Saturday, October 1 – Sunday, October 2, 2022
For the first time in three years we returned to Jefferson Park this weekend.
Here’s the quick version: The Lionshead Fire roared right through/over Jefferson Park in September 2020 and the area has been closed ever since. I’m happy to report that although many trees burned in Jefferson Park, I would estimate 80-90% of the trees did not burn.
In mid-August we read that Jefferson Park was once again accessible thanks to crews who had cleared the PCT through there. The traditional routes into Jefferson Park were still closed though: the Whitewater Trail, the South Breitenbush Trail, and the PCT from Breitenbush Lake.
We heard about people hiking in via the Woodpecker Trail. This was a tricky situation because while road to the trailhead was open, as was the trail, the Forest Service said that the trailhead itself was closed. We decided in September we’d like to give it a try, but we didn’t have any free weekends until October, which is not usually a good time for backpacking. We put it on our calendars and crossed our fingers.
The first weekend of October arrived and the weather was absolutely gorgeous and unseasonably warm. We couldn’t believe our luck. We were glad it wasn’t too hot, though, as we hiked along Woodpecker Ridge surrounded by dead snags:
Parts of this trail burned in the 2017 Whitewater Fire and again in the 2020 Lionshead Fire. We would actually encounter several areas on this hike that burned twice in less than five years:
We saw a bit of fall color here:
We were grateful when we reached a half-mile stretch of unburned forest. The trail drops down from the ridge to traverse the north slope here:
There were signs of the fire, though. The bottoms of the trees were black:
We passed the wilderness boundary:
Almost to the junction, with a view of Mt. Jefferson:
After 1.6 miles we reached the junction with the PCT. There was no sign here, probably because it burned in the fire:
The PCT descended after the junction:
Because of all the burned trees we had a pretty good view and it was very bleak:
We could see Park Butte (Jefferson Park is at the base of it):
At 1.9 miles we reached this nice little pond:
View of Triangulation Peak:
The Whitewater Trail traverses that slope. I wonder what condition it’s in:
We continued to see little splashes of fall color:
Otherwise the landscape was quite bleak:
Hiking this trail would be brutal on a hot day:
This is one of the areas that burned twice. Instead of a forest of snags most of the wood has burned away or the trunks are bent and snarled:
A section that burned twice (foreground) with a section that burned once in the background:
We crossed Jefferson Creek, which was little more than a trickle. This area got two-tenths of an inch of rain a couple days earlier and I wondered if this creek would even be running if not for that rain:
Descending into the canyon of Russell Creek:
At 4.2 miles we reached Russell Creek. This can be a difficult and dangerous crossing earlier in summer when it’s raging and full of snowmelt. Except for that rain a few days earlier it’s been DRY DRY DRY, so the creek crossing wasn’t dangerous. The creek is fed by glaciers so it still had plenty of water, and the current was swift. We didn’t like the looks of the spot where the trail met the creek:
So we went upstream a short distance and crossed there:
Here’s that same spot crossing back over on our hike out the next day:
A short wile later we were back in green forest which felt heavenly:
We reached the junction with the Whitewater Trail at 4.7 miles. Every other time we’ve come here it’s been via that trail. Much of it burned in 2017, but we visited after it reopened in 2019 and the burned area ended after 3.75 miles. Now it looks like the rest of it has also burned. What a bummer:
The stretch of PCT approaching Jefferson Park seems to have burned in patches. Or a “mosaic” burn as the fire experts like to say:
Crossing Whitewater Creek:
Shortly before reaching Jefferson Park we came across a ranger who checked our wilderness permit (which must be reserved online ahead of time.) A short while later we came across another ranger. I was somewhat surprised to see them up here so late in the season, but also glad. Jefferson Park has suffered quite a lot of abuse over the years. People camp on the meadows and build illegal campfires and fly their drones here (never allowed in wilderness areas), so it’s nice to see an official presence.
Burned trees in the distance at the base of Park Butte:
There are several side trails heading off towards the lake. We reached the junction with the first one at 5.5 miles, continued to the second, and headed toward Scout Lake to find a campsite:
Wow, the fall color here was pretty awesome!
Mt. Jefferson and Scout Lake. Boy is that a sight for sore eyes!
On the opposite shore (the south shore) we could see a few patches that seemed to burn independently and somehow didn’t spread away from the lake. These two photos were taken the next morning:
Much of the slopes of Mt. Jefferson above the park were burned:
It was a very windy day so we had to be a little choosy about our campsite, needing protection from trees so our tent didn’t flap all night. We were glad that the place wasn’t packed like it always has been on past visits. We claimed campsite #4 and set up our tent:
Then we went for a walkabout to see what we could see. We followed a user trail that heads toward Park Lake:
The color was gorgeous! It was like someone had sprinkled rubies all over the place:
Park Lake is a tiny little body of water. According to the Forest Service map of Jefferson Park campsites there are two campsites at this lake but we didn’t see them:
From Park Lake we continued following the user trail over to the South Breitenbush Trail. Here Park Butte towers over both burned and unburned trees:
Park Butte again. So many burned trees:
Park Butte above Russell Creek:
We hooked up with the South Breitenbush Trail and headed south to where it meets the PCT. This trail hasn’t been cleared yet so we had some fallen burned trees to climb over:
More colorful foliage:
The colorful leaves were wonderful, but it was weird to see the meadows brown. We have only ever come here in summer when everything is green and the wildflowers are blooming:
Much of Park Ridge burned:
We took the detour to Russell Lake:
The fire burned down Park Ridge and right to the east shoreline:
Looking back across Russell Lake at Park Butte:
We came across an isolated stand of burned trees on the south side of Russell Lake. How or why this didn’t spread to the surrounding trees is a mystery:
Looking across Russell Lake to the east side where the fire burned down Park Ridge:
Hiking the PCT back to Scout Lake from Russell Lake we encountered more burned trees:
Our favorite little tarn, MUCH diminished from its larger summer size:
A 2009 shot of this same tarn:
We returned to the campsite and started making dinner. We had a nice view of Mt. Jefferson while we prepped:
The forecast had called for strong east winds and we had definitely experienced that throughout the afternoon. Evening is when winds usually calm, but not today, so no nice reflections at the lake:
Temperatures got down in the 40s that night, but we stayed warm. This time of year it can easily get down to freezing at this elevation so we considered ourselves lucky. Fortunately our tent did not flap in the wind all night, and by morning it was nice and calm:
We sat by the lake and drank our tea and ate breakfast:
Looking to the west end of the lake:
There was a nearby group that was being very loud. It sounded like they were all talking at once. I went for a little stroll and found that the group had pitched their two tents right by the lake, despite signage saying that you can only camp in designated sites and despite the fact that there were PLENTY of available sites. They must have arrived after the rangers had done their last rounds of the evening:
As the group got louder we decided after breakfast to take our chairs over to Bays Lake and hang out there for awhile. We passed more fall color along the way:
Rock Lake:
Burned trees that got somewhat close to Bays Lake:
It was shockingly warm sitting in the sun by the lake. It sure didn’t feel like October:
There was a couple camped nearby and the guy went for a swim, which was surprising. Yes it was weirdly warm for October, but not warm enough for a swim. Brrrr! We headed back to our campsite to pack up, enjoying more fall foliage along the way
Reluctantly we started packing up camp then we bid goodbye to Jefferson Park and started our hike out. Thanks to the fire and subsequent closures it’s been three years since our last visit and it was great to be back.
Gaia stats: 14.7 miles, 1,860′ elevation gain
