Hiking Marion Lake

What a weekend!  Christian and I met up with 2 guys from work to backpack into Marion Lake in the Jefferson Wilderness area this weekend.  What a beautiful place.  We had a better-than-fabulous time.  If you're a backpacker and haven't been there, go.  If you're not and are thinking about getting started, go.  You can't miss.

Getting there

Directions are simple.  Take I-5 to Salem, and get on Hwy

 22 East.

Follow Hwy 22 through some delightful small towns to just past milepost 66.

Turn left on Marion Creek Rd, follow it 4 miles to the trailhead.

The hike

2.5 miles, of mostly slight uphill grade.  Total climb is 600', none of it steep.  The trail is very well kept.  You don't see any of the burned area on the hike in.  The 

forest is quiet in late September, with just the sound of the sunlight streaming through the treetop canopy.  There are a few streams

 on the way in, none very large until Lake Ann.  Marion Lake is just 0.3 mile past Lake Ann if you turn left at the fork.  If you 

tu

rn right, it's over a mile to the first camp site.  

Staying

The camp sites around the lake are huge, and there are a fair amount of them.  There's a large one right when you get to the lake, another 0.25 mile toward Minto Pass, another half a mile further on, and I would guess a few more that I didn't see.  They're mostly group sites, with enough room for a dozen tents, and all o

f them are right on the water.  There's an equestrian camp if you head toward Marion Peak.  The camp is about 60' down a bank, but the trail is pretty good.

Adventures and views

Once you pick a camp site, you can head out on day hikes.  You can get to the areas that burned in the 2

003 B&B fire within a couple miles either toward Marion Peak or Minto Pass.  The regrowing forest is alive in a way that the mature forest is not.  It reminds me of my 2 year-old son; so fresh.  Everything is beautiful there.  Three Finger Jack dominates the Lake scene from the camp sites.  If you climb a bit, Mt Jefferson comes into view. 

Impact

I've never been much of a Boy Scout.  I was a First Class, but got too busy with teen stuff to care about it much after I turned 14.  But the 3 camping experiences I had as a kid were great.  Between 1991 and this year, though, I'd only been backpacking once, in 2001.  It was fabulous, and lit the fire for me.  After I finished school this year, I resolved to go camping with Buddy.  We've gone twice this year, and it's been wonderful.  It's by far the best way to get me away from my computer.  So I'm hoping to go several times in 2009, and even hopefully a snow camp next winter.  I love the outdoors!  I'm so glad to live in Oregon.  There is not any more beautiful place on earth!