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| Jefferson, here I come! |
Day 16 (Day 5 southbound) was another hot and sunny day. It started out fairly boring with many many hours of hiking up from Warm Springs river. I hiked through quite a few burn areas without and much vegetation over a foot tall. That was hot.
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| I big burn area |
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| Last peak at the top of Jefferson for a while |
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| Jefferson is somewhere behind that! |
As I approached Jefferson, it was hidden by hills and mountains that were closer to me. It was hot and sweaty and I was in a hurry to get to Ollalie Lake Resort. About 2 miles from the resort, I took a wrong turn and ended up road walking the rest of the way there. I mob of gigantic flies started following me down the road. I assume they were waiting for a chance to land on me and bite me. I ended up walking for about 30 minutes continually swinging my hat in the air. I even got a few of the buggers!
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| Hot dusty trail |
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| Road walking |
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| First great view of the mountain |
As I approached the resort, I got my first view of Jefferson basically all day. It was much closer! I went to the resort, where I picked up my resupply box, bought a lot of pop and candy, and chatted with some fellow hikers who were headed north. It was a nice break after a very difficult hike of nearly 20 miles before lunch. It was my goal to make it to 30 but boy was I hot and tired after that first push!
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| Almost there! |
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| Jefferson over Ollalie Lake |
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| Wonderful place... but out of ice cream. |
I sat for quite a while enjoying the relaxation and good company of my friends. They gave me messages to pass to other hikers farther south. We all though about swimming but this lake was officially part of Oregon's drinking water supply, meaning no swimming or motors of any kind in the water. I finally got up the energy to move on at about 5 in the evening. I waved goodbye to my new friends and headed on one of may favorite evening hikes ever!
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| Pretty mountain lake |
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| Another pretty mountain lake |
I was soon hiking by a number of beautiful mountain lakes with the occasional view of Mount Jefferson. I was trying to reach my 30 mile goal by dark so I hurried a bit. I knew I would likely be dry-camping so I took some time to filter water at one of the lakes.
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| Jefferson! |
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| Ollalie lake |
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| Lots of dead trees improved my view |
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| Nice view |
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| One last ridge to climb! |
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| Nice place to get water |
At about 7:30 in the evening I started a final climb up toward Jefferson park. I could see for miles and the sunset was amazing! I did become a little concerned when I started seeing large patches of snow though... I wondered if my campsite would be usable...
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| View to the west |
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| View to the south |
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| Climbing up, up, up |
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| I prolonged the sunset by climbing |
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| Almost there |
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| Snowy trail |
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| Jefferson is just over that ridge |
I finally arrived at my campsite and the area for the tent was not covered in snow! There was even a bonus pond from snow melt nearby! I was glad to arrive while there was plenty of light and watched the sunset as I prepared dinner. What a beautiful evening! I had hiked about 29 miles and was still feeling pretty great. That night, I got up to up to use the restroom and wandered around for about 15 minutes looking at the sky. It was an amazing sight!
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| Personal snow melt pond |
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| Evening sun |
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| Sunset from camp |
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| My Campsite |
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| Good Night! |
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