A geologist competes in Oregon

Hey-

As we hiked into the old-growth forest then up the steep-sided black cinder cone mountain called Crater Peak (el.7263ft) in the Crater Lake National Park last Monday, the massive lodgepole pines and pondersas gave way to mountain hemlock and scattered subalpine fir. My thoughts of the weekend's competition also gave way to thoughts about sharing some of my observations about the region's hiking trails.

We were in the region of the Cascade mountain range in southern Oregon and northern California for the week following the Masters World Championships 2004 of the scottish heavy events at Winston, Oregon. I was lucky enough to qualify for the competition and to book a cabin on the slopes of the famous Mt. Mazama volcano - the centerpiece to the park. The hiking trails in the park range from less than a mile to the 33 mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail. Elevations in the park range from 3,977 feet to 8,926 feet above sea level.

The competition brought together a large circle of friends from around the US and Scotland interested in enjoying the sights and winning the championship ring. The day following the competition, we drove up the Umpqua river valley to the summit of the ancient Mt. Mazama to Crater Lake Rim Village for lunch. Our group enjoyed a large table at the historic Lodge on the rim of the caldera. We celebrated the success of the competitions and we gathered information from the Visitor Center on the hiking trails. Since the park normally receives about 500 inches of snow each year, many of the trails are buried till July. Our hiking in August gave us and opportunity for snow-free trails to the rim of the volcanos and summits of several of the mountains for a view of the famous intense blue water of the lake.

We first hiked around 1/4 mile up from the eastern Rim Drive on the Sun-Notch Trail to the rim of the Mt Mazama cladera (el. 7115ft) for a view of the clear blue waters of Crater Lake and Phantom Ship - a small island composed of a vertical slab of lava. We later hiked around 1 mile (one way) down to the waters edge (el. 6175ft) and view of the cone-shaped Wizard Island on the Cleetwood Cove Trail; the only trail leading to Crater Lake. The steep trail decends down through a mountain hemlock-Shasta red fir forest and is named for the boat used by the first survey party to map and measure the depth of Crater Lake in 1886.

When the upper elevation weather broke and we spotted our opportunity, we hiked up the switchbacks to the summit of Mount Scott (el. 8926ft). The trail is fairly steep, crossing pumice openings and scattered stands of whitebark pines. The 2.5 mile trail to the summit is located about 17 miles east of the rim village and gives a view of Crater Lake to the west, Mt McLoughlin and Mt Shasta and the Kalmath Basin to the south, and Mt Thielsen and the Three Sisters to the north. We were lucky to get down the trail to the cabin before the weather changed and clouds blocked the vistas.

Back at the cabin I read the field notes of John Muir, the famous Scottish explorer and writer of numerous mountaineering essays. He vowed to spend to his days studying what he termed the "University of the Wilderness" and writings of his mountain adventures in the region proved to inspire my inner mountain man. Muir's essay on a perilous late November night in the 1860's on Mt Shasta's summit gave me the idea that we should take advantage of the weather and drive down to northern California and climb to the summit as he discribed. We hiked up to the snowfields at over 9,000 feet on the 14,400 foot Mt Shasta. We never reached the summit, since it became very difficult to breath on the steep trail and climbing to over 10,000 feet on this mountain requires a permit from the Fosest Service and other additional safety concerns.

One final trail that should not be left out is the trail along the Rouge river in the area of Shady Cove, Oregon. The headwaters of the river are in the northeast corner of the Crater Lake National Park and the river flows southwest thru the Cascade Gorge to Grants Pass and thru the Klamath Mountains and Siskiyou National Forest to the Pacific Ocean. The trail and view over the river is one of the most interesting and accessable of all the primative areas. The river cuts down thru 4 or 5 different lava flows and at least 2 lava tubes are evident in the sidewall of the gorge along Route 62 and near Prospect, Oregon. It was one of the most interesting vistas of the trip.

While I won't wear one of the championship rings of the Masters World Championships 2004, I will always enjoy the recollections of our time spent on the trails at Crater Lake, Mt Scott and Crater Peak in southern Oregon and the afternoon spent following John Muir's trail on Mt Shasta in northern California.

Good luck in your training,

-MountainExperiences