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Stonecrop growing up at the 6,500' level of the viewpoint saddle on Three Fingered Jack, in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness of Oregon. I placed my wrist watch in this flower photo to give the viewer an idea of "scale".

[Sedum oreganum] or S. divergens or S.spathulifolium. I feel good if I get the genus right.

STORY: Monday August 24th, 2009 I drove from my home in Eastern Washington down Oregon highway 97, and then turned right through Sisters, Oregon and up to a trailhead at Jack Lake in the Mt. Jefferson wilderness. The plan was to take Hike # 28 [Canyon Creek Meadows - the 7.5 mile loop] in Sullivan’s “100 hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades” book, at dawn Tuesday morning. Then I hoped to do Hike # 20 [Jefferson Park - 10.2 miles round trip] Wednesday morning.

The last six miles of the dirt road up to the Jack Lake trailhead was rough washboard, so it made for slow driving. I got there just as dark set in on Monday night and crawled into the bed in the back of my canopy equipped pickup truck. The wind was blowing. Even though it was almost dark, I could see a major forest fire had swept the area. There were only two other vehicles parked at the trailhead and I could see a “camp light” across Jack Lake.

I woke up in the middle of the night and exited my truck canopy bed for one of those camping exigencies. I was treated with one of the most beautiful views of a night time sky, complete with the Milky Way, which I haven't seen in quite some time. Beautiful.

A forest ranger arrived at the trailhead at around 6 am to check the wilderness permits at the trailhead register and clean up the trailhead latrine. After I saw him leave, I got up and got ready to hike. The first part of the Canyon Creek Meadows hike is pretty pedestrian - through the forest (both burned and a portion that survived the fire). But once I reached the lower meadow and got my first of Three Fingered Jack, I knew this would be a great hike.

Note: The B & B forest fire as it was called, burned nearly a third of the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Forest in a spectacular 2003 event. Remember though as you see the burned forest, that some forests can not regenerate WITHOUT fire, so it is part of a natural process that has been going on for millions of years, before man started trying to “control” natural fires AND started starting unnatural forest fires of his own.

Following the guidebook’s instructions, I climbed the rounded terminal moraine mounds that dam the canyon that forms the mountain cirque lake (suspended glacial silt - aqua marine). Then I hiked the lateral moraine path along the top of the moraine ridge and up to the high saddle “viewpoint”. From here you could see Mt. Washington and the Sisters to the south, and Mt. Jefferson looming to the north. Also a nice view of the fire lookout topped cinder cone, called Black Mesa.

I took off my day pack and lingered at least a half an hour at the saddle viewpoint. It had taken me two hours to reach that point. It would take me an hour and half to complete the trail loop and arrive back at my truck.

Back at my truck, the thought occurred to me that I had plenty of time left for a 10 mile hike to Jefferson Park (Hike # 20 in Sullivan’s book), so I decided to drive back to the town of Sisters (a cool clean nice little town), where I had seen a forest ranger center on the way in. I wanted to pick up a good Mt. Jefferson Wilderness map and get the latest trail info from a forest service ranger.

Well folks, the next hike turned out to be not nearly as good as the Three Fingered Jack hike. After buying the map and spreading it out in front of a nice lady ranger, I pointed out the Woodpecker Ridge trail. It seemed to me, that though I would hike a bit further and might not reach Jefferson Park, that this route would allow me to do at least three miles more of the hike, along the Pacific Crest Trail. I asked if the views of Mt. Jefferson along that portion of the PCT were good. The ranger said “yes” (she was wrong). I asked about the crossing of Russell Creek, shown as potentially dangerous on the map, and we both agreed that the water level shouldn’t be that high or bad (we were both wrong). I asked about the road, FR40, leading to the trailhead of Woodpecker Ridge Trail (Trail 3442). The lady forest ranger said that the road was good (she was right).

I sat down in the forest service center and looked over the map well, then made up my mind that I would hike the Woodpecker Ridge access trail 3442 to the PCT then hike north as far as I could make it toward Jefferson Park, turning around, no matter where that might be, to make certain I could return to my truck at the Woodpecker TH by dark. I went back up to the counter and let the lady ranger know of my decision (always good to let somebody know where you are).

It was exactly two in the afternoon, when I arrived at the Woodpecker Ridge Trailhead. The trail sign had been vandalized, so I had to get out and look closely to make c

Suspended glacial flour makes a wonderful reflected color for tarns and lakes. I'm always reminded of Peyto Lake in the Canadian Rockies, which is a large lake that carries this color.

STORY: Monday August 24th, 2009 I drove from my home in Eastern Washington down Oregon highway 97, and then turned right through Sisters, Oregon and up to a trailhead at Jack Lake in the Mt. Jefferson wilderness. The plan was to take Hike # 28 [Canyon Creek Meadows - the 7.5 mile loop] in Sullivan’s “100 hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades” book, at dawn Tuesday morning. Then I hoped to do Hike # 20 [Jefferson Park - 10.2 miles round trip] Wednesday morning.

The last six miles of the dirt road up to the Jack Lake trailhead was rough washboard, so it made for slow driving. I got there just as dark set in on Monday night and crawled into the bed in the back of my canopy equipped pickup truck. The wind was blowing. Even though it was almost dark, I could see a major forest fire had swept the area. There were only two other vehicles parked at the trailhead and I could see a “camp light” across Jack Lake.

I woke up in the middle of the night and exited my truck canopy bed for one of those camping exigencies. I was treated with one of the most beautiful views of a night time sky, complete with the Milky Way, which I haven't seen in quite some time. Beautiful.

A forest ranger arrived at the trailhead at around 6 am to check the wilderness permits at the trailhead register and clean up the trailhead latrine. After I saw him leave, I got up and got ready to hike. The first part of the Canyon Creek Meadows hike is pretty pedestrian - through the forest (both burned and a portion that survived the fire). But once I reached the lower meadow and got my first of Three Fingered Jack, I knew this would be a great hike.

Note: The B & B forest fire as it was called, burned nearly a third of the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Forest in a spectacular 2003 event. Remember though as you see the burned forest, that some forests can not regenerate WITHOUT fire, so it is part of a natural process that has been going on for millions of years, before man started trying to “control” natural fires AND started starting unnatural forest fires of his own.

Following the guidebook’s instructions, I climbed the rounded terminal moraine mounds that dam the canyon that forms the mountain cirque lake (suspended glacial silt - aqua marine). Then I hiked the lateral moraine path along the top of the moraine ridge and up to the high saddle “viewpoint”. From here you could see Mt. Washington and the Sisters to the south, and Mt. Jefferson looming to the north. Also a nice view of the fire lookout topped cinder cone, called Black Mesa.

I took off my day pack and lingered at least a half an hour at the saddle viewpoint. It had taken me two hours to reach that point. It would take me an hour and half to complete the trail loop and arrive back at my truck.

Back at my truck, the thought occurred to me that I had plenty of time left for a 10 mile hike to Jefferson Park (Hike # 20 in Sullivan’s book), so I decided to drive back to the town of Sisters (a cool clean nice little town), where I had seen a forest ranger center on the way in. I wanted to pick up a good Mt. Jefferson Wilderness map and get the latest trail info from a forest service ranger.

Well folks, the next hike turned out to be not nearly as good as the Three Fingered Jack hike. After buying the map and spreading it out in front of a nice lady ranger, I pointed out the Woodpecker Ridge trail. It seemed to me, that though I would hike a bit further and might not reach Jefferson Park, that this route would allow me to do at least three miles more of the hike, along the Pacific Crest Trail. I asked if the views of Mt. Jefferson along that portion of the PCT were good. The ranger said “yes” (she was wrong). I asked about the crossing of Russell Creek, shown as potentially dangerous on the map, and we both agreed that the water level shouldn’t be that high or bad (we were both wrong). I asked about the road, FR40, leading to the trailhead of Woodpecker Ridge Trail (Trail 3442). The lady forest ranger said that the road was good (she was right).

I sat down in the forest service center and looked over the map well, then made up my mind that I would hike the Woodpecker Ridge access trail 3442 to the PCT then hike north as far as I could make it toward Jefferson Park, turning around, no matter where that might be, to make certain I could return to my truck at the Woodpecker TH by dark. I went back up to the counter and let the lady ranger know of my decision (always good to let somebody know where you are).

It was exactly two in the afternoon, when I arrived at the Woodpecker Ridge Trailhead. The trail sign had been vandalized, so I had to get out and look closely to make certain that yeah verily; this was the trailhead for hike 3442. It was. Now I became infuriated. The forest service had posted signs abo