Ok! Here we go, I’m going to start catching up, I swear
I have no photos from this one, but last August,
I had an abortive attempt to summit Strawberry Peak. I include here the entry from my hikes file:
08.14.2005
Strawberry Peak, Angeles NF (attempted)
Ended up doing 2.25 miles each way, plus a little bit on the wrong trail.
I successfully did all the parts on trail (and man is that
some wicked chaparral). I got up to the saddle, and we sat
around and ate for a bit under the mushroom structure right
there. We then diddled along for a bit on the trail, looking
for the cut to go offtrail. We realized after a bit that we
had totally missed it, so cut back, and basically right across
from the concrete mushroom thing found the route uphill.
However, it was wicked hot and I’m a total pussy, so maybe 1/3
of the way up that more interesting , steeper part I was about
to pass out. Erin helped me get back down to the shade, and
Dan and Raman went on a bit, then we all went back down. Gotta
go back and finish!
me, erin, dlovell,raman
Somewhat more successful was the hike I took with Erin when we went up to Oregon in September. While there, we went and took a jaunt around Clear Lake, in the Willamette National Forest..
The hike is 5 miles RT, and all at about 3000′ elevation.
You drive until you get there, and if you are lucky, you see the sign for the turnoff and time and turn into the parking area, and if unlucky, you have to make a quickie Uturn to get in.
You park, and you pick up the trailhead right next to that, nicely labeled, as you cross over a bridge to begin your jaunt.
No horses for you!!
You take the trail just through the woods for a bit, south towards the lake. At one point, we passed by this gorgeous meadow, and cut over a look there. The woods in Oregon were pretty stunningly green.
After a while you cross over another bridge, then keep just going through the woods, getting hints you might be approaching the lake, and then suddenly the trail cuts out of the woods, and you can see the lake in front of you. It is, in fact, pretty amazingly clear, and stunningly blue. You can see to the bottom at pretty much all points. Impressive.
The trail at this point basically just circles around the lake. At one point, it takes a short detour a little away from it, and you can see a spring bubbling up from the ground. I had never seen one of these before! Erin was pretty amused that *I* was so amused by seeing this spring phenomenon, but there is *water coming up from the ground*. That’s just pretty cool. (It was mostly visible as areas in a small pool where water was obviously welling up underneath the surface, not like water gurgling out of rocks or anything).
To the north side of the lake are also all kinds of lava beds. Really old lava beds, to be sure. This was also my first experience with lava. Or at least old, dried lava. At first the nice dirt trail just continued through it, but at one point, the lava heaps were dire enough that that trail actually became a little bit of a paved walkway through the heaps of stone, because otherwise you would have gotten somewhat torn up.
Lava!
The trail just keeps going, and you pass by a campground, and then hit the head of the lake, and come around on the other side. There is a resort there, Clear Lake Resort, or something like that, where by “resort” they mean “a bunch of cabins” but it seemed nice enough. The one thing we did see was an awesome sign posted giving you some information about the area, and the history of the recreation facilities. There did seem to be a small error in their timeline, unless I am vastly mistaken about American history.
say when?!
You finally reach the bottom of the lake, and keep following the trail past a tributary for what seems like far too long until you are allowed to double back, and then finally remeet the spur of the trail that takes you back to the parking lot
Here is a view from the bottom of the lake, looking back up at the boating pavilion of the resort. Not a bad place to spend a few days.
Not technically part of the trail, but on the drive out, there are some waterfalls nearby, and we did stop for a few minutes at Sahalie Falls, which is, of course, gorgeous.
keep reading for future escapades! and if I ever get it up to date, soon the photos will be taken with my newer camera, the s500, instead of the s200! fun and excitement for the whole family! And exclamation points!!!
