Seven Mile Falls on Eagle Creek

On Day 5 (Thursday 7/29/2010), we awoke to hear the rushing water of Eagle Creek.  We packed up our gear and headed out for the remaining 7 1/2 miles from 7 1/2 mile campground toward our triumphant finish at the Eagle Creek trailhead.  About a half mile beyond the campsite, we encountered Seven Mile Falls.

Brian, with his trusty Stick-Pic, was ready with an update.

Dan and Brian above Twister Falls at Eagle Creek

Brian was anxious and excited to see the much-hyped waterfalls along Eagle Creek…

Zoom-worthy View from the drop off of Twister Falls on Eagle Creek

…and I don’t think he was disappointed!  Twister Falls was very exciting, with 3-layers of waterfall followed by a 100+ foot drop down to the pool down below.  The picture is high resolution, so you can also click into it for more detail.

Twister Falls on Eagle Creek from down the trail a little ways

You can see the two other layers of Twister Falls and then where the falls gets its name where the water crosses paths around that rock, I guess causing a twisting effect?  Either way, it was cool.

Here is Brian’s video of Twister Falls and the trail beyond.

Tunnel Falls from Eagle Creek Trail

Next, we got to Tunnel Falls, which may have been even cooler!  This is also a 100+ foot drop, but the cool part is that there is a tunnel blasted into the rock so you can walk behind the falls.

Dan and Brian entering the Tunnel Falls tunnel

Dan and Brian went behind the falls first and I took this picture of them next to it to show how big the waterfall was.

Jeff going through the Tunnel Falls cave

Here you can see the tunnel as I’m catching up to Dan and Brian.

Tunnel Falls from the Eagle Creek Trail

Here is Tunnel Falls’ pool down at the bottom.

Eagle Creek's Cold Rushing Water

Eagle Creek had lots of drop-offs where little waterfalls pop up, and it was pretty neat to see, even if the waterfalls were not named.

Dan and Brian up ahead on the Eagle Creek Trail

The trail followed Eagle Creek all the way down the gorge.  The trail is cut into the rock in many spots, and thick steel cables are mounted to the rock as a handrail on the spots where the trail gets skinny.

Eagle Creek Gorge

We found lots of thick trees and high gorge walls.  We had the place mostly to ourselves until we reached High Bridge.  From there on out, we were in range of most of the day hikers and we regularly encountering people.  After a few days of barely seeing anyone else, it certainly seemed like a TON of people.

Loowit Falls on Eagle Creek Trail

With about 3 miles to go we passed Loowit Falls, which was about 90 feet tall.  Loowit is a very popular waterfall with photographers, so we took our obligatory photos, too.

Punchbowl Falls on Eagle Creek Trail

We stopped at the top to view Punchbowl Falls from the top and take a few minutes to rest.  As a group, we were pretty sore from the previous 50 miles, and the mile-long steep side trail and then the return trip up that steep side trail did not sound very appealing, so we took in the view from up here.  After a few minutes, we triumphantly headed out to victory and we celebrated with Pizza and Beer.

Spot Track of Day 5

Our final Spot Track of the trip, going from 7 1/2 mile campground to the trailhead put us at 7 1/2 miles for the day.

Wahtum Lake at Junction of Pacific Crest Trail and Eagle Creek Trail

After a good night’s mosquito-free sleep, Day 4 (Wednesday 7/28/2010) started with us feeling good and refreshed.  We headed out of camp at about 7:30-8:00am.  We had a nice granola breakfast and broke camp along the Pacific Crest Trail toward the junction of the PCT and Eagle Creek trail.  (As you can see by the photo above, we made it!)

Mt. Hood from PCT outside of Indian Springs campground

Prior to the trip, Brian and I both had been looking at the Eagle Creek and PCT maps and discussing the routes, but at Indian Springs, we discovered that my route had us going down the Indian Springs trail to meet up with Eagle Creek trail, but Brian’s had us taking the long way around to Wahtum Lake.  Looking at the topographical map, we saw that the Indian Springs trail was a very steep downhill trail, while going around was less of a grade, but picked up an extra 4 bonus miles, but went out to Wahtum Lake.  We weren’t in a hurry so we decided to loop around to Wahtum Lake.  I was also curious about Wahtum Lake’s campground.

Dan wading in Wahtum Lake along the Pacific Crest Trail

We arrived at Wahtum Lake just before 9:00am.  The water was cold, and the day hadn’t heated up yet.  We spoke to another backpacker before crossing the Sandy on Day 1 who told us that the Wahtum Lake ice had melted and it was warm enough for a swim, so Dan was eager to get in there.  Dan waded around trying to get the courage to dive in.  However, that didn’t happen, so I had to dive in first, and yes, it was very cold, but very refreshing!

Jeff and Dan refreshed after a swim at Wahtum Lake campground

After a quick swim, I was energized and ready to go.  Brian and I started talking about beer and pizza, and it was looking like Day 4 might be the final day of the trip.  It would be nearly a 17 mile day, but we were thinking it was doable.

Dan and Brian along the Eagle Creek Trail

We set off down the Eagle Creek trail, working our way down toward the gorge.  The trail wove in and out of streams like this one as we proceeded down through the forest.

Waterfall above 7 1/2 Mile campground

After 8 more miles, we stopped for a quick break at this nice little waterfall and to check the map to see where we were in relation to 7 1/2 mile campground, where we planned to stop for lunch.  According to the GPS, we should have been close, but we saw no signs of any campground.

Upper Falls on little waterfall above 7 1/2 mile campground

We checked out the upper falls on this little waterfall, thinking the campground may be up there, but no, that wasn’t it either.  So, we decided to rest there for a little longer and then we’d saddle up and continue down to 7 1/2 mile campground for lunch.  Well, after we were nice and rested, we pulled on our packs, hiked about 20 yards from that spot around a corner, and there was 7 1/2 mile campground!

Clothesline Repair at 7 1/2 Mile Campground

7 1/2 mile campground was above Eagle Creek and consisted of about 10 sites.  We found a nice campsite with a nice fire pit where someone left a clothesline and broke out a high-energy lunch of bacon, summer sausage and cheese on pitas while we considered finishing the remaining 7 1/2 miles (guess how the campground got its name) out to civilization.  After lunch, it was decided that 10 miles was enough for today, and that wading in the cold creek was a better idea instead.  At about this time, we noticed the sky starting to cloud up, so we set up the tarp tent, and sure enough, within minutes of getting it set up, the clouds faded away.  So, we took about 5 minutes to check out the creek.  Upon returning to the camp, Brian noticed that a chipmunk had seized that 5-minute opportunity to attack our pitas, and chomped into the bag and took a few big bites.  Brian hooked the food bag to the clothesline as a temporary solution, but the line was old and it immediately snapped.  (don’t worry, we fixed it with what we had available, see above)  So, we decided to do it the right way and hang the food bags from a tree.

Calling upon Dan’s demonstration of bear bag hanging technique from the day before, I deftly hung half the food high up in a nearby tree with one of the bear bags.  Brian pointed out that we forgot to add an item, and we went to pull the bag down, but found that the bear bag hanging training session was not a demonstration of the ‘proper’ way to do it, and half the food was stuck way up in the tree, out of reach from chipmunks, bears, and of course, us.  The second bear bag had still not been hung, so Brian and I reviewed the setup I used and identified the flaw.  The throw bag had slipped through the carabiner, pulling the rock inside tight against the rope and putting the brakes on tight, so there was no pulling it down.

Tarp Tent at 7 1/2 Mile Campground

We came up with a cunning plan to lash my Ka-Bar knife to the end of a hiking stick, creating a spear.  Then using the spear, we would jab the orange throw-bag, hoping to cut it open, and let the rock fall out.  Once the rock fell out, the weight of the bear bags would pull the now-empty throw bag through the carabiner, and we’d get our food back down from the tree.  So, I set to work using the string from the tent to tie the Ka-Bar to the hiking stick and gave it a few jabs.  The string did not keep the knife very stably tied to the spear, so I decided to tie on two socks to add extra support.  At about that time, this hippie chick ventured into our campsite from the forest and started admiring Brian’s tent.  The hippie chick was obviously impressed by the quality, size and stature of Brian’s tent, that she didn’t even notice (or did a good job pretending to not notice) that we were tying a big knife to a hiking stick to do who knows what!

Ka-Bar and the Bear Bag

Anyway, the hippie chick walked off to rejoin her hippie flock, and Brian and I completed the newly secured “Spear of Destiny”, and with a few mighty thrusts, we cut the bag open, the rock fell out, and the heavy food bags came crashing down.  With our objective completed, we determined that the Spear of Destiny was too powerful of a weapon for a mere mortal to wield.  So we disassembled the Spear, returned my socks to my backpack, sheathed my Ka-Bar, and tossed the stick back into the forest.  (That was way easier than trekking to Mt. Doom and tossing it into a Volcano!)  Brian and I taped up the throw bag with duct tape, clipped the bear bag correctly, and then Brian demonstrated how to Properly hang the bear bag.  At about that moment, Dan came back from the creek and we realized that we should have had Dan up there to videotape this ordeal, as it would have been an excellent video of how to rescue an improperly hung bear bag.

Spot track of Day 4 on the Pacific Crest Trail to Eagle Creek Trail

Here is Day 4’s Spot track.  You’ll notice that the Spot either gave us up for dead and stopped responding, decided “eh, they’re close enough”, or was too deep in the canyons and forest to get a signal out to the satellite.  Otherwise, Day 4 was about a 10-mile day.

Lost Lake from Bull Run (Devil's Pulpit or Preacher's Peak, I think)

“BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!” *swat!* “Damn it!”  “BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!” *swat!* “Damn it!” “BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!” *swat!* “OK, is anyone else up?!?!” “Yes!” “I am!” “Are you guys ready to get moving?!?” “I’m ready!” “Let’s go!”…   Day 3 started early–like 5:30am early!  The mosquitoes at Salvation Springs were relentless all through the night.  We skipped the tent, slept close to the smoldering smoky fire and covered every inch of skin, but the mosquitoes never gave up through the night and were already regrouping for another attack, so we packed up and moved out–walking breakfast by 6:00am.  By the way, Peanut Butter Cliff Bars are probably the worst walking breakfast ever, dry and sticky–probably would have gone better with coffee.

We got to see Lost Lake through the trees and Mt. Hood in the early morning light, and there was a slight breeze coming down from the mountain keeping the mosquitoes at bay which was very welcome at this point!  I’m not sure if this Lost Lake view was from Preacher’s Peak or Devil’s Pulpit, we didn’t want to stop for very long, so I didn’t get to match it up with the map.  Paula and I camped over at Lost Lake two or three years ago with the canoe.

Brian’s video of the trek out of the mosquitoes.  Mosquito Mecca, Mosquito Nebula, Mosquito Nirvana–whatever you want to call it–it was finally behind us!  And good riddance!  Also, Brian introduced me to the backpacker’s Vitamin I (aka Ibuprofen), as a relief to a sore knee resulting from the 15 miles done on Day 2–and I was hooked for days!  I had aspirin along, but next time, I’m bringing some of the good stuff!

Trees along the Pacific Crest Trail through Bull Run

We reached the top of the very cool ridge and it was mostly flat, and the nice breeze kept us energized, so we started raking up the miles already.

Mt. Hood from Bull Run section of Pacific Crest Trail

We reached a nice clearing beyond Buck Peack where we got some very nice views of Mt. Hood.  Funny how the mountain seems to be getting smaller in each of these pictures?

Wildflowers up on top of Bull Run

There were also a variety of wildflowers up there.  Of course, my picture doesn’t really do them justice, but they were pretty vibrant colors scattered around the mountain meadows.  The other neat thing was that these were totally different varieties than we saw up on Mt. Hood at the higher elevation.

Mt. Hood from Bull Run

We took a few minutes of photo break before crossing over to Waucoma Ridge to begin the trek across to Indian Mountain.

Looking West from Waucoma Ridge

One of the first things I noticed was the abundance of gray rocks when we crossed over to the ridge.  It seemed that we were more in the trees up on Bull Run, but now we were approaching the treeline.  We stopped to rest at a nice water source–a tiny little PVC pipe under some rocks on the stream from a tiny little spring.  Since it took forever to fill the water bottle, we gladly took a rest, enjoying a nutritious snack of beef jerky and trail mix.  This was actually a neat idea to keep thirsty backpackers from damaging the stream trying to get flowing water to fill their canteens.

Looking West at Mt. Hood Foothills from Waucoma Ridge

As we progressed up the ridge, we ran into an old abandoned road, I believe Brian’s PCT guide book had it listed as the Oregon Skyline Trail, which paralelled the PCT for several miles, some of the time below and other times above the PCT.  From the number of downed trees, you’d certainly need a 4-wheel-drive…and a chainsaw.

Jeff and Dan backpacking up Indian Mountain on Waucoma Ridge

By now, the mid-morning sun really started to beat down and the nice rocks started to really heat up.  There was very little shade to be found!

Benson Plateau view from Indian Mountain on Waucoma Ridge

The Pacific Crest Trail continues along the ridge here, down through Indian Springs, out to Wahtum Lake and then up Benson Plateau.  There’s Benson Plateau from Indian Mountain.  It also seemed as is the further North we got, the fewer gray rocks and the more brown and tan rocks there were.

Dan and Brian resting on Indian Mountain on Waucoma Ridge

We stopped at this nice cairn for a photography break.  Dan and Brian are resting here on Indian Mountain.  You can see Mt. Adams in Washington looming in the background.

Jeff, Dan and Brian from the Pacific Crest Trail at Indian Mountain on Waucoma Ridge

Brian’s Stick-Pic got to see some action with a group shot of the team at Indian Mountain.  Yes, I said the Stick-Pic!  Isn’t that what they call “the bring back”, in the business, Brian?  Or is that just a shameless plug?

Mt. Adams off in the distance

Mount Adams from Indian Mountain–this time with no resting Dan and Brian in the picture.

Looking down at Eagle Creek Canyon from Indian Mountain

While the PCT wound around and up to Benson Plateau, we planned to meet up with the Eagle Creek trail and follow that out, so we could see some scenic waterfalls.  This  picture above is the Eagle Creek gorge.  The Columbia River is just beyond those hills–about 10 miles straight shot, probably 18 to 20 “trail miles” away.  If you follow the far hill on the left and Benson Plateau on the right, and follow them down to where they meet at the bottom, the Columbia River is just beyond that point.  The hills in the distance are on the other side in Washington.

Dan on the Camera at Indian Mountain on the Pacific Crest Trail

Dan was in charge of the digital camcorder.  Here he is making videos at one of the Indian Mountain viewpoints before we proceeded down the hill to the next water source and the Indian Springs campground.  I’m not sure if those videos can go up to Youtube, but we’ll see.

10 Miles before 1:00pm

We arrived at Indian Springs campground just before 1:00pm.  Brian’s fancy Garmin GPS contraption marked us at just over 10 miles for the morning.  Meanwhile, my trusty pedometer had us around 6 and change.  The pedometer did not do very well on the uneven ground with the shorter and longer steps here and there, so it continued to sell us short.  We had a pretty good laugh every time we checked to see the mileage, we’d also have to double-check on the pedometer.  Maybe it doesn’t sound very funny right now, but believe me, if you were there, you’d understand.

Dan and Brian at Indian Springs Campground

We stopped at Indian Springs Campground to fill up the water and to have a Bacon, Cheese and Summer Sausage Pita sandwich to fuel up for another few miles for the next campground.  However, after hanging out for a bit and getting a mid-day siesta, we decided that Indian Springs Campground was a very nice campground, specifically because there were no mosquitoes, and the next campground we ran into could very well be infested with them.  So, we decided to camp at Indian Springs.  Dinner was a delicious Chicken Italian, which was at least as good, if not better than Brian’s Cranberry Chicken.  Dan demonstrated the proper way to hang a bear bag, so I took a stab at hanging a bear bag, and it appeared to work like a charm, securely hanging our food well out of reach of bears, rodents and other mischeivous animals.  We made a really nice campfire and since it worked so well at Salvation Springs, we skipped the tarp-tent again to sleep under the stars.

Google Map with Spot Track of Day 3

Here is our Day 2 Google Map and Spot track for Day 3.  Salvation Springs, where we started, is somewhere between spot 10 and 9.  Also, no bears or cougars to report.  10.4 miles for the day.

Mt. Hood from the Sandy River Canyon

Morning came on Day 2 of our Pacific Crest Trail backpacking trip and we awoke at our campsite along the Rushingwater Creek near the Sandy River crossing.  Brian made some excellent granola that we enjoyed for breakfast.  After packing up camp we headed out to ford the Sandy River.

Mt Hood - Sandy River up Close

The overnight temperatures slowed the snowmelt and let the river level drop a few inches, making the crossing less perilous.  We crossed the field of boulders to the simple crossing made of a few fallen trees.

Looking up at Mt. Hood from the Sandy River

Mt. Hood has these small black flies that buzz around during the day and land on you and twitch.  On the previous day, we found ourselves counting the number of black flies that we swatted in a row.  It was still early, so we got out to a cool morning before the black flies did.  We also noticed that we were down quite a bit lower than the previous day and we did not see the same patches of snow all through the forest.

Dan crossing the mighty Sandy River on Mt. Hood

When I said the crossing was made from fallen trees, I should have said two small fallen trees.  The previous evening, the river was rushing over the logs, so we were happy to have a few more inches between the river and our feet.  Brian and I crossed the river and then he got out the video camera to watch Dan cross.  Not that we expected him to fall in or anything… but we wanted to be ready just in case!

Once we were across the river, we proceeded another mile or two across the forest toward Ramona Falls.  The hiking stick I picked up with the purpose of balancing as I crossed the Sandy stayed with me, partly because I knew the Muddy Fork crossing was coming up, but also because it was kind of nice to have a hiking stick along.

Ramona Falls on Mt. Hood

We reached Ramona Falls and stopped for a few pictures.  This photo barely does Ramona Falls any justice.  Ramona Falls is big.  It is tucked away in the canyons surrounded by trees, which hides Ramona Falls in the shadows.  Then, the rock face that the waterfalls come down is huge!  Every picture I’ve seen of it on the Internet makes the falls look dark and tiny.  Lastly, the spray off the waterfall blows down through the trees and cools everything off.  It was really cool to see, and I think you have to see it in person to really appreciate it!

Photo of the Elusive Pacific Crest Trail Marker

At this point, the mountains decided we had a pretty easy go, and decided to mix things up a little, and make things a little more challenging.  From Ramona Falls, we set off down the Ramona Falls loop trail #797, across the Sandy River’s Muddy Fork and began the difficult switchbacks up Bald Mountain.  I got particularly worn out going up this stretch.  The switchbacks were long and steep and just when you thought you reached the top, here comes another switchback.  The ascent was from 2800 to 4300 feet in 2 miles.  We got about halfway up and stopped for Tuna Pesto sandwiches and water.  Meanwhile, Bald Mountain went for the Day 2 knockout by attacking our Achilles’ Heel and attempted to knock out the water filter with it’s extra silty water.  It succeeded in gumming up the filter for the rest of the trip, but it was still usable.  We learned the hard way that it pays to pre-filter the water with a bandanna before putting it through the filter.

Mt. Hood from Bald Mountain Ascent

After Tuna Pesto and a long rest waiting for the water filtration, we set out on the even-steeper second mile of the Bald Mountain ascent!  By this time, the early afternoon sun started beating down and it got very hot.  The switchbacks eventually subsided and turned into a long uphill slog through the forest.  I determined that all of the training hikes were insufficient and that I was not conditioned at all!  It seemed like we’d go 20 or 30 yards and then I’d be out of breath, just panting away, the dry air parching my throat, so I had to stop for water, and then this wicked process would repeat again and again.  Bald Mountain was winning, and almost had me beaten!  Miraculously, I made it to the top where we stopped and through the help of my beef jerky and some level ground, I was able to get my energy level up, breathing pattern back on track and I was ready again to rack up another 3 miles to the campground!

We began the descent from Bald Mountain toward Lolo Pass, where we expected to make camp for the night, but where Bald Mountain left off, Bull Run and Hiyu Mountain took over.  First, because of Bald Mountain, we were low on water, so we were hopeful for water at Lolo Pass campground.  We had already gone about 10.4 miles for the day, and decided the campground at the bottom of the hill was a good spot.  When we arrived, we did not find any water.

Not the Actual Cougar we saw near Lolo Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail

Looking at the maps, we estimated the closest water would be up Hiyu moutain about a quarter of a mile up.  So we headed up the hill toward the water, crossing under the high voltage power lines from Bonneville Dam.  Suddenly, we saw movement in the bushes to the right!  My immediate thought was “deer!”, but looking more closely, I realized that I was looking at the muscular back end and tail of a cougar as it slinked into the bushes!  It had clearly seen us and determined that we were not worth its time.  It was certainly a moment of awe, as most people never encounter a cougar, so I was happy to have seen one.  I was also content with the fact that the cougar was heading in the opposite direction.  We crossed the power lines, occasionally checking behind us to make sure we weren’t followed, and made it to the next water source, a small stream, where we filled up.  While filling the water container, Brian ran across additional cougar tracks.  The campground near the stream was small, on a sloping hill, full of flies and was close enough to the cougar, so we decided to head uphill in search of another campsite just up the hill, so we shouldered our packs and continued up Bull Run.

The mountains were ready for us now, and as we continued up the hill, we encountered a trail runner who indicated “guys, if you have any sleeves, you better get them on, because there’s a few mosquitoes right around the bend”.  We thanked him for the advice, thinking to ourselves “we haven’t seen a mosquito this whole trip, what is he smoking?”.  However, when we rounded the bend, we were swarmed by the biggest and most aggressive swarm of mosquitoes that I’ve ever encountered.  There was no stopping.  We coated ourselves with mosquito repellent, pulled on jackets, sleeves and sweatshirts, but the mosquitoes kept coming, poking in ears, hiding between packs, buzzing incessantly.  The next campground always seemed to be just another 3/4 of a mile over the hill, but with all the mosquitoes, we just kept going, not wanting to bed down with all the mosquitoes.  By this time, we missed our annoying black flies!

Dan and the Smokey Fire at Salvation Springs Campground

The sun was starting to set when we ran into the Lost Lake #617 crossover trail.  At that point, we realized we had done almost 5 miles since Lolo Pass, and the mosquitoes had not given up.  We pressed on for another quarter of a mile when we eventually came to a small trail with a small sign indicating Salvation Springs.  Brian left his pack on the trail and scouted down the path and found the Salvation Springs campground, with no mosquitoes and signaled us along.  We stumbled into the campground, but within minutes of arriving, the mosquitoes found us!  We were too tired and too annoyed by the pesky mosquitoes that we didn’t bother with the tarp tent, didn’t bother to cook any dinner, being content with PB&J Pitas, then building a smoky fire and then covering every exposed inch of skin from the mosquitoes.  I wanted to show how aggressive the mosquitoes were and exposed my hand and counted to 5, and there were 6 mosquitoes perched on my hand–with mosquito repellent and all!  The photo didn’t come out very well.

Brian in his mosquito-resistant protective gear

After a 15-mile day (Brian and Dan’s all-time best, and certainly mine, too) we were not happy about the mosquitoes keeping us up all night, however, we were in good spirits.  Our joke was that whoever named this campground “Salvation Springs” must have come from a REALLY terrible place!  Actually, Salvation Springs campground was actually a nice campground relatively close to a water source, and we probably would have had a great time if it weren’t for the mosquitoes.  Fortunately, they were most interested in annoying us and less interested in biting.  We built a nice fire and got it nice and smoky and slept around the campfire that night hoping the smoke would keep the mosquitoes away.  It worked somewhat, but we all left Salvation Springs with a few mosquito bites.

We must have also been dreaming of cougars, too, because Brian stepped away to “use the tree” during the night, upon his return to camp, Dan and I both heard him approach, woke up, and lit him up with our headlamps and I had drawn my ka-bar!  All-in-all, it was a long and challenging day, but it was still a good day!

Google Map plus Spot with markup showing the Day 2 progress

Brian, Dan and I preparing to start the Pacific Crest Trail from Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood

Day 1 of our Pacific Crest Trail Backpacking trip began up on Mt. Hood at Timberline Lodge.  Originally, we planned to start the Pacific Crest Trail backpacking trip at Timberline Lodge, however, two weeks prior, Paula and I went on a reconnaissance mission up to Mt. Hood to check the snow levels, and found the trail completely buried by at least 2 to 4 feet of snow.  Beyond the ski area, the trail was unrecognizable, so we planned to take the Paradise Park Trail #778 up the mountain to meet the PCT below Paradise Park.  We planned on checking out Timberline Lodge anyway before starting the journey, and when we arrived, we were very surprised to find the trail was almost totally clear.  As a result, we made a game-time decision to start the trip from the original spot.

Looking South from the Pacific Crest Trail / Timberline Trail on Mt Hood

At this point, the PCT was crossing ground that is generally buried in snow above the treeline, so there was not a ton of vegetation around, and it seemed the volcanic rock and ash were radiating the sun’s heat.  The weather was warm with a cold wind coming down the mountain from the summit making the temperature very bearable.  The air was a little hazy, and in the picture above, you could see Mt. Jefferson to the south and the Three Sisters beyond.  We snapped this picture as we crossed Sand Canyon.

Dan leading the charge down the Pacific Crest Trail

Here is a picture of Dan as we worked our way in and out of the canyons along Mt. Hood’s southwestern face.  This section of the Pacific Crest Trail also overlaps with the Timberline Trail, that goes all the way around Mt. Hood.

Looking up at the Mt. Hood Summit from Little Zigzag Canyon

We crossed several canyons along Mt. Hood’s western face, often stopping to take photos of the summit from where we were.  We had lots of photography equipment of varying degrees of sophistication.  Brian had his digital camera plus Stick-Pic, Dan had along a digital camcorder, and I had a disposable camera plus my trusty iphone camera.

Mt. Hood Summit and Zigzag Canyon from Pacific Crest Trail

The Zigzag Canyon was the first major canyon we needed to cross.  The Zigzag Glacier is up at the top of the canyon.  This was at about 6000 feet.

Zigzag Canyon on Mt. Hood, looking down at Zigzag River

Down below, you can see the Zigzag River, fueled by the summer temperatures and melting snowpack.  The PCT would take us down and around a switchback or two where we would eventually need to cross the Zigzag River.

Brian crossing the Zigzag River on Mt. Hood

We reached the floor of the Zigzag Canyon and reached the icy-cold Zigzag River.  Dan and I looked around for a convenient crossing and leapt across the river, while Brian stripped off his boots to wade across.  Once across the Zigzag, we began our ascent to Paradise Park.

Lost Creek on Mt. Hood

The ascent up the other side of the Zigzag Canyon from the Zigzag River was very steep, and by the time we crossed Lost Creek, I was running out of energy.  We were already at 5 miles for the day, so we stopped for a tasty lunch of Peanut Butter and Jelly Pita Sandwiches, which hit the spot.  Brian also hooked up his water purification system for the first time of the trip, and we got some very cold and refreshing water from Lost Creek.  From here, we took the PCT below Paradise Park, which was where the Paradise Park Trail #778 would have met up, if we did not start at Timberline.  After the physically draining Zigzag ascent, I was a little relieved that we started at Timberline after all.

Sandy River Waterfall on Mt. Hood

After another two miles, we crossed the Rushingwater Creek and got to see a waterfall on the Sandy River.  We would be descending the mountain for about 3 more miles to the Sandy River crossing.

Mount St. Helens view from Mt. Hood

From our numerous vantage points on Mount Hood, we were able to see Mount St. Helens to the northwest and Mount Adams to the northeast.  This photo was a disposable camera developed to digital, and as you can see, the quality is not very good.  I’ll update this post to include some of the higher-quality digital pictures once Brian posts his.  I broke out the iPhone for the higher quality pictures, and used the disposable for the rest, the idea was to conserve iPhone battery.  But for next time, I’m going to skip the disposable camera and just do it right, and maybe I’ll find a better solar charging solution for the iPhone camera.

Setting sun hitting the summit of Mt. Hood view from the Sandy River

We passed another backpacker who started at Cascade Locks and was ending at Timberline who warned us that the Sandy River crossing was a little hairy, so I looked for and found a nice long and sturdy hiking stick that I could use to balance with for the crossing.  When we reached the Sandy River, we were tired and had racked up 10.4 miles for the day, so we opted not to cross the river until morning.  The river was probably higher from the snowmelt during the day, so we wanted to try to cross in the early morning after the snow had a chance to refreeze during the night.

View of the Sunset from Sandy River on the Pacific Crest Trail

We camped at a nice little campsite on the edge of Rushingwater Creek, and set up camp.  Naturally, once we had our camp set up, we found an even better campsite.  We decided to build a fire and have dinner at the other campsite.  Using my c3po Unican stove to prepare it, I enjoyed a tasty cranberry chicken meal that Brian had mixed up in the week prior to the trip.  On this trip, I learned that he is quite the freezer-bag cooking gourmet chef.  I still had a few tricks up my sleeve, as my Rough ‘n’ Ready beef jerky also made it’s backpacking debut on this trip, and it was also a big hit!

View of sky from the Rushingwater Creek campsite

Dan hung the remaining food in the bear bag and then we called it a night in Brian’s trusty backpacking tarp tent.  The picture above was my view of the world after waking up the next morning at Rushingwater Creek. It was a very peaceful sleep after hiking many miles and sleeping next to the creek.

Google Map track of Brian's Spot Locator

Here is the Day 1 Google Map track of the trip from Timberline Lodge around to the Sandy River.

Paula at Lower Punchbowl Falls on Eagle Creek

Paula and I headed North East to Eagle Creek (5/30/2010) to scout out the end of the trail for the Pacific Crest Trail backpacking trip in late July.  Dan, Brian and I plan to start at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood and backpack all the way down and around, ending at the Eagle Creek trailhead.  I wanted to show Paula where Eagle Creek was so she’d know where to pick us up, as well as take a quick hike up the trail to see what the terrain would be like.  So, off we went.

Eagle Creek from the Trail

We were lucky because as we reached the end of the parking lot, someone just pulled out, so we zipped into that space.  Between the time it took to grab our water and stuff, we saw at least 20 cars pull in, look around for a spot, and then head back out.  Sullivan’s “100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon” indicated that Eagle Creek was super-crowded because it was conveniently located along the highway and was a fairly easy trail.  Well, we believed it.

Jeff field testing the Gregory Baltoro 70 backpack

I also took my new Gregory Baltoro 70 backpack along on the hike.  I’d be taking it along on my PCT backpacking trip, so I wanted to test it out.  You can’t really tell from the picture, but I’ve also got my medicine ball and some other weight in the backpack just to simulate actual load.

Metlako Falls from Eagle Creek Trail

The first cool waterfall we saw was Metlako Falls.  Apparently, there’s some hard-to-find trail to get down there, and then you can swim across to the base (I’ve heard about it on PortlandHikers.org), but that wasn’t on today’s agenda.

Creek Crossing the Eagle Creek Trail

There were a few scenic streams crossing the trail.  We have been getting some record rainfall so far this year, so there was plenty of water in the creeks and streams.

Jeff on the rocks at Lower Punchbowl Falls

We found a side trail that took us down into the gorge to Lower Punchbowl Falls.

Paula on the rocks at Lower Punchbowl Falls

Around the corner by Paula in the above picture, you can see Upper Punchbowl Falls.  However, the water was too high, and even after clambering out over the rocks to the end of the path, we still could not see all the way around.  In the summer, that may be a nice and cool thing to see.

Jeff at Lower Punchbowl Falls

This is Lower Punchbowl Falls.  The picture at the very top with Paula is another shot of it.

Eagle Creek Gorge looking upstream from Lower Punchbowl Falls

Here’s Eagle Creek Gorge standing at Lower Punchbowl Falls looking up toward where we were standing out on the rocks.  We then turned around and headed back up to the Eagle Creek Trail and then upstream toward the Upper Punchbowl Falls viewpoint.

Upper Punchbowl Falls from Eagle Creek Trail Viewpoint

Here is Upper Punchbowl Falls.  We ran into a bunch of backpackers with Jet Boil stoves boiling up some water for their lunch.

Mountain Heather (wildflowers) along Eagle Creek Trail

Paula and I continued up the trail passing some meadows full of wildflowers.  I’m pretty sure these purple ones are Mountain Heather.  If they’re not, someone let me know!

Giant Eagle Creek Boulder

That is a cool boulder out in the creek.  It matches everything but still looks slightly out of place.  Certainly worth a photo.

Loowit Falls along Eagle Creek Trail

We managed to step over and around the three different photographers taking pictures of Loowit Falls and got this picture.  Pretty cool

Eagle Creek looking down from High Bridge

We made it up to High Bridge.  I don’t think Paula was very comfortable standing on the middle of the bridge peering down into the deep gorge with rushing water below, so we took a quick picture or two and crossed to solid ground on the other side.

Paula beyond High Bridge on Eagle Creek

She looks quite a bit more relaxed now that we were safe on the opposite side.

Skoonichuk Falls at Eagle Creek

We made it just beyond Skoonichuk Falls to about the 3.5 mile mark, and decided that a 7-mile round trip day would be just fine, so we did an about-face and headed back down the trail.

Loowit Falls from Upstream

We saw this additional view of Loowit Falls on the way back down, which was also pretty nice, so we got this shot, too.  We headed back out and then had a beer and a nice lunch out at Pacific Crest Pub and sampled their extra-hot horseradish.

Comparing two homemade alcohol stove designs: Unican (left) versus Supercat (right)

To save weight for my End of July Pacific Crest Trail attempt, I am going to take a homemade alcohol stove instead of a heavier and expensive commercial unit.  The ‘best’ two models I found were the Supercat, which is made from a cat food can, and the Unican, which is made from a single soda or beer can. On a side note, Heineken is not my favorite beer, I just had a lot of those cans handy from previous alcohol stove experimentation.  Also, please be aware that playing with fire and flammable liquids is dangerous, so don’t go blaming me if you burn your patio down or set yourself on fire.

Read on to see who wins the Supercat versus Unican challenge:

Oh, before we get carried away with this challenge and the rules, regulations and fairness, let me just say that I made the rules up as I went along while seeing which one would be a better fit to come on my backpacking trip.  I built both stoves for fun.  So, now that my disclaimer is out of the way, let’s fill ‘em up with some Denatured Alcohol and fire ‘em up!

The Homemade Supercat and Unican Alcohol Stoves getting their Flame On

Here are the two Alcohol Stoves in full flame, side by side.  I’m using a small Heineken can-pot for both of them.  The Supercat pressurizes and sends the flames out to the sides of the can, and doesn’t do a very efficient job of heating the water.  The Unican, however, takes an extra 30 seconds to pressurize, but once it does, it gets the water boiling in half the time as the Supercat.

Supercat Alcohol Stove heating up a pot of Water

The Supercat did a better job with an actual larger pot, where the flames would still hit the bottom of the pot.  This won’t work, because I’m not bringing a larger pot than the 24oz Keg Pot.

Unican Alcohol Stove with 24oz Keg Pot

The Unican alcohol stove won the day by doing the best job heating up my 24oz Heineken Keg Pot in about half the time that it took for the same test with the Supercat.

Since my Unican stove was golden, on account of it being made from a Miller Genuine Draft can, I have dubbed it c3po, after everyone’s second-favorite droid in Star Wars.

In case you’re interested, here are some of the links that I used:

• The Supercat Alcohol Stove
• ZenStoves – More Alcohol Stoves and Pots
• The Ultralight UniCan Alcohol Stove part of the Troop 73 Alcohol Stove Project
• Low cost backpacking cook kit

Estacada Lake from the Canoe

Saturday morning, we weren’t even thinking about going fishing.  Paula and I decided to go hiking up at Milo McIver Park and check out the horse trails.  Paula hadn’t been up there before, and we were talking about the park Friday night, so we went hiking.  Once we arrived at the park, while we were driving down to the trailhead, I noticed a new sign for Estacada Lake.  Now, I had known about Estacada Lake, and knew there was a fishing dock on the town side, but I didn’t know of any access on the park side, so Paula and I detoured and scoped it out.  There was a nice launch, plus a dock–and people were catching fish!  So, we decided that we need to come back with the canoe on Sunday.  (the above pic is from the canoe on Sunday)

I've got to take my fly rod out here...

After checking out the lake, we hiked the trails up and around through the upper half of the park.  The trails were rocky in some spots, and there were also some steeper spots where Slider would start gumbling, but it would be a nice place to take him out on a trail ride.  Then circled back around by the Clackamas River, and snapped a few pictures.  I think I may have fished near this same spot when the river was much higher, but with the flows being lower, this may actually be a good spot to try out my fly rod at some other time.

Jeff's Trout at Estacada Lake

Now fast-forward to Sunday when we brought the canoe up to Estacada Lake, where I got some revenge for the fishing beat-down I got from Paula out on Lake Simtustus! I had the hot lure of the morning, with my red trolling lure putting the hurt on the decent planter Rainbow Trout while it was misty and overcast out.

Paula's Trout from Estacada Lake

Paula switched around to a few different lures, but eventually went to the bullpen and got her hot turquiose lure from Lake Simtustus, when the sun started breaking through out and mounted her comeback, making it respectable.  A few people limited around us, mostly with small hooks and topped with nightcrawlers but our Rainbows were a little bigger, as our lures were a little bigger, so only the fish with the bigger mouths could get hooked up. We called it a day when the bite turned off at about 2pm, just as the sun came out in force, which worked out, since it was raining when we left, so we didn’t sunscreen up.

We were ready for some lunch since we’d been out fishing since 8am, so we zipped over to Estacada and had a late lunch at the Fearless Brewing Company, which was pretty good.  If you didn’t guess it by the name, it’s a little brewery right in the middle of Estacada.  I had a glass of their Clackamas Cream Ale, which hit the spot, so we had to get a jug of it to go.  Certainly worth stopping there if you’re passing through.

Finally, we made it back home and got the fish filleted, popped into my “secret sauce” smoking brine, and yesterday (Monday) smoked them over some Apple and Pear chips from our trees, and they were tasty!

Paula digging Thunder Eggs at the Richardson Ranch

On Friday of the Crater Lake trip, we drove out into the desert outside of Madras to visit the famous Richardson’s Recreation Ranch, which is a worldwide destination for rockhounding.  While we’re not hard-core rockhounds or anything, we have been known to pick up the occasional cool rocks when we find them.  On this day, however, our quarry were Thundereggs!

Mesa out at Richardson's on way down to Blue Pit

As you can see from the first picture, Paula wasted no time gawking at the distant hills, and dove right in to the Blue Pit and started digging up strangely-shaped rocks.  The Thundereggs from the Blue Pit generally produce blue patterns.  I noticed the flat mesa on the other side of the valley, which reminded me of John Wayne movies where the covered wagons went down through the pass, and the camera pans up to the top of the mesa, where there is an entire hostile Indian war party!

View of Jefferson and Desert from Pony Butte Pit

Next, we drove a mile or two out to the Pony Butte Thunderegg Pit.  Paula began scouring the pit with the same intensity as before, while I climbed to the top of the Pony Butte Pit for some more pictures.  That is Mt. Jefferson off in the distance (see the snow cap), and another butte to the right-center.  The mound I am standing on has been excavated from the Pony Butte Pit.

View of High Desert Forest from Pony Butte Pit

Still on top of the Pony Butte Pit, I panned the camera over to point Southeast across the high desert forest.  There are lots of Ponderosa pines out there, and it is extremely quiet!  It was also really hot on this last day of our trip!

Paula in the Pony Butte Pit

Here is Paula digging up a Pony Butte Thunderegg.  The Pony Butte Thundereggs are small and have red crystals inside.  Thundereggs are the state rock of Oregon, and the Richardson Rock Ranch is one of the premiere spots in the world to dig them.

Stratus Hiding at the Moss Pit

The Richardson’s Recreation Ranch roads rattled and shook the Green Hornet to the point where it hid among the hills when we got to the Moss Pit.  The Thundereggs pulled from the Moss Pit had very strange moss-like tendrils in the crystal.  It was both pretty and strange at the same time.

Paula returning with Treasures from the Red Pit

By the time we made it to the Red Pit, we were being picky about which rocks we took.  Rather than carry the full bucket, Paula carried her latest treasures back in her handkerchief.  The Red Pit Thundereggs are brownish red.

Paula's Cut Thundereggs from Richardson's

We picked up a ton of Thundereggs and had a lot of them cut.  However, we picked the best of the bunch to post online.  Here are Paula’s Thundereggs.  The ones with the blue are from the Blue Pit.  The one on the very top, I believe is a Moss Pit, and the two whitish ones are from the Pony Butte.

Jeff's cut thundereggs from Richardson's

My Thundereggs are in this picture.  The lowest one is a Red Pit.  The yellowish one is a Pony Butte.  The top one is a Moss Pit.  The bottom right two are also Moss Pit.  The remaining three blue ones with holes in the middle and top left are blue pit.  These two cut Thunderegg pictures are also at a higher resolution, if you wanted to click in and look more closely at them.  My favorite is the one on the top.  (You’ll also notice the Patio in the background).

After the Thunderegg Ranch, we headed over to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation to stay at the Kahneeta Resort for the final night of the Crater Lake adventure.  Up at Kahneeta, we got to eat Indian traditional food like Fry Bread with Huckleberry jam, and participate in traditional recreation activities like miniature golf and big badass water slides!

On Wednesday (7/8/2009) of our Crater Lake adventure, we left Bend in the early morning and headed up to Smith Rock, a massive rock formation, probably an old butte that was carved away by the water, in the middle of the Crooked River Canyon, outside the small town of Terrebonne.

This was our second trip to Smith Rock.  Several years ago, we were driving through Terrebonne and decided to check Smith Rock out.  We crossed the Crooked River at the bridge and hiked the trail for several miles upstream along the Crooked River, turned around and hiked back.  The trail on the opposite side of the river in the picture above is where we went last time.

This time, we are hiking canyon in the opposite direction, planning to circle around to the back of Smith Rock, then assault it from the rear!

Smith Rock, with all of its cliffs and canyons, makes it a world famous place to go rock climbing.  These first aid stations are positioned near popular rock climbing trails.  In the beginning of the park, there is a helicopter pad for extreme emergencies.

There are lots of colorful cliffs along the trail, too.

These are some cliffs that are popular with the rock climbers, I believe they are called the Dihedrals.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see the paths the rock climbers take outlined in white, from the powder the rock climbers put on their hands.  It’s a desert, so there’s not a lot of rain to wash the powder away.

We continued the trek along the canyon, taking the occasional photo of the river and the many rock formations along the way.  It was a really nice trail.

Even though it was still early, it was getting hot already, so we stopped in some shade for a water and camera break!

At a quick rest and water break, I climbed up a side trail to check out some big cracks in the rock to see if they were caves.

Paula and I finally made it around to the trail along the back of Smith Rock.  In the distance, you can see the Monkey Head.

Paula waiting for me to quit fooling around with the camera…

We hiked along until we were below the Monkey’s face.  Looking up, we can see some adventurous climbers crossing the chasm to get to the top of the Monkey Head.  It looks just like a Monkey, too!

Finally, we reached the junction to begin our climb up Smith Rock.  We’re a few switchbacks up already, the desert is starting to heat up, and we found ourselves stopping for shade and water.  We are directly behind the Monkey Head now.

Midway up Switchback Hell, about even with the Monkey Head.  We’ve got a YouTube video of the climbers tight-rope walking over the chasm between the Monkey Head and the cliff.

Here I am resting at the top of Smith Rock, paused to watch the acrobatic/insane climbers.

Here we are on the Misery Ridge trail looking South down the top of Smith Rock.  I believe the rock formation over there is the Mesa Verde wall.

Here are some more colorful rocks of the Red Wall at the Smith Rock summit.

Paula is standing on the top of the Smith Rock summit looking East.

Here is the Crooked River bending down the canyon from the top of the Smith Rock summit.  This is the trail Paula and I hiked several years back.

Can you see the Dodge Stratus in this picture?  The Green Hornet appreciated the several hours of rest from the washboard gravel roads.

From the summit, we are looking down at the steep trail along the Red Wall that we’re going to have to descend.

Another hiker took our picture on the summit as evidence that we made it to the top.

Paula and I were both ready for a nap as we got to the bottom.  In fact, Paula already found a good spot!

Here are the sheer cliffs below our photo-op at the top.  There are lots of birds, especially falcons, that nest