Pamelia Lake and no Mt. Jefferson

By -
Pamelia Lake

After Susan and I ran the Three Sisters Loop, Susan asked me if there was a loop around Mt. Jefferson. I told her I didn't think there was, but of course once I got home I pulled out my Mt. Jefferson map to verify. There isn't, but looking at the map it jogged my memory of previous Mt. Jefferson backpacking trips I have done in the past. Knowing that I was going to have a low key Labor day weekend, I thought if by chance I could get an overnight pass to Pamelia Lake, I would go camp and do a run and head back to Portland. 

By some luck I was able to secure a camping permit for Friday night. I originally thought that I could run the Hunt's Cove loop but come to find out the trail is closed due to a forest fire. However the PCT North and South were open, so I thought I could run to Jefferson Park and back which is ~15 miles. I emailed Karrla and asked if she wanted to join me on this short trip, we backpacked Hunt's Cove years ago, but we haven't trail ran together. She was game!

We got to Pamelia Lake around 5pm and most of the campsites were open, which was really odd given that it was Labor Day weekend. We found the perfect huge campsite with a great view of the lake and a nice fire pit. We hung out by the lake and drank beers and had a campfire as the evening  started to cool off, it was the perfect camping evening.

Beer!

Beer and filtered water - need to stay hydrated 

We were both woken up to drizzle on our tents, but by the time we actually got up the rain had stopped. There was only a 20% chance of rain, so I expected it to clear up by the time we started running. After a little coffee and breakfast we were on our way running on the PCT towards Jefferson Park. But shortly after we started it started to rain, but more than that the trail had over growth which was wet from the early morning rain, so we were getting soaked running through it. After about 2 miles we were drenched and cold, we decided to turn around and head the other way on the PCT to see if the trail clear of over growth. Luckily it was, we were able to get 10 miles of running in. We never got to see Mt. Jefferson, but that is even more reason to go back next year.

back tracking

Waterfall off the PCT


Location: Pamelia Lake, Willamette National Forest, Oregon 97350, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three days in Wonderland

By -
Image
Mt Rainier, glaciers, alpine forests, and a trail through the heart of it all 16-18 Aug 2015 No run has reshaped the borders of my soul like circumnavigating Mt Rainier. No run has infiltrated my dreams like spending three days just running and not much else, in the middle of the longest summer in the Pacific Northwest's recent memory. No run has made me fall so deeply in love with the magical combination of mountains, wilderness, and summertime. Like all of our great long runs, Ann researched and planned this one. She discovered that most people run the 93-mile Wonderland Trail clockwise, and that we could split the route into three days with a cushy hotel stay each night. We, however, would run the route counterclockwise to start with the longest day of running first. We had a beer with our friend Heather McGrath, who had run around Rainier the previous year, to hear more about her trip, get tips, and make sure that our plan wasn't too crazy.
Read more

Triple D

By -
Image
The "Triple D" is the crazy challenge of hiking Devil's Rest, Mt Defiance, and Dog Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge, all in one day. Apparently it started as a Mazama thing but is also documented on Portland Hikers . Somehow, one of us brought this up and we decided to do it as our November day-off-work run. Ann swears it was me, but how can that be true when I had only heard of it from her? Construction at Wahkeena trailhead Ann picked me up with bagels and coffee, and we got an early-ish start. We got to the Wahkeena Falls trailhead to run Devil's Rest, and were at first concerned that the trail was closed. Fortunately, this was the trail going the other way. Phew! At the start of our Triple D Wahkeena Falls Devil's Rest was a great start. At 7 1/2 miles and  2550 feet of elevation gain, it was surprisingly runnable and a great warm-up. Now is when I admit that as we got near the top, I stopped for lots of really cool mushrooms-- a PURPLE ON
Read more

Elk Mountain - Kings Mountain loop

By -
Image
Friday Susan and I did our "long run", since she was leaving on Saturday for a 2 week vacation to Ireland.  A long run meaning an incremental increase to what I did the week before, since I am slowly easing back into running because of my herniated disc . We ran 2.5 hours / ~13 miles in Forest Park. With the long run done and the long 4th of July weekend ahead of us, I planned a few harder hikes for John and me to do. The first being the  Elk Mountain - Kings Mountain loop . From the top of King Mountain
Read more