jloomis's blog

On our way home from camping at Cultus Lake Sunday, we hit Fall River for an hour or two of fly fishing near the fish hatchery. Fall River has been a favorite of mine since my first trip there about a decade ago. It is a fly fishing-only stream that flows about eleven miles into the Deschutes River. Fall River is spring fed (bubbles right out of the ground near the guard station) and as a result is very clear. You can often spot trout hiding near fallen trees. It is stocked with legal-sized trout and has healthy populations of rainbow, brown, and brook trout.

Katie and I headed to Central Oregon on Thursday for a long weekend of adventures. We packed up our gear and pulled our tent trailer to Cultus Lake about 46 miles outside of Bend off the Cascade Lakes Highway. We arrived shortly before dark to what appeared to be a full campground. Luckily we were stopped by a gentleman who had an extra site he wasn't going to use. It ended up being a nice site with plenty of room for both our truck and trailer. We sure lucked out.

After hiking to the top of Tumalo Mountain this morning, Katie and I headed across the road (Cascade Lakes Highway) to Mount Bachelor Ski Area. Mount Bachelor is a stratovolcano atop a shield volcano that is 9,065 feet in elevation. We wanted to climb to the summit and decided to shorten the route by riding the Pine Marten Express chairlift up to 7,775 feet elevation. From this point, we only had to climb about 0.9 miles and 1,300 vertical feet to the summit.

Katie and I both had the day off Friday, so we drove South with our tent trailer to Cultus Lake campground on Thursday night. We woke up early Friday morning to hike to the top of South Sister (also known by the name "Charity"), Oregon's third tallest peak at 10,358 feet in elevation. The approximately 5.5 mile long South Sister Climber trail # 36 (11 miles round-trip) starts at Devils Lake off the Cascade Lakes Highway and climbs nearly 4,900 feet to the summit.

Friday night, five of us (Al, Matt, Paul, Phillip, and I) drove from Portland through Sisters, Oregon in order to get an alpine start (i.e. way before sunrise) climbing North Sister Saturday morning. At 10,085 feet tall, North Sister (also known as "Faith") is the fourth tallest peak in Oregon and the oldest and hardest of the Three Sisters to climb. It is a shield volcano while neighboring Middle and South Sister are stratovolcanos. North Sister is highly eroded with rockfall, a common occurrence.

During our camping trip along the Breitenbush River (NE of Detroit Lake along Rd 46), Katie, our dog Bella, and I went for a day hike into the Mount Jefferson Wilderness to Bear Point. The trailhead is about 4.5 miles from road 46 off road 4685. The well-marked trailhead parking is a large gravel area with room for many vehicles. Wilderness permits are available for free at the trailhead and are required for day and overnight trips. The hike to Bear Point is approximately 7.2 miles round-trip and is rated difficult due to its nearly 3,000-foot elevation gain.

On Friday, my cousins David and Kenny, my uncle Richard, and I hiked to North Dome with a side trip to the natural arch near Indian Rock. We were the only four up for a 10 mile hike the day after hiking Half Dome. The North Dome trail starts at the Porcupine Creek trailhead off CA SR-120 (aka Tioga Pass Road) and is approximately 9 miles round-trip. We drove to the trailhead from Housekeeping Camp in Yosemite Valley where we were staying the week.

My bother-in-law Scott and I headed out early (3:15 am) Tuesday morning toward the Tioga Lake overlook on CA SR-120 (Tioga Pass Rd) just outside Yosemite National Park. We wanted to get an early start climbing Mount Dana (second tallest peak in Yosemite at 13,053 feet) via the prominent Dana Couloir (YDS class 3-4). Our original goal was to then climb neighboring Mount Gibbs (12,773 feet) and hike back along CA SR-120 to form an 11 mile loop. We ended up only climbing Mount Dana and heading back along the NW ridge (6.1 mile round-trip).

For Katie's hiking debut in Yosemite, we planned on Clouds Rest from the Sunrise Lakes trailhead (SW side of Tenaya Lake). This was also going to be my first time on this hike despite decades of yearly trips to Yosemite growing up. This 14 mile round-trip (class 1) hike is known as the Northeast ridge route. The trailhead is on CA SR-120 (aka Tioga Pass Road, the highest highway pass in California) at an elevation of approximately 8,160'. This route gains almost 1,800 feet in elevation to the summit of Clouds Rest at 9,926 feet.

On our way to Yosemite National Park, Katie and I camped Sunday night at Yosemite Lakes Resort, so that I could fly fish the South Fork Tuolumne River for trout. This area is only about 5 miles from the West gate entrance (Big Oak Flat) to Yosemite. This river supports a population of wild brown and rainbow trout in addition to thousands of rainbows stocked annually.

Katie, John, and I decided it would be fun to go on a day hike while we were camping along Barlow Creek on Saturday. We set off for Catalpa Lake from Barlow Creek campground following Bonney Meadows trail #471. This trail intersects Catalpa Lake trail #535 just before it ends at FS road 250. The hike is approximately 5 miles round-trip with 1,000 feet of elevation gain.

This was our first beautiful weekend of the year with temperatures forecasted in the low 80s F in Portland. My friend John and Katie and I spent the weekend car camping along Barlow Creek off the Barlow Road (FS road 3530). It's a beautiful area with silty soil and a mixed conifer forest (pine, fir, cedar, hemlock, etc.). There are several primitive camping spots along the creek between Barlow Crossing and Barlow Creek Forest Service campgrounds.

Despite a forecasted that included rain showers, we decided to go backpacking with our friends in the Badger Creek Wilderness over Memorial Day weekend. We had originally planned on a three day/two-night trip, but the weather Saturday was not favorable. We instead opted to leave Sunday morning for an overnight backpacking trip. Badger Creek trail #479 begins near Bonney Crossing Campground off FS road 2710 (about 2.5 miles North of Rock Creek Reservoir as the crow flies). The trail closely follows Badger Creek for approximately 11 miles to Badger Lake and then continues another 1.5 miles around the lake and up to FS road 4860.

My climbing partner Matt and I set off to climb Mount Mitchell (about 11 miles South of Mount Saint Helens) early Saturday morning. The normal route is a 2.5 mile (one-way) walk-up hike around the back of the mountain (South side) on a marked trail. But Matt and I wanted to be more adventurous and climb the snowy couloirs on the Northwest side of Mount Mitchell. We came prepared with full mountaineering gear (ice axes, helmets, crampons, rope, snow pickets, etc.) as we didn't know what we might encounter.