Dillon Lake

 Jacqueline gave me a day off from chores around the house as she had a lunch with some friends. The kids were so focused on their running that they did not want to break that so I was on my own. On a day like this, I try to pick something on the map that is a little bit obscure. I had hiked up Horse Creek numerous times, but never had I ever taken any of the offshoot trails past the Separation Lake turnoff. I knew they were likely going to not be in great shape, but I decided this was my goal for the day. I chose the first one which was the Water Holes Trail that would take me out to Cedar Swamp and Dillon Lake. I got to the trailhead early enough that the air still had a little chill to it. This was fantastic as I was going to be hiking uphill through an old burn area with many thimble berries, mountain huckleberries, and huckleberries to  eat along the way. There were some thick bunches that I had to stop to pick a few. The benefits of hiking an unpopular trail.

Conrad and I hiked this trail during the spring and there was a lot of deadfall on the trail. This time there were only a few trees as someone obviously came through and cleared out the trail. This was true as I trudged uphill gaining about 1700 feet from the trailhead until I reached the Separation Lake trail junction. This junction is about 5 miles into the trail. This is where the cleared trail became a thing of the past. I could see a sign of things to come as right at the junction there were some major deadfall almost blocking the path and saying to me, wouldn't you rather go see Separation Lake. I guess that is the more popular trail in this area. I was not going there today, though, and began the arduous journey of hopping over logs every 30 seconds.

I also ran into the only other people I would see on the trail the whole day. They were out for 5 days and had spent the night at Separation Lake. They were moving much slower than me with large packs on, so I chatted with them for a bit and was on my way. It wasn't long before I was going around a big log jam on the left when I felt the pain. It was a bee stinging me right in the wrist. I said a few choice words and then was sprinting away. This is tough to do with downed trees. I ran for a couple of minutes until I felt confident nothing was chasing me, then pulled the stinger from my wrist. The sting would annoy me for the rest of the day, but I never reacted too much to bee stings.

It wasn't too long before I was at the junction of Horse Creek and the Water Holes Trail. I took the path less traveled by and it took me downhill. The trail was a little less discernible, but there were probably just as many trees down on this path as there were on the main trail. There were only a few points where I had to continue to look for the trail and for being 7 miles into the backcountry, this trail was in better shape than I expected. It was mostly flat, but went somewhat downhill until I was at Cedar Swamp. Here I would have to cross Horse Creek. The creek was low and I decided to just get my feet wet rather than deal with removing shoes. This might actually have been a fine place to remove my shoes though as the creek was filled with mossy vegetation at the crossing.

Upstream and downstream Horse Creek looked interesting. It definitely looked swampy upstream and like a strong flowing stream downstream. I made the crossing successfully. It looked like there was a log that used to be the base of a bridge there, but that bridge was long gone. The trail went uphill from here and I could see Dillon Lake appear on my watch. It was a short uphill journey to get to the lake. The trail actually went around the lake, but I could see a path that went off through the woods. I could tell that this was a path that someone at sometime had used to backpack and camp near the lake. It took me right to the best view of the lake. Unfortunately, this lake was not one to go swimming in. 

It was swampy with a nice layer of mud on the approach to the lake. Still, it was sure to be great habitat as a duck swam quietly in the lake. I had a quick bite to eat and then I turned around. The allure of going further was there, but since I had already put in over 9 miles, I decided to turn around. I took a quick look at the creek flowing out of the lake and then it was back the way I came. I went down the hill, crossed Horse Creek, and then hiked uphill to get back to the Horse Creek trail. I took a short detour as the trail to Nash Lake was only a quarter mile up the trail. I was expecting a bunch of problems with this trail, but there was a good sign and it looked like some cut trees near the trail. I figured this was a future trip for sure.

 Then it was back the way I came past the place where I was stung. I was careful to cross every log jam on the opposite side just in case, but I easily found the place where I was stung. I had a little burst of speed to get past it. Soon I was done with the deadfall. I appreciate trail crew so much and every time I see them, I make sure to thank them for their work. Once there were no trees and I was just going slightly downhill, I was feeling good, so I decided to jog for a bit. My body was in such great shape from running so much, that I continued this for the last 4 miles. It is amazing how much quicker you can cover ground at just a jog compared to hiking. I was back at the trailhead in no time happy to have gone somewhere new today. It made me excited to come back and try Nash Lake in the future. 

Echo Basin Trail

 Wanting to do an easy day, I looked on the map for a short hike that I hadn't ever done before. I chose the Echo Basin trail because it looked like it was only an hour drive and away from any fires. Oregon was burning once again and as Conrad and I drove to the trailhead, there was thick smoke in the Blue River area from the Ore Fire. The smoke diminished and by the time we took the turnoff for the access road, we were away from most of the smoke. The access road was advertised as needing high clearance, but the worst part was right at the trailhead, so I just parked a short distance down the road to avoid the worst section. The trail began with a steep ascent. The trail was in fairly good shape, but there was a steel cable in the trail which we hypothesized was used in some sort of logging activity.

The trail continued to climb and there were some fairly large trees to enjoy. The largest of these were the cedar trees which I found out later were Alaskan Yellow Cedar trees and some of the largest in the state are located in this basin. Once we hit the loop, we could see why. There was so much water out here. There was a stream beside us the whole way as we hiked which I assumed was named Echo Creek. On the loop, though, was just thick vegetation given that the soil was thoroughly soaked. It made for some amazing meadows with a great view of the surrounding peaks. There were large sections of boardwalk through here that looked like they were in desperate need of repair. The trail was beaten down well enough to find our way through, but there were definitely some sections where we had no choice but to get our feet a little wet and muddy.

The trail continued to climb uphill until we got to the highest point in the meadow and then it just went downhill. So straight up for the first mile with about 600-700 feet of elevation gain and then straight down for the second mile. As we started going down, we got into some of the densest vegetation on the whole hike.

Here there were flowers towering above Conrad as he fought through the greenery. It was a pretty neat spot, but it was over rather quickly. With the loop completed, we sauntered downhill running into the only other group we would see the whole day. We encouraged them to check it out as it was a very enjoyable hike with some beautiful views. We were back to the car in about an hour with just another hour of driving to get back home. We did break Conrad's rule for hiking which is that the hike has to be longer than the drive, but we had to save his energy for his race in the mile during the evening. It worked, because he broke 6 minutes for the first time with a first place finish in 5:59!

Obsidian

Jacqueline wanted us all to do a hike together, so we chose to go to the Obsidian area because the kids hadn't been there before. It turned out that Zyla had dance camp, so we dropped her off at a friend's house and the three of us took the trail up. There were lots of wildfires in Oregon, so we were a bit concerned that we would be hiking in smoke all day. When we got to the trailhead, it wasn't too bad with air quality probably being around 80 ppm given the taste test. It seemed to get better as the day went on also. The first part of the trail was a workout. We climbed through the thick forest and then through a burn area for the first few miles until we got views from the lava flow. The peaks were a little bit washed out, but still large and looming over us.

We continued and took the left side of the loop first having been here before and taken the right side. The left side went up the Glacier Way trail and it climbed swiftly. We were all ready to have the uphill done with and even though it was a cooler than average day, we were all sweating in the sun. It was worth it, though, because once we were on the PCT trail, the views were fantastic. I convinced Conrad and Jacqueline that we could do a little bit extra and make it up to another lake. They agreed. It was worth it. The route up to the lake went through scree from lava flows, but there was a pretty good path. After a bit, we cut up a steep slope avoiding the snow fields still left despite the 90 degree plus temperatures that had been occurring for a few weeks.

We topped out on the plateau and it was a short saunter over to Arrow Lake. Here we sat down and had some lunch after showcasing our rock skipping abilities. After lunch I was able to convince the pair to go out to the edge and have a look. You could see the whole Obsidian area below us. It was really spectacular. We went back down the same way that we came in and then continued on the normal trail.

This took us to the Obsidian area where there were so many shiny pieces of obsidian around. Still, there was not as much here as there was 5-10 years ago. I wonder how long it will take our greedy human population before all of the obsidian on the ground is gone. Probably less time than we think even though it has so much more appeal here in this area than it does in someone's backyard. Conrad was impressed. What I loved about the Obsidian area is the stream that seemed to bubble out of the scree. I filled my water bottle and we continued on our way. This took us down the course of the stream until we ran into Obsidian Falls. I informed Jacqueline that this was one of the only waterfalls in Oregon that can be seen along the Pacific Crest trail which seems strange, but then one has to remember that you are near the highest point when you are on the trail.

We were starting to see some PCT hikers at this point and they all looked so miserable. Having done the Oregon section last year, I was a little burned out on PCT culture with everyone being dressed alike. The misery was the thoughts in their heads of making sure they put in enough miles on each day. I guess you can even take something as enjoyable as hiking and turn it into a job if you have to achieve a goal. We saw our last PCT hikers as we left the trail to complete the loop. This was a more gradual descent that took us past fields of wildflowers and small streams. Eventually we were back on the path that we took up and we hustled our way back to the car with Jacqueline winning the pool on when we would make it back. A very enjoyable day with the family out in one of the best places around.  

Whiteface

Ok, I gotta admit this wasn't a very long hike and it wasn't very wilderness like in nature, but it was still pretty cool. We were visiting some of Jacqueline's dad's friends who lived in the Adirondacks, Greg and Sue. They were being amazing hosts taking us to some of the hotspots around the area. One such place was Whiteface where we could drive nearly to the top, but had to walk the last little bit. We left early to make sure that we could get a parking spot. The road was pretty steep with some big switchbacks and some nice views. Eventually we got to this building that was built into the mountainside and into the road that we had to drive right under. I think this was built at a time when cars were much smaller. 

We went under it and found a parking spot. Then we headed to the trail. It was somewhat busy and very steep. There were a series of stairs and quite a few railings along the way. I hiked with the kids trying to keep up with Conrad as he made his way up there. Jacqueline hiked with Zyla. It wasn't very long until we hiked the 200 feet to the top from an elevation of 4600 to an elevation of above 4800 feet. The views were great. There were some clouds, but they would clear and we could see lakes all over the place. There were also more mountains and I could see why Greg and Sue liked this area. There were numerous trails, lakes, mountains, and rivers to keep one occupied with nature. I could see how it could take many years and you still didn't feel like you had done it all. 

Once everybody made it up to the top, we wandered around for a little bit. There was another building up on top that we looked at. This was definitely an example of an east coast area where the wilderness nature had been "improved" upon by people 100 years ago. It wasn't so bad as long as they weren't all like this and we enjoyed the scenery from Whiteface. We saw some other groups coming up various different ways to get to the top with one group going right up a steep gully. That looked interesting. We headed back down and spent the rest of the day at the ski jump at Lake Placid. That was really neat. We got to see Olympic level ski jumpers do a ski jump onto some plastic that imitated snow. Funny to see people ski jumping in 80 degree weather. We really enjoyed our time in the Adirondacks.

St. Regis

 Our East Coast vacation took us to the Adirondacks. We were visiting friends of Jacqueline's dad Greg and Sue. They knew how much we loved to hike so they sent us on our way for a 6 mile roundtrip hike to the top of St. Regis Mountain. Greg and Jacqueline's dad Tom dropped us off at the trailhead, left us a car, and were off to run some errands. We were off on our way and at first the trail was rather easy. It was fairly flat as it wandered through the thick, deep woods. There were definitely less coniferous trees on the east coast compared to the sheer number of deciduous trees. 

The trail crossed a creek and then started its steep uphill ascent. The one thing about east coast trails that were different than Oregon is just the quality. This trail seemed to have tons of slippery, jagged rocks. There was also a lot of mud and running water on the trail. We had to do a lot of picking where to put our feet and we even saw someone bite it right in front of us. As we got nearer to the top, the weather changed from warm and humid, to cooler and humid. It didn't really matter because I was dripping with sweat. We popped out of the woods to a rocky summit. The view was great, although I am sure it could have been better without all the clouds. There was a lookout on a tower and a worker there who offered us some stickers. We took them of course. 

We sat down and had a snack. Zyla and I went over to the lookout tower, climbed to the top, and had a look. Jacqueline went halfway up and Conrad was having none of that. I talked to the guy working up there. He said he spends 3 days a week just on this trail and on top of this peak. Sounds like a boring job, but it is probably nice to have someone to keep an eye on the lookout. We did not stay long on the top because the clouds were definitely moving in. As we were leaving, the rain started to fall and we got ourselves under the trees. Not too big of a deal, though, because with all the humidity the rain was actually kind of nice. The hike down was not too much faster than the hike up as we had to be careful not to slip on the rocks.

Once we hit the flat section, though, we were able to move a bit quicker. Everyone was happy to not get stung by any bees while we were out on the trail and we were able to find our way back to the "Camp" to hang out by the lake. We would spend the next couple of days at Upper Saranac Lake. We got a little canoeing, some cornhole, and some swimming in. Mostly we enjoyed the temperatures in the mid-70s rather than the 90+ we had been experiencing in Washington DC. It was nice to get out in this beautiful area.

Whiteoak Canyon

We flew into Pittsburgh and arrived there very late at night. We were picked up from the airport by a shuttle and dropped off at our hotel. We all fell asleep quickly and were up early. The time change was rough but we did a good job of powering through it. We met Jacqueline's dad Tom at breakfast at our overly expensive hotel. Then we were quickly on the road. Our goal for the day was to drive to Shenandoah with a quick stop at Cedar Creek & Belle Grove Battlefield. We went to the visitor center and saw a really interesting video, then drove the tour route to see some of the battlefield spots. Then it was off to Shenandoah. We drove through the northern entrance and were immediately on a highway with very slow roads and views off to the valleys below. We stopped at some viewpoints, but eventually made it to our hotel. The kids and I ran on the Appalachian Trail to get there running in for cross country. It was a rough trail with lots of slippery rocks and a lot of ups and downs. Mostly, it just made me sweat.

The humidity in the east was so bad. At least they had a lot fewer fires than we did out west because of that. We had dinner and went to the evening program. We stayed the night in a cabin connected with the lodge. It was nice and pleasant and we all slept well. The next day we had to pack it all in, so it started with a hike down Whiteoak Canyon. There were a series of 6 waterfalls that we were planning to see. The trail went downhill all the way to the waterfalls, so it was going to be a lot of work getting back out. Tom went with us for the first couple of miles as the trail started out not so steep. He turned around at the beginning of the first waterfall. The rest of us continued downhill. The trail was rather busy with lots of people including a couple of groups of backpacking teenagers. 

The views of the waterfalls were not all that spectacular with lots of vegetation blocking the way. The second waterfall was probably the easiest to see, but when we got there, there was a group of about 20 teenagers. We decided to keep walking and view it on the way back uphill. The trail continued downhill swiftly. We were sweating like crazy from the heat and humidity and that was just going downhill. We talked to a few people coming up and they talked about how pretty it was but also how rough the trail was. We went past many waterfalls without great views and eventually we went down many steep switchbacks and were finally at the final waterfall. Here there were numerous groups occupying every possible corner.

It was impossible to get a really good picture because there were people everywhere. There were people on rocks. There were people swimming in front of the falls. It was sort of sad to hike all this way and not really be able to enjoy it. Then we had the uphill slog to look forward to. I have a pretty tough family that they just start hiking back uphill through difficult conditions. We were all sweaty and hot with a steep trail to look forward to. We just plugged away though. We went past each of the waterfalls, looking forward to going to the second waterfall without all the people there. We slogged our way up to it and there was only one other group of two people there when we got to it. 

I was out ahead and I just heard Jacqueline and Conrad start to scream. I knew that could only mean one thing, bees. I ran in the direction I was facing which meant I ran toward the waterfall. They ran the other direction and I could rest assured that they were stung. I waited a few seconds to let the bees clear and then went down the trail. I got to them and they were both very upset. Jacqueline was stung once in the face and Conrad was stung once in the head and twice on the back. They had been swarmed. The other people at the falls had set off the bees and they had gone for Jacqueline and Conrad. They both did not want to go back through the trail, but we had to. I went out in front and tried to protect them as much as I could, but the bees were gone having defended their home. We made double time on the way back. Conrad was now very concerned about every bee and rightfully so. We hustled our way back to the car with all of us being happy to be out of the heat and away from the bees. Jacqueline and Conrad both swelled up quite a bit as they both are allergic. Jacqueline ended up having to go in because her face was so swollen to get it to go down. Conrad swelled less but was a bit traumatized by the bees circling his head. It would take him a while to get over it. Still, I was happy that we all got out for a hike while we were in Shenandoah and saw what the best of the east coast has to offer when it comes to hiking.

Crescent Mountain

Summer break is the time to get out and enjoy the outdoors. I did not have anything pressing going on and I needed a break from the running that I had been very consistent with. I decided to just pick a place on the map that I had never visited. So I drove up 126 to the junction with the road to Albany. I took a left and then the first right was the Lava Lake road. That led me to the 508 road and soon on my right was a parking area. I parked there and headed down the trail. The trail stayed fairly level at first going slowly downhill toward the creek. The forest was very peaceful and the trail in excellent condition. The temperature was cool, but not cold. The forest provided shade from what was sure to be a sunny day. 

The trail continued mostly flat and sort of downhill until I got to the creek. A nice bridge crossed it and then after that, it went uphill. The trail was still in good shape and the forest still very peaceful with big trees. After just a couple of miles, though, I needed a break. I was feeling a bit low energy on this day, so I ate my sandwich that would have been for the summit. That seemed to help out after a bit and gave me some calories to burn.

The trail continued going uphill passing several extremely large anthills. Eventually it popped out of the trees into a nice, big meadow. This meadow had many dead trees which was a little odd and they all had their bark cut in a circular pattern along the base. My guess was that it was purposely done, maybe to prevent the spread of a disease or insect? I did not know, but it was certainly done on purpose. The trail continued climbing through the meadow with impressive views all around. Then it went back into the trees and became a little bit more steep. At this point, I knew I was near the top. I felt good, though, and when I got to the top, there was another group of two people there with a very friendly dog. 

I talked with them for a little bit. They were older and from Sisters. They had been enjoying the Old Cascades which is the name of this area. We talked a bit about trails in the area. I enjoyed the summit area. There was the remnants of an old lookout. The foundation made a great spot where I could sit and enjoy views of the surrounding mountains. I walked the length of the summit and there was a nice view down to the turquoise blue waters of Crescent Lake below. I spent a good 15 minutes on the summit and then it was back down the trail. Even though I had just been to this area hiking up, there is always a new perspective to be seen on the hike down.

I especially enjoyed the meadows with views out to the Three Sisters and Mt. Washington. The flowers were abundant and I knew this would be a great place to take the family. Going down the trail, I realized how steeply it climbed. In all, I had 2300 feet of elevation gain and loss on this hike over 9.5 miles. It was exceedingly pleasant and quiet without the sound of traffic or anything other than the birds, creaking trees, and the sound of flowing water as I hiked near the creek by the trailhead. I would definitely recommend this hike and I am sure that I will end up coming back to Crescent Mountain again.