Days 6 and 7

  After relaxing by Top Lake for a couple nights, it was time to push on. I'd stayed around to give the legs a break and to soak up some lake and relaxing time, eating huckleberries and settling in for a little bit. A nice breather, but the trail mindset was calling.  The legs could've used more time off, having done those 50 miles in the first 3, but the way out was ahead and Mt Jefferson was in the distance.

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 Heading up from Top Lake, I passed several other lakes, an open meadow that just made me smile and then an awesome outcropping with views of Mt Hood and Olallie Lake below. Talk about a great rear view mirror shot, capturing the distance I'd traveled so far.  Pushing 60 miles from Hood to get this view, and more to go!

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To get into Jefferson Park, my overnight spot under the mountain, you have to head up, up and up to 7000 feet to get over a ridge, to then go down and down to the meadows and lakes.  My legs were feeling pretty shot on the way up, but the thought of swimming, relaxing and watching the sun set on Jefferson kept me going.  That, and, there really is no stopping when you're on a trail and not at your destination.  Only one way to go, and that is right foot, left foot.  With some stopping for views of course.  On the ridge I could see a couple fires burning in the distance.  Too close for comfort, but safe for this hike. Sadly having seen what has happened afterwards, this whole area would get closed down and be in danger of fire, and most likely burnt.

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Looking down at the lakes just brings a smile to your face.  It's like walking into a postcard. Well, a postcard that takes a couple miles to get into. Having just been in this area a couple months ago, I had a couple spots in my mind for where to camp by the lakes. I scored a winner with a great view of the mountain.  Prime for sunset watching from the tent.  Swim, dinner and relaxing on the last night on the trail.  A great finish to a great trip.

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Classic sunset on a mountain. So Good!

Moonrise over Mt Jefferson

 The next morning was all smiles on the way out.  Good times on the PCT, pushing the body and mind, getting 70 miles in and becoming one with nature, yet again.

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Days 4-5 Top Lake

My campsite at Top Lake, all to myself

This is my campsite, the pay off for the next two days of hiking.  After feeling my legs get beat up along the first 3 days of doing 50 miles, it was time to take a breather and have some time reading and relaxing by a lake.  What better place better than an alpine lake all by myself with views all around, swimming when I want and huckleberries all around?  Can't beat that.  But how'd I get there?

On trails like the below.  Well, actually that is just the same trail, as the PCT goes over 2000 miles and this is it.  Just straight cruising.  Every now and then you look behind and you see Mt Hood in the distance, way back, getting farther and farther away.  A feat to still be on my feet. 

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Mt Hood way in the back.  I started there!

Fairly straight, easy to just keep moving without even thinking about the miles.

After hiking multiple hours, I came to Ollalie Lake, the main hub for the area I would stay in.  There is a resort made up of cabins, drop toilets and a store.  Yes, a place selling backpacker food that you can stock up at and get your feast on.  After dehydrated food for days now, this was amazing to be able to get a variety of products, with the highlight being cinnamon raisin peanut butter.  Really darn amazing, with a sugary kick that was just what I was going for.  Following other PCT hikers, I got some tortillas to wrap it in and was in pure bliss after 50+ miles on the trail.

Olallie Lake has an amazing view of Mt Jefferson

The perfect distance from two countries to buy food at :)

After a refill on food and one heck of a view of Mt Jefferson, I headed up the PCT to find a lake to call my own and rest up at.  Top Lake turned out to be the winner.  Views of Ollalie Butte, no other people and a great spot with logs to sit on.  That's right, I was sitting on the ground and logs for the whole trip, not affording myself a chair as a luxury.  Brought a book to read, but no chair.  The backpacking life for me!

View from my tent, facing east, with sunrise

Letting gravity help out with my water filter.  Pour into the pot and the pot into the bottle and clean amazing water to drink, easy as.

Huckleberries everywhere around the campsite!  Kinda like blueberries mixed with acai berries.  Or more like a huckleberry.  Be a hound, eat some!

Days 2-3 on the trail

 The above shows a typical Northwest scene. Pine and for trees, often  rock fall and a trail leading the way somewhere. As I got further away from Mount Hood, I could really see how far I’d gone. On day two I did 14 miles. Day three was 15 miles. And that up with they won, and that’s an even 50 miles over three days. So much scenery, so many trees, so many miles, and some tired legs. But the payoff was to come the next day when I got to the lakes by Ollalie Lake. Alpine Lakes for days…

Photos from day 2 and 3:

Good old trail markers leading the way 

Happy hiker  on his way To Warm Springs River, really a creek right now

Follow the trail they say...

My pack and newly acquired walking stick. Knees already feeling the miles

Dehydrated stew and a river ice bath on night two 

Hood getting further away, 30+ miles away now from where started hiking 

Out of the forest with cascade views behind and my su hat on setting the trends

Nicely maintained trails 

Out whooping it up!

Days hiking the wilderness

For quite a while now, I have wanted to do part of the Pacific crest Trail. It is one of the most iconic trails in the West, going from Mexico to Canada, and it runs right through Oregon, often where I have been hiking. To me, it sounded fun to put some miles on the trail, testing out the through hiking where are you bring all your food and gear and just hit the trail. Quite the test of endurance of both body and mind. Plus the scenery would be amazing. So with 2020 being such a wild year, and my European trip postponed, what better time to set off on an isolated hike for a week through the wilderness?

The plan was to hike from Mount Hood nearby me in Portland 100 miles south over a week of blissful hiking. I planned it out and rides to and from the trails, and set out last Saturday for the adventure. So cool to be on the trail at last, Ready to go as far as I wanted and run the show. I set out with Timothy lake as my end destination just over 20 miles away, feeling ambitious from the start. I would get water once along the way, and right before the lake, meaning I had to carry a decent amount of water with me, as often on this trail water would be spread out with miles between chances to fill up. 

Here are some highlights from day 1:

All packed and ready to go and set out from Mt Hood

First trail crossing. Still headed south with Hood behind

11 miles in and Hood looks pretty far away

The old PCT logo is still out there as a marker sometimes

Little Crater Lake, known for its clarity and taste. I can attest to both 

First night campsite overlooking the se set over Timothy Lake

20 + miles deserves a dip!

The Mighty North

As the NW explorations continue, I'm enjoying finding new places and seeing new landscapes.  Last year my uncle gave me a book entitled "The Seven Summits" of which there was one I didn't know. Mt Shuksan.  I had to look it up last year, saw it was way up almost to Canada and a ways east of Seattle.  Figured it probably wouldn't happen anytime soon, and yet there I was on the train up to Seattle last weekend with hiking plans for Mt Shuksan. Low and behold, some Seattle friends knew of a great hike to the base of the mountain that they wanted to try out and it sounded perfect for me.

The drive from Seattle early Saturday morning was great.  Leaving the cityscapes behind we turned off the 5 freeway and drove a couple hours on country roads, through small towns with names like Acme and Glacier, with great views of towering snow-covered peaks in the distance.  So nice and exciting to look at, knowing our end goal might be one of those mountains in the distance.  We were seeing a lot of the North Cascades National Park, which is full of all sorts of glorious peaks.

Parking by a closed visitor center and passing many masked day hikers, we headed up 800 feet, to get to the Lake Ann trailhead, our end goal.  From there it was another 800 feet down to the valley floor, full of open meadows, creeks and some good views all around.  Kind of like a Yosemite Valley vibe, minus the large rock monoliths.  Pretty soon we could see parts of the jagged Shuksan and cloudy bits of Mt Baker.

Zig zagging up snowy rockfall, we made it to the lake which was almost as frozen as an ice cube.  Snow and ice all over, but the best part was the view of Shuksun from there.  Just an open expanse of a view, which a half mile from the lake, we made our view, as we set up camp in an open flat spot overlooking the mountain, hills, valleys and peaks in the distance.  A winner of a spot with a creek nearby as well.

The rest of the time was spent exploring the climbers trail and talking to those who were coming down/heading up to climb the 9100ft mountain.  We turned around at the spot where you needed ropes, but got a great view of Baker from up high.  Hiking around Lake Ann and above it, offered new perspectives and entertainment.  Just an all around good spot for an overnighter and day trips.

In the night, we were treated to two planets, multiple stars and an epic moonrise that was so bright it cast shadows.

Jefferson Explorations

Hi everyone!  The adventures have been grand this summer so far as I keep exploring the Pacific Northwest.  Recently, two friends and myself headed to Jefferson Park to explore.  It's been high on the list for a while and is renown for its lakes, views and meadows.  Which makes it a popular spot, although it is a couple hour drive to most cities.

We were definitely not the first to the parking lot and passed multiple people on the hike in.  It's about 6 miles up to the lakes, and due to a recent forest fire, we had some epic views on the way up.  All smiles going in, due to excitement, nature and some fun stories being passed around. Something about hiking with good friends that gets you laughing a lot more. 

You get up towards the lakes and are rewarded with views that are straight from postcards.  How can you top a trail curling along hillsides with lakes and mountain views all around?

Wildflowers were still in full effect all over, with multiple colors booming in different patches.

Mt Jefferson is the 2nd highest mountain in Oregon, and stands mighty fine.

Little ponds dotted the landscape on the valley floor.  Pretty much wherever you are down there, the view is fantastic and you are close to a lake for swimming.  Or a pond for catching reflections.

One of the 8 or so lakes that you could hike around, find campsites at and relax.  Loads of people with hammocks out enjoying the vibes, and swatting the ever present mosquito population.  Was it super beautiful?  yes.  Were the mosquitoes horrible?  Understatement of the century.

We did a day hike up part of Mt Jefferson and were rewarded with the valley floor below and Mt Hood in the distance.  I'm a happy man whenever I have a view of Mt Hood, and being up on Jefferson made it even better.  So much grandeur all around!

Here is our campsite, right next to a running stream, with a mountain view.  Can't beat that setup. 

Loads of creeks around to drink from as I'm partial to river or stream water. Lake water just has a certain taste to it that makes me look for running water.