Sunday, August 11 – Tuesday, August 13, 2019
The original plan was to have a five day weekend – Saturday through Wednesday – and do the Three Sisters Loop. Due to weather and other circumstances those plans first changed to a four-day loop around just North and Middle Sister, and then they changed to a three-day trip to Jefferson Park.
There are several ways to hike into Jefferson Park and we’ve always taken the easiest way via the Whitewater Trail. That trail had been closed since the 2017 Whitewater Fire, but had just reopened on August 1, so we were able to take that route.
Driving Whitewater Road to the trailhead was VERY different:
We started hiking at 1pm, switchbacking up the hill through a forest that had been thoroughly burned:
There were some patches that escaped the fire:
But otherwise it was pretty scorched:
Since the trail is now shadeless we welcomed the overcast day. This would be a brutal hike on a hot day. The burned trees have also opened up the views:
The beargrass is making a strong comeback:
Mt. Jefferson is hiding in the clouds out there:
Once we got to the Whitewater Creek crossing at 3.75 miles we left the burn area behind:
It was great to be back in the green!
There is a little meadow by the second creek crossing and it looks great during the wildflower bloom. We thought we would be too late for that, but we weren’t:
The clouds were low when we arrived in Jefferson Park:
We found a nice campsite near Scout Lake (photo taken next day):
It was cool, but fortunately not rainy. We ate dinner and then enjoyed a slice of cake that we had brought to celebrate being back in our favorite place:
That night I got up to see the stars, but the moon was pretty bright. I tried to take a picture, but I could not get my polarizer to come off the lens. Still, you can see how the moon lit up the fog hovering over Scout Lake, which was pretty cool:
We awoke to a gorgeous cloud-free morning. We ate breakfast and lounged by the lake, soaking up the beauty and sunshine:
While Greg stayed at Scout Lake I went exploring a bit. Here is the other big lake in the area, Bays Lake:
We packed day packs and set off north on the PCT towards Park Ridge:
The wildflowers looked great:
We saw some gentian, the flower that signals summer’s end is near:
Climbing up:
We got some views to the west:
Final push:
From Park Ridge we had a nice view to the north that included Mt. Hood and Olallie Butte:
Panorama to the north:
And in the other direction, of course, was Mt. Jefferson. This view is frequently described as one of the finest in the state and I’m inclined to agree:
We hung out up there for awhile. We had passed many PCT thru-hikers on the way up and many more passed by as we sat there. With the promise of dinner waiting back at our campsite we started back down at 4:20. The hike back down to Jefferson Park is always spectacular because Mt. Jefferson is right there in your face for most of the descent:
We stopped by Russell Lake:
Back at our Scout Lake campsite we cooked up dinner and enjoyed a beautiful evening with this as our view:
That night was supposed to be the peak viewing time for the Perseid Meteor Shower, although viewing conditions were not ideal with the bright moon. We got up in the middle of the night to watch and we did see some meteors, which was really cool. I didn’t capture any in my photos, but I did get the stars:
The next morning was not cloudless, but it was beautiful:
Park Butte:
We lingered in camp that morning, reluctant to leave. But we finally packed up and started hiking out at 11:20:
Looking back at Park Butte and Scout Lake:
Hiking back through the burn:
This tree’s top was killed, but the bottom lives on:
Now that we had clear weather we could see further than we could on Sunday. This is looking west:
We discovered that you can now see Mt. Jefferson for a good chunk of the way through the burn:
Looking east to Bear Point (left) and Dinah-mo Peak (right):
As we descended the switchbacks down to the car we could still see Mt. Jefferson:
And it turns out you can now see the top of the mountain from the trailhead:
I took this through-the-windshield shot as we drove out, showing the full-on view of Mt. Jefferson that never existed before the fire:
Our total for the three days was 18 miles and 2,880′ elevation gain. I’m so glad we made it back here. Jefferson Park is gorgeous and I’m grateful that it was spared from the fire. I’m also very grateful for the all the crews who have worked on clearing the road and trail for reopening!
Video:
