Jefferson Park 2016 - August 23, 24, 25, 26, 2016

Once again it is August in the Cascades and it is time to revisit Shangri La.

We had two new hikers join us this time around.  Kyna's daughter, Kara, came, and my lovely daughter-in-law from Utah, Renee, girded up her loins and was ready to prove her grit.

The trip to the trailhead was uneventful until we stopped at the Ranger Station to check the status of the trail, etc (but really it was to use the bathroom).  I asked the rangers the obligatory question, "Anything we need to know about trail conditions?"  The response was a mind blowing, "you know, don't you, that all the campsites at Jefferson Park are available only on a reserved basis?"

SILENCE!!    Crickets chirping!  WHAT?  WHAT?  Reserved?  Reserved spaces?  WE don't have a reserved space!  The ranger gently explained that there was a new policy in effect and that spaces had to be reserved in advance.  Well, who knew?  I would have known if I had looked at the website to learn of this new regulation, but I had no idea that something new was in the wind.

"Okay", I said, "we need a reservation for a space big enough for two tents."  Oh, sorry, the reservations need to be made through recreation.gov and they can't be made by rangers in this building.  But we could go outside and use our phones.  As usual, I was my calm and patient self and with the help of the amazing computer/cell phone prowess of Beverly, we got on line and reserved space 11.  The rangers assured us that space 11 was big enough for two tents.  We had planned on staying at either #6 or #7 where we have always camped for the last 13 years or so.  I mean, we'd left at 5am to get the the area before others did and thus grab our preferred site.  But time passes and so does progress.  Back in the car we went.

Here we are in the parking lot.  Clean, ambitious, and enthusiastic.



















The hike up the trail to Jefferson Park was relatively normal ---except----for the huge cracking noise we heard coming from above us and coming toward us.  It was a tree!!  We couldn't see it but we could certainly hear it!  Our eyes were raised heavenward to locate the tree so we knew which way to run.  Then suddenly we heard the whump as the trunk hit the ground and then, flying through the air downhill, were bits of bark and rotten shards of tree trunk.  Some of the pieces slipped and rolled onto the trail and stopped at our feet.  We could see up the hill that an upper portion of an old dead snag had snapped off.  I was going to bring home a piece, but ehh, it was just a bit of wood by then.

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Here's our campsite - #11.  Ita turned out to be pretty good.  Not really close to the lake, but we survived this first world problem.



There was a different view of Mt Jefferson.



Renee is modeling her stylish hiking gear.  Notice the fashionable flip flops.




And that evening we were snug in our bags.  Renee's book should read "I Lay All Amazed."





Day Two was our day hike to Park Ridge.  Perfect weather and view.





At the top of the ridge we never really did find our usual lunch spot.  Don't know where it went - likely we "went" a bit the wrong way.




Mt Hood to the north.




After lunch we hiked cross country down to Lake Kimol.  The lake has a "real" but uninteresting name, so Olga and I renamed it Kimol Lake.




Here's the lake.  In past years we've gone swimming in it, but not this year.



We continued downhill, crosscountry until we met up with the main trail and then headed back to camp.






Dinnertime.  Bev is reading the directions to her Mountain House meal hoping to figure out how to boil the water and pour it into the foil pack.




Kyna and Kara managed to get their dinner prepared.



Day 3 was our hike to to the Edge of Paradise.  We found this place several years ago when we were searching for the climbers trail to the summit of Jefferson.  We never found it, but instead found numerous bits of surveyors tape tied onto the tip of branches.  Later we realized that firefighters had done that to mark their path to the site of a small fire which they had then extinguished.

This year we found that our "trace" of a trail had turned into a much bigger trail - one that could be easily seen.  What?  This was our special place!  What are people doing here?  We then realized that the had been a humongous search and rescue event for a young Lewis and Clark College student who had gone missing a few weeks previously.  He'd gone, by himself, to Jefferson Park and had never returned.  His car was found at Brintenbush campground.  The S & R people probably were searching the Edge of Paradise for him.

The trail is really steep.





And then we came to the snow fields which didn't have any snow on them.  In previous years the slope has been covered in deep snow.






At last, our view of Jefferson Park from the E of P.  Our campsite is at Scout Lake which is on the right.



Renee is testing to see how close she can get to the edge.



Olga is performing her Little Mermaid pose on the edge.



And here she is modeling her latest nose accessory.



Bev sitting on the "Edge" reading a book.



She was really sitting on a tree trunk.



Lunch.  Pretty much, the whole time we had all our coats an hats on.



Bev gazing into the distance.



On a short trail going in this direction one comes to a rushing waterfall.



On our return to camp,  we took a very steep and slippery path.  It was the wrong path, and I apologized profusely to Renee that we had gone the wrong way.  She was a real trooper and didn't complain but I think she was somewhat seething inside.  Here she goes down the side of a bluff.  I didn't take any more pictures because it was to tricky to descend and to take pictures at the same time.  Bev and I kept looking at each other with eyes that said, "I hope there isn't a real cliff down there somewhere!"







Once back at Scout Lake I decided I wanted to find a small lake I had noticed on the map. Olga went with me because she wanted to find more huckleberries.  We took the trail to Russell Lake and then veered off to the east along a little trail through the meadows.  Eventually we came to the pond - well I did, as Olga was picking huckleberries somewhere back alongside the trail.

Here you can see just the edge of the lake, which by now was really just a pond.



A little bit further I came to the end of the lake/pond.  There were a couple of places to pitch a tent and it would be a nice remote and secluded place to stay.



The next morning it was time to head back to civilization.  Here is our last photo with Jefferson behind us.



We stoppled for lunch at Poppa Al's Hamburger place in Mill City.

I can hardly wait to go again.  The next time I'll have a reservation at #7 or #6.
Thanks to all my friends who like to go on hiking adventures.  I hope Renee will come again.