Camping in the Forlorn Lakes

July 5-7, 2002:

The dogs and I headed to the Forlorn lakes to go camping and hiking with Sandy, John, and their friends Liz, Tonya, and Michael.

July 5:

I scratched up my truck on the way to the campsites.  I turned onto this road that the GPS said was a road.  At first, it was an okay road.  After a mile or two, it turned into a trail, and then into nothing.  Tree branches were bouncing off the windshield.  Eventually, I decided to back up.  Unfortunately, some of the trees scratched the paint on the side of my truck.

All the campsites were full Friday night, so we camped in an unofficial campsite.

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PICT0075: Liz standing by the fire.

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PICT0079: Tonya, Michael, and Liz sittin around the campfire.

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PICT0080: Sandy, sittin' by the campfire.

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PICT0082: One more picture of the fire.

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PICT0088: The next morning...er afternoon, we planned a hike around Bird mountain.  We never got close to accomplishing this hike as there was too much snow.  However, it was a nice day.  We got exercise.  And, we saw several nice lakes.  There were no big mountain views on this hike.

Frankie (John's beagle) had a seizure just below this lake / rest stop.  Therefore, John and Frankie turned around here and headed back down to the trucks.  The rest of us (Sandy, Ginger, Michael, Liz, Tonya, Buddy, Harley, and I) continued onwards and upwards.

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PICT0089: Here's Harley and Buddy fetching iceballs from the lake.

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PICT0090: Michael and I arrived at Clear Lake -- at the junction of the Pacific Crest Trail.

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PICT0091: Clear Lake.

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PICT0092: The girls arrive at Clear Lake.

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PICT0093: Lunch time at Clear Lake.

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PICT0096: Ginger (Sandy's dog) at resting at Clear Lake.

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PICT0098: From Clear Lake, we tried to follow a trail but ended up bushwacking for awhile.  There were NO footprints on the snow over the Pacific Crest Trail here....it's apparently not a popular hike in early summer.  The bridge over Rush Creek was missing and the girls did not want to attempt crossing the water.  However, my GPS indicated we were within 500 feet of Bear Lake, one of my waypoints, so Michael and I crossed the creek and continued on for a few minutes.  We found Bear Lake (the GPS works!) and headed back.  Reunited, I had some problems figuring out how to take a timer-delayed picture with my camera.  After a few attempts, we got the above group picture.  From left to right: Buddy, Jeff (me), Harley, Michael, Liz, Tonya, Ginger, Sandy.

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PICT0102: The next day, we hiked up Red Mountain.  There is an old forest road that goes all the way to the top, but fallen trees had made the road impassible starting at ~3500 FASL.  Here we are at the top of Red Mountain (~5000 FASL) looking over at Mt. St. Helens.

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PICT0103: Another picture from Red Mountain.

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PICT0104: Lunch time on the top of Red Mountain.  Michael, Tonya, Liz, Sandy.  Mt. Adams behind.

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PICT0105: Marker at the top of Red Mountain.

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PICT0113: For some reason, there is a second marker at the top of Red Mountain.

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PICT0106: Purple wildflowers.  Germaniums?

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PICT0107: More Germaniums.  A nice view of Adams.

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PICT0108: Germaniums, Rocks, and Mt. Adams.

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PICT0109: Harley and Mt. Hood.

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PICT0110: Harley, Mt. Hood, and Buddy.

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PICT0111: Harley, Germaniums, and Mt. St. Helens.  This is a good picture.

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PICT0114: Liz and Mt. Adams.

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PICT0116: Liz and Mt. Adams again.  A little over-exposed.

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PICT0117: 1st attempt at group photo; failure.

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PICT0120: Successful attempt at group photo!  Liz, Jeff, Tonya, Michael, Sandy.

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PICT0121: Closeup of Mt. Hood.

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PICT0112: Closeup of St. Helens.

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PICT0123: Closeup of Mt. St. Helens again.

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PICT0126: Wild strawberries?

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PICT0127: Here's what some of the trail looked like.  Lots of fallen trees to contend with, obviously.