Separation Lake Trail

We had a four day weekend which meant that we had plenty of time to do all of things we wanted to. The previous day, we went to Eugene to watch the Prefontaine Classic. Tomorrow, the girls were going to town for Zyla's birthday. Today we got to hike on the Separation Lake Trail. This was one of my favorite early season hikes because it was snow free, it was along a river and it was really pretty. The drive was fine. I had been up the Foley Ridge Road so many times that I new it pretty well by this point. We got to the trailhead and we were the only car there. Actually we had the trail to ourselves the entire day. Everyone was happy to be outside getting some exercise on a beautiful day.

The first part of the hike was in the forest. Trails were dry and clear and trail crew had just been through there clearing the trail. After a while, though, we reached the terminus of where the trail work had been done and there was a little bit of getting around downed trees. There is always one section where the trail is muddy, but other that that, we had dry conditions. Once we got by the river, we were really happy. It was loud. There was a lot of runoff and we went to our favorite spot with plenty of whitewater. We had a quick snack there and then we continued on up the trail. My goal was for us to make it to Separation Lake. 

I don't think the rest of the group was going to let me do that. I convinced them to go at least as far as the bridge. We did that and along the way I was reminded of my previous year's trip with Spencer. That was quite the experience. We made it to the bridge and the group consensus was to turn around here. It had been such a pleasant hike, that I wanted it to continue. Everyone else was not feeling as ambitious as we had already put so many miles in and we still had to make it back to the trailhead. My family were all such good hikers, though, that I knew they could handle it. Still, it is a lot less fun when someone is being pushy, so we turned around at the bridge.

This made me excited for all the hiking possibilities this summer. The sun was out. It was still a bit cool outside, but comfortable hiking weather. With only a few weeks of school left to go, I had a whole summer ahead of me for hiking, backpacking, etc... We all just hoped that the forest would stay wet and green long enough to keep the fires at bay. All and all the hike was about 11 miles roundtrip which was a decent effort for the day. It was really just a great day to spend with the four of us with a special place all to ourselves.