Bull of the Woods Wilderness
July 3-5, 2009
Katie (pictured below) and Ebba wanted to do an overnight hike, and Kyle and I were looking to do a more intense, three-day trip. We found a loop route that could put us in the same spot as the the others the first night, then set off in separate vehicles in the hopes of finding each other later in the wilderness, somewhere near Welcome Lakes.
Kyle and I got a late start, then bounced at 10-15 mph over the last six miles of rocky road to the rather crowded trailhead at Elk Lake (lots of 4th of July campers). We didn't start hiking until 5 pm, and we had a solid 10 miles ahead of us to reach the rendezvous point.
Old growth Douglas Fir
Kyle, same tree.
The first eight miles was mostly downhill along Elk Lake Creek, but the going was slowed by three creek crossings and many trees down across the trail. We finished that leg at 9:45 as the light was fading, then started up the 1800-foot climb to Welcome Lakes in the light of the waxing moon. We were tired at that point and rested often, but we kept moving in the light of our headlamps and reached the Lower Welcome Lake junction at 11:30. Here Katie had left a very short note saying "NW of here." So we searched near and far to the NW, waking some campers who were not our group, and around midnight we gave up and set up camp to get out of the abundant mosquitoes.
We slept well, and in the morning I tried again to find our friends. As it turned out, "NW of here" meant halfway around the like on an almost-nonexistent trail. I followed the trail on a whim and found them only because Katie was sitting in a talus field watching for pikas.
Ebba and Katie
Our group (Ebba, Katie, Kyle, Tim, Kirsten, me)
We swam in almost-too-cold Lower Welcome Lake, then set off together toward an abandoned fire lookout at the top of Bull of the Woods Mountain.
Lower Wecome Lake
The view from the lookout was incredible in all directions, and we had unusually haze-free clear skies. We could see as far as Mt. Rainier, 170 miles to the north, and across the Willamette Valley haze to the top of Marys Peak.
Mt. Hood, Oregon's highest peak (11,239 ft)
High Washington Cascades (barely visible in the picture, but much more visible to the eye)
Mt. Jefferson (10,497), Oregon's second highest and the closest big mountain to my vantage point
Can you find the top of Marys Peak above the valley haze?
Three-fingered Jack (the sharp point) and the Three Sisters (right center)
Abandoned fire lookout from which above pictures were taken.
We parted ways here, with Kyle and I continuing our loop and the others heading back to Welcome Lakes and eventually to their trailhead. Much of our hike was in relatively level forest with little to see. The temperature in the upper 80s was a bit warm for comfortable backpacking, and we had far too many mosquitoes to contend with. So it wasn't the best day of backpacking, but it did end well, at Upper Twin Lake (below)
Upper Twin Lake
Our last day of hiking was mainly following high ridges, with great views in many directions and interesting rock walks.
Kyle on a talus slope
Back at the Subaru