Breitenbush to Jefferson Park attempt

By -
Crazy hat ladies at Breitenbush

 A few weekends ago Amber, Susan and I went to Breitenbush Hot Springs for a few nights away. Of course being that close to new trails or trail we don't get to that often, I planned a route for Susan and me to run. 
Emerald Forest Trail


Beautiful, mossy Breitenbush River


Breitenbush River

The South Breitenbush Gorge trail leaves right from Breitenbush Hot Springs and follows the Breitenbush River for several miles, before dead ending on Forest Road 4685. Following FR 4685 for about a mile you reach a trailhead and reconnect with the South Breitenbush Gorge trail, which you can follow for another 6 miles to Jefferson Park.

Huge Skunk Cabbage
Orchid blooming

Jefferson Park is a very picturesque area filled with alpine lakes and meadows at the base of Mt. Jefferson. I have backpacked there several times but Susan and I have not had the chance to run the trails to it yet. Having a perfect ~20 mile out and back from Breitenbush Hot Springs to Jefferson Park made it easy to decide what route to run.

One of the many and different bridges over the Breitenbush River
Fallen log bridge

A fallen tree makes a great base for a bridge

One of the things about Breitenbush is all the meals are served at set times, 8 am for breakfast and 1pm for lunch. Which meant we needed to fit a long run in between meal times, instead we decided to skip breakfast to give ourselves a little more time to run. It also helped knowing that when we got done running there was going to be all (well mostly) you can eat vegetarian / vegan food for lunch.

Rhodies still in bloom in the mountain
The trail from Breitenbush to Jefferson Park is mostly uphill but runnable at least until a little bit past the 2nd trailhead sign, then it turns pretty rocky. We hiked as fast as we could up the rocky parts, trying to make it to Jefferson Park before we needed to turn around to make it back in time for lunch. There were several places where we thought the trees were going to clear around the next corner, but they just kept going. Sadly we never made it to Jefferson Park, but we did get some good views of Mt. Jefferson. 

Our view of Mt. Jefferson
Mt Jefferson

We made it back just in time for lunch. We spend the rest of the weekend soaking, taking yoga classes, getting massages and hanging out. I couldn't of ask for a better way to spend the weekend, especially after a long run. 
Columbine
Ann crosses a stream

Exploding wildflowers

White iris

Blooming lupine

Straight out of True Detectives

Rainbow fungus rings

Breitenbush River crossing

Location: Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR, 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