Bull of the Woods/Opal Creek backpack 5/26-28

[gratefultrails]

My favorite time of year- the Old Cascades are nearly melted out and the ridgelines are opened up for some rambling. Hiked in from Opal Creek trailhead to camp the first night in the old growth along the Little North Santiam River near the Opal Creek confluence. The next day was up Battle Axe Creek trail, through the trillium, windflower, and calypso orchids all the way to Beachie Saddle. Then packs were dropped, and our much lighter bodies were dragged up another 800 or so vert to the top of Battle Ax. The first subalpine flowers and ancient rock formations at least made it interesting.



Mt. Beachie looked nice from the top with Old Cascades jumbled in the background.



It was a clear day so the Cascades lined up from Rainier to 3 Sisters. Mt. Jefferson/Seekseekqua dominated the skyline. On the SkookumJack Archive, he talks about a Native legend where a group of people survive a flood in a canoe and see the tip of Seekseekqua sticking out of the water. The canoe is turned to stone as it nears the mountain and can still be seen today. I think Park Ridge might be the canoe in the story:



High Cascades



I loved the smooth shapes and curves the Ice Age glaciers created on these medium sized mountains:



Then down to Elk Lake to spend the second night with some luxury amenities including toilet and "campfires allowed." There were some partiers of course, but they were quite friendly and offered us beer (yay) and a kickball tournament. Luckily they only trampled a few glacier lilies in the small, obvious meadow near the road. A short hike away, I found some colorful, untrammeled meadows free of drunken kickball crossfire.



When the winds died down in the evening and the lake got really still with bats darting around, it was really magical. The nearly full moon, Jupiter (pictured here, barely), and Venus added some flare.



Author-

[dgweston]

What beautiful photos - thank you for sharing!