Hike to Saddle Mountain, July 26th

This weekend I was supposed to climb Mt Adams but as you can see from the title, that didn’t happen. For those of you that don’t live in the area, there’s a huge fire in the area and all access roads to Adams are closed. As a second choice, we were thinking about backpacking to Trapper Creek but that didn’t happen either. Lastly, I joined Kristin, a long time friend to go camping and hiking to Saddle Mountain in the coastal range. Some of you might remember or have seen pictures of this place before. That is no coincidence. Saddle Mountain was my first hike here in Oregon. I knew there were some camp sites and recalled this place of being somewhat remote and quite; well, not anymore. Saddle Mountain has become probably the most visited hike in the coastal range. Not many people camp there so finding a big spot was not difficult. After dealing with the campsite “host” and since it was drizzling a bit, we decided just to do the hike and set up camp on our way back. The hike itself, as expected, was beautiful despite the fact that there were no views at all. For me, it was really interesting to see how this area has changed in a little over a year. Some parts of the trail don’t exist anymore and some others are brand new. We found a lot of blow down and fallen trees. I have to say though; the Forest Service has done an incredible job maintaining this trail. The only thing I didn’t like is that being the most visited trail in the area, well, you get a lot of people. A lot of noisy people. On our way back, the drizzle turned to rain so staying overnight didn’t seem very appealing. The first plan was to put up a tarp and wait while we cooked dinner or something like that, but after seeing that the weather was not getting any better, we decided not to camp. Instead, we drove to Camp18, a nice restaurant resembling one of the old logging camps. There, we had a nice dinner before heading back home to the comfort of our beds.

Camping at Crater Lake, July 18th

I can’t start this post without mentioning first that this is probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. Ever since I moved to Oregon, I’ve been wanting to go to Crater Lake as it is one of the “things to see” here. Crater Lake, as its name indicates, is a lake in the crater of a volcano. Just with that description you would imagine it must be interesting. Well, that’s just for starters. The lake is located at the top of Mount Mazama, a Volcano that erupted about 7700 years ago. According to studies done, with all the material that was blown away, the mountain was not able to hold itself so it just collapsed forming a deep basin or caldera. Smaller eruptions followed later that formed what today is Wizard Island (which looks like a little volcano) and some other structures that today are under water. This basin was then filled with water from melted snow and ice. As you’ll see in the pictures, the deep blue/turquoise color of this lake is just incredible. The reason for this color is the purity of the water. Being at 6000 feet above sea level, this lake doesn’t have rivers or creeks that feed it or come out of it. All the water comes from melted snow. Some other key facts are that this lake is not shallow; in fact, this lake is 1943 feet deep, making it the deepest lake in the US. It isn’t small either at roughly 6 miles in diameter. Nothing but impressive.
Our trip started early Friday. Driving there from Portland takes about 5 hours. After a long drive thru central Oregon and entering the park, you’re presented some magnificent views of Diamond peak just before driving thru Pumice Dessert. After that, the road starts ascending without any hint of when you’ll get to the lake. At some point the road ends in a view point across from the Rim drive, a highway that circles the crater. You actually have to get out of the car and walk up a bit to get the first view of this incredible place. Besides being almost stunned by the beauty and color of the lake, the crater itself is also interesting as it is steep all the way around the lake. There is only one access point to get down to water level. From there we continued around stopping at various view points that offered different perspectives of the lake on our way to the campground. Setting camp and lunch followed before heading out again to explore a bit. We drove around to Cleetwood trail, the only access to the lake. Not only we wanted to get to the lake but also get information on the boat rides to Wizard Island. This walk and proximity to the lake was great. To top all that, that first night we had a full moon, so we went up to one of the view points to enjoy the spectacle and take pictures. The following day was hazy so views of the lake where not as good as on Friday. Still, we decided to go for a hike to Mount Scott, the highest peak in the Crater Lake National Park. This trail starts at about 7200 feet and goes up to about 9000 giving some incredible views of the park, the lake and surrounding areas. The hike itself was strenuous as expected but beautiful. On the way back to camp, we continued around the rim stopping at more view points. One of them gave us a clear view of Phantom ship, a rock formation that resembles a ship in the lake. Truly an amazing view. After dinner and having enjoyed the moon the previous night, we went to the same spot to enjoy the sunset. Finally on Sunday, after breakfast and packing we drove around and took our last peeks at the lake before heading home. You’ll see in the pictures that we took a small detour to Crescent Lake; a smaller lake outside the park with boat access. A nice place to rest before the last portion of the trip back home.

Work weekend at Nesika, July 12th

Although this was not a hike or camping trip, it’s worth mentioning. This past weekend we drove up to Nesika Lodge and spent the weekend doing some maintenance. After enjoying the lodge more than a couple of times in the past few months, it just made sense to volunteer to do some work. We got there Saturday morning and after unloading everything, I was given a chain saw and sent out to cut trees. I thought this was not a hard thing, but after a while, you get the clear message it is. We did clear a big portion of the mountain cutting off all the smaller underbrush, mostly for fire prevention. While we were hard at work, the girls were in charge of kitchen duties. It was a laborious day that ended with great food. We did go for a hike after that and found ourselves walking thru an orange lit forest that was unreal. We did continue working on Sunday morning until noon when we packed, cleaned and went back home.

Camping at Orcas Island, July 3rd

Taking advantage of the long weekend and an extra day, we went camping to Orcas Island. Orcas is one of the San Juan Islands of the coast of Washington just east Vancouver Island. Since we were a big group, we had multiple starting points depending mostly on who was riding together. After a four hour drive north, we got to the port of Anacortes were we took a ferry to cross to Orcas Island. Once in Orcas, we drove to the Moran State Park and then to our specific campsites. This park is located on the east side of the island and has, within its boundaries, some really nice lakes and Mount Constitution, the highest peak in the island. After setting up camp and resting, we made a nice dinner and enjoyed the rest of the day. That night, at around three in the morning we got a visitor. I got a glimpse of it and was actually able to take a picture. I guess that’s why they recommend putting the food away. On Friday morning, it was my time to make breakfast for the group. I went with Arepas and Perico, a nice way to start the day. During this very relaxing day, we did a hike around the north side of Cascade Lake (The lake right next to our campsite) all the way to some pretty waterfalls. We got back to camp and had an early dinner prepared by Jeff before going to town to check the 4th of July fireworks. It was a very nice time. Saturday morning was time for Holly to prepare breakfast with the help of Tim, Dean and Lisa. She made some really tasty French toast with bacon and sausage. After that big breakfast, it was time for a longer hike. This time, we went in the other direction, passed the cascades trail head and continued our way to Mountain Lake; the idea was to hike around the lake but not before the girls could enjoy the water for a while. After soaking for a couple of minutes they decided to go for a swim (sorry, no pictures!). From there we continued around the lake on a long and beautiful hike that took us the rest of the afternoon until we got back to campsite. That afternoon, the sky was clearer than the previous day so I went to Mount Constitution to take some sunset shots. In the pictures you’ll see why I’m glad I did. Sunday, being our pack and leave day, we started with breakfast and a quick tear down and pack. Knowing that everybody would be looking at the same ferry we wanted to take, it was a matter of getting there in time. Unluckily we didn’t make it on time for the noon ferry and were in line for the early afternoon one. That gave us a chance to walk around Orcas Village, lie down in the sun and just enjoy ourselves under the sun. We were not able to resist the temptation of doing the crazy shots in the ferry before saying goodbye and taking the long drive back home. Definitely a great weekend in the company on good friends in a great place, what more could someone ask for.