Oregon Hikers

Quickie IH conditions report. Colors are very nice on the drive in to Cultus Campground. Out in the forest it's hard to tell if it's late or early - there is some scattered color, but not much. The blueberry bushes are spotty like they're rotting; maybe the freak September snowstorm has curtailed things.

Anyway, did the northern IH Crest loop that Ben did back in 2015. A bit windy but not too cold, and warm in the sun. A glorious day to be outdoors. There is still some scattered snow out there - not too much to make trails impassible or anything like that. The Lemei trail is basically a small creek right now that is 1/2 water and 1/2 mud. (It's the only trail like that... I have no idea.) Reminder that it's hunting season! I forgot to tie orange ribbons to my pack, but luckily my pack itself is orange, and my wind jacket is a bright orange/red. Caveat emptor.

Great report and wonderful images; thanks for posting!

Nice! What a difference a week makes.

dn

Very nice. Wish I could have relived that loop with you. Did you see anybody? I had no idea there was a user trail up the NE side of Lemei. I've only approached it from the NW and the S/SW. You lucked out with the weather. Hopefully there will be another few days like that this month!

Greetings -

We must have missed you as I took part of that loop Sunday - PCT to Bird Mtn Ridge down to Cultus Lake to Lemei Rock. We descended Lemei Rock via the "easier gully", offtrailed it to Lemei Lake then took the old decommissioned Chenamus connector trail back to Placid Lake TH. Agreed - very muddy but still wonderful.

-CraigG

We went in East Crater on Sunday and did the Lemei Lake/PCT loop, with a spur up to Deep Lake for a glorious sunny lunch. Lots of mud is true, but you didn't mention the amazing mushrooms all over. Many are post-frozen and decaying, some were still frozen hard late in the morning. There were some mushy but still sweet berries on the Lemei Lake trail.

Update: south-central section, 10/12/19 - winter is coming. The lakes are starting to freeze over.

Bosterson's original report reminded me I hadn't been to Indian Heaven this year, so I went up there on the 10th and also did the northern loop from the Cultus Creek Campground. Blazing fall color in the clearcuts between Husum and Trout Lake and also in the national forest (vine maples). My goal was Elk Lake, where I'd never been. A couple of inches of powdery snow on the trail almost all the way with the temperatures around freezing. A handful of other hikers out but no hunters. Lots of elk sign, and a herd came up to greet me at the Placid Lake junction with the PCT.

Nice, John. Looks like on Saturday we got the remainder of that new snow you found. The color around White Salmon up to Husum was excellent weekend before last! Seems like the higher elevation color is done and it's moving lower; the Panther Creek side was ok, but may pop by next weekend.

What is this formation? Looks climbable.

bobcat wrote:

Bosterson wrote: ↑

October 13th, 2019, 8:41 pm

What is this formation? Looks climbable.

bobcat wrote:

It's not. It's that spire just below the summit of Bird Mtn, aka the Indian Heaven Totoro.