I saw the opportunity for a 4 day weekend so Michael and I, along with his friend Andrew, headed to the Metolius River. Weather all week was sketchy. I had wanted to leave after school on Thursday, but thunderstorms were in the area. So I delayed our adventure until Friday. I am glad I did. After we arrived, I could tell Thursday had a lot of rain. I don't enjoy setting up camp in a thunder storm. I have been researching dispersed camping. This is when you camp away from pay camp sites. I found several areas by the Metolius. But with Andrew not camping much and I wanted to be near the river, we camped in a pay camp site. We got the last campsite and it worked out well. A large site where we could setup the badminton net. It is a little noisy at times with so many campers firing up their power generators. A lot of kids too. The parents were being quiet, so it hasn't been to bad. Friday we hung around camp. Saturday we rode our bikes in the morning. The afternoon we went to the fish hatchery, head of the Metolius, Scout lake (to 'scout' it out for swimming the next day :) ) and the town of Sisters for gas and ice cream at the Sno Cap Drive In.
Sunday looked to be the best weather. I chose for us to hike Canyon Creek Meadows, at the base of Three Finger Jack. The hike starts at the Jack Lake trailhead. To the meadow is just under three miles. Andrew had never been on a hike so I felt this would be a good start for him. The weather was perfect. We could see low clouds sneaking over the cascades, but they were not making it to our trail. In 2003 the B&B fire ripped through 100,000 acres of the area. It passed through a portion of the trail. So much devastation . But all along the trail there are signs of regrowth of pines. Many trees that burned were already killed by
pine Beatles. Mother nature has a way of repairing herself. Hiking this trail in May is unheard of. The winter snow is usually still around and fairly deep. The elevation is around 5000 ft. As we hiked, we found untouched trees from the fire. Sometimes, the trees were right in the middle of the burn area. Why and how they were spared is a mystery. The trail was mostly uphill on the way to the meadow. But the elevation gain was not too bad. At that elevation, any elevation gain will make you breathe harder. Mosquitoes weren't too bad during the mid day hours. We used Deet and it worked well to keep the little vampires at bay. I was amazed at the many hikers that we encountered that were completely unprepared for being in the wilderness. Many were not wearing backpacks of any kind. No maps. If they were to get caught in a thunderstorm or get mixed up at a few of the trail splits, they would be in trouble. As we approached the parking area after the hike, I saw forest service rangers writing tickets to the many cars that did not pay for the parking pass. We chatted a bit and I expressed my concern about the many hikers that were not prepared. The rangers laughed it off as if it is common in that area. When we arrived at the parking area, there were about 10 cars. As we were leaving the ranger said there were 42 cars.
Some pics below. For all the pics , click HERE
Some pics below. For all the pics , click HERE
I don't recall seeing these flowers in yeas past. They were all along the Metolius.
More flowers along the river.
Getting my geek on with my ham and shortwave radios. A view from inside my tent.
Michael and Andrew in front of the Camp Sherman store.
On our way to the Head of the Metolius, chipmunk were filling up on sunflower seeds.
Unfortunately, this view didn't exist on Saturday due to cloud cover over the mountain. But this is what the view would have looked like from the Head of the Metolius. :)
I found a great reading spot next to camp.
Mt Jefferson hid behind clouds most of the weekend. I got a lucky shot of it.
On the way to our hike I saw a sign warning of controlled burn ahead. I expected to see some piles of debris burning. Nope. The forest floor was being burned.
Canyon Creek Meadows.
Check out all the pine trees that sprouted up. This is in Mt Jefferson Wilderness. No tree planting can be done. Only what Mother Nature can do.
After our hike the boys wanted to swim. We went to Scout Lake near Suttle Lake.
Our camp for three nights. Next to the Metolius.
