HOODOO VOODOO
The
hike out from our final campsite at South Mathieu Lake was only 3 miles, so we
had most of Monday to explore. First on
my agenda was a visit to Proxy Falls. I
wanted to check it out, but Christy wasn’t very interested. I left her to set up camp while I drove west,
towards the McKenzie River valley. More
clouds had rolled in during our hike out, so I was hoping for good conditions
for photography. Unfortunately, by the
time I reached the trailhead they were breaking up. A short hike brought me to an overlook of the
falls. From there, a steep descent
brought me to the creek a short distance downstream from the falls. Proxy Falls is very dramatic, and it was
worth visiting even though photography conditions were marginal. From there I continued on to Upper Proxy
Falls. Ironically, Upper Proxy Falls is
on a completely separate stream from Proxy Falls, and the elevation isn’t any
higher, either. Go figure. Photography conditions there were truly awful
due to the brilliant sunshine. Normally
I would at least take a shot for documentation purposes, but that wasn’t even
possible.
I
drove back to the campground and picked up Christy. Then we drove down the mountain to the east,
into the quaint little town of Sisters.
We hit The Depot for burgers, fries, salad, and beer. Every bit of it was wonderful, particularly
the Hoodoo Voodoo IPA, which was my favorite beer of the trip.
PILES OF NAKED PEOPLE
Afterwards
we drove back across McKenzie Pass and down into the McKenzie River
Valley. First we went to Terwillinger Hot Springs.
Or we tried to. When we arrived –
on a Monday afternoon – the parking lot was overflowing. The overflow parking lot was
overflowing. There must’ve been a couple
of hundred people there. And it cost $6
per person. That made us wonder – how
many hot springs are there? Can they
really accommodate that many people? It
didn’t seem appealing to us – even if there had been a place to park.
I
barely had a cell signal, but managed to do a Google search for hot springs in
the area. I found a resort that sounded
boring and expensive. Then, I stumbled
upon a brief mention of Deer Creek Hot Springs.
It sounded perfect. Easy to get
to, but obscure and off the beaten path.
It sounded like it was beautiful, and it was free. Best of all, it was 20 miles away, and in the
right direction. We headed that way.
There
were a few cars in the parking area. The
hike to the hot spring is short, along the lovely McKenzie River. We were almost there when we met a young
woman wearing a very small towel on her way out. She was rather eye-catching – if you could
get past the fact that half of her head was shaved (I managed). She warned us that we were about to encounter
“piles of naked people”. My first
thought (ok, only thought) was that sounded just grand if they all looked like
her.
They
didn’t, but it was all cool. There was
an extremely pregnant woman, and another woman nursing a newborn. Oh, and a couple of other women that were
similar to the one we’d met on the way in.
Also, some dudes. It was pretty
much a little hippie enclave in a gorgeous spot along the McKenzie River. The hot spring itself was back in a small
cave. As we waded deeper into the cave
the water got hotter and hotter. I was
really sweating by the time I was against the back wall of the grotto. Everyone there was extremely friendly. We ended up chatting about Phish, the
Grateful Dead, and other bands with several of those folks. We also enjoyed a couple of cold beers and a
really great soak after a long, cold backpacking trip.
Deer
Creek Hot Springs was hard to leave, too, but we managed. Running out of beer helped. From there we headed up the road to check out
a couple of waterfalls. A week earlier
Christy had passed Sahalie Falls and Koosah Falls while mountain biking. She had stopped at Sahalie
Falls, but had missed Koosah Falls. We took the tourist approach to both – ample
parking, and short walks on paved trails.
Sahalie Falls is breathtaking. It is a powerful drop on the McKenzie River
surrounded by lush greenery. A short
distance downstream is Koosah Falls. There is a nice overlook of that one,
too.
There
is another waterfall downstream from Koosah. We went looking for it, and drove down a
rough dirt road hoping it would lead to it.
It ended on the rim of a canyon high above the river. I’m sure there was a waterfall way down there
somewhere, but getting to it was well above our ambition level. We headed back to camp, as I had high hopes
for catching sunset and alpenglow from McKenzie Pass. We got neither, as more clouds had rolled in
late that afternoon, obscuring the peaks and the western horizon.
GO INTO THE LIGHT
We
broke camp on Tuesday morning and drove down through Sisters and into the
Deschutes National Forest. Our goal for
the morning was Skylight Cave. Like most
caves in Oregon, Skylight is a lava tube.
One section features a collapsed ceiling. A ladder in that location allows access down
into the tube. We arrived around 9:30,
and our timing was intentional. One arm
of Skylight Cave features three openings in the ceiling. If you arrive at the right time, rays of
light shine down into the cave. My
pre-trip research indicated that the right time was “morning”. That was vague, but I figured it couldn’t be
early. After all, the sun had to be high
enough to shine down into the cave.
We
descended the ladder and briefly explored in the opposite direction. After a short distance it was necessary to
crawl, and the floor of the cave was sharp lava rock. We didn’t have knee pads, so we headed the
other way. A short walk brought us to
the chamber with the skylights. Our
timing was almost perfect! Beams of
light were shining down through two of them.
I
rarely plan my photos in advance.
Generally, my photography is all about trying to capture what I see at
the time. This one was different. The photo I wanted came to mind when I first
read about this place – Christy and I standing in those beams of light, gazing
up at the openings in the ceiling.
Happily, the image turned out exactly as I planned. Our timing was great in another respect,
too. A large family arrived while we
were taking photos. They were very
courteous, and waited while I finished.
Just as I was wrapping up, light began shining down through the third
opening in the ceiling. So, in mid-July,
the optimal time to visit is 10am or a bit after.
From
there we drove through Bend and up the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway to
Devil’s Lake, which is situated in the pass between South Sister and Mount
Bachelor. My plan was a loop hike to
Mirror Lake and the LeConte Crater. We had actually passed the LeConte Crater while backpacking, but the clouds had
discouraged me from climbing up to its rim.
The fantastic weather forecast encouraged me to give it another
try. I was also looking forward to
seeing South Sister reflected in the water of Mirror Lake. Christy wanted to take the day off since we
were planning to climb South Sister the following day. She dropped me off and drove back down into
Bend to take care of some errands.
Once
again, the weather forecast was a dud.
It was a fairly nice day, but there were a lot of clouds, and South
Sister was still hidden. I enjoyed
walking around Mirror Lake and a cluster of smaller ponds situated in heavy
forest. The mosquitoes were fierce
though, so I kept moving. From there I
hiked across Wickiup Plain and then scrambled up the LeConte Crater. From
there I had a nice view of the lower slopes of South Sister – the portion of
the volcano visible below the cloud line.
To the east was a fine view of another volcano, Broken Top. The best vista though was south, across a
vast plateau of meadows, forest, and lakes to a row of peaks on the horizon.
I
descended from the rim and walked back through meadows and deep forest to
return to Devil’s Lake. Christy picked
me up, and we drove back down to Bend and on to Tumalo
State Park. The park is a busy place,
with a large campground featuring rather cramped campsites. The facilities were nice though (hot
showers!) and their firewood was high quality (cedar!), yet cheap. We enjoyed a nice dinner and headed to bed
early. We would climb South Sister
Volcano the next day, regardless of the weather, as it was our last
chance. The forecast looked perfect, but
I didn’t trust it. It had looked perfect
on Monday and Tuesday as well, but the clouds had stayed parked over the
mountain. We’d been in the area for a
full week and still hadn’t seen the mountain we hoped to climb. Hopefully our luck would change for summit
day.
Back to Oregon.
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!