Second week in September... Fall is in the air, but the nice weather is still holding. It was expected to be in the low 80's in Bend this weekend, so I figured it might be a good to try a last camping trip in the mountains with Hunter and Noah before the weather turned. I expected it to be cool at night since the lake is at 5400 ft - almost 2000 ft higher than Bend. My plan was to take them out in the canoe to a wilderness camp site at the far end of Sparks lake. (Kelly and I did a moonlight canoe on Sparks in early August) Its impossible to get a camp spot here in the summer time but I figured September would be fine, and it was. This would be their first non car camping trip! They both did their soccer games in the morning and we headed up to the cascade lakes around 2:30 Saturday. We probably got on the lake around 3:30.
Here we are launching and going to the camp site. Also note, it seems to be frog season at Sparks. The shores and water was covered in these tiny frogs - see the bag full the boys collected.
We found a nice spot on a bluff at the far south east end of the lake with a view of Mt bachelor in the background. Lots of lava for the kids to climb and and explore while I set up camp. Hunter remembered slicing hot dogs like a squid from our trip to Canada 3 summers ago so we did that again this weekend.
The night was cold but not as much as I expected. There was only a slight hint of frost the next morning. In the morning we dressed warm initially but once the sun came up, it was really nice. We hung out, ate, played, read some devotionals about the outdoors and set out for our return journey.
We stopped for lunch and some scrambling on this neat uplifting of lava not far from the return point. It was great fun to scramble up the narrow fins of rock. Also being late season the water in the lake was super shallow in parts - you can see it in some of these pictures.
A short but super fun night out. The boys loved it. I think we will try and make an annual trip of this each September!
Lots of fun this summer. I put this video together to look back over the past few months of June, July and Aug.
Noah going into 1st grade
Hunter going into 3rd Grade
and...
Abbie starting Kindergarten!!
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After trying paddle boarding late last week on Elk Lake we decided to go down for an hour and try in to the Deschutes river in the Old Mill district of Bend. It was a bit more challenging for Noah with his own board and the river current, but the weather was beautiful.
On Sunday (Aug 24) my friend and work colleague Matt decided to climb to the summit of Broken Top (9175 ft). Broken top is one of the local volcanoes in the 3 Sisters Wilderness. Broken top is mostly class 2 with a small section of class 4 low class 5 scrambling/climbing near the summit. We did the Northwest Ridge route, that starts from Broken top trail head. The drive to the Broken top trail head is an interesting drive to begin with that you can likely get up with a 2 wheel drive BUT you will need high clearance. Its about 8-9 miles off the cascade lakes highway by Todd Lake and takes you up into some beautiful country with high country meadows and forest.
The hike from the trail head starts with approx 4.5 miles of relatively flat hiking to the Green lakes. It is some great hiking with views of the BT crater, high country meadows and views of Mt. Batchelor and sparks lake.
Just before arriving at Green lakes we headed Northeast cross-country up towards the northwest ridge of BT. The first picture in this set - you can see a view of the northwest ridge (coming up from the left in the picture) taken from the South sister trail (Moraine lake in the foreground) by one of the hikers in our group a couple weeks prior. As you head up to the NW ridge you get great views of South Sister. The last 2 in the set are from the lowest saddle when you ascend onto the NW ridge
Here is a great pano shot I took looking Northwest from the ridge (Matt in the shot)
Here are some shots of the ridge and summit
Some shots of the cross country descent and a great view of the Sisters and Green lakes that most people would not get since its not on the standard trail
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I signed the boys up for an obstacle challenge sponsored by Subaru. The boys were really looking forward to it. Their friend Joe Bercot also joined and they were doing it together. Parents participated 'for free' along with paying for kids to go. The route involved a cross country run ending with the obstacle course. See pics and videos below!
Noah swinging over the mud pit
Noah doing the belly crawl... not really on his belly (Hunter was ahead so I couldn't catch him on video)
All three boys after the event finished
August is the prime month for visiting mountain lakes in the cascades. The weather is still warm and the water has also warmed up! This weekend we decided to try Three Creeks Lake at the base of Tam McAuthor Rim. The last time I was here was for an early season hike in late June of 2012 when there was still a decent amount of snow. To reach the lake turn south on Elm Street in downtown sisters and drive for about 18 miles until the road ends at the lake - pretty easy. There are a couple campgrounds there as well and the lake has some nice open beach areas wth shallow wading areas for the kids.
Here are the kids playing in one of the 'three' creeks that flow into the lake. The water is ice cold!
On the way back through sisters we stopped at the famous sno cap for ice cream.
