Friday, July 30, 2010

Into Jefferson Park ...


On the last Friday in July Tasha and I decided to take advantage of the great Oregon weather and hike 5 miles into Jefferson Park (right under Mt. Jefferson) on the Whitewater trail off Hwy. 22. The hike is long for an old guy like me (10 miles total) and it involves about a 2000' elevation gain, but the scenery there is spectacular. There was only one problem,
i.e. - There was an invisible sign posted that had this message: "Danger: The Consolidated Association of Mt. Jefferson Mosquitoes has prohibited all hikers from remaining in a stationary position at any time -- sitting, standing or lying. Violators will be attacked with all the resources we have available." We obviously did not see the invisible sign and thus reaped the consequences -- so much so that we had to abandon our plan to sit down and have a nice lunch amid all the beauty!

On the way in we spotted a beautiful lily and a host of other wildflowers. There was one interesting creek crossing, but we made it across coming and going without incident. And, on the way home we stopped for hamburgers and milkshakes at Poppa Al's, an old stand-by "diner" that we'd visited numerous times when the kids were young! - rw

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just take comfort that at least you got some beautiful scenery with the mosquitoes. Our backyard offers plenty, but without the scenery. Also, did Nzol fall in? Looks like she's wobbling.

-Mark

Ron and Nancy said...

No chance, Mark! She's steady on her feet. - Dad

N said...

i like that idea for a sign! you need to send that in to the forest service

Anonymous said...

Did you go swimming in the lake?

-Daniel

Anonymous said...

How long did it take to climb the mountain?

-Eli

Anonymous said...

What did you hate the most?

-Micah

Ron and Nancy said...

Answers:
1) To Daniel: "No, we didn't go swimming in the lake. The water was really cold!"
2) To Eli: "We didn't climb the mountain you saw in the picture, but it did take us 3 hours to hike in to the lake."
3) To Micah: "The mosquitoes."

Anonymous said...

Sorry to miss the views but glad to miss the mosquitoes. - Nancy