Blair Lake Trail - Beargrass Everywhere 6/21/15
Posted: June 22nd, 2015, 6:14 am
For Fathers day we headed to Blair Lake outside of Oakridge to check out the wildflower action in the area (Hike 81 in Sullivan's 4th edition Central OR Cascades book). The beargrass was spectacular and there were quite a few other flowers along the way. Just a few mosquitos (my wife found most of them) to deal with. There were a few people camped at the lake and another group up at Spring Prairie but we didn't see anyone else on the trail.
We parked at the campground and checked out the lake first then walked back .4mi along roads to the start of the Blair Lake Trail
The trail starts in a damp meadow where we spotted a large variety of flowers.
Additional flowers appeared as we left the meadow and entered the forest.
After climbing for about a mile and a half we arrived at a rocky viewpoint and our first good look at Diamond Peak for the day.
Just after the rocky viewpoint the trail entered one of the best beargrass meadows we'd seen.
After the amazing beargrass display we climbed another mile to road 730 at Spring Prairie and the old Mule Mountain Shelter.
The views from Spring Prairie included a string of Cascade peaks from Diamond Peak to Mt. Jefferson and more beargrass.
We continued past Spring Prairie on Road 730 to the continuation of the Blair Lake Trail then at a fork headed right to visit the site of the former lookout which was .6miles away.
Aside from spotting some bleeding heart and yellowleaf iris the views were really no different than those at Spring Prairie.
When we got back to the fork we decided to continue on the Blair Lake Trail for another couple of miles just to see what it was like. The trail itself continues all the way into the Waldo Lake Wilderness and connects with trails near the Eddeeleo Lakes. We lost quite a bit of elevation in the first 3/4mi before leveling out somewhat. We were now in a rhododendron filled forest.
We went about 2 miles along this portion of trail before deciding to turn around. The trail was beginning to descend a bit to a road crossing and we didn't want to have anymore elevation to gain. The highlight of the 2 mile extension was another beargrass meadow. This one was much smaller but still very nice.
On our way back the butterflies were out giving us something new to look for as we headed back to the trailhead.
We parked at the campground and checked out the lake first then walked back .4mi along roads to the start of the Blair Lake Trail
The trail starts in a damp meadow where we spotted a large variety of flowers.
Additional flowers appeared as we left the meadow and entered the forest.
After climbing for about a mile and a half we arrived at a rocky viewpoint and our first good look at Diamond Peak for the day.
Just after the rocky viewpoint the trail entered one of the best beargrass meadows we'd seen.
After the amazing beargrass display we climbed another mile to road 730 at Spring Prairie and the old Mule Mountain Shelter.
The views from Spring Prairie included a string of Cascade peaks from Diamond Peak to Mt. Jefferson and more beargrass.
We continued past Spring Prairie on Road 730 to the continuation of the Blair Lake Trail then at a fork headed right to visit the site of the former lookout which was .6miles away.
Aside from spotting some bleeding heart and yellowleaf iris the views were really no different than those at Spring Prairie.
When we got back to the fork we decided to continue on the Blair Lake Trail for another couple of miles just to see what it was like. The trail itself continues all the way into the Waldo Lake Wilderness and connects with trails near the Eddeeleo Lakes. We lost quite a bit of elevation in the first 3/4mi before leveling out somewhat. We were now in a rhododendron filled forest.
We went about 2 miles along this portion of trail before deciding to turn around. The trail was beginning to descend a bit to a road crossing and we didn't want to have anymore elevation to gain. The highlight of the 2 mile extension was another beargrass meadow. This one was much smaller but still very nice.
On our way back the butterflies were out giving us something new to look for as we headed back to the trailhead.
