An Adventureful Life

I woke up after some light rain to a beautiful morning at my epic tent site. Am I seriously here – about to enter Jefferson Park, and hike through an area that had previously been closed for several years due to the Lions Head Fire?? And… my first real water crossing would happen today…

I began my day by hiking down past Hunts Lake and Shale Lake. I can see why this is such a popular area!

I crossed over two listed “dangerous” water crossings without issue (although I may have said a few prayers to the Goddess when I waded across Milk Creek). Originally, I thought I would camp at Russell Lake, but there was quite a bit of snow melt, so I opted for a leisurely lunch swim instead.

After lunch, I made the trek up and out of Jefferson Park and got an amazing view of Mount Jefferson with Russell Lake in the foreground. I continued to get assaulted with amazing views of rich, snowmelt streams, snowy lakes, and my first peek at Mount Hood! I slid/hiked down the north side of Jefferson which still had plenty of snow patches left… I only fell once, and enjoyed a nice accidental glissade down the slippery slope.

After passing through a pretty barren burn area, I made a quick stop at Breitenbush Lake to make use of an abandoned pit toilet that still has some functionality left (not creepy at all…). Finally… made it to the next camp for the night, and it was my first night sharing a space with another hiker, but we passed each other like two ships in the night.