It is HOT outside!!! Waddles and I did a wander down near Mt Jefferson, here in Oregon. Met up with a friend for a hike, and since it was a pretty long drive for me we decided to camp for a couple nights at Jack Creek Campground on the Deschutes National Forest. It is a small, but lovely campground next to Jack Creek and with large sites, and lots of big Pine trees.
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| Jack Creek Campground |
We got settled in for the first night and fortunately it cooled off enough to be able to sleep. We were up and on the road for a hike by 8am. Got to the trailhead of Jack Lake Trail by 9am and there were already quite a few cars there.
This trail leads up to a Circ on the side of Three Finger Jack. My friend had been here a few years before, and knew the wildflowers would be peaking right now. It was BEAUTIFUL The trail climbs and winds though an old wildfire, maybe 10 years old. The pine trees are coming back and provided a little bit of shade for the hike.
We didn't climb as high as the alpine lake (the last little bit is a vertical scramble), but rather chose to go down into the meadow that was awash with blooming lupin, paintbrush, columbine and a lot of other wildflowers. I didn't haul my big camera on the hike so these are iPhone photos, but you get the idea.
The hike was 8 miles round trip, and a large part of the trail is a one-way loop, so you are not passing people much. Very pleasant.
Mariposa Lily
We were both happy to get back to the car after a 4 hour hike. It was getting quite warm and a cold drink and sticking our feet in Jack Creek sounded really good!
After cooling in camp for a bit we decided to drive over to Camp Sherman to see if the store had ice cream and ice. They did, and were practicing good social distancing. The ice cream was yummy and the ice provided for more cold drinks back at camp.
It was 10 degrees cooler next to the creek, so we moved our chairs there and did a little knitting/spinning and went to bed when it got dark.
The next day were needed to check out of the campground by noon, so we got up and took a little hike from the campground to the headwaters of Jack Creek. It was about a mile out and a mile back. There was a lot of brush along the trail and the birds were abundant! We were not able to positively identify a bunch of them, but there were Nuthatches, Mountain Chickadees, Juncos, Warblers and more.
We packed up camp and headed toward our respective homes, having had a lovely visit and a couple wonderful hikes in a beautiful area that I am not very familiar with. The refrigerator worked GREAT!!
Next week Waddles and I are off on a MUCH ANTICIPATED trip. We are finally going to drive the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge Montana. This will be a little different for us. My brother is going with me, and we will be pulling Waddles with his van, so he has a place to sleep!
Stay tuned, this should be an amazing trip. Another good friend is going to house sit. She will have the company of these little lovelies... we call them Fawnzy and Blondzy.
