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. 



Continue reading about our trip as we climb South Sister Volcano.


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