First Day

Nancy, Cappuccino, and I had breakfast at Starbucks then we left Nancy at home and started up to the Three Sisters Wilderness Trailhead. Two hours later I was able to coax the Prius down an old two track road to the Olallie Trailhead. Cappuccino and I shouldered our packs and headed up the trail. The time was 11:20 AM.

Starting around 2,600 feet near the south McKenzie River, the trail rises over 2,200 feet to the ridgetop in about 4 miles of switchbacks. It stays mainly in the drainage of Bull Creek as it ascends, so there is always the sound of splashing water in your ears.

The path works its way skyward through pleasant second growth forest until you get near the top. There it turns into old growth forest with immense trees and a kind of cathedral atmosphere. There is a twilight quality to the light which enhances the church like feeling.

The Olallie Trail was in excellent shape for the ascent, but then we took the Wildcat Trail east at the top. They’re the trail became much harder to follow. All my CDT trail finding experience was of benefit. Even with that, I felt we were only barely able to follow the faint signs that a trail existed here.

Ooccasionally we would lose the tread of the path, but a little backtracking would pick up the signs again. It was a challenge, but surprisingly, we made reasonable time on it. The mosquitoes were pretty fierce in some places and peskyi throughout the day. Although they pestered us, we suffered only one or two bites each. In fact, our goal today had been a lake on the map, but when I zoomed in on it, I saw it its name was Wildcat Swamp! We decided to stop a mile and a half short of the swamp, not wanting to deal with any extra mosquitoes, it might provide.

Until tomorrow, Happy Trails!