J and K Adventures: September 2013

It was Labor Day weekend and we didn't want to labor. I got moved to a new classroom and to say it needed work was an understatement. It was in a basement and was dark, hot, full of stuff, and at least three different colors. I was busy all week tossing the previous occupant's stuff, organizing and cleaning, and Jeff and I spent most of Friday painting it. It was about 80 degrees in there and the paint fumes were pretty toxic. Saturday we did pretty much nothing but recover.

But on Sunday, I had a plan.....take a hike! The only question was whether to bring Freddy or not. Unfortunately we made the wrong decision and brought him. Listening to him whine and pant in our ears for 90 minutes while we got to the trailhead was not pleasant. In fact, he is lucky we love him or he would have been strangled.

We took highway 58 to Westfir and then the Aufderheide Scenic Highway (also known as Forest Service road 19) to Skookum Creek campground where the trail starts and leads to the Erma Belle lakes. I chose this hike because the trail to big Erma Belle is supposed to be handicapped accessible.....meaning it doesn't have a bunch of rocks and roots in the way and is pretty level. My hike at Brice Creek had left me sore and achy and I wanted to avoid that if I could. Plus I had been there before and thought the lake was just beautiful and a great place to sit and have lunch.

We took off just before noon. The weather was perfect....the temp about 72. The sign said 1 3/4 mile to Big Erma Belle. We were relieved to be walking and not driving and listening to Freddy. The trail was slightly downhill (we learned later) nice and wide, with few rocks or roots and skirted several hillsides and forded a little stream. Before long we were at the lake. A couple of tents gave away the locations of some campers, but we found nice rocks at the shoreline and sat and enjoyed the scenery and our sandwiches.

Big Erma has a waterfall (from middle Erma) going into it. You could hear it across the lake but not see it. There is also a stream that exits big Erma near where we were sitting. The previous time I was there, I remember tossing a fishing line in the lake at the outlet and getting lots of bites . There were about a million gigantic dragonflies darting around and jousting with each other. They looked like dueling helicopters. As we sat observing, we saw a lot of fish jumping on the other side of the lake and the splash of a bird diving for prey.

We decided to try and walk to the waterfall which connects the two lakes. We got over the bridge and around the corner and then the trail took a decidedly uphill route. Knowing we had to have the energy to get back to the car discouraged us from venturing further. Maybe next time.

So we headed back toward the trailhead. This time we realized that we were gradually heading uphill. We got our aerobic workout and were sweating and puffing by the time we got back to Skookum Creek and the car. Even Freddy was tired and he meekly laid down in the back seat and gave us a break from his panting.

Road 19 connects highway 58 at Westfir to highway 126 and the Mckenzie river. So instead of going back to Westfir, we turned right and headed north. Here is a link that shows the route.

http://visitmckenzieriver.com/new/to-do/59-scenic-drive-hwy-19-

We passed several nice campgrounds on the shores of the South Fork of the McKenzie and found ourselves at Cougar Reservoir just before sunset. Then we stopped by our friend David's house for a few minutes to rest and after a nice dinner at Ikes, headed home. What a nice adventure to say goodbye to summer.