Burnt Lake 4/19

[pdxgene]

I was hoping the white sky would clear out but no such luck. Other than that it couldn't have been much better of a day. While waiting a couple hours hoping for that blue I spent most of my time chasing/harassing the bunches of butterflies. There was even one in the back of my car when I got home that now lives in Tigard..
Only a couple Mt Hood shots worth keeping..


And the reflection on the water..


There were little patches of snow starting as low as the first crossing of Burnt Lake Creek two miles in but none really on the trail until the last stretch to the top of the hill. And still a fair amount on the shady side of the lake..




From the break log looking over to the snowy section..


And the butterflies...




With the beargrass awakening from under the mini snow drifts..


And also the skunk cabbage..


Back to the wildlife.. I had about given up hoping this guy would pose for me and was getting ready to leave. At which point I saw some scattered garbage and picked it up and shoved it in an empty plastic bag to carry down. And almost as some sort of karma repayment..








A forest trillium gets its daily moment in the sun, conveniently just as I was passing by..


The wood violets are coming out too along the lower parts of the trail..


Even the decaying tree bark looks pretty cool in the light..


Just a really quiet day up there. Most of the people I saw came along as I was already done and heading down. Album here..
http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/BurntLake82
A couple other notes... The trail is pretty much clear of debris and logs but one big one fell right at the junction with the spur trail down to Lost Creek Falls. It could be really easy to miss if you don't know where it is. As a couple people almost up at Burnt Lake would find out.. Oops..
And of course the road sucks worse than it sucked last year. I had the only vehicle that wasn't an SUV at the trailhead. I scraped bottom even going about 2mph thru the potholes...er... trenches... The worst part by far is the first stretch right alongside Lost Creek Campground. And the bouldery part after you climb the first hill after crossing the little creek is brutal too. It's really getting ridiculous that they don't do something with this road. Fix it or close it before someone goes off it trying to avoid the potholes. Preferably fix it.

[woodswalker]

Wow, Burnt lake already. So the Sandy river bridge is open? I'd heard it probably was.
Woodswalker

[miah66]

Butterfly now living in Tigard, lol!

[mtnhiker56]

I know, I know....showing my age. My hiking buddy and I hiked into Burnt Lake in 1984!...and it was late May...6" of snow fell overnight..neither one of us wanted to leave the tent in the morning....well, you know..still remember it! Hope you had a great time!

[pdxgene]

I'm sure if I dug back far enough I could find more snow there in late June or maybe early July in past years.
And yes the road is open. Supposedly it took so long as they were adding signage. Though not one bit of that work apparently had anything to do with Burnt Lake. My conspiracy theory is that they spent that time destroying/dismantling the old guard station cabin. Have to go check on that soon...

[Guy]

Now we know Summer is here, Gene's first Burnt Lake report of the year

And of course the road sucks worse than it sucked last year. I had the only vehicle that wasn't an SUV at the trailhead. I scraped bottom even going about 2mph thru the potholes...er... trenches... The worst part by far is the first stretch right alongside Lost Creek Campground. And the bouldery part after you climb the first hill after crossing the little creek is brutal too. It's really getting ridiculous that they don't do something with this road. Fix it or close it before someone goes off it trying to avoid the potholes. Preferably fix it.

Gene, didn't you post something last fall bout talking to someone at the Zigzag office who admitted this poor road condition had actually been a quasi policy to cut down on TH usage?

[pdxgene]

Yes, but she also said that was the 'old' policy and that road would be among their priorities for regrading.
I guess we'll see ...