Oregon was a wild adventure, full of twists and unexpected turns. Unfortunately, I only hiked 200 of the 450 miles in Oregon due to fire and logistics – I’m hoping to come back and finish up those sections later this year or next year. Most of the missed section is in Southern Oregon between Shelter Cove Resort and the California border, and a small section around the Lionshead closure by Mt Jefferson.
We broke OR up into two 100 mile sections – one between Shelter Cove and Santiam Pass by Bend, and then from Olallie Lake to Cascade Locks.
The first section was a mix of highs and lows. We started off low, when we saw the start of the Cedar Creek fire less than 24 hours after being dropped off. We were able to outhike the smoke, and camped in clear air, but it still left us unsettled. The next day we saw yet another fire on the flank of the South Sister, and due to its proximity to the trail, we almost turned around.
As I was talking to the Ranger District office on the phone, a helicopter showed up and began dumping water on the fire, which was in a small stand of trees surrounded by a rock meadow. The helicopter soon extinguished the fire, and as we walked passed, we saw some of the smokejumper crew cleaning up the last of the fire.
On the plus side, the views of Sisters, Broken Top, Mt. Washington and Mt. Jefferson were amazing. We walked through some lava sections and the views from up high on Little Belknap in an open field of lava rocks were wonderful.
The trail was generally easy and “hiker flat”, rolling hills that didn’t offer too much difficulty. We got a small taste of Washington in the second section between Timberline Lodge (amazing breakfast buffet!) and Cascade Locks, as we made our way around the flank of Mount Hood and into the Columbia River Gorge.
We took the Tunnel Falls alternate into the gorge, which was a fantastic trail that is blasted into rock behind a waterfall, and an iron rope is provided to give you a handrail on the cliff side trail. While the rocky trail was tough on our feet, it was a cool way to end such an eventful state.
