Blue Lake from Santiam Pass 5/1

[pdxgene]

Mary Ann and I took off for Santiam Pass and the hike down to hidden in plain sight Blue Lake. Once the sight of a resort the east end was always private property and one day a few years back the gate closed and everyone pretty much forgot about it. But the west end and sides are a combination of forest service property and Elliott Corbett State Park. Last I checked you will not find a mention of this state park in any of their printed info or on their website. It was deeded to them under condition that it not be developed. The lake itself is public property too and though you probably could get down there it'd be one hell of an effort. Ditto back up. But the odds of seeing anyone else are pretty slim. After that we headed back down to 126 and a couple hour paddle around Fish Lake. Though huge now it'll be completely bone dry come late summer. So here's what it looked like...

Mt Washington in front of us as we started down to Elliot Corbett State Park..


Mary Ann heading up to the caldera rim of Blue Lake..


Blue Lake with Suttle Lake behind and Black Butte the dark pointy thing I believe..


The former Blue Lake Resort. That end is now private property..


The deep blue of Blue Lake..


Memorial at Elliott Corbett State Park...


Pre-memorial warning sign..


I was starting to look kinda silly saying how bad the road was the first mile or so we walked and then..


About half a mile of this. This used to be FS200


No flowers yet for the butterflys but they seemed to like the trees..


Or maybe they just liked the sunny blue sky above..


Three Fingered Jack as we got back near the car..


The story of Fish Lake..


Long and narrow Fish Lake, great for paddling.. For awhile at least..


Hillside waterfall into Fish Lake. There was bunches of them..


Ack! Snake!


He was trying to look ferocious


One more of the many hillside waterfalls into Fish Lake...


Mary Ann taking a picture of Three Fingered Jack..


View of Three Fingered Jack from Fish Lake..


You know, this is really much harder than it looks..


Finishing off with the afternoon sun sparkling on an empty Fish Lake..


What a day! Album here http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/BlueLake
I think this would make a great snowshoe. The turnout we parked in doubles as a sno-park come winter and the trail/road is marked. Luckily we timed it just right, May 1st, so no passes needed of any kind. Check it out some day..

[RobinB]

Wow! The colors in that first photograph are phenomenal. Thanks for posting

[justpeachy]

Nice! I've been enjoying the lovely new green foliage throughout Portland and the valley and am looking forward to the same higher up in a month or two!

[pdxgene]

Thanx! All Blue Lake needs is a sandy little beach cove and a user trail down to it.

By the way, Fish Lake is also the end point of the Santiam Wagon Rd Trail. The trail covers about 19 miles. And it's also only a mile or so from the Clear Lake end of the McKenzie River Trail which runs another 26 miles so there's lotsa long distance hiking options from there too.