Jefferson Park

This post is a little overdue. My apologies.

Adam and I headed off a few weekends ago to do an overnighter at Jefferson Park on the Northwest side of Mt. Jefferson. Neither of us had been on a backpacking trip for a while so it was good to get out. We got to the trailhead outside Detroit Lake around 3pm and were on the trail shortly after. There were a few cars at the trailhead, but not as many as we expected. The unfortunate part was that the weather was coming in, and it was beginning to get a little cloudy. The people we passed on the way up said that the mountain had been socked in all day. Bummer!

By the time that we got to the Jefferson Park area, the fog was getting pretty heavy and our visibility was dwindling quickly. We quickly decided on a campsite near Scout Lake as we didnt want to have to set up camp in the dark. We found a great spot and hoped that the fog and clouds would lift by morning time. There was only one other group camped on the opposite shore of the lake, but we couldnt hear them at all, which gave us some nice solitude in an area generally full with people.

The put up our trusty REI Half Dome tent then headed out to explore a little bit before it got too dark to navigate without headlamps. The area look really eerie with the fog coming in and out of the larks. Adam mentioned that it reminded him of Pirates of the Caribbeans. We half expected to see the Black Pearl drifting in from the North Shore. In honor of Capt Jack, we cracked open our flask of whiskey (sorry no rum) and toasted the occasion.

That night we had a wonderful freeze dried meal from Mountain House. I went with my trusted chicken and rice, while Adam opted to spice it up with thai chicken. We supplemented the meal with crackers and more booze and finally retreated to the tent as the wind began to pick up. We played a few games then Adam drifted off, while I had the pleasure of listening to him snore for the rest of the night.

The following morning, we awoke to partly cloudy skies, and I jumped out of the tent to behold Jefferson in all his glory. The mountain seemed close enough to touch, and we didnt really realize how close we actually were when we came in through the fog. For breakfast, we walk up to a meadow overlooking Jefferson Park and had a wonderfully horrendous bfast consisting of stale bagels and frozen Nutella, combined with obscure flavors of Lara Bars. Adam swears he actually enjoyed it, but I think that he just said it because he was in charge of breakfast.

From there we did a little bit of exploring then broke camp and headed for home. By this time however, Adam and I had started to develop some blisters. Adam was wearing a partly new pair of Montrail Badrocks, while I was wearing my broken in pair of Columbia Master of Fasters. I never had problems with them before, but under more weight, they began giving me problems. In the end, we made it out okay, but definitely felt foolish for making rookie mistakes.

On the way home, we stopped at the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest to get a feel for the event. Man were we surprised when we got there. It was a full blown party on a Friday afternoon. People everywhere. The whole town done up in Bavarian fashion. We had a pint and brat then had to head home for a Timbers game, but we will definitely be attending next year. Definitely a class act.



UNT

Bryan

Blaze

Montrail Badrocks and Columbia Master of Faster