A short hike at Little Crater Lake to Timothy Lake with a stop a Laurel Hill Oregon Trail Historic Site. Lunch at Smokey Hearth.
Little Crater Lake Hike
Hardy Ridge Hike
The forecast was for a nice sunny day. The plan was to hike up to Hardy Ridge in Beacon Rock State Park and photograph some wild flowers in bloom. What I got was heavy cloud cover that had enveloped the ridge and saturated the plants with water droplets. The droplets soaked my boots and pants and made the rocks very slippery and unsafe. Plan B turned out to be to enjoy the hike and get a few photos before heading home early. By the numbers: 8.5 miles, 1900 ft. Elevation Gain, Time on trail about 5 hrs.
Prime Timers Indian Point Hike
A hike up to Indian Point with the Cascade Prime Timers.
By the numbers: 8.6 miles, 2778 Total Elevation Gain, About 6 hrs. on trail. We had 17 folks in out group.
Hardy Ridge Hike
A clockwise hike of Hardy Ridge Loop hike. 8.8 miles, 2200 elv. gain, about 5.25 hrs. on trail.
Of Note- This is the first time I have done this trail clockwise. Coming up the West side is shorter but steeper. The Indian Paint brush we exceptionally nice. Low cloud cover and haze mad for bad scenic photos.
Benson Plateau Hike
I had the notion of hiking up to Benson Plateau to see if there was still snow up there. I also thought this would give me a good workout. The Pacific Crest Trail makes up most of the elevation gain part of this hike and it is usually in good shape. This time it proved more of a challenge. There was more blow down, warn and damaged trail tread, poison oak and ticks then I have experienced before. In spite of all of that it is still a beautiful and interesting trail. By the numbers: 15.2 miles, 4220 ft. elevation gain and about 10 hours on trail.
