After checking out the path around the lake that we camped next to, Abbey and I drove up to Santiam Pass. It's not all that high, but the trailhead for the trail I wanted to hike was there. The trail to Berley Lakes was described in a book I had bought and the trailhead I chose was recommended over the more crowded Pacific Crest Trail start of the hike. I soon found out why it wasn't so crowded. The sign had disappeared and there were a lot of fallen trees blocking the trail in the beginning. Undaunted by these minor annoyances we stuck with my original plan and it turned out pretty good. The trail wound through a previously burned forest so it was cool looking in a weird sort of way.
Most of the trees were charred except for small islands of trees here and there, but there were tons of wildflowers, especially something called Bear Grass. It seemed like everywhere I went I would see more Bear Grass then the previous place.
Anyway, the day was gorgeous compared to the previous day '? hardly any clouds at all '? which meant that it was hotter too. We finally made it to Lower Berley Lake which made Abbey real happy.
There was supposed to be a 'rough trail' to the other end of the lake. Well, it may have been rough a few years ago when the book was written, but now it was nearly non-existent in several spots. Abbey had an easy time since she could just walk in the water when she wanted, and when she decided to follow me for some stupid reason it was a lot easier for her to duck under the brush. After a bit of bushwhacking (mostly me getting the whacking), we made it to the other end of the lake and were treated to a great view of Three Fingered Jack. I never did find out why the mountain was named that, but I'm sure there's a good story behind it.
In any case, it was a nice spot to sit and have lunch. Abbey was having so much fun in the water that she almost forgot I was there. At one point she came out of some bushes and ran down the shore and I could tell she all of a sudden figured out that I wasn't there. I was hoping she wouldn't notice me up the hill a bit so I could eat my lunch in peace, but no such luck. She must have smelled the food.
There was another hike I wanted to do, but since the first one was 7 miles I didn't want to push my luck with Abbey's leg. So I did it by myself and went pretty quickly since it was also getting late and I still had to find a campground. (After that sentence you can tell I was an engineering major.) In this area it seems like it isn't a problem to find a spot during the week. After a long drive up a steep gravel road I finally found the trail head and took off alone despite Abbey's pleading. The hike was to the top of Triangulation Peak. It wasn't all that high (lucky for me), but it had great views of some nearby bigger mountains '? Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington and even Mt. Hood in the distance. I love to climb to the tops of mountains when the views are spectacular like in this case. It was worth it and Abbey forgot all about my transgression after I fed her. That's the great thing about dogs.
Mt. Jefferson
More wildflowers in the burnt forest