Short backpacking trip with the boys

[HavarghanNara]

Looking for a short 1-2 night backpacking trip to go on, any and all suggestions would be much appreciated. We are all fit and have hiked long miles in a day, just looking for a dispersed trail with not many other people we could camp in for a couple days. Thanks!

[teachpdx]

Weekday or weekend?
"Dispersed trail with not many other people" is going to be vastly different depending on your answer.

My first suggestion off the cuff is to hit up Indian Heaven... there are a lot of unmaintained/abandoned or user trails that can still be followed and a lot of lakes with good camping options. And if you can handle mosquitoes, they'll keep most other people away this time of year.

I also hiked North Siouxon to Black Hole Falls earlier this week and it was essentially empty the whole way... not many options to camp on the 5 miles in but my map shows a campsite right above the falls which might make a good destination.

[HavarghanNara]

Weekend would be nice, were fine with people just would prefer less. Indian Heaven looks decent, we were thinking the first weekend of August, would mosquitos be tolerable then? I heard they came early this year so I think it should be all right. Any recommendations for 1 night trails though? We could do a shuttle if necessary we have multiple cars.

[HavarghanNara]

Would it be possible to park at cultus creek campground, take indian heaven 33 down and pct back up, getting back on cultus trail 108 to the campsite? its about 6 miles which could be pretty fun I think. Thoughts?

[HavarghanNara]

After setting up camp at the lake, we could also go and the see the rock and wapei to the east, and maybe see bear lake after the night if we had time.

[drm]

Mosquitoes typically last all summer at Indian Heaven, unlike on the bigger mountains, which dry out faster.

But weekends in August don't tend to have less people anywhere, as that is peak backpacking season. What do you mean by a dispersed trail? Getting off trail completely, sometimes just for a short distance, is how you avoid crowds. And avoid lakes too.

[Aimless]

I will repeat drm's advice that avoiding lakes is an excellent strategy for avoiding people. His observation that August is the most popular month for backpacking is also correct. Many of the places I might have suggested three or four years ago have since burned, which is both sad and a complicating factor for finding out of the way destinations.