Scott Mountain Loop

It was a Sunday in October and it was actually right after our 15th anniversary, so the wife and kids and I had to go out to find some fall colors. I chose the Scott Mountain Loop up on 242. We drove up there and got to the Scott Lake Trailhead. When we read the sign, it said we needed a permit to hike the trail from this location. We did not have requisite permit, so we drove a mile down the road and parked at the Hand Lake Trailhead instead. Here we talked to another guy who was visiting here from Colorado. We gave him some info on the trail and then we were off on our merry little way. He was a nice guy and it was great to have someone enjoying the outdoors on his day off. I hiked this trail before, but Jacqueline and the kids had never hiked the whole thing.

The beginning of the trail was through the woods. Jacqueline was immediately disappointed with the variety of fall colors. Given that most of the fall colors at this altitude were low lying shrubs, it sort of made sense, but this was the best that we could do. The trail was nice and we were right behind our new friend from Colorado when we saw him turn the wrong way at Hand Lake. He was too far away for us to stop him, so we just hoped that he would find the trail again. Hand Lake was lower than I ever saw it. There was just a bit of water making it look more like an almost dry pond than a lake. The trail was nice and flat at this point and the weather was great as we hiked right next to a lava flow.

From here, we started to climb. This put us into the burned area which was in much better shape then when I had run through there with Corey. The downed trees were all bucked and cleared. This made for pleasant hiking and while we never got into really thick foliage, fall was still apparent with many different stages of dying leaves all around us. We climbed and climbed until we made it to the junction for Scott Mountain. Here again, we climbed and climbed until we topped out. The view was amazing. The only other time I had been to the top of Scott Mountain, it was very cold and wet. This time it was perfect weather with 360 degree views all around us. This was definitely a spot for Jacqueline to take an excessive amount of pictures.

There were no other groups on top when we got there, but as we ate lunch, a few started to come in. There was one group with some friendly dogs which Conrad was not too happy about. We ate some lunch, took some pictures, and really just absorbed the scenery. It would be months before we could come back to these high elevations again, so we had to enjoy it while the opportunity existed. Then it was back down the trail. From here we had to go back to the junction for Scott Mountain and then continue on to the right. This took us downhill and eventually it put us right at Benson Lake. There was another couple hanging out at the lake, so we could not be too obnoxious. It did have some of the best skipping rocks and with some nice flat water, we all impressed each other with our ability to skip a rock.

Then we continued down the trail to Scott Lake. The lake was lower than I had ever seen it. There were still lots of people around camping and hanging by the lake. We continued on the trail which took us right past it and then was back in the woods. The total distance on the hike was something like 12 miles, but since we were all in great shape it didn't really feel like we were pushing ourselves. It just turned out to be a very enjoyable day in the woods of the Oregon Cascades.