Fall is the best time of year (and that’s a statement, not a fact) and definitely the best time for hiking and camping in the high Cascades. The mosquitoes are gone, as are most of the crowds, and even though most areas are dominated by conifers there are still nice colors in the mountain ash and huckleberries to liven up the views.
We stopped by Timpanogas Lake earlier in the year, and we were out of the vehicle for a total of 23 seconds. Yes, I timed it. OK, not really. It took us several minutes to kill all the mosquitoes that followed us back into the truck but we were also there long enough to know we were coming back. We originally had a weekend in September as a probable visit, but then the state caught on fire and the Willamette National Forest closed to visitors. That left one free weekend in October and on Friday night we found ourselves bouncing our way past Summit Lake and arrived at the lake right at dark. The next morning we were met with a nice fog lifting off the lake and a quiet campground we had nearly all to ourselves. The one camper that spent the night soon departed the next morning.
We originally thought we would backpack from here to Indigo Lake, but decided that a day trip made more sense with the short days and cold nights of October. Up the trail we went. Signs of the Labor Day windstorm were all around in the way of downed trees, but the trail had been cleared and we largely had the entire hike to ourselves.
It is a short hike so before long we arrived at Indigo Lake, with a great view of Sawtooth Mountain which forms a divide between the Umpqua and Willamette watersheds. We were right at the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Willamette.
The trail loops around the lake and we found one willing fish at the far side, along with several active pikas, which were too shy for a picture, but were sure talking a lot.
The short days of fall pushed us back down the trail and back to the warm campfire where we gazed at stars as they slowly appeared for the night.
We have had a long string of owl visits going way back to our night at Fredrick Butte this spring, even longer if you count the huge barred owl that practically sat in camp at Chickahominy one night a while ago. I’ve long thought that this owl has been following us around, This night was no exception with an owl working the ridge above and below camp, that talked back to several calls. We sat back and enjoyed the sky and the sounds as we had the entire place to ourselves.
A nice quiet small campground, trails to high lakes with fish, quiet nights interrupted with owls…. I know I say this a lot, but I can see another visit in our future….
