Backpacking Carl Lake

For my last backpacking hurrah of the season, I headed up with some friends to Carl Lake in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness last month. September is such a golden, wonderful time to get up into the mountains. The days are perfectly sunny and warm, and the nights crisp and clear but not too cold. I am often so busy with harvesting, gleaning, gardening and preparing for winter that I have rarely made it out for any Autumn backpacking trips over the last decade. This year, I decided it was necessary.

This 9.4 mile hike (round trip) was my friend Logan’s longest backpacking trip yet. With gentle switchbacks through forests and many flat stretches past beautiful mountain ponds, the 1000 foot elevation gain wasn’t a challenge, and it proved to be a very kid friendly hike. The trailhead is on forest service roads off of Santiam Pass outside of Sisters, and the hike can be found in William Sullivan’s 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades.

This turned out to be one of the largest mountain lakes I had packed to in quite a long time, and I scouted the shoreline for the perfect camping site along a rock ridge that made up one shoreline. There were a couple of other groups there, but with the size of the lake, it felt like we had it all to ourselves. I even enjoyed one peaceful early morning dip that felt as though I was in solitude.

The large rocks made for a very fine camp kitchen.

Logan set out to put a whole new meaning to harvesting wild foods.  I think she really mastered that technique with her teeth.

For a dayhike, we decided to hike another two miles up the trail to the PCT and South Cinder Peak. Once we were there, we ventured a good ways up the peak to look out at the views. With all the backpacking I’ve done my whole life, I had never really climbed up a mountain like that, and it was a good feeling.

We looked out at a spectacular view of Mt. Jefferson to the North, and the Sisters to the South. I had never spent any time up on the crest of the Cascades, and it literally was as I pictured it, with slopes falling away at both sides to Eastern and Western Oregon, and mountain peaks lined up all in a row.

We decided to hike a ways along the Pacific Crest Trail to find a way trail William Sullivan described in his book as heading back down to Carl Lake. We did a lot of walking, and a lot of searching, and finally met other hikers who said we should just go back to the trail we came up on because the way trail wasn’t even on the topo maps. I think an email to Bill before his next edition of 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades comes out is in order. I have heard rumor that if you send him updates on trails, you get a free copy of the next edition. We met some interesting PCT hikers, including a deer hunter scouting on foot who had just seen a bear, and a couple on their way to Canada if they could beat the snow. We found a few ripe mountain huckleberries, and a few pockets of wildflowers by springs. It was a hot, dry day with a lot of elevation gain, and lack of lunch packed along, so I was pretty wiped out by the end of our very long day hike. Logan was one tough hiker, and was very inspired by the adventure. She decided that she wants to prepare to hike the PCT for a summer with her dad in the next few years. I thought this was a very good goal for a girl to have. 

I was so inspired, in fact, that I needlefelted her a wall hanging of this dream she has as a birthday present for her the following week. That’s her wombat friend, Lena, following along on a moonlit hike along the PCT. I hope it will remind her of her dreams in life whenever she sees it.

As this Fall unfolds into a busy whirlwind of canning, harvesting, freezing, gleaning, and wood cutting and stacking, I can think back to sitting out on a rock overlooking Carl Lake and feel renewed. Getting up in the mountains is good for the soul. It can feed our spirits and fuel our dreams, and help us remember the strong stuff we are made of. Of all the things I could be in life, I am glad to be a mountain woman.