take a hike

For memorial day weekend, Mike & I ventured to the far south eastern corner of Oregon. A place we both always talked about exploring, but seemingly never had the time. The drive from Sisters was close to 4 hours, with a brief stop in Burns for gas and groceries. We camped at the South Steens Campground which is a first-come/first-serve campground. There was no issue finding a site so we set up shop. The first day there we hiked the Little Blitzen Trail, and we were not prepared for the first stream crossing. We decided to turn back as it was getting late and regroup the next day. On Saturday we decided rather than hiking we wanted to drive to the Alvord Desert and check out the much talked about hot springs. It was a two hour drive from the campground to the desert, but I highly recommend it. We stopped in Field, Oregon for gas and a beer then headed to the soaking tub. It was more crowded than usual due to the holiday weekend and a mini-Burning man festival going on in the desert. The hot springs were great though, exactly what I needed to clean up. For our last day, we hiked a portion of the Big Indian Gorge trail, this is an 16 mile roundtrip hike with 3 stream crossings, and in May, the streams are moving fast. We traversed two streams, saw an abandoned cabin and took in the vast gorge views. Because we were pressed for time we were not able to finish the hike to the head wall. We turned around near mile marker 4-5.

A few things to note, the scenic road to the top of Steens Mountain was closed, so we were not able to drive up there. I was told by some campers that the road typically stays closed until July. All in all this was an amazing journey across the state. We saw wild horses, cows for days, a variety of birds at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a coyote, and did I mention cows? Enjoy the pictures!

Tory

Alvord Desert.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The boys and their matching grilles.

Hiking on the Little Blitzen River Trail.

Field Station in Field, Oregon.

Hiking Big Indian Gorge.

Frenchglen.

Frenchglen hotel.

Day 2 of our 100+ mile Canada hiking excursion started with Johnston Canyon. We arrived in Banff around 8:00PM and set up our tent at the Johnston Canyon Campground. From there, we walked along the water to the Johnston Canyon trailhead and meandered down the trail until 10:00PM or so. Val and I did not realize that June in Banff is filled with daylight, we could of hiked until 11:00PM but opted to head back. Johnston Canyon is an extremely popular trail; with paved trails and easy access to the Johnston Canyon Resort, this is a trail best explored in the early morning or late evening. Still beautiful of course, even with the crowds.

Day 2 we headed to Moraine Lake, a stunning alpine lake that is also quite popular with the tour buses. We arrived early enough that we began the Eiffel Lake hike around 8:00AM and saw only a handful of people on the way up and down. Hiking to Eiffel Lake is roughly 12km round trip, so about 7.5 miles. We were hoping to continue onward to Wenkchemna Pass, but unfortunately for us we lost the trail not too far after Eiffel Lake due to snow. We did see a hoary marmot though, which, was pretty adorable. Eiffel Lake from Moraine Lake is an amazing hike and definitely one worth exploring further once the snow has melted. Enjoy! Also, the photos are out of order, so the images of Eiffel Lake are up front.