50 Mile Hike 1995 50 Mile Hike 1995Last Updated: October 26th, 1997
Three adults and six scouts had prepared themselves for the hike. Greg Filip and myself are assistant scoutmasters for the troop. Leegh Wyse is a member of the troop committee and has been active as a leader with the cub scout program in our district. Leegh's husband Mike was a past scoutmaster with our troop and had taken two of his sons to Philmont in 1992. Leegh was thinking about going to Philmont with their last son when he was old enough and she was using this trip to help her make the decision.
Two of the scouts, Zach Veley and Luke Zedwick, had been to Philmont with me in 1992. The other scouts were Ben Zedwick, Jeremy Filip, Reid Wyse, and Jared Hall, all of whom had been on numerous outings with the troop and were ready for the adventure.
The drivers were scoutmaster Dale Berggren, Mr. And Mrs. Hall, and Stewart Wershow, another assistant scoutmaster. They would drop us off at the trail head then be back to pick us up at the other end in six days.
We loaded the rigs and left the church parking lot at about 7:45am for the drive to Waldo lake which is located north of highway 58 on the way to Willamette Pass. The trail actually started near Charlton lake just east of Waldo.
We arrived at the trail head under blue sky with a light breeze blowing which felt pleasant in the 72 degree temperature. We knew we were in for a difficult time as soon as we stepped from the rigs. The mosquitoes were on us immediately which drove us to douse ourselves with 100% DEET Jungle Juice right from the start.
By 10:30am we were on the trail headed north past Charlton Butte. Our elevation at the start was about 5600 feet. The trail was dusty and led up through a forest of pine and fir. In a short while we met a few mountain bikers who were in a hurry to be somewhere else and rolled right by us with out a word. This is indication that we were still in the Willamette National Forest where bikes are still legal transportation. This, of course is not true in the Wilderness area which is still some miles ahead of us.
A little farther up the trail we paused for a short break. We just happened to stop by a rock that had been spray painted on one side that faced away from the trail. The message was;
Troop 177 Bethal B Scouts 1960
I was amazed that it was still there after 35 years. I wondered if it was just graffiti or a marker left by scouts that were proud of their trail project. In the 90's we would not have let that kind of marker be used.
After about 6 and 1/4 miles we came to the edge of the Wilderness Area and paused for a 30 minute lunch break at Irish Lake. I had weighed my pack before leaving home and it came to a whopping 58 pounds. I ate a big lunch and planned for a big dinner to lighten the load as much as possible.
Some of us removed our boots and lay back in the grass through lunch. It was pleasant enough even with the mosquitoes. No one reported blisters or hot spots.
While we were resting, we used the filters to reload the water bottles. We spotted some campers on the other side of the lake and when we looked over with my field glasses we saw that they were watching us with glasses as well. Other people in the wilderness are more interesting than they might be in civilization.
Several trucks drove by on the jeep trail that follows the edge of the Wilderness Area at this spot. We had fun watching them navigate several mud holes that completely covered the road. It reminded me of the days of my youth when we would take weekend car trips into the boonies and come upon such obstructions.
Just as we were packing up to move on, 5 young adults hiked in with backpacks to take over our rest spot. We never saw them the rest of the trip, so were not sure if they were at the end of their hike or if they went a different direction.
At about 1:00pm some clouds started forming up out of the west and the temperature dropped some, but it was still very comfortable. I joked with the guys, telling them that I hoped they weren't clouds of mosquitoes. By this time the scouts had figured out that they could keep some of the mosquitoes away by switching a bandana around their face and calves.
All along this part of the trail we had been in forest, so there wasn't much view to be seen except when we came to a lake where we could look out at the other side of the lake. In addition, there was quite a bit of winter blow down across the trail, so at times we had a tough time just finding the trail. It was either climb over a tangle of trees with our heavy packs on or find a way around. In the thickly shaded areas there was still some snow that had not completely melted away and covered the trail at times.
Zach is the senior patrol leader and has been acting as our crew chief. He set up a duty roster and has assigned Ben to be the trail guide on this first day. Ben has used a map and compass to make several decisions at trail junctions. He successfully got us to our first campsite at Brahma lake, about 9 miles from where we started.
The first spot he picked offered no respite from the mosquitoes, but everyone wanted to just drop the packs, get the tents up, and dive in. I looked around the next bend in the trail and found a did a little better. When I reported back, several of the tents were going up and we had to work pretty hard to convince them that there was a better spot. They just wanted to escape the bugs.
My spot was accepted as soon as they saw it because there was a nice view to the west and more importantly, there was an open breeze off the lake that blew most of the mosquitoes away. Tents went up quickly, then Luke and Jared went for a swim.
Before starting dinner, I put up the first bear bag rope, then started filtering water. We elected to use the filters as much as possible to cut down on the weight of fuel to boil water. Of course, no one was interested in using iodine tablets when we could have sweet filtered water.
My Peak 1 soon had hot water and I chose a Hearty Beef Stew from Mountain House for my first dinner. It was the heaviest and I wanted to lighten my pack as soon as possible. The others had similar freeze dried meals except for Jared who brought out a bag of refried beans on Cheeto chips. The woods smelled sweet this night. I finished my dinner with a nice hot cup of coffee courteous of a Folgers bag.
After dinner, everyone pitched in with the bear bags. We had to put up two more ropes to hold up the weight of six days food for nine people.
Leegh and I both headed for our tents after dinner, to get some extra rest and to escape the mosquitoes. Greg brought a fishing pole along and he and Jeremy have been trying their luck in Brahma Lake. Ben, Reid, and Jared are sitting on some rocks by the lake, telling each other movie story lines. Zach and Luke are in Dale's Sphinx tent playing cards and being silly. It was nice of the scoutmaster to loan them his tent.
By about 8:30pm I have finished writing in my note book. The sky is mostly cloudy. We may get some rain tonight. It's still warm enough that I will probably just sleep on top of my sleeping bag. From my tent door I can see Zach and Luke's tent, the lake, and the summit of Irish Mountain about two miles away. Everyone did well on this first day. And this is a nice campsite.
I got up during the night to answer the call of nature. The sky was clear and the stars were brilliant. One of the nice things about camping in the wilderness mountains of Oregon, is no street lights to interfere with the night sky. It was not particularly cold and I took time to search the sky. I was rewarded by spotting some meteorites and several satellites which enhanced the wonder of the night.
The hike out continued through the timber with an occasional glimpse of small ponds. Some had names, most did not. At Stormy lake we passed by a couple of hikers taking a break. They may have passed us when we were having breakfast at Brahma lake. These were the only people we saw this day other than ourselves. We said hello and kept going.
We kept up a pretty good pace except where we had to find our way over or around the winter blow downs. From the tracks it looked like only a few people had been on the trail ahead of us. It was early in the season.
Around Cougar Flats we kept our eyes peeled for the reason why this might have been called by that name. We kidded the boys by suggesting that there might be a big cat on that rock or behind that tree, but we saw nothing. The mosquitoes pushed us on.
The temperature was only up to 58 degrees by 10:00am. By noon the sky clouded up and we thought we might see some rain, but by 2:00pm the sky was clear again and the temperature had risen to 72 degrees.
At each rest break we try to find a breezy spot to dispel the bugs as much as possible. At the lunch break I put my feet in a lake to cool them and reduce some swelling. Some of the boys did this as well. Zach's squeeze cheese was good, but we needed more crackers.
The plan for this days hike was to reach a campsite at Mac Lake in the Mink Lake basin. However, when we arrived at that point, the only good campsite had been marked off limits for rehabilitation. There were no other close to level spots so we decided to press on to the next lake. Merril Lake was smaller and off the trail a bit. We dropped our packs and went to check it out, but it also had no likely spots where we could set a tent. We wanted to camp near water, so nothing to do but go on to Horseshoe Lake.
At Horseshoe Lake we found a nice site on a peninsula where all five tents could be set. We had hiked about eleven miles this day, which seemed like twenty. The boys went swimming, and I collapsed until dinner time. I was just too tired to get in the lake.
A Grosbeak visited our campsite before dark.
Jared and Jeremy built us a fire this night. The smoke helped to discourage the mosquitoes which made everyone happy.
The scouts wanted to do the Man in the Moon game around the fire. It lasted at least an hour this time. Jeremy was the only one to figure out the trick and was very excited at his success. After that, everyone went to their tent and we put out the fire.
Drifting off to sleep this night was easy. The last thing I remember was the sound of a Nighthawk feasting on the mosquitoes over the lake.
The Grosbeak visited again this morning. The lake was beautiful with a nice layer of mist rising from it's surface. I went for a short walk to explore the lake and fill my water bottles. I found some rocks that let me get down close to my work, which went quickly. While doing this morning chore I observed small fish, water dogs (newts,) and eels or leaches on the rocks.
I skipped the oatmeal this morning and went for the heavier Power Bar and gorp. They were not only heavier, but I felt I needed the extra sugar to get going. The mosquitoes didn't seem quite as bad this morning. Perhaps the cooler air had put them to sleep.
We were out of camp about 8:30am. We took a few short breaks and then the first packs off break at 10:45am.
On our hike today we are seeing rock piles every so often and just passed through a pretty meadow called Reserve Meadows. Our packs off break is on a ridge just north of this meadow. We always try to take our breaks at a spot with a nice view, and these meadows fit that bill nicely. The map indicates that this area around the Mink Lake basin is a heavy use area, but we have not seen any other hikers this day.
We took our lunch break at a beautiful little lake called Dumbbell Lake. We weren't sure why it was called Dumbbell until we explored a bit. Hidden from our view was a thin rock peninsula that nearly cut the lake in half. We decided that the peninsula represented the bar part of a dumbbell and so the name. The water was clear and deep next to the rocks which invited swimming. We didn't want to take the time on this trip, but all of the boys agreed that this would make a good destination for another hike just for the weekend. On the map it appears to be only about four miles from Elk Lake.
After a bit we noticed that there were some folks sunbathing on the distant shore. While we ate our lunch, one of them took a swim. We had to drag the boys off the rocks and back to the trail. I'm pretty sure we will be back to this lake again.
Jared was the leader today. He had several opportunities for decisions at trail forks and crossings. The last was when we crossed the creek going into Horse Lake. There were a couple of women camped by the trail who gave us confusing information. We knew there should be one last junction ahead of us. Jared even ran ahead but didn't see a junction. We checked three different maps and finally used the compass to convince ourselves that we knew where we were.
Sure enough, after we made our decision and walked ahead we found the junction just where the map said it should be. We quickly come to Horse Lake on the old Pacific Crest Trail, where we will camp tonight. We will have to back track tomorrow to get back on the new PCT.
We chose a campsite that was fairly level and close to the lake. This part of the trail has been visited this season. Our campsite was recently used by horses. We could see where they had been watered at the shore and tethered at the edge of the clearing where we set our tents. They probably chose this site for the same reasons we did. We will try to leave it pristine.
We set up quickly. The closeness of a somewhat marshy area has provided a good supply of mosquitoes. There is some discussion of having a mosquito stew for dinner. The boys decide to go for a swim.
We made better time on the trail today, but I'm exhausted again and decide to take a short nap once my tent is up. It took me a while to get rid of all the mosquitoes that entered the tent with me. Mosquito stew might not be such a bad idea.
When I awoke from my nap I discovered that Greg had also taken a nap. Then I discovered that when Zach and Luke were swimming, they had decided to make for the far shore where there were some inviting rocks. Most of the other boys and Leegh followed them. Big problem.
The lake appeared to be about a half mile across. The two older boys and Leegh are strong swimmers, but the others are not. I got up from my nap in time to call Jared back because he had no buddy. Zach and Luke were the first to get back followed by Leegh. Then Ben came back followed by Reid and Jeremy. It was a long swim for the younger scouts.
After dinner at the campfire, I had Zach and Luke do a safe swim program. Remember BALLPADS! This was not summer camp. We were very lucky that everyone made it back okay.
I did get into the lake to wash off some of the trail dust. While there, Greg and I saw a Heron fly over. After the swim, all the adults put on fresh clothes. I can't say all the scouts did.
For dinner tonight, all three stoves were running. Some had Top Ramen Noodles, some had Macaroni and Cheese. I had one of my favorites, Beef Stroganoff. A deer walked through camp while we were preparing dinner and we were again visited by a Grosbeak.
After dinner, we got the bear bags all up. They were a little lighter, but we need to eat more.
I tried out my hammock for the first time. It was very comfortable. Jared has been sleeping in a hammock with a tarp over him in case of rain. The mosquitoes are eating him alive.
The campfire was made very smoky to help keep the insects away. The safe swim program was treated seriously and each of the scouts participated. Leegh had not known what the BSA rules were, so it was a valuable experience for her as well.
We talked about the hike and how things were going so far. All agreed that the scenery was not the greatest yet because of the timber all around us. The trail has kept to the west slopes and the trees have provided shade about 95% of the time. Luke reported that three snow capped mountains could be seen from the rocks across the lake. They had to be the Three Sisters. We expect to break out of the timber some time tomorrow afternoon and look forward to seeing the mountains then.
I took a few photos around the campfire and noticed that my batteries are getting low. I think the flash sucks too much energy. I'll check it in the daylight and hopefully I can continue to take pictures with out the flash.
Everyone got tired of slapping at the mosquitoes, so we all head for the tents. I only had eight mosquitoes in mine this time. Zach and Luke had left their tent open and reported about two hundred in theirs.
I wrote in my note book for awhile then turned my lights out at about 10:00pm. I could just barely hear some quiet conversations from the other tents. Some one was already cutting zzz's.
We had been off of the Pacific Crest Trail since before Horse lake, but would stay on trail 3515 until it rejoined the PCT at Sisters Mirror Lake. On the way, we passed Red Hill on our left and Koosah Mountain on our right.
We continued to climb up through the timber until we broke out at the Mirror lake area about noon. We had to climb over and around more downed trees all through this area. There were a few toads along this section of the trail.
We broke for lunch at the second lake we came to. It was an unnamed lake just south of Denude Lake. These lakes are particularly beautiful, like Japanese rock gardens, with the alpine trees beginning to replace the taller forest trees.
Reid is suffering from some blisters because he has been hiking with loose shoes. Two groups of day hikers pass by while we are soaking our feet and having lunch. They are probably doing a loop from Davis Lake or Elk Lake to the east.
We are far enough into the hike and tired enough that people are beginning to irritate each other some. One of the scouts tossed some food into the lake and was scolded for the act by an older scout. The irritation passed around the group all day before it wore itself out that evening.
At a junction in the trail just past Mirror Lake, we stepped off the trail to let a couple of horses go past. I have began to take pictures again. With out using the flash the batteries seem okay. I gave some of my extra rolls of film to the other adults to use just in case my camera failed me.
The trail circled around House Rock to the east, then out on to the Wickiup Plain, where we got our first views of the South Sister, Broken Top, Mt. Bachelor, and the Middle Sister. The Wickiup Plain is a desert like cinder field with no vegetation. The change for us is breathtaking in it's beauty. The sight of the snow capped peaks gave everyone energy. I hope my camera is working.
The trail is smooth and marked occasionally by cairns of rock. I imagine this would be helpful if there were a foot or so of snow on the ground. There is much to see here. The Le Conte Crater is to our right and The Wife at 7054 feet to our left.
Just past the Rock Mesa Obsidian flow we drop down to a beautiful green alpine meadow and the first crossing of a small creek. Some of the boys wanted to go long today, but it was after 4:00pm so we decided to camp here where there is easy access to water.
We chose a site at the north edge of the meadow where the creek ceases it's meandering through the flowers and tumbles over rocks to another meadow farther below. Most of us set our tents under the trees at the meadows edge. Luke and Zach chose to set their tent way out in the meadow. It looks like a Sierra Design commercial with all the flowers around it. It's probably not very good for the meadow.
Dinner was prepared at the meadow edge on glacier carved stones near where the creek tumbled over the edge. It made a perfect kitchen to work on, with clear icy water close at hand. Of course we used the filters to purify all of our cooking and cleaning water. This night I had Mountain House Chicken and Noodles, plus a package of freeze dried corn, followed by some dried fruit and gorp for desert.
Leegh and Reid had some difficulty with their dinner. The stove they were using was apparently sitting a little askew on the stones and the pot of boiling water and noodles decided to tip over. It splashed on them a little and could have been a lot worse, but they were mostly frustrated that they had to salvage dinner from the kitchen floor.
By the end of my dinner, the mosquitoes were getting to me so I crawled back in my tent for some relief and to add some to my note book.
After a bit I again ventured out and discovered that Zach had fallen asleep in his tent and missed dinner. I got my stove out se he could heat some water for Top Roman if he decided to eat later.
Since I was up I decided to explore the meadow which stretched out from our campsite at the north edge, for about a quarter of a mile. The elevation here is about 6000 feet. In late July there are still several snow patches around the western edges of the meadow, where they are more protected by the shade from the timber. At several points, snow melt forms a fan of rivulets which join together as small meandering streams that then join the creek near the center of the meadow. Our map tells us that this is one of the sources of Mesa Creek.
From out in the meadow I get some great views of the South Sister. The meadow is fragile in some places with a very thin layer of soil over glacier polished rock. These rocks draw my attention first. It is easy to see the direction of the glacial ice flow where grooves caused by other rocks and boulders were carried by the ice in the general direction of our campsite at the north edge of the meadow. Scattered across the meadow are many small boulders that were left when the ice melted away.
Next I was drawn to the many huge Hemlocks that stood at the meadows edge. I measured one giant that took five of my outstretched arms to circle. That would be approximately thirty feet in circumference. Some of the older trees showed signs of fire where their bark had been blackened many years before.
There were a number of activities going on back in camp. Some of the boys were chasing fish and frogs in the creek. Ben's pack hip belt buckle had broken and needed some help. I found a belt with a small buckle in the bottom of my pack that should get him home okay. Zach had a broken buckle as well, but it was still serviceable with care. Jared has been carving a piece of pumice which was beginning to take on the look of a miniature castle.
By 8:00pm, everyone had moved back inside their tents, except for Jared, who has turned in with his hammock under a tarp. There are distant sounds of thunder and a nice breeze moving across the meadow. The clouds above seem to be moving in multiple directions. With a front coming through, we are likely to soon see some of that fickle mountain weather. That would be fine with me. It would dampen the spirits of the pesky mosquitoes and thereby raise our own.
The thunder now seems closer. Everyone is running for rain fly's and pack covers. My pack cover is already in place, so I just smile and watch them run. Jared gladly accepts an invitation to move out of the hammock and into a tent. He would have survived just fine, but now he will be included in the evening conversations. I smile again.
I surprised a big mule deer on my morning walk in the woods. It had stayed out of sight yesterday but I imagine that this was her meadow that we had camped in.
Breakfast was quick, and the tents came down quickly as well. Even so, I had some time to explore the water course below our campsite where it bounced over the bank and down towards another meadow far below. There were glacier marks everywhere.
Zach was the trail leader today and set off into the mist with a good long distance pace. The trail immediately dropped about 200 feet through the hemlocks, across another meadow, then climbed about 600 feet past more giant hemlocks. Everyone stayed together all the way up to the top. We took no breaks in this until we had reached a summit.
The trail past the Sisters found us in rain gear most of the time, with the mist heavy at times. Even though mountain tops were hidden from us, the scenery was beautiful. Every turn brought us to a new rock garden with occasional rivulets crossing our path.
We chose one of these rock gardens for our lunch stop. It was a moraine with a good number of bench size rocks inviting us to sit awhile and take a load off. We only paused for a short time, because we were exposed to a good breeze which was cooling us a little too much.
The overcast sky hid the peaks, but there were many snow fields on their flanks. Some of these crossed our trails and made for some treacherous crossings. Both Leegh and Reid have been wearing walking shoes with soft flexible soles which would not cut into the steep snow, but tended to slide over it. Hiking boots with stiff soles have worked much better.
We've had to cross snow many times at these higher elevations. Ones patch was so wide that we could not tell where the trail came out on the other side. We were the first to cross this patch so there were no tracks to follow that we could see. Earlier we had passed a group of Outward Bound kids going south. Luke eventually spotted their tracks up the hill from us and pointed the way to the trail ahead.
We began to see more people when we came to the Linton Meadows area at the foot of the Middle Sister. The meadow grass seems taller here. I can see why this is a popular place for hikers and backpackers.
We only take short breaks then press on to the Obsidian Falls area. All day the sky has been overcast and we have continued to hike in mist, sometimes light and sometimes heavy. Before long we begin to see chunks of obsidian along the trail, falling out of a trail side bank, or uplifted by the roots of a tree.
My first view of Obsidian Falls was from below. It wasn't real impressive because the rocks were covered with moss and vegetation. Then I looked up and saw our boys standing at the top of the falls. My initial reaction was that they looked really small from that distance. From where I stood they looked to be several hundred feet up. My next reaction was one of fear that one of them might slip and fall. I took some pictures then hurried ahead to meet them at the top.
Just as I was nearing the top, a magical thing happened. The mist drew back, the sun came out and thousands of pieces of broken obsidian glass began to reflect the sun's light. It was like stepping out of a dark room and walking into a well lit crystal shop. It was so beautiful that even the scouts thought so and wanted to camp right there. However, this area was marked off for rehabilitation and was off limits for camping. Besides, I was thinking what the effect would be of our set our tents out on a field of broken glass.
After a short break from our climb, we set out again, following the trail as it wound through more glacier valleys, past small ponds, cliffs and hills of obsidian, over moraines covered with obsidian chips and dwarf hemlocks. We followed the ridge past the memorials then dropped down to Glacier Creek and selected a campsite at the edge of the meadow upstream from the trail.
This would be our last campsite, here at the foot of the North Sister, with Collier Glacier just a little over a mile above us. Glacier Creek is a sizable creek at this point, and it's sound will be very pleasant to sleep by tonight.
Our tents go up quickly, we are getting good at this. Luke is to be the trail leader for the last day and he had informed us back at lunch that we would be getting up at 5:30am. We have been sort of laid back on this trek, hitting the trail between 8:00am and 9:30am. I wouldn't mind sleeping in a little each morning, if the pesky mosquitoes weren't so thick. They don't get real active until it warms up a little around 6:30am or 7:00am. So getting up at 5:30am may make for a pleasant breakfast.
Luke asked me if I can wake him at 5:30am, which is first light, so he can get the camp up. I usually stuff my sleeping bag before I get out of my tent, so I told him that I would set up close enough to call him when I woke up.
We set the two Sphinx tents up facing each other, a little farther out on the meadow than the other tents. Luke and Zach have a view down the meadow, mine is up at the cliffs. From my tent I can see Greg pumping water in his red hat. The hat is black with mosquitoes. Up above, the clouds are racing by just above the tree tops. At our camp site there is just enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes from flying.
For dinner tonight I had good old Mountain House Beef Stew. It turned out great. Life just doesn't get much better than this.
After dinner and a little rest, I decided to explore the trail above our camp. I believe this is the trail that scouts use when the hike from Camp Malakwa to climb the Middle Sister. I followed it up to the next meadow then climbed up one of the banks of obsidian to the Pacific Crest Trail that we had followed down to our campsite.
Along the way, I explored a cave we had seen earlier in the rock wall above the trail. It was a scramble to get up to it. I suspect, but don't know, that the cave was man made. The spot had a pinkish shade to the rock. Probably a mineral hunter. I collected a small sample to ask someone about later then continued on my way.
When I got near to the memorial plaque I grew curious to see it up close. Again, it was a scramble up to the rock face where the plaque was placed. Luke had gone up to read it earlier in the evening. We had watched him make his climb from our campsite.
The first plaque was high up on an obsidian cliff that had been polished by a glacier. It read;
I found the one as well, around the corner of the cliff. It was not so easy getting to that one. The snow bank was too steep to climb safely, so I crossed around in back of it. The snow had melted away from the rock face about three feet and had left a crevasse about ten feet deep. I was able to work my self through to where I could climb above the snow and read the plaque. This one read;
Both had been active in the Mazamas Mountainering Club.
The people back in camp had spied me by now. I blinked my little key chain red light a couple of times and they waived back to me. Then I returned to camp.
We had a beautiful sunset this evening. When the clouds are so close, it's like you are in the sunset.
It's 9:30pm now and everyone is back in their tents. Zach had sore knees and decided to make himself a hot water bottle. The stars are beginning to come out and I just realized that this is the first time my tent has been facing south. I can see one of the bright planets over the obsidian cliffs. Awesome. Zach and Luke are chattering in their tent, and the stream is babbling. Actually the stream is roaring. The sound bust be amplified by the deep cut banks. I'm beginning to be a little sad that tomorrow is our last day on the trail, and tonight, the last camp.
It has cleared today and promises to be warm. From the meadow we can now see the top of the North Sister, just above our campsite.
The boys are working quickly this last morning. Tents come down, water is pumped, breakfast is done, packs are on and we hit the trail by 6:30am. We pause to take a last look at a perfect campsite then Luke leads us on a steady climb up through the hemlocks. We are hiking into the morning sun, but it is early enough that there are no mosquitoes. Hooray!
The trail soon takes us out into the lava fields.
For future reference, there is a very nice campsite where we cross the White Branch at a place called Sawyer Bar. There is level ground, some trees for cover, and Lava flows all around. It is kind of a small island in the lava. There is a tent their this morning, but they are still asleep when we pass.
When we get closer to Opie Dilldock Pass we move into the shade from the ridge. This is fortunate. Had we been going up those switch backs in the heat of the day it would be very difficult climb. When we look out over the lava fields to the west, we look down on fog in the valleys. Jared thinks we can see all the way to the ocean, but it's just cloud cover in the distance. The ridges poking through the fog are remnants of the Old Cascades.
We reach the pass at 8:03am and break into the morning sun once more. I told the guys that they can now say that they rode shanks mare up Opie Dilldock Pass. After a short packs on break we set out again.
At one point we had to cross a very steep snow field near the base of Collier Cone. Most of us were very cautious on this one, but two of the boys allowed themselves to slip and enjoyed a slide in the snow. I'm pretty sure it was intentional.
We continued out along the ridge above Opie Dilldock Pass. The ridge trail has a drop off on both sides. We were able to watch our shadows hiking along on the lava below.
At the end of the ridge we came to a view point that we just had to stop for. It was a packs off break. From this spot we could see eight major volcanoes. From south to north we named; South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister, Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Adams. We could also see a number of more recent craters and cones as well as cores from the Old Cascades. Totally Awesome!
It was breezy here and we didn't want to get chilled, so we to move on after just a few minutes. The trail moved in and out of the lava and hemlocks. We also began to see the White Barked Pine and an occasional Ponderosa Pine.
We took the next packs off break on the flanks of Yapoah Creater. After a steady climb we came to a nice shady spot under some hemlock high on the side of the cinder cone. I challenged the boys to scramble up and look down into the crater. No one was interested at first, then Zach and Luke decided to run up to the top. I had estimated it would only take them about 15 minutes to get to the top.
They were back shortly with lots of laughter. Zach said I had been correct, 10 minutes up, 4 minutes to look around and 1 minute to get back down. They said the best part was the view to the east. They could look out at the city of Bend and the high desert to the east.
The rest of us had used our 15 minutes to sit under the ancient twisted dwarf hemlock and eat some snacks. Our view was also great.
When the boys had returned from the crater top we again shouldered our packs and headed north. The trail continued through the lava and trees past South Matthieu Lake then to North Matthieu Lake.
Zach and I pressed ahead of the others from a short break just before the lake to get to a spot where we could put our feet in the water. At this spot we had another packs off break and some lunch, then on to the end of the trail.
When we came to the wilderness boundary sign we were met by Mike Wyse and Stewart Wershow who had hiked out from the parking lot to meet us. We all shook hands and they congratulated us on our accomplishment.
Back at the parking lot we unloaded our packs for the last time and went for the cold watermelon and grapes. Mrs. Zedwick had driven up in the scoutmaster Dale Berggren's van so there were three vehicles for us. We estimate that the hike had covered about 55 miles, plus what ever side exploring we did around our campsites.
On the way home we stopped in Springfield for some good greasy fast food which every one craved after 6 days of freeze dried.
At home I took the time to set up my tent and hose out the mosquito bodies, blood stains and dirt, then hung the tent up in the barn to dry out. Then I hung the sleeping bags to air out and cleaned the dirty clothes and trash out of the packs. After that I took a nice hot shower. Tomorrow I will take the film to be developed. I lost 8 pounds on this 6 day trek.