White River Falls/Tygh Creek/Little Crater/Trillium 5/16
Posted: May 16th, 2014, 6:35 pm
Matt took me for a tour of the forest service backroads on the east side of Hood today as we got in three casual walks and one brutal straight uphill hike. Tygh Creek Trail (which follows Tygh Creek only very briefly) shoots up the hillside with no switchbacks for 1700' in 2 miles. And down ain't a whole lot easier beating up the knees instead of the lungs.. And it was pretty humid too until the breeze came up and some of the clouds departed. Right around the time we got to the top. D'Oh!
Starting with the top tier of White River Falls..
The top two tiers of White River Falls..
Three tiers of White River Falls..
Lower tier of White River Falls
Balsamroot and White River Falls..
Butterfly on sagebrush at White River Falls..
Paintbrush closeup starting up the Tygh Creek Trail...
Mt Hood from the meadow at about 4,200'..
And a different butterfly in the Tygh Creek Trail meadow...
Todays turnaround point up in the meadow at the junction with the Jordan Butte Trail..
Tygh Creek trailhead back down to the road or you could go further up to Flag Point..
Mt Jefferson with North Sister tucked in the clouds in the left corner as we headed back down..
And just Mt Jefferson..
Matt taking pictures of the flowering dogwood tree..
Looking up the dogwood tree to the blue sky above..
Not as much lupine as we had hoped for but still some nice displays scattered around as we came back down..
Paintbrush and itty bitty yellow flowers
Looking back up the steep Tygh Creek Trail as we came on down..
The meadow at the trailhead for Little Crater Lake...
Little Crater Lake looked surprisingly nice today. Spring can be iffy with runoff and browner, less clear water..
But not today, just some ripples from the breeze constantly changing the look from one moment to the next..
Shooting start blooming near Little Crater Lake (there is a bunch in the meadow too but it's super soggy)..
That would be me
One last look at the colors of Little Crater Lake..
First dragonfly I've been able to get a shot of this season as he rested on the false hellebore leaves..
Finishing up with a quick stop at Trillium Lake since we were driving right past it for a couple nice looks at Mt Hood to end the day..
Just a great day in the sun! And now I know where Wamic is
Album here... http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/WhiteRiverFalls
Starting with the top tier of White River Falls..
The top two tiers of White River Falls..
Three tiers of White River Falls..
Lower tier of White River Falls
Balsamroot and White River Falls..
Butterfly on sagebrush at White River Falls..
Paintbrush closeup starting up the Tygh Creek Trail...
Mt Hood from the meadow at about 4,200'..
And a different butterfly in the Tygh Creek Trail meadow...
Todays turnaround point up in the meadow at the junction with the Jordan Butte Trail..
Tygh Creek trailhead back down to the road or you could go further up to Flag Point..
Mt Jefferson with North Sister tucked in the clouds in the left corner as we headed back down..
And just Mt Jefferson..
Matt taking pictures of the flowering dogwood tree..
Looking up the dogwood tree to the blue sky above..
Not as much lupine as we had hoped for but still some nice displays scattered around as we came back down..
Paintbrush and itty bitty yellow flowers
Looking back up the steep Tygh Creek Trail as we came on down..
The meadow at the trailhead for Little Crater Lake...
Little Crater Lake looked surprisingly nice today. Spring can be iffy with runoff and browner, less clear water..
But not today, just some ripples from the breeze constantly changing the look from one moment to the next..
Shooting start blooming near Little Crater Lake (there is a bunch in the meadow too but it's super soggy)..
That would be me
One last look at the colors of Little Crater Lake..
First dragonfly I've been able to get a shot of this season as he rested on the false hellebore leaves..
Finishing up with a quick stop at Trillium Lake since we were driving right past it for a couple nice looks at Mt Hood to end the day..
Just a great day in the sun! And now I know where Wamic is
Album here... http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/WhiteRiverFalls