Waldo Mountain 8/20/17

[ejain]

Reached the Islet Point boat launch on Waldo Lake just after 9am, after spending the night nearby. Expected crowds, but saw only one other car offloading a boat.

Inflated our canoe and paddled 3 miles straight across a calm (and very transparent) Waldo Lake to a small bay near Elbow Lake, where we found a marked boat landing spot in front of a campsite, and a small path connecting to the Waldo Lake Trail.

Filled out wilderness permits at a register just after turning off Waldo Lake Trail onto Salmon Lake Trail. Continued to Spirit Lake Trail, and up Winchester Ridge Trail and Waldo Mountain Trail. The trails were easy to follow, but a bit overgrown with (ripe!) blueberries, plus there were a couple of larger blowdowns. Some of the junctions were incorrectly marked in both OpenStreetMap and NW Topos; the USFS map was accurate.

Had lunch at the lookout (locked) before heading back down. By the time we were back at our boat, Waldo Lake had disappeared in smoke, so paddling back required some dead-reckoning...

Apart from the lakes, there was no water. Other than a biker on the Waldo Lake Trail, we didn't encounter anyone on the trails. No bugs, either.

Photos & Tracklog

[justpeachy]

Thanks for the report! We were thinking of backpacking down there on Labor Day Weekend, but if it's still that smoky we'll go elsewhere.

I'm not sure but I think you maybe saw huckleberries. I haven't heard of wild blueberries in the Oregon Cascades, but I could be wrong about that.

[ejain]

I'm not sure but I think you maybe saw huckleberries. I haven't heard of wild blueberries in the Oregon Cascades, but I could be wrong about that.

Blueberry, huckleberry... Let's just say there were at least 3 or 4 different types of vaccinium