Third day hike on my central Oregon trip. I began at Shadow Bay on Waldo Lake, Oregon’s second largest natural lake and billed as one of the purest lakes in the world because only a couple of little streams bring in organic matter, so there isn't much aquatic plant life or sediment to muddy the waters, so to speak. I headed along the south shore to the South Waldo Shelter, and then hiked up into the Waldo Lake Wilderness (The wilderness doesn’t actually touch the lake to allow mountain bikes to use the Waldo Lake Loop Trail).
Huckleberries were prime and bountiful as on other sections of this hike, and they slowed me down considerably. I dropped out of the wilderness to the junction of the South Waldo and Mt. Ray Trails, both well-used by bikers outside the wilderness boundary. I followed a well-used trail, and about a mile later, realized I had gone wrong and so consulted maps. Well, I was a good part of the way to the Island Lakes, so I continued on my 3 ½ mile distraction. The Upper and Lower Island Lakes, both a little way off the trail, each have (surprise) a little forested island. The lower lake, to which I slithered down a steep slope is the more picturesque of the two.
Back at the junction of the Mt. Ray and South Waldo Trails, I realized a fairly obscure little scratch, the Mt. Ray Trail heading north, was the path I would need to reenter the wilderness. Huckleberries overhung the trail, and there were numerous downed trees, none difficult to negotiate. Soon, I arrived at Black Meadows, a lush expanse below the dark bastion of Fuji Mountain. I followed a vague path along the east bank of Black Creek (Maps show the trail crossing to the west bank), and passed an old sign for the High Divide Trail. I could not see where that trail came in from the west, but headed northeast in the direction of Waldo Lake.
The High Divide Trail, too, is unmaintained, and passes through a couple of meadows where the tread gets lost. At one of the meadows, I spent about half an hour trying to locate where the trail resumed and only found it after entering the woods and circling the meadow. To compensate, vast amounts of delicious juicy huckleberries presented themselves to me as I passed through a couple of old burns.
Presently, my ears picked up a lot of huffing and puffing, as well as a loud grunt or two. Then a conversation:
“Ooomph! That was too hard!”
“Sorry, I’ll be gentler next time.”
“O.K. Ooofff! Man, this is fun!”
It was two well-fed bears, both upright and grinning from ear to shaggy ear, having a ball of a time sumo wrestling in the middle of a small meadow. I watched them for quite a while and only took out my camera when they stopped for a rest. After a couple of clicks, they sort of sensed my presence but couldn’t tell where I was, so went back to their bout. However, I decided to move on through, so made a polite, but loud, request for safe passage.
Heads swiveled in unison: “Wha . . . ? You talkin’ to me?!” Then reality set in, and they hurtled off in opposite directions.
I gathered more berries near Bingo Lake (companion lake to Bongo Lake, which I didn’t have time to visit), and hit the shores of Waldo Lake for a pleasant traipse back to my vehicle.
Island Lakes/Black Meadows (Waldo Lake Wilderness) 09-13-17
Re: Island Lakes/Black Meadows (Waldo Lake Wilderness) 09-13
That must have been something unique, to see a bear fight!
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.
- retired jerry
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Re: Island Lakes/Black Meadows (Waldo Lake Wilderness) 09-13
bear fighting, cool
Re: Island Lakes/Black Meadows (Waldo Lake Wilderness) 09-13
Great trip report. How cool to see the bears! I was hiking the area on Thursday the 14th, my first exploration of the south end of Waldo.
"Going to the mountains is going home."
— John Muir
— John Muir