The Oregon trail has proven to be quite different from California. The mountains here are all volcanic and singular protrusions from the otherwise relatively flat surrounding areas, so it has translated into some pretty mellow and flat hiking (hooray!!). With the easier terrain, our average mileage has been consistently 25 to 30 miles a day. The trail has been mostly in pine forests (or former pine forests) which has made some days feel a bit monotonous. However there have been a couple days when we hiked through just amazingly beautiful country including Crater Lake and the Three Sisters Wilderness. So far our favorite Oregon section has been the Three Sisters Wilderness.
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| Meadows surrounding the South Sister. |
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| Lunch in view of the Middle Sister as clouds are building up and threatening rain. |
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| Lupine and lava flows near the North Sister. |
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Our hike through Crater Lake National Park was really cool (it is a must see) but we decided we'd enjoy it just as much from a car. I say this because the trail we took followed the rim for miles around the lake on one side and the rim road on the other side. As a consequence we would hike from view point to parking lot, back to view point and back to parking lot.
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| Hiking around Crater Lake. |
The Insects!! We have been traveling mostly through dry, flat pine forests speckled with hundreds of lakes and ponds. While flowing water was hard to come by, water from most of the lakes has been clear and beautiful. The plethora of lakes and ponds however has been both a blessing and curse. While we've had lakes to swim in, we rarely have been motivated to get in due to the hordes of mosquitoes assaulting any exposed skin. Let's just say we wore head nets for days on end, pants on hot days, and applied more Deet than we'd like to admit. Despite our best efforts, we have lost count of how many bites we have.
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| Morning at Diamond View Lake. This was one of the many lakes we hiked and camped near but avoided swimming in due to the mosquitoes. |
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| Garrett going for a lunchtime swim when the mosquitoes weren't too bad. | | |
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The Burn. We've hiked through several burned areas on our trip so far and we have already hiked through several in Oregon. So far we've been in three evening thunderstorms and the latest one sparked several fires in the surrounding area. Based on our conversations with locals, this is just the time of year for fires due to the thunderstorms.
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| Burned area near Mt. Washington. |
You go guys - we are all proud of you!!!!! Larry F.
ReplyDeleteHey, Steve, Jim and I arrived home around midnight Sunday. What a breathtaking trip. We thought and talked about you 2 frequently. I don't know how you made it through the snow, the stream crossings, and especially finding and following the trail. Our trip was a physical challenge for each of us, but worth it for the back country beauty.
ReplyDeleteAll of your pictures are beautiful and so appreciated! Makes you seem not so far away and not gone for as long as the calendar would reflect. The mirror image of Diamond View Lake - I will remind you when you get back to give me a copy of that pic- spectacular! In all the pics I can imagine the scent of the fresh air... thank you for sharing your adventures with the rest of us!
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