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.