Silver Falls State Park 11 November 2015

Weather unpredictable and limited time - so hiked the old standby Silver Falls. However, because of recent rain it was an excellent choice because the falls were spectacular. Still some fall color here and there too! Beautiful foggy/sunny day - no rain.

map
8 miles 600 ft gain

Rim Trail

South Falls

Upper South Falls

Double Falls

Middle North Falls

North Falls

Upper North Falls

Upper North Falls

Snow Hike at Jefferson Park 6 November 2015

I knew there would probably be snow at Jefferson Park, but I didn't expect as much as there actually was!  Snow appeared about 15 min into the hike and it piled higher as the trail gained elevation. It was new snow too - only two sets of footprints ahead of me. All day - only three humans on the trail. All was well for the first couple hours but as soon as the temperature started rising, the snow on the trees started falling. I ended up wearing the rain jacket and covering the backpack because it was a constant shower with the occasional giant plop of snow on the head. Everything was so pristine and pretty though and the temps were so warm that despite being wet, I wasn't cold.
I traveled through untouched snow to get to Scout Lake where I stopped for a bit to have some lunch. I had intended to go to Russell Lake, but the snow was getting softer and deeper so I scrapped that idea and turned back after one of the larger ponds off the PCT. The trail was very wet - lots of standing water - on the way down. Happily I had just waxed my boots, so my feet were still dry even after walking for at least ten miles in water.

map  12 mi, 1800 ft gain

the day started out innocently enough!

soon the trail looked like this!

Jefferson

red huckleberries

snow covered rock field

Scout Lake

grasses in a frozen pond

Scout Lake

At Whitewater Creek

snow had melted a lot since the morning hours

mysterious clouds

bear grass and huckleberries

tiny mushroom community

back in the lower elevation forest

Pamelia Lake ramble 24 Oct 2015

Backpacking was a no-go because of rain predicted on Sunday. It did rain, but I'm still sort of wishing we had gone.
Since I had the pass for the Pamelia area, I decided to go on a day hike. The trail to Pamelia Lake is steady and up hill but only gains 800 ft in 2.2 mi so it nice for non-hikers and families. It is a beautiful forest with a moss covered under-story, rhododendrons, vine maples and beargrass. The lake was very low on water and there was no water in the little side-creeks. On the south side, only Pamelia Creek had water. My destination was going to be Grizzly Peak, but once I got to Pamelia lake, I decided to check out the north side of the lake since I had never hiked that way before.  All along the north side there was a lot of water entering Hunt's Creek which flows into the lake. I decided to hike until 1:30p and turn around no matter where I was. There was a bit of blow-down on the north side of the lake and even more fallen trees, a sprawling creek, rocks, etc at the Hunt's Creek crossing. After crossing, I pressed on trying to rejoin the trail for awhile, then decided to give up and head back so I could take my time on the way out. The sun came out and I enjoyed taking more pictures on the way back.
The trail I was on leads to Hunt's Cove. It was closed last year due to a nearby fire, so the trail has not had as much use and maintenance as is probably typical. The PCT may be the best way to access Hunts Cove, though it is longer.

map

lots of mushrooms

Pamelia "pond"

one of the little creeks on the north side of the "lake"

some blow-down

looking south at the lake in the afternoon

vine maple

a large tree on a nurse log

carpeted under story