Backpacking with the girls

Backpacking Olallie Lake area

Distance: 5 miles

Elevation Gain: Flat and Fairly Easy

Classified: Easy

Location:  Mt Hood Natl Forest/Clackamas Ranger District

Type: Loop

Hike Time: 3 days

Plan

·       Day 1: Park at the Olallie Lake parking area on Skyline Rd by 5pm and connect with the PCT near Head Lake. Hike 1.5 miles down the PCT to a 4 way intersections, stay south on the PCT 0.4 to Cigar Lake for Camp #1 (WACS2041B) = 1.9miles/515ft EG

·       Day 2: Near cigar lake on the PCT you will find an unmarked trail that will head North to Top Lake for 0.4miles, Turn right on the Red Lake Trail and continue 0.5 miles to Timber Lake Trail #733. Travel 0.6 miles to Timber Lake where you will find a few campsites. = 1.5miles

·       Day 3: From Timber lake head north to the Red Lake Trail #719 for 0.6miles, turn right and travel 0.6 miles to Skyline Road. Head north toward the Olallie Lake Store (parking) for 0.4miles and you are done. =1.6 miles

I was originally scheduled to be on a 50-mile backpacking trip with the scouts this week, but the boys weren't ready for that kind of mileage yet, so instead, they are doing a 30-mile hike the minimum required for there merit badge and we leave on Tuesday. Since I had the weekend off (kinda rare for me) and Tori has been wanting to learn all about backpacking I jumped on the opportunity to teach her and I would get to be out on the trail. I picked Olallie lake because it was kind of halfway between us, its also my favorite area in the cascades and I have never even hiked it let alone backpacked it. I decided to keep the hike simple as I didn't know what Tori's capabilities were and we are still trying to get her gear worked out, so 5 miles all weekend, some much-needed girl time, and learning all about backpacking was the goal.

  So we started off on the trail at 5pm, it was only 1.9 miles up to Cigar lake so I wasn't worried about time, this was more about me learning their pace and getting there safely. I had planned to go over there gear at the trailhead but honestly, I was so excited to see the girls that I completely forgot. Our hike was a gradual climb up past a few small lakes and amazing views of Olallie and Mt Jefferson. Have I mentioned how much I love this area? It's like a blend of Central Oregon and the Cascades coming together,  the trees are a bit more scattered apart, the sky is a little more open and there is not a lot of dense vegetation on the ground but instead a lot of huckleberry bushes. In this part of the world, it feels like we can touch the sky. We are also expecting a meteor shower on Saturday night, so what better place to be.

  We got up to Cigar lake at about 7pm, set up camp and started cooking dinner. It was a typical pattern for me, but I knew it would be a learning lesson for the Swearingens. They fell into the pattern well and we're really excited about it. You could tell there was plenty of camping experience under their belt it was just a different type. We had some problems with one of Tori's stoves, but we just used one of ours to get by. We talked a lot about gear that night and the smoke that was getting bad in the area from nearby fires. Night fell and we enjoyed our clear view of the star show.

  The next morning I was up at 6am right on schedule, except I was not met with the sun. Instead, I was met with a thick cloud of fog, like we were so high up we were in the clouds. It was crazy watching it roll through our camp like the clouds roll through the sky. It was a bit chilly and I didn't want to get out of bed, but I knew it was another day of learning and my coffee was calling. We took our time this morning because we had an easy day of 1.5 miles.

  Hitting the trail about 1030am we headed down to Top lake, which by the was is absolutely perfect for staying at. Big open fields with lots of trees surrounding the lake. Tristin was quite the forager picking huckleberries along the way, which there was a lot between Cigar Lake and Top Lake. After Top lake, we made a wrong turn and found our way up a steep climb to the PCT again. Oops. Back down we went to connect with Timber Lake. I was surprised at the amount of traffic to Timer Lake, but when we got there we found that all the campsites were taken. The trail technically only goes around the south end of the lake, though we ended up bushwacking all the way around it. We scoped out one big meadow area on the West side of the lake but there were 2 grumpy women staying there that were not willing to share the space. What I came to realize on this journey is that lakes or camping areas near water that are easy or within a couple miles from a road are going to have people that have no trail etiquette. Ugh. Anyway, after going all the way around the lake we decided to stop and have lunch and decide what we were going to do next. During lunch, I had the epiphany that I never wanted to see Timber Lake again. The camping was limited and I don't think I want to stay at locations that are to close to civilation. They just bring out the wrong type of people for me.

  We ran into four people who claimed to know this area well and were passing through on their way to Olallie Lake but were taking a trail that was not on the map. I would add that it was not a very well used trail and probably wasn't an actually marked trail because it wasn't meant to be one. I wasn't convinced they knew where they were going, but we waited to see if they would come back, if they hadn't we were going down that trail to Olallie and find a camping spot next to the road. After heading down the trail it quickly came to an end at a small lake where we lost the trail. There were a couple of men around the lake picking huckleberries and they explained the trail was on the other side of the lake. We eventually found it and followed it down. As we were heading down the men decided they were done and heading back down to the lake. They decided to follow a dried up creek bed instead of what looked like the trail. They encouraged us to follow. I have to admit this was not my best judgment but we followed. Everything turned out ok, and they guided us back down to the road near Camp Peninsula. We picked a spot across the street from Camp Ten which was a free camping spot though it was in the middle of the Rec area so we had cars and people, not an ideal backpacking trip. Thankfully Tori is such a trooper, not only did she make it through some not so fun bushwacking but she also took all of the events with a positive attitude. We got more miles in than planned and we were a lot closer to the end then planned. Overall I think we got 3 total miles with our packs on and another 3/4 of a mile in my flip flops to the store to see if we could get Tori's stove to work. Let's just say 3.5 miles for today.

  The next day again I was up early and enjoying a beautiful view of Olallie Lake. Did I mention how much I love it here? I pretty much had the lake to myself and enjoyed by coffee with the birds. Since we already finished our hike and still had another day left we decided to day hike without our packs around Monon Lake. It was never a hike I ever got excited about, but let me tell you, it was worth every bit of it. Lots of beautiful views. I got to see the south side of Olallie, which crazy enough I have never seen. we found another great campsite on the South end of Monon that has a great view and is not near the road. This hike gave us another 3 miles to our weekend, which I was so excited to see Tori do.

  In the end, we had a great weekend spending time together learning about gear, blisters, trail etiquette, and trying some new recipes and snacks. Even though things didn't go as planned it was probably one of my best backpacking trips this year!!