a quick dinner before heading to the trail-head at just under 8000ft. We camped at the empty trail-head, which must be a regular walking area for deer as we had 1 or 2 of them walking around our tent for a while after going to bed.
Day 2
Saturday morning we had a great breakfast of eggs and sausage before heading out. Our first objective was the summit of Strawberry Mountain (9038 ft). Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere throughout the trip which was a nice contrast to some of the burn areas we hiked through. We dropped our packs at the trail junction and just carried some water for the short 1.1 mile side trip to the summit.
From this high point hiked down into the next valley to Little Strawberry lake at just under 7000 ft of elevation. This hike took us down through the twin springs basin meadow and down a rocky ridge overlooking the main strawberry lake, and eventually down to a waterfall where we filtered water and had lunch before making the .5 mile side trip to little strawberry. Mileage for day 1 was about 7.7 miles.
Little Strawberry is very scenic nestled in under towering rocky cliffs. We brought a fishing pole and were able to catch a number of small trout. We had hoped to maybe add to our dinner with some fresh fish but alas, they were not quite big enough so they all went back. We were also able to swim in the lake which was nice given the warm temps.
Day 3
After having breakfast (and coffee for me!), we broke camp and headed back to the main trail. We hit strawberry falls within the first mile, and wished we had went a little further the day prior to find this gem. It's beautiful but being still early, it wasn't really warm enough to get under the water yet.
From here we quickly hit the main Strawberry Lake which had a number of people at it due to road accessibility. After Strawberry Lake at 6400 ft and 1.5 miles in for the day (9.2 miles cumulative) we hit the junction towards Slide Lake. Originally we considered Slide Lake as our next camp spot but Hunter suggested we push through to High Lake. (That turned out to be a great decision as the bugs were bad at Slide Lake). Today would be tough hiking from our low point at strawberry lake now eventually up and over another 8000 ft pass again. The trudge up to Slide Lake was sweaty and hot but we after cresting a ridge at around 7200 ft elevation we followed a steep canyon to Slide Lake where we stopped for lunch and water. (5.3 miles for the day, 13 miles cumulative)
From Slide Lake we headed up and up for another 1.2 hard miles to crest today's high-point, up through a rocky landscape with sections of blooming wildflowers. From the high point, we could see High Lake down in the next valley, which would be our target for today. Mileage total for the day was 8.1 miles, 15.8 cumulative. Lucky for us some clouds came in and made this section of the hike a little cooler. The sun eventually came back out later after we arrived a High Lake.
High Lake was alpine solitude at its best. Eagles soaring, and our highlight was a heard of mountain goats. I have only seen mountain goats in some remote areas of Idaho previously and explained to Hunter how much of a treat this was to get to see it. This was an amazing site. We initially saw a single goat come down to the lake and drink on the far side and proceeded to watch him climb back up the steep walls across the lake eventually rejoining a heard of what liked 15 or more high up on the upper grassy sections of the wall. Hunter ran over and took some photos but watch the video at the bottom to get a better glimpse. We also tried fishing and while the lake seemed to be teeming with fish, we couldn't coax more than a nibble on our line. Still fun to try though.
Day 4
Today we hiked back out of High Lake valley and back to where we had parked the car. No pictures as my phone had ran out of juice the previous evening. All told we hiked about 18 miles through some amazing wilderness with very few people for a weekend in mid July. The landscape really showed some variety from lower and more lush to high and dry alpine. We hike through various sections of burned forests,and yes, while it makes you sad to see the burned trees, you also can see how forests are resilient and recover. While it seems long for us, the recovery isn't long in the life of a forest. We saw everything from very recent (perhaps even last year) with ground still black, to those where the ground was covered with wildflowers, through to sections where their were small pines from 6 inches to 4 ft tall.
We also saw wildlife!... more than I have seen in other recent hikes in Oregon and more than expected. Most of all we had a great time talking, hiking, sharing meals hanging out by the campfire each night . A great trip for both of us.
Last year when my dad came to visit at the end of July we took a ride up the scenic chairlift to mid mountain on Mt Bachelor. It was a lot of fun so we decided to do the same with Pat and Sue on their visit this week. It was interesting to see the snow differences year to year. We went about 3 weeks earlier this year, but their is already less snow than when we went up last year.
The weather and snow conditions made for some great glissading with the kids.
Today Hunter’s youth group with Church did a snowshoe outing. It was also exciting for me as it was my first outdoor event since being in the hospital over a month ago. It was a great day.
We decided to get out of smokey Bend for the day and head up to East Lake. We have had so many fires in Oregon the last couple of weeks that the blue sky was something we have missed. We went up to the lake with our friends the Bercots. We had a fun day and didn't return home until bed time.
I thought I might to try and drive 'up' to get out of the smoke. I drove up to Newberry Crater south of Bend. I was smoky as I drove up but broke out of the smoke just as I neared the top and had great blue sky!
I did and 8 mile hike around the perimeter of Paulina Lake (1 of 2 lakes in the crater). It was great to get out after being cooped up in the house this whole week.
The pictures of me in the water are natural hot spring along the shore of the lake.
To say that our summer has been busy would be an understatement. We have had lots of guests and have played a lot outdoors in beautiful Bend. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves because we get to live in this wonderful place where people come to vacation.
Pappie arrived yesterday evening and we couldn't be happier to see him. The kids are enjoying every minute so far talking his ear off and just being silly.
We spent the day hanging out and visiting. We took a ride up to our ski hill, Mt. Bachelor. We rode up the ski lift, walked around and enjoyed the beautiful views, while still managing to throw a snowball or two.
We ended the day celebrating Pappie! Happy birthday, Pappie.... We love you!!!
Hunter reached a new high point this weekend by reaching the summit of South Sister - 10,358 ft! It took us 9 hours car to car including a nice lunch on the summit. The hike is 11.8 miles and gains 4,878 ft of elevation from the trailhead to summit. While not technical, it is a tough hike! I am really proud of him, and he is super excited about the accomplishment. The original plan was to train over the summer and maybe try it before it starts to snow again but he decided he would give it a go sooner and it went great.
This is my 3rd time up there. First time was in 2011 with Red. Second time was in August 2014 with some people from where I worked at that time. This year, for mid July, there was a lot of snow still on the mountain at pretty low elevations. I had hunter practice some ice axe techniques on the mid mountain snow fields where it was steep enough you didn't want to slide a long way, but also not any risk of injury. The snow also made for some fun on the descent!
This first set up shots is from where we broke out of the forest to a point on the mid mountain snowfields were we stopped for a snack.
These shots are from the upper snow fields where Hunter has the ice axe up to a sandy saddle at 8850 with a beautiful cirque lake at the base of the Lewis glacier. The video is from the way down but taken from right around the saddle area.
From here the climb gets steeper util you get to the crater rim. You can see from the shots the cirque lake getting smaller and smaller as we climb.
Some shots from the summit! First is of Hunter actually on the highest point.
On the way down we stopped at the saddle and went down to get a better view of the cirque lake at 8850ft. Notice Hunter in the top of the first shot walking down to give you an idea of scale.
Some fun sliding on the way down. When there is snow the way down is much faster than the way up. It took us over 5 hours to summit and we were down in a little over 3.
Its wildflower season now in some of the lower peaks in the cascade range, so Hunter, Noah and I decided to do a 6.5 mile loop hike at Iron Mountain. You will notice in these pictures its a lot more green as this is on the western side of the cascades so more lush than our central Oregon side. We drove from Bend for about 1:10 min west on hwy 26 and parked at Tombstone pass. From the parking lot we headed east on the cone peak trail.
Within the first 1/4 mile we came to this beautiful meadow. The sign indicated it was a trading area for native Americans and a common stopping point for settlers heading west.
From hear we heading up a number of switchbacks to the flanks of cone peak where Iron Mountain came into view to the west (with the big rocky pinnacle on the left/south side.)
Next we headed down to the saddle between cone peak and iron mountain, and across the north side before starting switch backs up the north side. As we exited trees, wildflowers started again. We actually might have been a little early.. I expect things will really explode in the next 1-2 weeks.
Upon reaching the summit, we were treated to amazing 360 degree views! We spent a good 45 min up there eating lunch, exploring and enjoying the views. A quick 1.5 miles took us back down to the car.
On Fathers day after church we with the weather clear and warm we took a drive just south of town to Lava Lands and took the shuttle up to the top of Lava butte for lunch and a short walk around the crater.
