Grizzly Peak 14 Sept 2012

This week Jean and I trekked to the view the western side of Mt Jefferson via the Pamelia Lake trail.  The first mile of the hike travels through a relatively flat old growth forest between two creeks - the main one being Pamelia Creek.  The understory is covered in moss and it resembles a very lumpy golf course.  Along the banks of the creek many large trees have become uprooted, and the rootballs are exposed showing how they tree has made its home among rocks from fist size to huge boulders.  As the creek erodes away at the sides of its banks, the trees just topple in.  I imagine this area can be quite a mess at the beginning of the season.

the Pamelia lake section of the trail

a table of 'shrooms'

Pamelia lake at this time of year does not look like much of a destination.  However, this area is so popular that you need a pass to enter (the forest service restricts the number of people entering the area).  We arrived at the lake at around 9:30a and a little fog was still hovering over the lake.

You can see Mt Jefferson all the way to the left.

The next half of the hike heads up the ridge line to Grizzly Peak.  The gain is 1400 ft in 2.8 miles.  The forest is populated with lots of bear grass and rhodys.  The trail is pretty skinny in a lot of spots as it is really just cut out of the side of a very steep slope.  As soon as we started up the ridge, we could feel the temperature change - nice and toasty.  The trail was not very well kept up this year, crumbled away in parts and overgrown too.  We met some people on their way down, and another couple on their way up when we were leaving.
We reached the ridge line and got our first glimpse of huge and beautiful up close Mt Jefferson with the sun in the right place for nice photos.

This hike doesn't have much in the way of flowers unless beargrass or the rhododendrons were blooming, but the view of Mt Jefferson, Mt Hood, the Sisters, and Three Fingered Jack plus the foothills, the lake below...all so pretty, make up for it.
We had lunch at the top and headed back at noonish.  Beautiful day!

Pamelia Lake down below Mt Jefferson

Pamelia Creek