2012.08.15-16 Jefferson Park via Whitewater Ridge

[zepboy]

I did an overnighter to Jefferson Park on 8/15-16, totally oblivious to the proximity of the forest fire that was burning near South Breitenbush Lake. En route to the trailhead I realized that something was amiss when the view of Jefferson was partially obscured by the smoke. I got to the trailhead and saw no closure signs, and I pressed on.

The trail was in good condition, with a couple of deadfalls at the start of the trail. There was no crowd. As I got closer to the Park I ran into the SAR parties who are still searching for the missing hiker. The mosquitoes became horrendous as soon as I entered the Park, where I arrived sometime after 1 pm. There were scattered patches of snow covering the trails, and the network with the snow patches made things very confusing. The wild flowers are beginning to bloom, probably a week from the peak. I set up camp on the designated camp site on the north shore of Russell Lake. The entire area smelled of smoke. The summit of the mountain was not visible the entire afternoon, and only began to show itself by sunset. By then the wind direction was beginning to change. I clung onto the hope that I would get some photo opportunity the next morning, which I did. I hiked up Park Ridge and could see smoke lingering in the basin.

On my way out I briefly lost the PCT and somehow stumbled onto the lone camp site by Park Lake. There were some giant paws that were definitely not dog paws. I traveled cross country and made it to Scout Lake, where the trail network picked up and I re-discovered the PCT. On my way down I knew that the trail will be busy this weekend, as hordes of people with backpacks were heading up for the upcoming weekend.

In summary, beautiful scenery, horrendous mosquitoes, unpredictable smoke pattern which may limit photo opportunity.

[romann]

That picture of Mt Jeff with Russell (?) Lake is one of the best I've seen from there! I never hiked up Park Ridge yet, but it's on my list for the next visit of that area... Great TR, though it affirmed my expectation about mosquitoes - they seem to be a norm in Jefferson Park a few weeks after snow melt.

[hlee]

Wow, really beautiful photos!!

[palegreenstarz]

Nice pictures! A buddy and I were planning on going in via the PCT from the north this weekend, but looks like we'll have to rethink that. According to the forest service page, that area is closed to russell lake:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOC ... 386575.pdf