Mom & Amy Backpacking Day 4- Pamelia Lake to PCT Meadow

Mom- We woke up Thursday morning enjoying our beautiful Pamelia Lake camp and knowing we had a big climb ahead of us.  Our backs had now adjusted and we felt up for this challenge but hoped it did not include quite so much brush, down trees, and devils club.

Mom- The water around our campsite was so lovely.  We took time to write gratitudes, read a prayer card, and wrote this breath prayer- "Faithful Spirit, walk with us, and keep us mindful."  We said this prayer at every switchback and had some excellent conversation regarding what faithfulness and mindfulness looks like.

Amy- Our camp had a small waterfall over the log.

Mom- We started our day with another ankle deep stream crossing and a lost trail.  We realized our toilet paper and hand sanitizer was missing and had a hiking pole go missing while looking for the trail.

Mom- We discussed how being afraid and anxious can sometimes cause me to become short with others.  We agreed to be kind to each other and let each other know if we are feeling anxious or afraid.  Amy was a huge help today.  She was the leader on the whole hike and time keeper.  She was able to "downshift" into second gear on flatter sections to cover more distance.

Mom- We saw three little frogs and this guy.

Amy- We stopped to have lunch of salmon pesto. Flies were bothering us. So when we were done with the salmon mom set the salmon wrapper away from us there were about 50 flies on the wrapper. I accidentally dropped some noodles mom set those away from us too! There were 2 noodles each one had about 20 flies.

Amy- Selfie with Mt. Jefferson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amy- Continuing the climb we saw a beautiful lake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom- After hiking the four miles uphill, we discovered that the section of trail to Marion Lake was closed due to wildfire damage.  I was frustrated that the ranger who I had shared my plans with had not let me know this and was concerned that this would add 5 miles to our trip including a 1.6 mile trip East back to the PCT.  We had already climbed four miles and were pretty tired.  We asked some other hikers about camping options on the PCT and they suggested a side trail to some lakes.

Mom- We left most of our gear on top of the hill and hiked 1.5 miles down to a beautiful meadow with lakes to filter water.  We made it back up the hill around 6pm.  We cooked a little dinner and then continued very slowly on the PCT.

Mom- We were both quite tired but continued as far as we could and tried to enjoy the ridge top view of Three Fingered Jack.

Mom- We saw the Three Sisters in the distance.

Mom- We made it two miles? south on the PCT and camped in an open meadow making it an 11 mile day which included a four mile climb and another 1.5 mile climb getting water.  We were both very tired.

Mom & Amy Backpacking Day 3- Jefferson Park to Pamelia Lake

Mom- I slept okay but heard two coyotes fighting in the middle of the night very near the campsite, which woke me up for awhile.  I was up early as is my pattern when sleeping in the woods.  I boiled water and started breakfast.  It was a bit hard to motivate Amy and the mosquitoes were out again by the time she was having her breakfast, but I had some good time to write and read while those mosquitoes were still sleeping.

Mom- I was still amazed to be enjoying the close view of Mt. Jefferson!  Jefferson Park is incredible!  It was an honor to camp in such a lovely place.

Amy- Mt. Jefferson was the most beautiful thing I ever saw up close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom- We started our day of descent through wildflower meadows and past small alpine lakes.

Mom- Amy decided she was up for continuing our five day trip.  I so admire her tenacious spirit.  We spent some time in the morning with a prayer card and writing gratitudes.

Mom- After descending to the meadow, we came to Russel Creek which flows straight out of the Russel Glacier.

Mom- We crossed over the ankle deep water of Russel Creek making for a day of very wet feet.

Mom- We were expecting a long, but somewhat easier day of hiking downhill toward Pamelia Lake.  When we started descending we quickly started hiking over a lot of brush and down trees.  There was quite a bit of devil's club.  There were places I was not sure I would make it with my big pack.

Mom- It was slow going, but there were some views along the way and the forest was lovely.

Amy- there was some sad ruined nature from a big fire.

Amy- We took a long break at some rocks.  I pretended they were thrones. The highest rock was for God the king. The next highest was for Analise the princess. The other high spot was for me the queen. the magic warm couch for mom the fairy godmother.

Mom- We stopped to have lunch at a small lake.  Rather than filter, we boiled water for lunch and boiled more water for reserves.  It was a pretty little spot.

Mom- We continued to see pretty rhododendrons.  We met up with a thru hiker with the trail name "baby moose".  She said she hopes to be out backpacking when she has kids as well.  She was pretty impressed? or amused by the weight of my pack, but I was carrying two sleeping bags, two sleeping pads, and food for two.  I did have things hanging all over the place and it was not exactly a lightweight backpacking job.

Mom- We crossed another ankle deep creek called Milk Creek.

Amy- There were a lot of good smelling pine needles.

Mom- We turned off the PCT and took a trail west toward Pamelia Lake.

Amy- This mushroom is a gigantic mushroom for a mushroom!!!!!!!!!!

Mom- We got to Pamelia Lake late in the afternoon.  The water was so low!

Amy- Pamelia Lake had a couple islands too.

Mom- We started to set up camp then realized via some hikers that we needed to camp in a designated site.  There was only one on our side of the lake as far as I could tell and we were glad to pack back up and snag it.  We had hiked 7.5 miles which should have been "easy" and downhill but were actually quite slow.

Amy- We had another tent party which was pretty fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom & Amy Backpacking Day 1 & 2- South Breitenbush to Jefferson Park

Mom-  I was so excited to take my oldest (just turned 7 years old) on a backpacking challenge for the first time.  Though we hike every weekend, she has never carried a backpack.  We were eager to see Jefferson Park and decided to approach it from the South Breitenbush trail.  We had planned about six mile days, to hike a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, cut across to Pamelia Lake, and meet a friend at Marion Lake.  My pack weighed 35 lbs at base weight and 51 lbs loaded with food and water.  Amy's pack weighed 15 lbs with her small water bottle and snacks.

Amy-  We started to go on the South Breitenbush trail but mom was not paying attention to the trail signs so of course we went to the wrong trailhead then we drove on but the next trailhead was wrong too!then we finally got to the right trailhead!  But we got on the wrong trail! then we got on the right trail and hiked on.

Mom- I stopped at the Estacada Ranger station to get a Pamelia Lake limited entry permit, but they had no idea what I was talking about.  I called the Detroit Ranger Station and they told me I had to get it online.  We found a library in Estacada and printed a permit.  The map showed the trailhead at the end of a forest service road but the road continued to a couple other trailheads which were not the ones we were looking for.

Mom- When finally at the trailhead, we first got on the wrong trail but it quickly became very brushy.  After a few minutes we figured out our mistake and started climbing the 6 miles to Jefferson Park.  By this point it was about 3pm.  Amy was literally crying while going up the first hill saying her pack was too heavy.  We only made it two miles but found a beautiful place to camp for the night.

Mom-  I talked with Amy about our options including base camping and driving to Pamelia Lake but this would make for a very long next day so I encouraged her to try one more day and make it up to Jefferson Park.

Mom- I enjoyed seeing the view and the setting sun

Mom- The next day Amy agreed to continue up the hill to Jefferson Park!  I took her pad to better distribute the weight and tried to boost the bottom of her pack up the steepest parts of the hills.

Mom- Amy was my timekeeper and we made goals for how long to keep walking.  We had plenty of breaks and she honored my request for waist high rocks to boost my pack on.  I told her I was unable to take more of her weight until we ate more food.

Mom- Our backs both started to adjust and we continued up the relentless hill.

Amy- We like to camp near streams and we also like to put our hats and bandannas in the cool water to keep cool heads in the hot sun (and on steep hills).

Amy- We both put on all our layers at lunchtime because the bugs were bad.  The coil helped a little.

Mom- We stopped for a cooked lunch and set a mosquito coil to help us enjoy a mostly mosquito free meal.

Mom- The wildflowers were starting to come out including Indian Paintbrush, one of my favorites.

Mom- I was so excited to reach the high meadow and see Mt. Jefferson closer than I ever have.

Mom- We stopped to filter water along a gorgeous creek through the high meadow.  We were quickly swarmed by bugs but that did not dampen our spirits of making it up the hill and into the meadow.  My filter was starting to crack, but it was workable.

Amy- I called all bugs to come and tried to trick them that they would explode if they went in my hands.  I took my shoes and socks off to enjoy the cold mountain stream.

Amy- We hiked fast away from the bugs and saw our first view of Mt. Jefferson!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom- We finally reached the PCT junction and were feeling on top of the world!

Amy- We went through the P.C.T the P.C.T stands for pacific crest trail it goes through Mexico - Canada. We were only hiking 12 miles on it. It goes through California, Oregon, and Washington.

Mom- We made a beautiful camp at Scout Lake with a view of the lake and the mountain.  The bugs loved us but the view was amazing.  We had hiked 4.2 miles up the South Breitenbush Trail and another mile to Scout Lake.  We were off to a slow start but were also told that this is the most difficult way to get to Jefferson Park.

Amy- We ended the day with a tent party of books and games (Charlotte's Web, Obi Gerbil On A Misson, Garfield Gets Cooking, Rat-A-Tat Cat, Star Fluxx), no bugs allowed!