Park Ridge and Jefferson Park, Sep 12th

There are several places around Mt Jefferson that are just stunning. From those, Jefferson Park is probably the most scenic which is why it gets very crowded on weekends. There are several approaches to get there. For this hike, we did the Park Ridge approach that climbs to a ridge that overlooks the park and Mt Jefferson right in front of it. The hike is magnificent, but before I get there I need to mention the “getting” there portion of it. I had read about the dirt road to Breitenbush Lake and also about the last two miles before the trailhead. These last two miles are, by far, the worst I’ve ever done in my car. Forget potholes and mud. This road not only is very narrow but is mostly just bare rock. I guess I should have listened to the “No Low Clearance Vehicles” notice. But we made it. We started our hike going through some dense forest and some open spots with very nice views of the valley around which didn’t last long. Soon we were traversing subalpine meadows with glimpses of Mt Jefferson. As we were climbing towards the ridge, our surroundings started changing quite fast to drier scenery with a lot of rocks and scree and not to many trees. The views behind us were outstanding and some of the rocks where pretty amazing. Nancy and I found a rock that looked like a chair and took the opportunity to take some pictures

Nancy sitting in Le Chaise


Soon after that, we reached our initial intended destination, Park Ridge. From here, the views just open up and you get a magnificent first row look at Mt Jefferson. You also get sweeping views of Jefferson Park right below with some of its lakes. WE made a short stop for lunch while enjoying the views and then, considering the magnificent weather, we decided to go down to the park all the way to Russell Lake. The hike down was quite grueling but not as much as the hike back up. The rewards made up for it though. We saw beautiful flower displays with the early fall colors and breathtaking scenery. After a while we got to Russell Lake which is very shallow so we made a stop to cool off and enjoy our surroundings

Russell Lake


The hike back was basically the same route in reverse. A grueling hike up to the ridge and then back down on the other side. As you’ll see in the pictures, Nancy had a small snowball fight when we passed the snow field on our way down which we all enjoyed watching. We got back to the cars at around 5 in the afternoon just to start our difficult drive out. This doesn’t have to do much with the hike although we got very lucky to be back at Breitenbush Lake with the perfect sunset light to take some extra pictures which I’ve included in this set.