Cascade Mountains « 100hikes.com

A hike that rediscovers my father’s childhood water hole.

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My Dad and I on the trail. At one point on the trail, you can see all three surrounding giants: Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, and the South Sister. In this photo, Mt. Bachelor was being camera shy and refused to join in on the group shot.

Before hike #34, my parents and I stopped by Elk Lake. We met up with my aunt and uncle, who have lived outside of Newport, Oregon for most of my life but recently bought a house near Bend. They joined us for lunch on the patio of the restaurant that sits on the eastern end of the lake. To replenish the liquids lost on the morning hike (hike #33), I had a few locally brewed beers. Life doesn’t get any better after an icy Deschutes Brewery beer in a frozen mug. So after three of them, I realized that I wasn’t going to be the day I would complete three hikes.

Our second hike of the day was at Sparks Lake, a shallow lake with ten miles of shoreline. The Ray Atkeson Memorial Trail, named after a local photographer, explores the eastern side of the lake. The lima-bean shaped loop provides impressive views of the surrounding mountains – Bachelor, Tumalo, Broken Top, and South Sister – as well as the placid lake with its unique rocky shoreline. Mom begun the hike to get a sense of the trail, but turned around to spend time reading along the water’s edge.

I liked this hike for the diversity of the terrain. Hiking the trail clockwise, the first mile is through a pine forest with patches of lava rock outcroppings and fissures, looking somewhat like slot canyons. We stood looking down into one crack that was at least 40 feet deep. After hiking a mile, we found a small knoll with a great view of the surrounding mountains: Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, and the South Sister. From the knoll, the trail travels south, then west towards the shoreline, which hasn’t been visible since the trailhead. Before views of Sparks Lake came into view, we walked along a ridge looking into a natural (?) pit in lava rock. Chipmunks hid among the volcanic rocks, taking curious peaks at us before bouncing away.

Once we did reach the rocky edge of Sparks Lake, Dad realized where he was: his childhood swimming hole. Like an unexpected gift, he remembered coming here with his friend during the lazy-day summers of his youth in the 1950′s.

We continued walking the shoreline until we returned to the trailhead.

Thoughts about the hike:

This hike has it all. Mountains, a lake, rocks. It would make a great introduction to hiking in Central Oregon.

Hike #34 Trip GPS Stats:

Date of hike: July 20th, 2009
Location: Sparks Lake, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon
Length: 2.8 miles
Duration: 2 hours, 7 minutes
Average speed: ±1.3 mph
Altitude at start: 5,447 feet
Altitude min.max: 5,431/5,518 feet

This map was made with the data my GPS captured on the hike.
For a more detailed trip report map, check this out.

Photos:

My aunt and uncle on their bike, departing after a nice lunch at Elk Lake

Oregon does not have a shortage of lava rocks and beautiful wild flowers.

Mount Bachelor through the trees.

Green lichen growing on volcanic rock.

Dad became a fan of trekking poles during my visit. In this photo, he's using one of mine.

The short cut reduces the 2.8 mile loop to just 1.2 miles.

Dad remembers coming to this swimming hole as a kid.

South Sister over Sparks Lake.

Notice the natural stain on the rocks, representing the water level in the past.

A beautiful yellow velvet long-horned beetle (Cosmosalia chrysocoma).

Tags: Broken Top Mountain, Cascade Mountains, Davis Canyon Loop, Deschutes National Forest, Elk Lake, Elk Lake Resort, Mount Bachelor, Oregon, Ray Atkeson Memorial Trail, South Sister, Sparks Lake

Dad and I Mt Bachelor on #33 - 1/3 the way to 100!

I wish I knew my grandfather better. When I was born, he was in the final chapter of a long life. He had been a logger and worked on the green chain, hard and dangerous work. I have memories of visiting my grandfather and grandmother during the holidays in Bend, Oregon. He had a quiet way about him and most of my memories of him have him siting quietly in the living room of their small house in Bend, studying the world with smiling eyes. He seemed like a man with deep thoughts that he kept to himself. He passed in 1983 when I was just 8-years old.

When I visited my grandmother on this trip and discussed hiking options in the area, she told me something I had never heard before: My grandfather’s cremated ashes were scattered in the Cascade Mountains, just above Todd Lake. I decided immediately to go on this hike. I felt like it was important for me to see the spot where my grandfather rests.

My parents and I got an early start, hoping to get in three hikes today. The Todd Lake Trailhead is located less than an hour from Bend, Oregon – in the shadow of Mount Bachelor. I learned how to ski in the Cascades and our family has taken many Holiday season ski trips to Bachelor. The drive towards the mountain along the Cascades Lakes Scenic Byway was a familiar one, but it was strange to be here in the summer and see so little snow on the sleeping volcano. When we arrived at the trailhead parking, we were surprised to see the lot packed with vehicles. We hoped to have the trail to our selves, considering it was Monday, but we would learn that the senior hiking clubs in the surrounding area would organize weekday excursions to this trail. It’s nice to see older people on the trails rather than withering away in a retirement home, but I wish they decided to do it another day.

The Todd Lake Trail is a gateway to other, longer routes in the area, including Broken Top Mountain, South Sister, and Green Lakes. The trail runs 11.8 miles, but we would only go in about 2.5 miles, at the Soda Creek trail junction, before turning around. The first half mile of this trek is a gradual incline. I’m still getting used to the altitude, which starts at 6,100 feet.

It wasn’t far along the trail that we found where my grandfather’s ashes were scattered. A powerful outcrop of rock stood out from the forest above the trail, just as my grandmother recalled. I stood for a moment paying my respects to my grandfather the best way I knew, trying to capture the scene on film. Although my grandfather wasn’t a big fan of hiking – my grandmother began the activity after he passed – I felt like he was with us for the remainder of the trek, enjoying the forest through our eyes. I definitely consider him an honorary member of the 100 hikes club, even if just in spirit.

The amount of flora in the Cascades is startling. Dabs of purple, strokes of yellow, and spots of red paint the trail. My week of hiking in the Cascades inadvertently coincided around the peak of the wildflower season. I picked up a copy of Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest, or what I call, “the flower bible,” while in the bookstore in Bend. The 512-pages describe in detail 1,200-species of flowers. The 1,247 gorgeous photos helped provide the names of these beautiful stems of color and shape. After the hike, I enjoy flipping through the book and trying to identify the flowers I photographed on the trail.

The butterflies here are equally as colorful. It slowed down my hiking progress considerably, but I was able to get close enough to photograph a few skiddish winged insects such as tiny Northern blue and the visiting California tortoiseshell. I’ve posted a gallery of the Oregon Butterflies I photographed on my other blog, bugshutterbug.com. Most of the photos were taken along this trail.

Thoughts about the hike:

A new term I would like to coin: mosquito motivated – to hike without pause in order to keep the mosquitoes from biting you.
Todd Lake was formerly called Lost Lake due to the difficulty in finding it. It was renamed by request of the people of Bend, who believed the name caused confusion with the other nineteen lakes in Oregon named Lost Lake.

Resources:

Hike #22 Trip GPS Stats: