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.