Pamelia Lake Loop

Thursday Mom, Jacob, and I ran the Pamelia Lake loop.  The route we take starts at the Pamelia Lake trailhead, climbs past Pamelia Lake and Milk Creek, then on to Coyote and Shale Lakes.  This time we cut cross-country from Coyote and Shale Lakes down to Hunt's Cove because we ran into a lot of snow.  The snow was pretty slow and I'd guess it will be a few weeks before it will all melt.  Fortunately we only had snow for the upper sections of the loop.  We probably made it 80-90% of the way to Coyote and Shale Lakes before we saw any snow, but by the time we reached the lakes it was pretty deep.

Rhododendrons in bloom

Mt. Jefferson from Milk Creek

Paintbrush

Snow on Milk Creek.  Its been a long time since we've seen snow this low at Milk Creek

Mom and Jacob on the climb up to Shale and Mud Lakes

Grizzly Peak

This was new.  When I came around the corner it looked like the hillside had been clearcut.  The avalanche must have pushed all the trees to the sides or carried them to the bottom because there were no trees left in the middle of the avalanche's path.

The first patch of snow

Snow ahead

Looking back at Grizzly Peak

Looking back down the drainage toward Pamelia Lake

Lots of snow now

The outlet of Coyote Lake

Mt. Jefferson

Mom and Jacob walking the end of Shale Lake

Shale Lake

Three Fingered Jack poking out over the ridge

Looking down on Hunt's Cove

Hunt's Cove

The rock outcropping toward the upper left of this picture was all sticking straight up.  It was pretty cool, but the picture makes it look like the side of a hill.  I guess you'll have to get out there and see it for yourself.

Looking back down the trail

A shooting star

After a short cross country descent we made it down to Hunt's Cove

Lots of creeks because the snow melt

Hank's Lake

Ducks on the ice

Trillium

The falls on Hunt's Creek

Trillium by the falls

Mt. Jefferson

A big falls near the top of the brown section on the far ridge

Another view of the falls

I zoomed in the get this shot of the falls.  There's a lot of water coming down!

Almost back to Pamelia Lake

Past Pamelia Lake and just a few minutes from the car

After the run we took advantage of Pamelia Creek to wash off before we made the drive back to Corvallis.  The creek was a little cold, but it was certainly refreshing to cool off in the creek after the run.  Hopefully the trails will melt out soon since it would be fun to do the whole loop.  I'm sure we will go back later this summer as some of the best views are on the section that we skipped.  If you want to go you'll need to get a permit which you can get here: Permit