Sisters, OR
Birthday
Category: Journal
Pacific Crest Trail, OR
Three Fingered Jack
Taking advantage of the nice weather, we took a six-mile hike up the long arm of Three Fingered Jack. Not too shabby for a guy with a migraine and a girl with a sore ankle. The landscape was scattered with the remains of burnt-out trees from an old forest fire. I kept saying “It’s so pretty!” Objectively, it was probably more just “visually interesting”, but that kind of landscape strikes my eyes as pretty in its own quiet, haunting sort of way.
The clouds were constantly moving, but I got some mostly unobscured shots of Mt. Washington. The Sisters and Broken Top peeked through a bit, but the peaks weren’t visible in the clouds. Eventually, we turned back when it got snowy. There’s still a lot of snow in these mountains.
Lost Lake
I really love this new campsite. Last night I was lulled to sleep to the sound of a thousand lake frogs chirping, and raindrops splattering on the roof. We woke up this morning to mist hovering over the lake and shrouding the mountains. The view through the bus windows is so serene.
It’s a dark, drizzly day. Importantly, we had enough power to make morning coffee, and there should be more solar to charge up our batteries as the day goes on.
Lost Lake, OR
Rain Check
It’s coooold, baby! We packed up our gear last night for backpacking. Everything is ready to go in the car, water bladders filled, all we need to do is go. But this morning we huddled in bed for a long time to stay warm and comfortable. The weather still sucks. It’s dark, windy, and rainy. It’s going to be like this for the next week. Not a good time for birthday celebrations in the mountains.
So we are shifting our plans for a few more days at least, and in the meantime enjoying some local novelties. Trading in our bitter and windy campground for a more favorable one, we are now the only inhabitants at Lost Lake. This little lake fills up in the winter time, then slowly drains away through a lava tube in the ground in the early summer, creating a kind of rushing whirlpool waterfall as the water pours into the ground. I hope we are not too early to see it. The lake looks pretty full.
There are a number of hot springs nearby also. The thought of immersive, full body warmth is so appealing right now!
Suttle Lake, OR
Shakshuka and Pancakes
It is still bitterly cold and rainy. We are camped out at Suttle Lake near Sisters Oregon, and have decided to hunker down and stay warm in the bus until tomorrow. It’s been challenging to find the motivation to go backpacking in such unpleasant conditions. But we have plenty more birthday vacation days to play with, so we’re not worried. Brad has promised amazing things that we’ll see once we do get on the trail – vistas of Mount Washington, Jefferson, and Three Fingered Jack, glacial mountain lakes of turquoise blue, and spring wildflower fields in full bloom.