Glacier National Park Day Two, Dawson Pass and St. Mary’s.

On day one I discovered that I needed a two dollar on line pass to visit the Many Glacier area. I planned to hike to Grinnell Glacier on my second day but was unable to secure a pass. Disappointed I looked for an alternative and settled on the Two Medicine Lake area, the most under visited part of the park.

After checking in to my cabin as I hadn’t the night before, I drove about ninety minutes around Glacier national Park to East Glacier and then on to Two Medicine Lake. This is the “dry” side of the park and outside of it the habitat is primarily grasslands. This is also next to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

So I settled on Dawson pass as my goal for todays hike. It would be pushing it for me as it was a thirteen mile long hike with a twenty eight hundred foot elevation gain. I figured I had time as I got a much earlier start that the previous days hike. By 9:30 I was on the trail.

The first couple of miles were along the north shore of Two Medicine Lake. It was a pretty walk but there was no elevation gain, a fact that would cost me later.

While hiking along the shore line I watched the boat tours run up the lake. They offer return only rides for hikers who would like to save about two and a half miles of their journey. If I ever go again I would take advantage of this service. The last couple of miles heading back got to be a little painful. If you get a round trip ticket it saves five miles but no elevation.

The scenery along the trail is amazing and the first three and a half miles are relatively flat.

That gave me plenty of time to appreciate the small things. FYI, blue berries “AKA huckleberries” good.

And red berries “Chokecherries” no bueno. They may or may not be toxic but either way you don’t eat these.

About three miles in you hit the trail junction that either back tracks to the boat landing or continues to Upper Two Medicine Lake, a popular overnight camping destination. Here the trail really starts climbing.

On the way up a series of challenging switch backs this impressive monolith stands guard above you.

At the top of this climb you are treated to views back towards Two Medicine Lake.

After climbing this section of the trail with it’s incredible views the path levels out for about half a mile until the junction with the spur to No Name Lake. I opted to skip the short spur in order to push to the pass.

After the No Name Lake Trail junction the main trail started to climb steeply again. By now I realized I wasn’t going to make it to the pass. I had plenty of time but was figuratively out of gas and it was a long way back.

This was as close as I got and that ridge is still a long way away. Having to gain all of the elevation in the last half of the hike made it difficult. The boat ride would have saved a lot of time and effort as well and if there is ever a next time I would take advantage of it.

The scenery on the way was just as good as it was on the way up and the walking a lot easier. It was still hard on the knees and back though.

On the way back I took my time and enjoyed the small things. I failed to reach my goal but it was still a rewarding experience.

Just before I reached the trailhead I got a bonus. A group of bighorn sheep were grazing right in my path. If I had taken the boat back I would have missed seeing these amazing animals.

They didn’t seen too worried about me and as I waited and enjoyed the show about a dozen other hikers showed up and did the same. We all eventually managed to get around them by detouring around the trail.

So five and a half hours later I was back at my car. I figured I ended up doing about eleven miles and maybe eighteen hundred feet. On top of yesterdays hike that made for twenty miles and four thousand feet. Not a bad effort.

So I decided to go back to west Glacier by taking Going to the Sun Road across the park. To get to St. Mary’s I used Montana State Road 49. Looking back towards Two Medicine I was treated to this view. The road takes you through part of the Blackfeet Nation.

State Road 49 climbed over a pass and near the top this was the view. This is the end of the Rockies and the beginning of the Great Plains. From here it’s almost as flat as a pancake to West Virginia a couple of thousand miles to the east.

This is looking north towards St Mary’s across the rolling plains. The east end of Going to the Sun Road was about a twenty mile drive from Two Medicine.

The eastern end of Going to the Sun Road is dominated by Saint Mary’s Lake. The landscape is noticeably drier than that on the other side of Logan Pass. This photo is at the overlook for Goose Island.

As beautiful as Lake McDonald is Saint Mary’s Lake is in my opinion even prettier.

At Sun Point I took a short walk and enjoyed the late afternoon views.

The sun was setting in the west and it truly felt like I was on a road going to the sun. Now it was time to head back across the park. The road is fifty miles long and it takes at least two hours to transit Glacier National Park on it. Going around on the U.S. Highways is longer and faster but ends up taking just about as long.

I headed the rest of the way back up towards Logan Pass and at Siyeh Bend I saw this cascade I missed the day before.

So I get to Logan Pass at the end of the day and it’s still a zoo. The parking lot was closed and Park Rangers were blocking the entrances. I was glad I wasn’t fighting those crowds.

I enjoyed the slow scenic ride back down on the narrower west side of the pass. Going to the Sun Road from St. Mary’s to Logan Pass is a much better and safer road than the section west of Logan heading towards Lake McDonald.

Before it got dark I had just enough time to check out a small waterfall on the way to Lake McDonald. By now the hordes were mostly out of the park.

I stopped to take one last look oat Lake McDonald before I got back in cell phone land. I tried to buy a two dollar pass to Many Glacier for the next day but of course they already sold out. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to take the drive cross the park again the next morning anyway.

I got back to my camper cabin just in time to catch their BBQ night. Glacier Campground just outside the West Glacier entrance was an unique place to stay. The Sunflower Café had a vibe that reminded me of Camp Curry in Yosemite back in the day. Lots of the customers were young outdoor enthusiast. The campground staff was awesome and the bathrooms were very nice. I checked to see if they might have a cabin for the next night come available due to a last minute cancellation but was out of luck. I was lucky to score two nights at the last minute due to someone else’s cancellation

Glacier National Park Day One, Going to the Sun Road and Siyeh Pass.

One the first day of my road trip to Glacier National Park I discovered that you need one day permits to drive on Going to the Sun Road and to visit Many Glaciers and you can only get them on line. I lucked out and was able to purchase one for Going to the Sun Road as I was waiting in line to enter the park. It is a complicated system and not very conducive to spur of the moment visits.

Entering Glacier National park from the west I soon arrived at Lake McDonald. Scenic pull outs along the road provide beautiful views of the mountains on the far side.

Beyond the lake the Going to the Sun Road follows the river that feeds it upstream. The outlet for Lake McDonald is the beginning of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.

I blew by the trailhead for Avalanche Basin. This is one of the most congested places in the park and the parking lots were full. I’ve been there and done that anyway and was looking for new adventures.

Just after crossing Logan Creek, the road turns northwest and really starts climbing. It doesn’t take long before you’re far above the river valley.

The views are outstanding but the road is narrow and winding. It requires your full attention. It would be nice if all large trucks folded their sideview mirrors in.

Having to purchase a day pass to drive on the road was a hassle. The flip side was that traffic was kind of manageable. It was still heavy but there were no delays on the way up.

I was heading for Logan pass to hike the Highline Trail. I always wanted to try it. The trail is way above Going to the Sun Road.

Well I got to the top and it was a zoo. The parking lots was completely full and the trailhead looked so busy that it was a turn off for me. The popular Hidden Lake Trail also starts at Logan Pass and I did that one years ago too.

I stopped at a smaller pull out down the slope to assess the situation when I saw this guy. It was nice to have a goat pose for my blog.

I decided to drive down the other side of Logan Pass and take a hike out of Siyeh Bend. Sometimes it’s good to have a backup plan.

According to the sign at the trailhead it was a nine mile round trip with about twenty three hundred feet of elevation gain. Sounds about right.

Soon I was in a thickly canopied forest.

I was glad I brought a can. I would have rather had a firearm but National Parks are very strict about that. It would have been nice to have had company just for the added safety but sometimes you have to strike out on your own.

The hike through the forest was nice but I was really looking for bigger views. The trail was easy to follow and crossed numerous small creeks. In September the streams are much smaller than they are early in the hiking season.

Probably over half of the hike was though this type of evergreen forest. It slowly opened up as I gained elevation.

As the canopy thinned I was treated to views of the mountains still far above me on a more regular basis.

After a couple of hours I finally hit the open valleys and could see Siyeh Pass which is really a low saddle between a couple of peaks.

One last stream crossing on a bridge of rocks .

Up in this high valley the scenery was truly epic. I only passed a few hikers who were on their way down and once I hit the open slopes I had the place to myself.

The trail passed by a small high country pond. I was surprised and a little disappointed that there wasn’t any wildlife to be viewed here.

As I continued to climb the trail towards the pass, the views behind me kept getting better and better. That’s Piegan Mountain with Piegan Glacier across the valley on the right side. Clements Mountain overlooking Logan Pass is in the distance in the center.

The final part of the hike to Siyeh Pass climbed up a series of steep switchbacks. By now I was running out of time.

At the base of Mount Siyeh I enjoyed the view of three small glacier melt off lakes. At the end of my hike I ran into three young men who started at 9:00 AM and hiked to the top of this mountain. They told me it was the best hike in the park. I’m afraid a hike like that is a little out of my league anymore.

I was this close to the saddle when I turned around. The effort wasn’t the problem, time was. I had a drop dead time to turn around. It wouldn’t do to be trying to find my way back in the dark in grizzly country.

On the way back I savored the view. These are exactly the views I came for. It reminded me of the line from the movie Jeremiah Johnson when his travelling companion told him the Rockies are the marrow of the world.

Soon I was back in the canopied forest. I was making the best time I could. As far as I knew I was the last person on the trail.

I recrossed all of the streams again on my way down.

By now I was nearing the trailhead and the shadows were starting to lengthen. I did pass a couple of people heading up and assumed they were either backpack camping or turning around soon. This is were the three mountain climbers caught up with me. They knew the park like the back of their hands and shared lots of tips on were to hike around Many Glacier which was my plan for the next day.

I drove back down Going to the Sun Road as the light faded. By the time I got back in cell phone land all of the next days passes for Many Glacier were already sold out. To keep my options open I bought another pass for Going to the Sun Road which I ended up not needing. The system the park uses to limit traffic was really working against me.

I started my day by leaving home at 5:00 AM. The drive took a good six hours and with the additional delays in securing a pass, waiting in line to get in and losing an hour from the time zone change, it was 2:00 PM before I started my hike. I was back to my car by 6:30. It would have been nice to have another hour to push it further, still 2300 feet and nine miles wasn’t too shabby. By the time I made it to my campground in West Glacier it was dark and the office was closed. They left a map and a key for me taped to the office door. Nice.

The Olympian Trail, from Taft to Saltese and back.

I headed across Lookout Pass into Montana. I wasn’t sure where I was going to bike, but ended up at the East Portal Trailhead, the place 95% of visitors who ride the Hiawatha start their journey. I usually avoid the Hiawatha on summer weekends due to the crowds involved, and with good reason.

This was the sight that greeted me in the parking lot. That sealed the deal. Luckily for me another trail on the same railroad easement heads east from this same trailhead into Montana. I went that way and everyone else went through the tunnel into Idaho.

Immediately I was alone. The trail surface was just about the best and smoothest ride I ever had on an unpaved rail trail. The Olympian is another section of the Milwaukee Railroad, one of five transcontinental railroads and the only one that has been abandoned.

Heading east you are also heading down from the lines high point at the Taft Tunnel. The surface and grade are such that as grown man with fully inflated tires I had to ride the brakes a little. That made it fun going out but there’s always a price to pay on the return.

A mile or two in and I found myself high above Interstate 90. One of the only downsides of this ride is that you can hear the traffic below you for a large part of the trip. In most places the forest is thick enough to conceal the highway and it is so far below the trail as to not be a distraction.

About three miles in while descending using a loop on a side canyon I came across the Dominion Tunnel, the only one on this stretch of the trail. The Hiawatha has several. I only needed one to be happy.

The tunnel was well made and maintained. It had a slight bend but was short enough that there was no need for flash lights.

Immediately after the tunnel is the Dominion Bridge, a high trestle over a creek that rivals any of the bridges on the Hiawatha.

The views were awesome and more importantly I had the view to myself. On the Hiawatha every bridge is a circus on busy weekends with dozens of people jockeying to get that perfect shot of the family. I only had to work around my bike.

I lingered to enjoy the view and solitude. At this point of the trail it sweeps far up the side canyon from the Interstate so there is no traffic noise and all you can see is the wilderness you are traveling through.

Just pass the bridge the trail is gated making this a pedestrian or bicycling only experience. Beyond this point the railroad bed is open for recreational traffic. I had maybe seven side by side ATV’s pass me on the rest of the trip, mostly close to Saltese.

The trail now heads back down the side canyon and within another mile you are again high above Interstate 90. There are nice views of the Bitterroot Mountains along the way.

Just before I made it to Saltese, a tiny Montana town, I came across this sign. I kept riding on the high grade but soon the trail surface became much rougher. It looked like from here on that the railroad was mostly used by ATV’s and dirt bikes.

I ended up walking my bike the last quarter mile or so to the Saltese high bridge which was my goal for todays ride. I didn’t want to take a chance on a bent rim since I needed my bike to carry me back up eight and a half miles to the trailhead.

From the deck of this bridge you could see pretty much all of Saltese. The community does have one of those roadside casinos found through out Montana so I guess you could take the connection to the lower grade to get a cold beverage if you wanted. As you can see in the photo by now the trail isn’t that much higher than the interstate. From what I can tell within a couple of more miles they are at the same level.

This is what the bridge looks like from below. To get to the East Portal Trailhead I had to take a detour through this town due to road construction That added ten miles to the drive but gave me the opportunity to see this bridge from below without having to ride down the side trail.

On the way back up I had more time to appreciate the scenery. Going up hill wasn’t that bad. I just put it in low gear and accepted that I was only going to make single digits as far as my miles per hour.

I didn’t run it a lot in the way of wildlife. Since I was the only cyclist on the trail the entire time I had high hopes for some animal action. I had to settle for a harmless snake.

On the way back I stopped at the Dominion Bridge again and spent a good half hour comptenplating the views. If I had a lawn chair and some cold drinks I would have stayed the rest of the afternoon. It was unbelievable to have this place to myself.

Beyond the bridge and tunnel I could make out the railroad grade across the side canyon I had recently biked up. It was a scaled down version of looking across Loop Creek on the Hiawatha.

Just before I made it back to East Portal and the crowds I had a feeling I was being watched so I stopped and returned the favor.

By the time I made it back to the trailhead for the Hiawatha folks had started parking beyond the lot on both sides of the old easement. It had to be a zoo on the Hiawatha that day. I felt like to smartest person in the room having enjoyed a scenic seventeen mile long bike ride in complete solitude while everyone else had to battle the crowds.

So the Olympian Trail continues down hill another twenty miles or so to St. Regis. I’ve seen parts of it from the Interstate during my travels and it appears to stay down on the valley floor beyond Saltese. I have no idea what the surface and use conflicts are like, but the first eight and a half miles from East Portal are wonderful. It would be nice if they had a trailhead just beyond Saltese and an improved surface over the Saltese bridge.

The Palouse Cascade Trail part 3, biking west from Rosalia.

For my third trip this summer on the Palouse Cascade Trail, I headed west from Rosalia with the goal of making it to Malden. I fell short by a couple of miles. Better to enjoy a sixteen mile round trip than have a miserable twenty miler. Part 1 is under the hiking category as that is how I traveled it.

Rosalia is a small farming town on US-195 about thirty-five miles south of Spokane. The Palouse Cascade Trail crosses the old highway just south of Rosalia on this amazing concrete arch bridge. This bridge is a local landmark and still has the Milwaukee Railroad logo painted on it.

In addition to the old highway, this bridge crossed Pine Creek , a small stream the trail follows all the way to Rock Lake. The new US-195 crosses over the railroad easement just to the east. Rosalia is about twenty miles west of Tekoa, the town I used as my base for my last trip on the trail. The level of engineering used on the bridges give a hint that this was once one of the five transcontinental railroads in the United States.

The trail is a little hard to access from the town. Rosalia does have a small park with restrooms, but the trail is located up a steep slope from the town off of rough gravel roads. Within the first mile, a steep detour bypasses a place where an old bridge was removed over Gashouse Road. This intersection is the only thing resembling a trailhead in the area.

At the intersection their is an interpretive sign. The trail surface alternates between rough gravel ballast and soft sand. I heard the surface is far more challenging west of Rock Lake and Ewan.

The first couple of miles out of Rosalia parallels US-195 and passes though a typical mix of farmland and basalt cuts as it heads north and then northwest.

The trail passes a cemetery just outside of town. There’s one off the trail just east of Tekoa as well.

At Babb Road, the trail passes under the roadway in a newer culvert. I don’t think a train would fit through it. I’m not sure if this “tunnel” replaced a taller bridge or if the road just didn’t go through before the railroad was abandoned.

Evidence of a catastrophic wildfire from a few years ago was evident along the trail. This fire burned down much of the town of Malden and three or four bridges between that town and Pine City. Here I ran into the only other person I saw. This gentleman was nearing the end of a multiday journey that started in Cedar Falls over two hundred miles away. I was impresses. I made it sixteen and was tired by the time I finished.

Here is the first of several bridges over Pine Creek west of Rosalia. It was an impressive piece of engineering.

After the bridge, the trail passed through a couple of impressive cuts trough the basalt.

There are still old telegraph posts along the trail, some of which still had the old glass insulators. This was close to my turnaround point. I was still short of Malden by a couple of miles and the next bridge over Pine Creek was just around the bend. Sometimes a man has to know his limitations.

I saw a couple of coyotes and these white tail deer. Other than that my wildlife was limited to birds.

Most of the route of this trail is bordered by either farmland or cattle ranches. There were a few pieces of abandoned machinery along the way.

The trail passes through open range areas with gates that are the responsibility of the trail user to open and close. The State of Washington requires trail users to register on line so that they understand the rules. This process is simple and can be found here. The bovines did yield the right-of-way to me without argument.

On the way back to Rosalia I took a brief detour off trail to get a different preceptive of the bridge over Pine Creek.

When I got back to Rosalia, I ran into the same fella that I talked to on my way outbound. He was camping at the local park and we shared a couple of beers and traded stories about riding bicycle trails. Not a bad way to finish the trip.

An hour later I was back home after navigating rush hour traffic through Spokane. Between this ride and my two previous trips on the Palouse Cascade Trail I think I’ve seen most of it though eastern Washington. I would really like to explore the section through the Cascade Mountains closer to Seattle. I understand that part is beautiful and more user friendly. That might have to wait until next year.

McKenzie Conservation Area

Yesterdays hike at the McKenzie Conservation Area on the north side of Newman Lake is a return to a local hidden gem. Thank you Spokane County. This was my fourth trip here this year. The trailhead is only about fifteen minutes from my house.

A simple gravel parking area provides access to about five miles of hiking trails. I hiked about four miles of them by taking the Bedrock Ridge Trail and returning on the Turtle Rock Trail with a side trip south through the marshlands to the property boundary and back. Oddly enough, Spokane County has another conservation area only a few miles to the south with slightly different spelling called Mackenzie next to Liberty Lake Park. If anyone who reads this blog knows why that is please let me know.

The first part of the Bedrock Ridge Trail winds through a nice mixed forest. One of the things I like about McKenzie is the tree variety. Pretty much every species native to the area is represented.

The two species of firs, Grand and Douglas often grow side by side. Douglas firs are not true fir trees and the needles grow out of the stem in a radial pattern. Grand firs have flat needles like a feather.

The Bedrock Ridge Trail gains a little bit of elevation and true to it’s name about a mile in you come to rock outcroppings near the high point of the trail.

Here you see Newman Lake for the first time on the hike. On the drive to the trailhead you get to see a lot of the lake from the the windshield. It is a scenic drive.

At the junction with the Turtle Rock Trail I went right instead of left to check out the wetlands on the south end of the conservation area.

Something had a sweet tooth. I saw more than one hive broken open and scattered. I imagine the first few licks of honey were awfully tangy.

I turned around and made my way to Turtle Rock. This is the only spot on the property where its possible to access the lake without wading through marshlands. Allegedly this was a favorite campsite for Native Americans.

Most of the walk back on the Turtle Rock Trail is flat and skirts wetlands.

There are some pretty big cottonwood trees in the lowlands along with cedars and hemlocks. The conservation area has several mature western white pines which is nice to see as they were almost eliminated from the region due to the white pine blister rust and over harvesting.

Another view of Newman Lake.

McKenzie Conservation Area is a nice place to enjoy a relaxing walk in the woods. The elevation gain is minimal and views are beautiful. That’s Mica Peak Idaho, AKA Signal Point, in the distance. There is another trail that crosses Newman Lake Road and climbs considerable higher up the ridge if you just have to get more of a workout. This loop adds another mile of two to the hike and gains maybe 400 feet of elevation. There are no views of the lake through from this trail.

The Palouse Cascades Trail part 2, Biking from Tekoa to Seabury and back.

Yesterday I tool a sixteen mile trip on a section of the Palouse Cascades Trail on my old trusty mountain bike.

I started my trip in the small town of Tekoa. It is one of the nicer towns in the Palouse and has several historic buildings including this old art deco movie theater. Across the street is a small park with a public restroom, a rare amenity out here in farm country.

The landmark Tekoa trestle dominates the local landscape. This 976 foot long and 125 foot high structure carried the transcontinental Milwaukee Road rail line over Hangman Creek, State Road 27 and another old railroad easement.

There is a trailhead off Washington Street on the east side of the trestle with interpretive signage and a picnic table. This trail is managed as a Washington State Park and extends from the Idaho state line almost to the Seattle area.

From the trestle there is a view of the town looking up Hangman Creek. In the background is Liberty Butte, one of several large hills embedded in the middle of an expanse of wheat fields.

The trail winds through miles of agricultural land alternating between cuts through the hills and embankments between them.

About three miles in you come to Lone Pine. There are the remains of an old grain loading facility here and not much else.

Wheat is the main crop here and in places they cultivate it right to the edge of the trail bed. About eighty percent of the fields I rode by were already harvested but some were still waiting for the combines.

Tekoa is in Whitman County which bills itself as the largest wheat producing county in the United States.

Amber waves as far as the eye can see. From the trail you get to see scattered farm buildings and spacious skies.

I crossed under one old bridge. The trail surface varied from rough ballast to fresh gravel and some areas of dried compacted dirt. I don’t usually ride on gravel and going sixteen miles on it was like riding forty on pavement.

I came across two places where small bridges had been removed and the state build a bypass trail.

Just before my turn around place, I arrived at the historic Seabury Bridge. I walked the bike across as some of the gaps in the decking could easily catch a bicycle tire and eight miles is a long way to walk back. There is a lot of useful information about the trail on the home page for the Palouse Cascade Trail Coalition, a non-profit group dedicated to supporting improvements to the trail.

The Seabury Bridge crossed over another railroad which is now also abandoned. Here you can see the cut of the Spokane Inland Empire branch that at one time extended all the way to Lewiston.

Here is the best view I could get of this impressive structure. It’s long way down to the bottom and the land down there is privately owned.

So here was the end of my ride. Washington State Parks put up these mile markers at the same spots the railroad at one time had them. They show the distance from the start of the railroad in Chicago.

The way back was pretty but I did have to deal with a decent head wind. Winds on the Palouse are usually out of the southwest or west. Today it was out of the northeast.

It was a relief to make it back to Tekoa. That’s Tekoa Mountain in the background looking northeast from the deck of the trestle.

The 287 mile long trail almost spans Washington. Through Eastern Washington it is lightly used. I was the only one on it for all sixteen miles. Earlier this summer I had hiked the section along Pine Creek and Rock Lake. This was the first time I rode part of it. Next time I’ll bring a couple of replacement inner tubes just in case.

Dishman Hills, hiking Iller Creek and the Rocks of Sharon.

Dishman Hills is a natural area made up of three units. Iller Creek is the northern most and highest of them. The Iller Creek trailhead is located west of Dishman Mica Road in a residential area of Spokane Valley.

The trailhead has limited parking which usually isn’t an issue on weekdays. As soon as you start there is a fork. I always take the right path and hike the loop counter clockwise.

This trail follows a dry creek bed at a moderate grade through a thick forest. It isn’t very exciting but it gets you to where your going.

This preserved is managed by Spokane County as a conservation area. As is typical, Spokane County maintains a well built and marked trail system.

At two and a half miles in you come to the Rocks of Sharon. These massive boulders are a popular local rock climbing destination.

I typically spend over an hour exploring the rocks. There are over a dozen of these monoliths lined up on the south side of the high ridge.

This is a perfect place to stop for a break and enjoy the views.

And the view is of the Palouse Prairie, an area of rolling farmland that extends a hundred miles to the south.

North of the rocks is probably the largest collection of antennas and satellite dishes I’ve ever seen. Pretty much every television and radio station in greater Spokane uses this site to transmit their signals.

Another view of interesting rock formations.

At the Rocks of Sharon there is a junction with the Stevens Creek Trailhead connector. By using this access point it is possible to get to the rocks by hiking less than half the distance and a third of the elevation. Drive there though takes an extra hour.

I had the place to myself for a good hour. I highly recommend hiking this trail on weekdays. It can get awfully busy on weekends.

I just wish I hadn’t tried to drive my truck up the trail. No really, this isn’t the first old abandoned vehicle I’ve come across hiking close to Spokane. This was on the East Ridge Trail just after I started my return.

If you hike the loop counter clockwise, you will return to the Iller Creek Trailhead vis the East Ridge Trail.

The East Ridge Trail is more open and you get views of Spokane Valley and Mt. Spokane in the distance.

To the west you can see Mica Peak with it’s distinctive radar dome.

Five miles and twelve hundred feet later, you return to the starting point. Here is a picture at the trailhead of a mountain ash tree.

I first saw this place while flying out of the Spokane airport over a decade ago. It looked so cool from above I did a little research, found the trailheads and have since hiked it about a dozen times. I was a little surprised that the elevation gain turned out to be well over a thousand feet. It is one of the best little hikes close to Spokane that I know of.

Oregon Road Trip, Smiths Rock, Newberry Volcanic National Monument, Crater Lake and John Day Fossil Beds.

I drove to Bend Oregon and spent a couple of nights in an affordable motel. I planned to visit several places that I always wanted to see and had alternatives in mind in case plans change. That turned out to be a good thing.

I got a 6:00 AM start and made it to Smith Rock State Park a little after 12 noon. This turned out to be the highlight of the trip and you can check out my photos and descriptions here.

After I checked in my room, I drove a few miles south of Bend to check out Lava Butte, a National Forest site showcasing an old cinder cone and lava field.

By the time I got there it was late and the visitor center was closed. I walked a little through the lava field in the lengthening shadows. The place reminded me of a scaled down version of Craters of the Moon in southern Idaho.

So I got up the next morning again at 6:00 AM and made a beeline to Crater Lake National Park. The nice folks at the motel said it was about a two hour drive. It would have been if the north entrance was open. It wasn’t due to fire activity. I had to drive another hour around the park to the south entrance and back track to the park.

So it took me a good three hours to make it to the rim and boy was I in for a disappointment. The higher I got, the worse the smoke got. I could barely see the lake below me. At least they weren’t charging the entrance fee which was also a bummer as I had my America the Beautiful pass and didn’t even get to use it.

The smoke was so thick it hurt to breath and my eyes watered. I’ve had several people tell me that they thought Crater Lake was one of the most beautiful spots they had ever been to. I’ll have to take their word for it. I planned to hike Scott Peak but that was pointless and I later found out they had the trailhead closed anyway due to road construction.

This picture of Wizard Island through the smoke was the best I could do. I stayed about a minute and a half before I decided to try and salvage the rest of the day. I was disgusted by the situation. Damn Oregon wildfires. Additionally the facilities I visited were covered in graffiti and litter was everywhere. Even though you couldn’t really see anything the park was surprisingly busy. Visiting this park has been on my bucket list and sadly I will probably never go back.

So I drove almost three more hours taking the longer and less scenic way near Klamath Falls and went with my plan B, the Newberry Caldera south of Bend. Here I used my America the Beautiful Pass to cover the entrance fee. There wasn’t smoke but the previous nights storm left lingering low clouds and fog. At least I could breath.

My first stop was the Big Obsidian Flow. A nice trail with interpretive signs gave me access to all the lava rocks you could ever ask to see.

There was a lot of obsidian which is basically black glass. It was kind of pretty.

The caldera has two lakes in it.

By now the clouds were starting to lift so I decided to hike to the high point of the caldera rim, Paulina Peak. From where I started to the top and back was about a four mile hike. About half way up the views opened and I could see both lakes as well as the central cinder cone.

I even caught a couple of patches of blue skies near the top. I had the trail to myself on the way up.

When I reached the summit, the weather closed in again. It was time to head back down.

On the way down I could see just how big the cliffs I had recently been on top of were.

On my way out I made one more stop to see a pretty little waterfall. They are winding down this time of year but this one was still pretty nice. I bet it’s real impressive during melt off.

Newberry Volcanic National Monument was a cool place to explore. I’m glad I had a backup plan for Crater Lake but it would have been nice to have clear skies here as well. Still clouds are a lot better than smoke. I finished the day by sitting in a traffic jam that closed the freeway back to Bend for two hours. Probably not my best day on a road trip ever.

I left Bend early the next morning and took the long way home. I headed east on US 26 out of Redmond to see the John Jay Fossil Beds. My first stop was the Painted Hills Unit.

The Painted Hills outside of the hamlet of Mitchell is a colorful series of clay hills that are famous both for their striking appearance and also as the site of huge deposits of fossils. Here they are mostly fossils of plants.

I walked several short trails covering maybe a mile and a half to enjoy the view points and read the interpretive signage.

After about an hour and a half I left and headed towards my next stop.

Another hour to the east is the Sheep Rock unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Here they have a full visitor center.

After checking out the visitor center on the advice of the host, I drove a couple of miles south and checked out the Blue Basin.

These eroded deposits of blue/green clay contain the fossils of mostly mammals from prehistoric times. The striking color made the place feel otherworldly.

The round trip on this trail was about a mile and a half.

Eastern Oregon is a big place. Including my short hikes it took me over thirteen hours to get home. At least most of the drive was scenic and lonely.

So my three day trip cost me two nights in an affordable motel and about a hundred dollars in gasoline. I got to see a lot of places I never had before which is a good thing. Crater Lake was disappointing. I had planned to make a lengthy stand alone post about the National Park. Hopefully the next National Park I visit won’t be covered in wildfire smoke.

Smith Rock State Park. Hiking the Misery Ridge and River Trail Loop

I took a seven hour drive to the high desert country of central Oregon to spend a couple of nights and explore. On my way to Bend, I stopped at Smith Rock State Park.

This wonderful park is located a couple of miles east of US 97 near the town of Terrebonne about twenty miles north of Bend. I paid the five dollar admission and started walking.

The Misery Ridge Trail is across the river the Crooked River from the parking areas and visitor center. This part of the park is crowded with sightseers.

I walked the loop counter clockwise and would highly recommend that direction. The hike begins with a series of steep switchbacks that soon get you away from most of the crowd. To your left are some shear rock walls that are a Mecca for rock climbers.

And to your right and soon way below you is the river that almost encircles the rocks. The switchbacks are challenging and wooden steps help you in s0me of the steepest sections.

It only takes six tenths of a mile to gain the little over seven hundred feet of elevation to the top. The vegetation on the summit consists of sparse desert shrubs and large juniper trees.

The views from the top are outstanding. You can see the distant Cascade Mountains to the west and appreciate the stunning rock formations below you.

I stayed up here a while to enjoy the view. It was sunny and for the time of year, reasonably cool. Signs at the trailhead warn hikers to bring plenty of water and I did. You can get dehydrated here in a hurry.

A short walk further and you begin the descent on the other side of the ridge next to a prominent rock pillar called Monkey Face.

Here’s the view of this rock from below. It’s pretty clear how it came to acquire such an unusual name. There are rock climbing routes up this feature as well.

Soon you find yourself next to the Crooked River on the far side of Misery Ridge from the trailhead. It is a photogenic stream.

You get to follow the river for a couple of miles back to the starting point which is a great way to wind down after getting your heart pumping crossing over the ridge. Here you can still see Monkey Face just left of center.

The River Trail has a new view around every bend.

At one point you can hear a decent size waterfall across the river but can only get a fleeting view of it through the trees covering the far cliff side. What you can see is awfully nice too.

About half way back to the trailhead I saw a couple of raptors circling overhead. It took me a minute to realize that they were a pair of Golden Eagles. They’re bigger than Bald Eagles.

The rocks are fascinating. The park has dozens of rock wall climbing routes.

And here are a couple of folks trying out one of them.

It took me almost three hours to complete the 3.6 mile loop with a total elevation gain of 908 feet. A lot of that time was spent just stopping to enjoy the views. There are other trails in the park that I would have loved to had time to check out.

I even got to see a couple of lizards. We don’t get them much in the Idaho Panhandle.

I made one last short walk to an overlook on the east side of the canyon to get another perspective.

I enjoyed hiking in Smith Rock State Park. The State of Oregon does a nice job of maintaining this beautiful site. I don’t know if I’ll ever make it out this way again but if I do I’d gladly hike this route again.

Smith Rock State Park turned out to be the highlight of my three day Oregon Road trip and the only adventure along the way worthy of it’s own post. You can check out the rest of the trip here.

Lake Pend Oreille, kayaking the Clark Fork Delta.

Today I took an hour and a half drive to the far east end of Idaho’s largest lake to kayak the Clark Fork Delta about twenty miles from Sandpoint.

Lake Pend Oreille is Idaho’s private little ocean. The lake is amazing. It is the fifth deepest lake in the United States at well over one thousand feet deep, is over thirty miles long from end to end and has it’s own small archipelago islands as you can see in the photograph. Two river deltas enter the lake, one of which is the largest in the inland western U.S. Over half of the shore line of this massive lake is publicly owned.

Today I accessed the Clark Fork Delta, the larger of the two, from the Clark Fork Drift Yard site. Idaho manages the recreational end of it and the Army Corps of Engineers owns and uses the site to maintain structures related to navigation and protecting the delta itself from erosion.

This basic boat ramp with primitive camping is right off of State Road 200 and a couple of miles before you get to the town of Clark Fork. There are no fee’s for use. It is located right where the main channel of the river enters the lake.

A short paddle across the bay leads to a narrow opening. The shore line was “armored” with boulders to mitigate erosion. The summer pool level Lake Pend Oreille was raised about ten feet by the construction of Albeni Falls Dam twenty miles downstream causing significant adverse effects to this delta as well as the Pack River Delta. Idaho and the U.S. Government have spent a lot of resources trying to limit the damage with some positive results.

The delta consists of a mixture of marshlands, wooded areas and open water, There are over a dozen distinct large islands and many smaller ones as well as four major channels and several more small creeks that connect them. It takes a little effort to get the lay of the land.

The northern most channel is the largest and is really open to the wind, so I paddled a little way south and found this much narrower creek that parallels it almost to the beginning of the delta. It was a beautiful trip upstream.

You couldn’t have asked for better scenery. I passed not a single other boat on this stretch.

Here is a view of the Idaho part of the Cabinet Mountains including the highest peak on our side of the state line, Scotchman Peak. I’ve been to the top twice and hope to make it one more time. It is one of the most difficult hikes in the area.

Towards the end of this channel, there were a few vacation cabins accessible only by boat. Soon my creek rejoined the main north channel and I jogged downstream to catch another small creek to get further upstream.

Just before this creek rejoined the main stream at the top of the delta it shoaled out on a rocky bar. I had to dismount and walk my kayak the last hundred feet back to deep water.

Now I was upstream of all of the braided channels so I turned around and let the current carry me to the third branch. A couple of private bridges connected to these islands to provide access to private land owners.

This was the second to two bridges. The southern main stream was much smaller than the northern one.

Off of the channel there were many small side channels some of which dead ended in the middle of one or another of the islands. They were still fun to explore though.

The southern main channel ended up going next to the mountains making for dramatic scenery. I saw a couple of bald eagles at this point.

Soon I came across the Johnson Creek Access Area. Johnson Creek looked like it might be worth exploring but it was barricaded by a low bridge with no obvious way around or through it.

Now I was getting close to the lake again. A side channel veered off to the left so I took it.

This lead me to the most southerly of the four major outlets to the lake and another public access point, this time only for boaters. It was a nice place to take a break before crossing the delta to get back the the Driftwood Access.

It is a big lake. This is looking southwest towards the Green Monarch Ridge. Twenty more miles or so to the south is where I kayaked to Lakeview and back earlier this summer The water clarity is pretty impressive.

So I headed north towards my starting point across a rather large bay near the mouth of the delta. Much of the shore of the island I was heading towards was “armored” as it protected the rest of the delta from the deep open waters of the lake.

I did get to see three more bald eagles on the way and this time got a photograph. The third one was a juvenile and lower in the tree. He’s hard to see.

I ended up paddling almost five hours, my longest trip of the season so far. It was nice to appreciate the beauty along the way.

I saw many Great Blue Herons but had the darndest time catching them on camera. This one finally stayed still long enough.

Here is one of the four major outlets to the lake from inside the delta. Near the lake, the channels open up in to bays and you have to cross some pretty big stretches of open water.

It was an awesome trip and only my second time paddling the delta. I would love to do it again. You can if you try get lost in the little channels that lead into hidden wetlands. If only I had seen a moose it would have been perfect.

I do want to check out the smaller delta on the lake also. The Pack River Delta has been the subject of a major restoration effort recently. North Idaho has some epic landscape for those of us that like to push our limits. After seventy-seven miles of bike riding on some of my favorite trails over the weekend, a nice peaceful kayak trip was just what the doctor ordered.