Oct 23… well I guess it happened oct 22 but we couldn’t see the mountains yesterday.
We go camping on Paulina lake often in the summer. I have never been up in the winter. The resort on Paulina lake is actually open for a few months in the winter but you cannot drive in - hike or snowmobile only from a snow park that is a few miles down the road.
Noah and I drove up Friday afternoon and hiked in staying at one of the small 2 person cabins for the night.
On the way in we stopped and hiked down to Paulina falls. Again - a place we have visited in summer but not in winter. Really pretty.
Abbie really wanted to do a canoe camping trip this year so this weekend I took her to Waldo lake. We have camped there a few years back but there are some dispersed wilderness sites on the other side of the lake that you have to search to find.
The weather was spectacular this weekend, especially given it was the last weekend in September
We launched from Islet boat ramp. The water was like glass most of trip across the lake
We found a great spot on a point on the far western side of the lake with the tent spot hidden up in the trees but still with a view of the lake and lots of rocky beach to explore. Waldo does not allow any gas engines and with no people anywhere near us to was amazingly quiet. It actually sounds strange to hear no humam-made noises.
We had a great time sitting around the fire and making dinner together. We made pizza and salad for dinner with campfire cones for desert!
We rose when the sun got up- had coffee and hot chocolate followed by a breakfast of egg burritos using eggs from Abbie’s chickens!
Our trip back across was not quite as calm once we got out on the open water so it was good practice for abbie.
This years campout was a little different with no fires allowed due to drought conditions. It makes you realize how much a part of camping the campfire is. How it becomes the gathering place for meals and talking with its light and heat.
Nonetheless we made the best out of our 5 days away! Our friends the Christoff's came up for a couple days/nights as well!
Our main vacation this summer was a trip to visit our friends - the Kerr’s. Their family has a condo on whitefish Lake in Montana. After spending a couple days in northern Idaho we arrived in whitefish July 10. The days are long there in the summer, staying light until close to 11 pm. Lots of time to. Explore and play.
The condo itself is at whitefish lake lodge and is beautiful with views over the lake.
What’s nice is that the condos have access to the lodge amenities such as the private beach, pool, and pool bar.
The lodge itself looks like a really nice place to stay. Couple pictures from inside.
The family has a boat so we went tubing with the kids lots. With the early hot weather this year the lake was already warm for swimming.
On one of the days we hiked the “Danny-On” trail at big mountain (where the skiing is in winter). Hot but beautiful and the ice cream at the lodge at the top made it worthwhile. We rode the chairlift down for some great views.
There was a trail ride rental shop with a Big timber sled out front in Columbia falls that we had to stop and see.
We spend a morning shopping and exploring whitefish town.
Overall an amazing trip that was too short. We love Montana. Second summer in a row visiting and I’m sure we will be back.
While on our trip to Whitefish we journeyed into Glacier National park to see some of the amazing sites. We went in the evening and had amazing weather and the lighting was great for photos.
MacDonald Lake
Going to the sun road
Logan Pass
Kelly and the kids made my birthday really special this year. Lots of cool gifts plus I got a really nice whiskey set from Pat and Sue!
After church we drove south near silver lake and did a hike Hager Mountain. The tower is a working tower, so we got to see inside and see both the traditional and newer methods of scouting for fire.
The main reason we drove down to that area is that Kelly booked us reservations months ago at the very famous “Cowboy Dinner Tree”. It was an amazing filling steak dinner.
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’ve been toying with the idea of doing a solo multi-day backpack all summer. The stars aligned and I finally had a window at the first part of September. I chose to pack in an area of Oregon I’ve never been. The Wallowa mountains/ Eagle Cap Wilderness area in the northeaster part of the state.
Here was the planned route highlighted in yellow
Here are the overall approximate hiking stats post trip:
Day 0 - Drive to the trailhead
It took approximately 6 hours to drive from our house to the trailhead. East Eagle trailhead. I have never been past John Day Oregon so new driving area as well. The segment between Prairie City and Baker City was amazingly beautiful. I got to East Eagle Trailhead a little before 6 pm. I cooked some dinner, heated some tea and and slept by the car.
Day 1 - Trailhead > Hidden Lake
First day and few couple miles on the trail are always tough, especially with a loaded pack (approx 45 lbs). Plus the Northwest was going through a heatwave. On the drive up the day before, my car hit a high temp of 107. It would surely be in the mid 90's by the high point today. My goal was to get to hidden lake and set up camp to chill out through the heat of the day. It took me about 4.5 hours to cover the 8.6 miles and 2500 ft of gain. I arrived just before noon at Hidden Lake. The day was already sweltering and a dip in the lake did wonders to cool off.
Day 2 - Hidden Lake > Eagle Cap summit > Lakes Basin
I woke up to some great reflections on the lake and the moon above the ridge.
The first part of the hike was 1.6 miles and a little under 1000 ft back to the main eagle creek trail. From here it was a sweltering 2,460 ft of elevation gain over 4 miles to Horton Pass at 8,500 ft elevation. I had something to eat and dropped my pack at the pass just taking a water bottle for the 3 mile round trip to the summit of Eagle Cap at 9,572 ft (highest peak in the range). Amazing views of where I had been and where I would be heading the next day into Glacier basin.
By the time I got back to Horton pass, I was hurting. The extreme heat and miles were getting to me, and I could tell I was a little delirious since it took me a few looks to orient the map right when looking at it. I ate some more energy packet, and shouldered my pack for the last 1.3 miles down to the lakes basin where I would make camp for the night. I ended up finding a great ledge to pitch my 1-person tent with views overlooking mirror lake.
Day 3 - Lakes Basin > glacier lake
Day 3 rose glorious and a little cooler. An amazing sunrise greeted me. I was excited to get on the trail. The Lakes basin is such a pretty area but also very popular due to northerly trailhead with quick relatively easy backpacking access to the area.
Once I reached the junction to glacier pass, the people thinned out a little for a steep hike to glacier pass. Weather was cool and the hike to the pass went well. Glacier pass brought my favorite overall view of the entire trip looking down on the picturesque Glacier lake with its islands and surrounding peaks. Thankfully their were some other hikers there that were willing to take my photo with this view in the background. The hike down to glacier lake was quick and I stopped at the lake to get water and eat lunch.
Day 3 continued - Glacier Lake > Hawkins Pass and beyond
The hike from glacier lake to Frazier lake (the next low-point in terms of altitude) was pretty but its always bothersome to lose altitude when you know you have to go back up again. At this point I wasn't sure where I would make camp for the night - I had originally planned Little Frazier lake but decided to keep going up and over Hawkins pass to get a little further today. The hike up to Hawkins pass from Frazier lake was grueling (steepest section of the trip with a gain of 1,273 ft. over 1.8 miles), but at least the weather was cool.
The weather was clearly changing. By the time I reach Hawkins pass (8,400 ft elevation) the wind was crazy - I could hardly hear myself speak (see video) and the wind wanted to blow me off the steep downhill on the other side. This view was my second favorite of the hike. It felt like I was looking into a valley in the Scottish highlands - huge and vast. I dropped down into this valley and hiked approx. 2.5 miles down the trail to a spot where I made camp along the South fork of the Imnaha river.
The weather continued to blow like made and deteriorate in terms of temps and conditions. The temps dropped and I started getting some light hail/snow (big difference from 2 days prior) so I had to stay cooped up in my tent for cooking until time for sleep.
Day 4 - hike out via crater lake
It got really cold overnight. Frost on my flip flops and frozen water in my bottle along with frost on my tent fly were proof of that, but the sun was up and the nasty weather from the night was now gone. Once on the trail I started to warm up and the day looked to be off to a great start. At some point during the first 2.5 miles to the junction with the crater lake trail, I decided that today I would hike all the way out vs spending another night at Crater lake. I was starting to miss Kelly and the kids.
I made it to the beautiful crater lake by around lunch. I stopped and had lunch there talking to a guy on horseback who was up with his family from southern Utah. They had a hunting camp down below that I had hiked by. (Bow hunting season was open). I actually saw a couple deer in the bush on the hike up to Crater lake.
From crater lake it was 6 miles of straight down knee pounding trail most of which was in the sun. Not a super pleasant end to the trip but made for a triumphant return to the car! I was down at the car by 3:30 PM and after changing into some fresh clothes got on the road by 4 and headed for home!