Yapoah Crater

It was my half birthday and I need to get a hike in. The weather was not cooperating, but this was my day, so it was time to make it happen. I had been wanting to go up Yapoah Crater since last summer and after walking by it on the PCT it renewed my interest. This was a day when a long hike would mean exposure to wet weather all day. So Yapoah Crater it was. The trail out to Yapaoh Crater was the Scott Trail which went right by the Four in one Cones. I should have realized I was in for it when the trailhead was almost completely abandoned except for one other car. At first the weather started out good, but it changed rather quickly into a blustery, rainy day. I had researched Yapoah Crater last summer when Conrad and I went to Yapoah Lake. Ya-po-ah was the Kalapuya Indians name for Skinner Butte which is located in Eugene. It means the High Place. 

I liked that. So my goal was to make it to the High Place today. I followed the trail until it took me to  the PCT. I did not stay on the PCT long, but did head north for a short stretch. I went to about the highest place that I could find and then headed out to the woods. The route took me uphill and eventually I ran into a trail. This took me past one challenging obstacle, but mostly it was just hiking uphill. The terrain was a bit challenging but nothing too difficult. The goal was to make the ridge and head north from there. I picked my route carefully and soon I was topping out on the ridge. This is where the wind really picked up. I was staying on the west side of the ridge to avoid the big winds, but there were times when I had to top out. Given that this was the highest thing around, the winds had nothing to stop there path and they were tremendous. When I finally got to the base of the peak on the ridge, I considered turning around. It was sort of foolishness but I was here, might as well finish the trip. I started up the rocky slope. Here, it was just volcanic rock as Yapoah Crater is one of the youngest features in Oregon being only a few thousand years old. The wind whipped as I tried to keep my balance charging up the steep volcanic slopes until I hit the crater proper. It was hard to tell what was the high point of the crater, so I decided to just circumnavigate the entire summit. The wind and the rain just whipped at we coming out of the west. All my clothes were pointing east as the wind tried to rip them from my body. This would have been a great day to wear rain pants as I was soaked from the waist down. My rain jacket kept my upper portion dry, but the rest of me was nice and soaked. I kept my balance the entire way across the summit. I can't say the view was spectacular and I did not have the energy to take pictures for long. I quickly made my way back down, happy to be out of the driving wind and rain. Following the ridge and steep slope down was relatively easy. Soon I was back on the PCT and then the Scott Trail. The hike back was a piece of cake except for the fact that I was a little chilly. As long as I kept moving, I did not get cold. Besides, this weather was great for finishing off the fires. Nothing like a good soaking to cool the flames as this would mark the end of fire season in Oregon. I am not going to lie, I also enjoyed the hike a little more in the weather. There was literally nobody out there except for me and it made what would have probably been a fairly easy scramble a little bit more exciting. It turned out to be a great day even in the driving wind and rain.
 

Berley Lakes

Saturday and school had begun. That meant that I would probably get one day to get out and go hiking. I thought that I should definitely take that. As usual it was still quite warm down low, so I headed up the road to Santiam Pass. Conrad and I hiked into Santiam Lake from Duffy Lake in June and I figured I would hike to it from the other direction. I was back on the PCT again to start out. It was amazing how easy the elevation change seemed without a heavy backpack on my back. The area was so dry and I was lucky today because the smoke was pushing off in a different direction smoldering from the Lookout Fire. The PCT took me uphill until I took the trail to the left that would lead me to Santiam Lake. Once I was on the trail, I knew that I had been there before.

The last time I had hiked this, though, was many years ago in May when there was still a significant amount of snow on the ground. I also did not have my GPS watch, so at some point, I just lost the trail and scrambled around on the little hills for a bit. This time, there was no issue with snow and I hiked the trail right to Santiam Lake. I stopped at the same spot Conrad and I had stopped at. The lake was lower and much warmer than the last time I had made it there. After a bite, I was heading down the trail. I saw on my watch that there was an old trail that led to Lower Berley Lake. I decided to take it. It was obvious that people went this way, but I would not describe it as an official trail. It was not too difficult to find, though, and so I was on the shores of a beautiful lake.

There was one campsite by the lake and I decided to take a dip. The water was much cooler than Santiam Lake but very refreshing. I brought swimming shorts and a freezer size ziploc bag for this exact purpose. I got myself changed back to hiking clothes and then I decided to try to find Upper Berley Lake. This took a bit of bushwhacking as there were some pseudo trails in places, but the quickest way was to go through the trees. Here was an amazing lake with a great view of Three Fingered Jack. I imagine if I came out here in the summer time, I would still have the place all to myself. This would be a great place to camp and just hang out at the lake all day with the kids.

From here, I found what used to be an official trail complete with signs that probably had been there for 50 plus years. This trail took me to the far side of Lower Berley Lake which had a fantastic view also. I continued on the trail and at times it was faintly still present and at other times it was required for me to hop some blowdowns in the burnt section of trail. Eventually, though, it sent me right back to the trail. Here I ran into a student of mine with his family. Always a little bit awkward, but they were nice people. The rest of the way back to the car, I listened to the Husky game as I had good enough service to get the game. They were creaming Tulsa, so not much of a game to listen to, but still fun since it was my team that was winning. I made it back to the car having seen something new and a pretty enjoyable Saturday if I should say so myself.