Easy to Moderate Hike to Benson Lake on the McKenzie River in the Central Oregon Cascades

 

Where we went and why

Today we went to Benson Lake. It was a three day weekend, so we got in an extra hike. We had talked about going to Tam MacArthur Rim today, bu we woke up late and weren't really in the mood for something that intense. I picked Benson Lake, but then when we got closer, we decided to do Scott Lake. We pulled into the parking lot and then started the hike. As we got closer to the road, we realized that something was just not right.We realized that we were at the Scott Trailhead, but not the Scott Lake Trailhead. Who would have thought that there would be a Scott Trailhead and a Scott Lake Trailhead so close to each other. We got back to the car and went down the correct road. We pulled up next to Scott Lake, but didn't see a path around it. We decided to drive further down to see if there was an official trailhead marker. When we got to the parking lot, we saw the Benson Lake Trailhead and a Trailhead for Hand Lake. We've already been to Hand Lake. We decided to head back to the car to get the poles and do Benson Lake.

How to get there

The hike is on the McKenzie Pass a few miles west of the Dee Wright Observatory around mile marker 70. If you're going from Sisters, it will be on the right hand side. Just make sure you pull into the Scott Lake road and not the Scott Trailhead parking lot. Dodge all of the potholes and cars parked on the side of the road until you get to the end of the road. If you get there early enough, you might even find a parking spot. We got there at 10:30 and there were some. When we left at 1:30, there were none and people were being quite creative with where they parked. 

The Hike

The hike started off going uphill, which is always my favorite. (NOT) It did level off a little bit and even went down a little bit and then we went back up. It leveled out at time, but for the most, we just kept going up until we got to the lake. The trail was wide enough for one of us comfortably. It was packed dirt for the most part. There were times when roots and rocks were in the trail. We also had to be careful to not walk on the frogs crossing the trail. There wasn't much to look at along the trail.

The lake was gorgeous! The water was clear and blue! It was a little windy that day and it had the water a bit rippley. The ripples created a lot of sparklies on the water. It made it even more pretty. The book that we used to find the hike talked about taking a fisherman's trail and then "scrambling" up some rocks to get a view of the mountains. I wanted to see the mountains and hubby was willing to make me happy so we went up there! It was quite the adventure. They weren't kidding when they said scramble up some rocks. I didn't get a picture of what we went up, but I did get a picture of what we went down. Going up involved letting my poles dangle and using my hands to climb. Going down involved sitting on my butt and kind of sliding down. Then there was the accidental slide which didn't end in any injuries which was good. Getting back to the trail involved some bushwacking, but hubby is good at that. He proved himself at Hand Land and again here at Benson Lake.

We went to the lake on September 1, 2014. On the day we went, the first main spot where we could see the lake was closed off for rehabilitation. It wasn't roped off or anything, but there were signs saying not to go down in there. We kept going and passed a couple of green lakes. We then saw a trail that led down to the lake. We followed that and checked out the lake. It was awesome! Once we climbed back up to the main path, we continued on to look for the fisherman's path. The next trail off to the left is what we ended up taking. It was pretty steep going down. We got down to the water and then followed the lake around until we found some rocks to climb up. Good times! We were quite happy to have our poles with us that day.

Once we climbed back down and then back up and to the trail, we went straight back to the car with little picture taking along the way. It was a good day and an awesome hike!  We were under cover most of the hike, but there were some spots where the sun peeked through. I'm glad we had sun screen on! It wasn't too buggy that day, but earlier in the season would probably have mosquitoes everywhere.

 

Overall Thoughts

I'm 273 pounds and I made it up and back without too much trauma, but I have been working out since January and we go hiking as much as we can. This hike was a bit more challenging due to our off trail experience, but the main hike wasn't that bad. We stopped a few times to catch our breath and I can feel it in my glutes right now, but it wasn't too terribly intense. It's no easy walk in the park though so use your best judgement on your own physical condition. There were bathrooms here, but I'm assuming they were vault toilets. I didn't have to use one so I didn't go inside. I'm not certain if you need the NW Forest Pass, but we put ours up. You are supposed to fill out some information at the trailhead and leave it in a slot on the trailhead sign. 

YouTube Video

If you like the pictures, check out the YouTube video.

BodyMedia Screen Shot

Here is my BodyMedia Screen Shot. Check out all of that activity!

 

Runtastic

My Runtastic Map is a bit different this time. I can't get it to show up on the website, but I can see it on my phone, so I took screen shots. I'm pretty sure the mileage is off on this one though because the book has it listed as over 3 miles, and we went bushwacking so I think we went farther. MapMyHike didn't work today. (Shocking)

 

 BackCountry Navigator

Easy Hike to Tamolitch Pool on the McKenzie Pass

Where we went and why

We had planned on a hike to Tam MacArthur Rim today, but we woke up late and we decided that we would go to Tamolitch Pool instead. It was shorter and had less elevation. It was a nice cool day and we got it done before the humidity really got bad.

The picture is not upside down. This is a reflection in the pool. 

How to get there

It's near milepost 11 on the McKenzie Pass in Oregon. Turn when you see the sign on the road. Follow the road over the bridge and then turn right. Park on the right and head up the road to the trail head marker. (Edited to correct which pass it was on. I had Williamette listed before. I need to learn my geography better.)

The Hike

This will be a short post since I already wrote this once, but something went wonky when I put the pictures in and I had to delete it. The hike had a lot of ups and downs, but it was always pretty gentle and it never lasted for a long time. We walked along the river for the entire hike, but we couldn't always see the river. We could hear it though. After about 2 miles and two hundred feet of elevation, we got to the pool. The place was gorgeous! 

The trail had some rocks in roots along it. It was also quite busy. If you go, you should go early in the morning or it might be hard to park. There are no bathrooms here. We both agreed that this was our new favorite hike. The hike book that we found this in showed a picture of a waterfall here, but there wasn't one the day we went. We were there in August. 

The Video

BodyMedia Screen Shot

Woot Woot! It shows I burned over 1400 calories on the hike! I even got 9 minutes of vigorous activity.

Runtastic Screen Shot

This is my Runtastic Map. It ended 22 minutes early. My phone lost GPS. One of these days, I'll get something that works properly!

MapMyHike Screen Shot

This shows that I went 5.5 miles. Runtastic shows 4 and the book said 4. It's all so confusing. 

BackCountry Navigator Screen Shot

This one also shows 5.5 miles! Grrrrr. 

Easy Hike at Little Three Creeks Lake in Sisters, Oregon

How to get there

Take Elm Street in Downtown Sisters and head south. After at least 14 miles, it turns to a dirt road. Keep going and after a few miles, you'll come to the Driftwood Campground on the right. Park in there. If you get to Three Creeks Lake, you went to far. Just turn around and take your first left. The dirt road gets a bit narrow. It's also pretty bumpy, but we did it with a VW Jetta pretty easily. If you drive around 40-45 on the washboard stuff, you don't bounce as much. The road climbs up pretty high. The lake was at 6500 feet! 

The Hike

We found the hike in Hiking Oregon's Central Cascades. We picked it because it was under 200 feet in elevation, it was close to home and it was just 2.2 miles. The hike starts off going uphill right away from the parking lot. I hate going uphill first. This went uphill on this rocky, root covered step type thing. It didn't give me the warm fuzzies about the hike. We trudged on though. It didn't go up for long before it went down again. Then it went up a little bit and down again. It leveled out again. This trail gets some heavy use by horses and there was horse poop in numerous places. The trail was wide in some places, but narrow in others. It also had a couple river crossings. They were pretty simple. There were rocks or tree limbs to make it easier.

For some reason, we walked really slowly for the first mile. It took about 45 minutes to get to the lake. We did stop to take pictures periodically, but we were just walking slow. I'm not sure why though. There were a lot of people running on the trail and we pulled over to let them pass whenever we saw them so I'm sure that added a little bit to it. 

A short bit into the hike, you come to a fork. The way the sign was stapled to the tree, it looked like we were to go left, but there wasn't a trail to the left. We went straight which turned out to be the correct way. 

We finally made it to the lake! It was really pretty. We ran into a couple there and we started talking. The book didn't mention anything about going around the lake, but the people there said that it did go all the way around the lake. They also said that there were two ways to get back. You can go all the way around the lake and cross the river to get back onto the trail we went in on or you can take a different path to get to the other trailhead in the campground. They said that trail was shorter, but steeper. We decided to go all the way around the lake.

The path gets a bit narrow and difficult to follow at times, but it's hard to get lost when you're walking around a lake. The lake was pretty cool. The water was perfectly clear! The bottom was a bit mucky looking, but the water was just so clear! There were so many tadpoles in the lake! At one point while going around the lake, the trail continues around to the right, but according to the people we ran into, it deadends, so you switch back to the left. There were parts that were mucky on the other side of the lake.

It was pretty easy to follow the path on the other wise, but then we came to a fork and we weren't sure which way to go. The markings on this side were non-existent. We continued around to the left and then went through the marshy part. We ended up hooking back up with the trail that we had used to get there. It was about a mile around the lake. 

We walked really quickly on the way out. I didn't take many pictures on the way out. We don't normally take many pictures on the way out. We go super slow getting there and then just race back to the car. There was a porta potty in the parking lost. There wasn't a lot of parking in the parking lot, but there were plenty of places to park along the road. 

Overall Thoughts

We really enjoyed the hike once we got to the lake. If we hadn't gone around the lake, I probably would have been disappointed in the hike. Before the lake, the scenery was a bit blah. There were some interesting trees, but overall, the walk around the lake made the hike.

BodyMedia Screen Shot

Here is the BodyMedia Screen Shot for the hike. I actually got some vigorous activity on this hike! On the way back, we walked really fast even on the rough parts. I was pretty proud of myself for that. I usually go super slow. I felt like a mountain goat! 

BackCountry Navigator Screen Shot

The app said that I had a 21 day free trial. I'm pretty sure it's been more than 21 days. It still works though. Since we stopped without pausing the apps, my average speeds are wonky. I need to get better at pausing things. Oh well. The 5.6 MPH for the max speed is definitely wrong. I still don't understand how this app works for the max speed. The altitude gain is a bit more than the book said, but the book didn't talk about going around the lake. 

Runtastic Screen Shot

This is a new app that I'm trying. I was going to compare it to MapMyHike and Runkeeper, but I couldn't get Runkeeper to open when we got to the hike. Runtastic is already my favorite trail tracking app since it opens and it saved without needing the Internet. It has a half mile less than BackCountry Navigator though. I really need to just buy an actual GPS unit that tracks this stuff. Sometimes I think I should have gotten the Vivofit instead of my Polar Heart Rate Monitor since it does GPS tracking while tracking activity, but I just think that if my BodyMedia cost $100, a GPS unit costs at least $100 and a heart rate monitor is at least $60, how can a device that only costs about $160 do all three tasks effectively? A bit more about my love of Runtastic........it was able to pull the map up during the entire hike. BackCountry Navigator requires map downloads. It tracked my hike, but it didn't show me a map of where I was. MapMyHike rarely shows me the actual map of where I'm at. I can see the trail of where I've been, but I can't see the map. We actually used Runtastic today to make our decision about trying to find the other path back to the parking lot. It was nice actually being able to see the lakes on the screen. 

There is no way the calorie burn on this is accurate. I'm also thinking I did something funky and shut the app off where that blue dot is between miles 2 and three. 

MapMyHike Screen Shot

Here is my MapMyHike screen shot. Check out that insane calorie burn! It's not accurate, but whatever. I think my insane weight really messes with the math. Oh well. 

Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor

Here are my stats from my Polar FT7 heart rate monitor. This has 5 minutes less than the Runtastic app because I couldn't figure out how to stop the Runtastic app. Hubby suggested that I try once I got into the car. I believe the calorie burn on this a lot more than on the Runtastic app. I'm not sure if my weight really messes up those things up. I just know that MapMyHike is the same way. It comes up with crazy crazy high numbers! I spent an hour and 40 minutes in the fat burning zone! Woot woot! Then we went to Takoda's and had a peanut butter chocolate pie. Oopsy. At least I burned the pie off. 

Easy Hike at Hackelman Old Growth Grove on Tombstone Pass in the Central Cascades

Where we went and why

Yesterday, we went to the Hackelman Old Growth Grove on Tombstone Pass in the Central Cascades. We had planned to go to Iron Mountain for a challenging hike, but it was supposed to be pretty hot that day, so we would have needed to leave the house at about 6AM to beat the heat. The night before, my husband didn't sleep very well, so when he woke up, he decided that he didn't want to make that trek. It's just as well because it ended up being pretty cloudy. It also rained that morning. We decided to go to a pioneer grave site at Fish Lake and the Hackelman Old Growth Grove. When we got to the road for Fish Lake, the gate had been closed, so we skipped that one and just did Hackelman Old Growth Grove. All of the pictures were taken with my camera phone since I did not remember to put the battery back into the camera after I charged it. Hubby didn't take any pics this time because his phone was dying. 

How to get there

Hackelman Old Growth Grove is on Hwy 20 a few minutes east of Sweet Home. There are signs letting you know it's ahead and then another sign when you get there. There is plenty of parking. 

The Hike

The trailhead has a nice map of the hike. There's a wide path with packed gravel that is labeled as handicap accessible. I wouldn't want to be pushing a wheelchair on it, but it is pretty wide and level. The path is supposed to be a one mile loop. There is also another path that's listed as a hiking path. It's narrow and mainly consists of packed dirt. For the most part, it's pretty level, but there were a couple of steepish parts. They don't last long. There were some steps going up as well. This section also had some small offshoots that brought us right up to the water. There were several different flowers along the hike. There were some really big trees as well. There were plenty of trees that had fallen across the path, but they had been cut so they did not black the path.

Overall Thoughts

There's not much else to say about this hike. It was short and sweet. It had some nice scenery, but not real destination. There was a vault toilet (translation glorified outhouse). If you're driving by, I would suggest stopping here to do this hike, but I wouldn't make a special trip to get there since it's so short and there's nothing really spectacular like a waterfall or some major scenic vistas.

The Video

If you like the pictures, check out my Hackelman Old Growth Grove YouTube video. 

BodyMedia Screen Shot 

I didn't expect much different than what this shows. I didn't realize that I had stopped so many times, but I was on a picture taking frenzy. I'm surprised that the calories per minute is higher towards the end though. Usually when I go up hills, I slow down so much that my calories per minute is lower. I'm pretty bummed about being under 3,000 calories for the entire day, but really other than the hike, I sat on my butt in the car or on the couch. I should be thrilled I got as high as I did. 

BackCountry Navigator

I thought my 21 day free trial would have been over by now, but the app still works, so I'm going to keep using it. I'm sure I've jinxed myself now. The 1.4 miles agrees with MapMyHike and RunKeeper close enough that I feel like we went about that far. The max speed is wrong and always is. I wish I could figure out how to fix that. It didn't feel like we went up 73 feet. I know there were some steepish parts, but it just didn't feel like 73 feet.

MapMyHike

Here is the MapMyHike screen shot. According to this, there was 100 foot elevation change. That surprises me since it just didn't feel like much. Although, 100 feet really isn't much. I just remember the on short section with an incline though. It really didn't feel like 100 feet. They really need to recalculate their calories burned since it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of whack. 

RunKeeper

This calories burned on this seem a wee bit more inline with reality. The elevation on his screen shot versus the MapMyHike is a bit different too. This thinks I was higher than the MapMyHike. I really wish I knew which one of these things was more accurate! I keep using all three of these apps because I don't really trust any of them completely. 

Easy Walk at Dee Wright Observatory on McKenzie Pass through the Central Cascades in Oregon

Where we went and why

Today, we decided to go for a walk at Scott Lake on the McKenzie Pass in the Central Cascades in Oregon. However, but we got there, we were eaten alive by mosquitoes while getting our stuff ready. We promptly decided that we didn't want to spend the next two hours getting attacked by blood suckers, so we left. We figured that any other hike along this stretch of road would have the same problem, so we decided to try the Dee Wright Observatory since it was surround by a lava field, how many mosquitoes could there possibly be there? We climbed back into the car and some mosquitoes came with us! While we were inside trying to kill the stowaways, the ones outside were attacking the car! They wanted in. I've never seen anything quite like it! Madness!

The Walk

The Dee Wright Observatory is at the summit of McKenzie Pass. You can only get there between like mid June and Octoberish. They shut the pass down during the snow season. All the snow has to melt before they open it back up. It's then left open for a couple weeks without any snow on it. Bicyclists love it because they can ride it without the risk of being squashed by a car. 

There is a 1/2 mile walk through the lava field. There are a lot of educational signs along the path. It was a pretty easy walk, but it's not completely flat. It's paved the entire way. There were some spots where my breathing was heavy, but I didn't need to stop to catch my breath. It was a nice cool day. We've been there before when it was really hot and it was kinda miserable since you're walking on a black field of lava. The sun just beats down on you. There were some really nice views of the mountains. You can see two of the Sisters Mountains, Mt. Washington, Three Finger Jack and Mt. Jefferson. There were a bunch of other craters and buttes and stuff too. The 1/2 mile walk has a couple of options so you don't need to do he whole thing.

The observatory is at the top of the hill. There are steps to climb up. There isn't much of a handrail though. There's a chain going up it, but it's not really at a convenient height to actually use. I made it up to the top without stopping! I was pretty proud of that because the last time we did it, I had to stop a couple times. It's a pretty short climb, but it's still like going up a couple flights of stairs. You can go inside the top and you can go on top of it. Inside, there are holes so you can look at all of the different mountains and crates. On top, there is a big round thing that shows you which mountains and crates you are looking at. It tells you how far away they are and how tall they are. 

There are restrooms here, but I didn't go inside on this trip. I can't remember if they have flushing toilets or if they are just the vault toilets (translation...glorified outhouses). 

This is a nice place to stop if you're in the area, but I wouldn't drive all the way there to just see the observatory. If you're doing another hike in the area though, you should stop by to do the walk.

BodyMedia Screen Shot

The first pat is the walk and then I went to the top of the observatory. The little dip is when we stopped to enjoy the view. I was surprised that I got up to 12 calories per minute. 

The Video

If you like the pictures, check out my Dee Wright Observatory YouTube video. My husband was making fun of me for taking so many pictures. I took 59 pictures on a 30 minute excursion! 

BackCountry Navigator Screen Shot

I couldn't get RunKeeper to load and I somehow lost the MapMyHike map, so I only have this screen shot for the hike. I agree with the length and the elevation. I just really wanted to see the elevation map that the other two apps show. I really need to get one of those GPS tracking things that's a stand alone device. The phone apps are just not doing it for me. 

I edited the post to fix the name. I spelled it Wight instead of Wright.