Months ago, we signed up for this year's Cycle Oregon on the day the route was announced. This year was the 30th anniversary of the ride and the route was going to include Crater Lake, which I have wanted to ride since we lived out there (I don't know why we didn't do it then, but here we are). We trained, riding the mountains here, and planned to see friends the first week of the trip before the ride started. A couple of weeks before we were supposed to leave, we got an email from the organizers saying that there was a lot of fire activity in the vicinity of the ride and the route may change. I looked at the fire maps and we prepared for the possibility of the ride being canceled. We figured, though, that the ride had happened in bad fire years before and they had never canceled in 30 years, so it was pretty likely we would get to ride, but maybe not at Crater Lake.
Thursday evening, 36 hours before we were to get on a plane, the ride was canceled. This map shows why (
link). It was definitely the right decision, but it meant we had to pivot quickly to replan our vacation (which, don't get me wrong, is such a small problem to have compared to all of the people directly affected by these horrible fires). We left the cycling gear on the bed in the guest room and packed backpacking gear. We'd figure it out once we got out there.
So, with that, we arrived in Portland, got what would be our only glance of Mt. Hood for the entire trip, got our car, and drove to Washington to see a woman I was in the Peace Corps with and her family. They generously hosted us and took us hiking on Mount Rainier the next day. A number of fires were burning in Washington, but this would turn out to be the clearest day of our first week of the trip.
The first waterfalls we encountered on the trail.
Tiarella unifoliata (Foamflower)
We were yelled at by a number of little pikas, including this one.
Anaphalis margaritacea (Pearly Everlasting)
Our first look at Comet Falls
Aster sp. (Aster)
Gentian calycosa (Bog Gentian)
Flowers, rainbows, and waterfalls. It doesn't get any better.
Looking south from below Van Trump Park. Mount Saint Helens is the large, flat-topped mountain in the distance.
Hiking up to Van Trump Park.
Looking down from Van Trump Park
Seedheads of
Anemone occidentalis (Western Pasqueflower)
We said goodbye to our friends and drove down to Mount Saint Helens. We had permits to hike to the summit of the mountain, which I had reserved back in the spring.
We camped at Climbers Bivouac. Remarkably, two groups across from us went ahead and built campfires. Even though it hadn't rained in months. Even though it was windy. Even though it was 80 degrees at 11 pm. Even though there were (still are) wildfires burning all over Washington and Oregon. The mind boggles.
Our first view of Mount Saint Helens. The air quality had deteriorated considerably overnight. We couldn't see the mountain until we were literally on its flanks.
The weather forecast for our hike was pretty tough: highs near 100 further down the mountain and super dry and smoky. We got up at 4:30 so we would be well on our way down before it got too hot. We started hiking at 5:30 a.m. and were nearly to tree line (4,500 feet) before it was light enough to take pictures.
Then the real climbing began. The posts are the trail markers through the boulders and scree.
Michael and one of the marker posts. You can see how terrible the air quality is in the valley (it wasn't better where we were).
A volcano monitoring station. The U.S. Geological Survey keeps tabs on all of the Cascade volcanoes with instruments like these.
The last scramble to the summit. If you click to enlarge, you'll see two tiny figures on the ridge above us. Hiking up this last bit was tough. It is moderately high (the summit is ~8,300 feet) and last 1,000 feet is through a soft, sandy field of volcanic cinders.
The view into the crater from the summit. Normally, you could see Mount Rainier from here, but on that day, Spirit Lake wasn't even visible.
Michael on the summit.
Bootshot.
Looking down on the trail from the summit. The black dots are other hikers. We enjoyed the hike, but I'm not sure it was a great idea for our lungs. The air quality was pretty horrible. By the time we made it down to treeline, it was pretty darn hot. We each went through nearly a gallon of water.
After leaving Mount Saint Helens, we visited friends in Portland and Albany. Then we made our way to Sisters where we were generously hosted by someone I used to work for and his wife. We had a great time there. We had hoped to hike South Sister, which we had hiked in 2004, but that whole wilderness was closed due to fires. Instead, we spent a day kayaking in Bend and visiting the High Desert Museum (highly recommend it).
Paddling upstream from the outfitter on the Deschutes River
Michael in his boat.
Mergansers on a rock
This isn't a great picture, but I love the duck running on the water to take off (click to enlarge)
Sunset near Sisters, Oregon
The first week of our trip was great. The smoke wasn't great, but we got a couple of good hikes in and most importantly, we got to see a lot of friends we hadn't seen in several years.
Next entry: Consolation prize backpacking
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