11-OCT-2015
The Un-Opal Opal
I’m not too happy with ODOT. It’s bad enough that they closed Interstate 5, but why couldn’t they close the entrance to the ramps instead of letting cars drive on the ramp and get stuck. All they would have needed to do is park the truck with the freeway closed sign a hundred yards back. Then I could have taken an alternate route. There, I got that out of my system.
Since it had rained yesterday, I stopped at Salmon Falls Park to change into waterproof boots and put on gaiters. When I pulled into the parking area, I noticed a new kiosk with bright orange life jackets hanging off the front. It’s the Blayk Austin Memorial Life Jacket Loaner Station. It’s never a good thing when something like that is named after you.
I had forgotten just how bad the gravel road heading to Opal Creek is. It’s certainly passable with any car, but the going is slow. As soon as I got to that part of the drive a light clicked on in my head, and I thought, “Oh yeah, I remember how slow this road is.”
Well first of all, I was surprised to find myself going to Opal Creek at all. I had planned to visit on a week day since it’s a popular place and I don’t like crowds. The reason I switched locations for today is because this was supposed to be the only partly cloudy day this week, and I wanted to take advantage of that.
As expected, there were plenty of people enjoying Opal Creek, but it wasn’t that bad. Well there was that one persistent border collie who wanted to play fetch with a stick that he found. I was talking to his owners for quite some time. They told me not to throw the stick or I would have to keep it up all day long.
I wanted to check out the 2013 realignment of the Mike Kopetski trail upstream from Opal Pool. A couple of guys were standing at the trailhead when I arrived. On said that I wasn’t going to see anyone else on the trail. It was pretty rough – mostly roots, rocks, trees to climb over, steep sections, etc. At one point I stopped to take some pictures and noticed that my lens pouch was soaking wet from brushing up against all of the vegetation encroaching on the trail. I was thinking about maybe turning around, but I decided to keep going. Later I had to climb up on a slippery fallen log in order to climb over another log. I slipped and was unable to catch my balance until I landed on my butt. Then my balance was perfect! It was at that point that I decided I wasn’t going to reach Cedar Flat. On my way back I was surprised that I did, in fact, see two other people on the trail. The women asked me if that was the way back to the parking lot. Someone had told them that was the way to go. Luckily they hadn’t yet traveled very far. I gave them the correct directions, including information that once they cross the bridge near Opal Pool there it was a bit confusing with all of the social trails. That turned out to be outdated info. The Forest Service has put up signs and tried to block off the social paths.
I didn’t end up taking many pictures today. The weather forecast was wrong. It was sunny and pleasant all day. A good day to hike, but not a good day for the sort of pictures I like to shoot. And to tell you the truth, Opal Creek just didn’t have that wonderful color today.
10-OCT-2015
It was hard to believe
Yes, it was hard to believe that high winds and heavy rain were in the forecast. I arrived at the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery right at 8 (when they’re open for visitors). I don’t suppose it would have mattered if I got there a bit earlier, since I was just going to park there and hike along the Metolius River. There was bright sun the last time I was at the Metolius, and you know how much I hate that when I’m hiking along a river. This time I was early enough to be able to shoot the rapid by the vehicle bridge before the sun was high enough in the sky to put it’s evil light on the scene. In case you’re wondering, the sun rose above the hills at 8:55. I was setting up my tripod and camera for a shot and the scene literally lit up across the scene like someone panning a light as I was preparing my shot. It was like watching a time lapse video, except that it happened in about a minute.
As I was hiking along in some areas I felt that it was a lot like being in Laguna at home, except for that river thing down below. Farther along, the trail travels pretty much right alongside the river. You have to love trails that do that. And since that area is a small canyon, the direct sun was not yet intruding into the scene.
I had forgotten how fast the Metolius moves in the canyon area. In case you’re wondering how much that is, the flow, measured in cubic feet per second, is “pretty darn fast”. I put that in quotes because I made it up. But I’m fairly sure that it’s the correct measurement.
There wasn’t anyone else when I was at the springs. I sat on a rock and ate my snack while looking at the springs gushing out of the hill right next to the river. It was nice. Cheryl would have liked sitting there enjoying the moment.
By this time it was getting windy. High winds were supposed to precede the rain, so I headed back. I did stop at the hatchery to feed the fish in the settling pond. I thought the little pellets smelled like cat food. Maybe I should have picked up a big bag of cat food from Costco. That would have set off a feeding frenzy. There was no soap in the restroom, and my hands smelled like cat food during the entire drive back to town.
There was very good fall color near the turnoff for Echo Basin and Hackleman Old Growth trail. I should have stopped for a quick hike (at Hackleman, not Echo Basin), but I’m paranoid about leaving my car full of all of my luggage unattended. That was the reason I picked the Metolius River as my location today. I’m my mind, it just seems a little safer than some other places.
My timing was good. It was still sunny when I left Wizard, and although it was very windy and some clouds had finally shown up, it was still sunny enough that you wouldn’t believe it was going to rain. As I drove west there were light showers as I approached Sweet Home. They stopped when I arrived at the hotel. It rained hard a short while after I checked in. Now it’s stopped, and that should be it for the rain for the next week.
09-OCT-2015
Tranquility, with helicopter
I drove to a different area today. The road, off the eastern section State Route 22, is signed for Old Cascade Crest Trails. I’m very pleased to report that the color in that area is very fine indeed. Just driving on SR 22 was a treat.
I hiked to four lakes in that area. All were worth seeing at least once. I don’t know that I would return. It’s not that the lakes weren’t enjoyable. The trouble is that there’s a lot to see in a limited amount of time, so I doubt that they would make the cut for a future trip. But I got to enjoy them today. For the most part I enjoyed the solitude. Why if it were not for the ever present sound of a helicopter I might have even thought I was enjoying nature. I’m not kidding. That helicopter was flying around for the entire time I was out in that area. I never saw it, but I sure heard it.
I finished the day at Tamolitch Pool. I’ve been there four times. The most recent had been in 2012. Something has changed. I had seen signs highlighting Blue Pool among the can’t miss local attractions. Now there are signs and a large parking area. There are also lots of people. I used to have the place to myself, but now there are probably as many people as I’ve seen on a fall week day at Silver Falls State Park. I probably wouldn’t have seen so many people if I had stuck to the original plan and went there first thing in the morning. But due to the weather forecast I switched and saw the lakes while it was sunny and then went to Tamolitch when the clouds came in. That worked out very well. That part of the McKenzie is very attractive, and in my opinion photographs exceptionally well.
08-OCT-2015
Lunch Break
My objective today was to explore the East Fork South Fork McKenzie River. I didn’t have a whole lot of information about it. I did know that it would be twelve to thirteen miles with no less than 1750’ gain. That’s just calculating the starting and ending elevations without taking the ups and downs along the trail into consideration. What I didn’t know is how many ferns, salal, and other vegetation are intruding onto the trail. Walking through that got tedious really fast.
The good part is that the river, which looked like a creek to me, reminded me a lot of French Pete Creek. I love to see water tumbling though rocks. Like most creek trails, the trail doesn’t actually have a whole lot of creek access. Oh, there’s probably enough, but not as much as anyone in their right mind would prefer. The picture is from my lunch spot. A lot of the time when you get down to the creek, you’re just looking for a place to set up a tripod with a decent composition. Often that’s easier said than done. However, in that spot there was not only plenty of room for pictures, but even rocks perfectly placed for seating.
At some point I realized that not only was I not loving wading through vegetation in the trail, but my slow speed was going to make it difficult to finish before it got really late. If they ever brush out the trail I would consider returning to complete the entire distance, but for today I decided to turn around short of my goal. I was filthy by the time I returned to my car. Not only had all of that vegetation rubbed dirt onto my belt pack, backpack, camera, tripod, and clothes, but I discovered that I even had dirt and needles in my pockets.
Truncating my hike allowed me to finish my day at French Pete Creek. The scenery is similar to East Fork South Fork, but the trail sure was in better shape. I guess that’s what you get at a much more popular trail.
07-OCT-2015
Home is where the art is
I took full advantage of the mostly overcast day and hiked a section of the McKenzie River Trail that I had never before seen. I spent the day between Trail Bridge Reservoir and Frissell Boat launch. I have to say that the section between Trail Bridge and Deer Creek was fantastic. Not only was it beautiful, but I saw much more red vine maple than I would have expected given that most of the fall vine maple I see is usually yellow. It’s always a treat to see the red leaves. If the fall color and the scenic river were not enough, I was really loving the forest. At one point I came to the conclusion that I was home. I even scratched a picture of a house in the dirt with one of my trekking poles. Note – I did see it again on my way back down the trail. The artwork left something to be desired, but the feeling was authentic.
Since I loved that hike so much, and since I was feeling okay, I was pleased to continue my hike south of Deer Creek. What a difference. While the trail is fine, I felt that it paled in comparison to what I had seen in the morning. I hardly took any pictures. I just didn’t see many opportunities. Not to mention that in some areas you’re looking right across the river at SR 126.
All this time I had been wondering when I was going to start encountering mountain bikers. The McKenzie River trail is very popular in the mountain biking community. I kept thinking that was the day wore on they would have rode their way down from the upper trailhead to where I was at. I was very surprised that I only saw two bikers while I was hiking. I did see three more as soon as I finished my hike.
There are only three other parts of the McKenzie River Trail I have yet to hike. I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen the best of it. But I haven’t been from the start along Fish Lake Creek to Clear Lake. That’s always dry when I visit. The section from Carmen to Tamolitch is always dry (the water is diverted from Carmen to Smith Reservoir). And I have yet to hike from Frissell to Paradise. I may try to fit in that section in a couple of days, but I’ll more likely be going to Tamolitch, which I’ve already seen several times. Of course Tamolitch Pool is spectacular in its own right, but I’m also hoping to see a lot more red vine maple.
Today was a very successful day. I had very little trouble with my knee and was able to hike almost 13 ½ miles. Tomorrow I’ll be feeling even better. Oh, and after talking about red vine maple, I seem to have chosen a shot showing vine maple that is not red with a helping of reddish dogwood. If it’s any consolation, that tiny patch of red across the river is vine maple.
06-OCT-2015
The Fourth and a half crossing
One day at Mount Rainier we were on the Fourth Crossing trail. It’s just a quarter mile connector from an overflow lot to the main Paradise trails. The trouble is that it’s incredibly scenic with Paradise Creek running down through rocks and wildflowers. Once we reached the top, I looked at my watch and asked Cheryl if she had any idea how long it took us to hike a quarter mile. I can’t remember the exact time, but it was incredibly long – something like an hour and a half or maybe longer. That’s what happens when you lose track of time while surrounded by incredible beauty.
I’m certainly no expert on American rivers. I’m sure that there are many that are exceptionally scenic. But I do have to think that if one was to make a list of the most beautiful half mile stretches of rivers the McKenzie between Sahalie and Koosah would have to be in the running. Although I’ve been there many times, I still found myself taking over two hours to walk that down and back up that short stretch of trail.
The rest of my day was spent at Clear Lake. About half way around I stopped at a bench to eat my lunch. After I finished I just sat there for a lot longer. The color of the leaves and lake were beautiful and I felt at peace. There was nowhere else I wanted to be.
I finished my hike early in the afternoon. I certainly had time to spend seeing something else, but my knee was finished hiking several miles before I was. The good news is that it’s doing better than yesterday and I’ve decided that I’ll be good to go for the rest of the trip.
05-OCT-2015
I forget, therefore I am
I think about a lot of things while I’m hiking. Sometimes I think about the things I plan to write about in the blog. Unfortunately I sometimes forget what those items are when it’s time to actually start writing.
After the unusual weather in the Pacific Northwest the past year I had no idea how fall color would be turn out. It’s always a gamble, but I was a bit pessimistic this year. As I started the drive up state route 242, I saw that the vine maple, which I could have expected to be yellow, wasn’t particularly colorful. It’s hard to hit peak color in different areas during a several week trip. Usually I arrive later to catch better color elsewhere in the following weeks. But I planned an earlier vacation especially to catch the best color at Proxy Falls and Clear Lake. Proxy did have some red leaves, but they weren’t especially vivid. Not having good color there seemed to be a bad sign for things to come. Another observation is that with the dry year, Proxy Falls was flowing as low as I’ve ever seen. There was no water flowing over the interesting moss-covered columnar basalt on the left side. Upper Falls was flowing about normal, although it’s difficult to get pictures since there are too many trees in the way. Once again I was amazed at how much water flows into the pool without an outlet. How can that much water disappear into the ground?
I don’t know how this fits into the equation, but the huckleberry bushes were bright crimson on the Benson Lake/Tenas Lakes hike. So it was nice to see blazing color even if it may not continue with other plants in other locations I’ll be visiting.
I was doing pretty good, and doing a lot of bushwhacking. Then almost as soon as I was back on the trail returning from Tenas Lakes my knee started to hurt. It wasn’t a lot of fun limping all the way back to the car. Useful strategies are pivoting on the other leg like a peg-legged pirate or leaning way forward on trekking poles so that you can bend your ankle forward and confine the movement to the hip above the bad knee. You would be surprised at how you can walk without moving a knee when the trail is reasonably flat.
Earlier in the day I visited White Branch Falls. For the last four days I had tried to call to ask permission to enter their camp. I had assumed that they were closed for the season. But, since the gate was open when I arrived, I figured that I would drive to the camp and look for someone. That wasn’t necessary since a woman was walking a dog while enjoying her morning coffee. She was very nice. And in case you’re wondering, the golden retriever’s name is Daisy.
Other quick stops were Hand Lake, which, unbeknownst to me, is actually a meadow at this time of year. I also went to Craig Lake and the McKenzie Pass. So I saw lot of scenery, although I’m not very good at taking pictures of lakes. I plan to go to Clear Lake tomorrow and see if the vine maple is red. While I’m hiking I’ll make sure to think about lots of interesting things, which I will forget before I get back to the room.
