Yoran Lake via Trapper Creek

Date: Saturday, July 10, 2010
Destination: Yoran Lake/Midnight Lake, Diamond Peak Wilderness

We were camping at Crescent Lake (the one off Hwy 58 near Willamette Pass) for the weekend with D's annual work outing. The lake was much fuller than usual. Much of the lakeshore beaches were underwater as was the small island near Tranquil Cove. Thought we'd get a nice long hike in since we haven't been able to do any so far this season with the low snow levels and hectic schedules. We chose to do the Yoran Lake/Midnight Lake loop in Sullivan's green book, which is a 12.1 mi RT hike with about 1300 ft of elevation gain.

Saturday morning, we downed some instant oatmeal for breakfast and were on our way to the TH by 10a. It was a nice change to be close enough to a trailhead to shave off a couple of hours driving time first. From Hwy 58, we took the West Odell Lake access/Shelter Cove turnoff. The TH parking area was right next to a railroad crossing on the opposite side of the road from the resort's main entrance. There were already several cars parked there, but we managed to find a nice shady spot underneath some trees. Temperature was in the low-70's and sunny skies. After an Amtrak passenger train blew by, we crossed the railroad tracks, which reeked strongly of creosote, to the actual TH on the opposite side of the tracks. A brief stop to fill out the wilderness permit and we were on our way by 10:38a.

The trail starts off with a very easy grade through the usual forest of lodgepole pines and doug firs typical in this area before crossing Trapper Creek over a small footbridge. Lots of water still gushing in the creek towards Odell Lake. Almost immediately, we encountered a small group of backpackers coming down the trail. More level walking for another half mile until we came to the Yoran Lake trail junction. A fallen tree had knocked loose and upside down the trail junction sign and across the trail, but we easily navigated under it and onto the Yoran Lake trail. No views of mountains or lakes or creeks of any kind for the next 3 miles.

The temperature was rising along with the number of mosquitoes. We came prepared with jungle juice and were quite liberal in its application as the little skeeters became more numerous. Luckily, an occasional breeze here and there helped kept them buggers away. We came to the small unnamed lake noted in the book as a bald eagle flew across back and forth just above the lake's trees several times. We weren't quite quick enough with the cameras to get a picture before it flew away. This unnamed lake had a nice little beach area to just sit and hang out in the sun on. The water was clear and shimmery. Spots of white from Diamond Peak could be seen through the treetops. As we left, I decided that since the lake was unnamed, I would name it Braxtyn Lake, after my 2.5 week old nephew, so that he would always have someplace special to go to, if he so desired

Beyond "Braxtyn Lake" about a half mile, we came to Yoran Lake's outlet creek, which was flowing pretty good compared to its description in the book as a "rocky torrent that dries up by July". Rocky torrent, it still was, but no wildflowers to speak of just yet. We headed down the trail some and met a couple headed the other direction w/ identical Osprey backpacks and hiking garb. Another half mile to a fork with a "trail" sign pointed toward a log crossing and a very obvious trail to the left. This was a junction described as another "dry dreek", but was far from being dry this year. We wanted to check out Karen Lake, so we took the left hand fork, which ascended maybe 25 ft alongside a small waterfall in the not-so-dry creek and up to Karen Lake. This was probably my favorite lake of the day. It was probably 3 or 4 times the size of the 1st lake and a bit more open along the shores. The lake was calm with some water bugs skimming across the top here and there. Some pinkish wildflower grew in bushes along the banks. I wished I could have spent the afternoon lying on its banks napping.

Instead, we proceeded on via a short spur trail across Karen Lake's outlet. Not sure of how many opportunities we would have to pick up fresh cool water and not wanting to run out on a warm day, we decided to stop and filter some water from the creek, just in case, and soak our handkerchiefs in the water to help us cool off. Though a light breeze across the lake kept the skeeters at bay while we filled our water bladders, it was also here that the mosquitoes began to be more aggressive, although not terrible. As soon as we left the creek's bank, the skeeters sprang into action, but it was the worst we'd encounter all day. We pulled out the jungle juice as quickly as we could and got going towards Yoran Lake.

A short spur path led us to the first view of Yoran Lake and a snow-topped Diamond Peak. There was still plenty of snow on the mountain, though quite a bit has melted since we saw it two weeks ago. On the far end of the lake, a couple of bare tops peeked over the trees. Anyone know if they have names? Some more picture taking here, although the harsh lighting pretty much made the snow way overexposed in all of our photo attempts. We bushwacked along the eastern shore of Yoran Lake and pretty much stayed as high as possible until we couldn't any more and then scrambled down between some large rocks just after losing sight of the island behind us. We'd stop on occasion to check the compass since there was only one island visible in the lake instead of the two described in the book. We guessed that it was probably underwater due to all the late snow.

Following the compass true north, we could see the tread on the opposite side of a boggy meadow and avoided the sticky muck by staying to the left, near a small grove of trees/bushes. We crested the small bench on the opposite side to a view of Lils Lake, a tiny body of water with a small island (maybe 3 feet across at most) in the middle that had pink blooms. Some more bushwacking followed as we stayed high along the left side of Lils Lake. Here and there I'd stop to peek through the trees to see the shape of the lake. There was a small cover with a short cliff that looked like a good swimming hole, if it was deep enough. It wasn't long before we were on the PCT headed towards Pengra Pass.

There are so many small lakes and ponds along this stretch that I just gave up trying to take pictures of all of them and rely only on my memory bank instead. We visited Hidden Lake about a mile down the trail, near the two of three official branded wooden PCT signs on this stretch. There were some backpackers at Arrowhead Lake enjoying the afternoon reading books and playing on the shore. Somewhere along the way, we completed missed the turnoff to Midnight Lake. But we saw so many ponds and lakes that it was just fine with us to save it for another day. We saw only one other person the rest of the way. He had parked at Gold Lake, near Pengra Pass, and was intending on trying his luck fishing. This back stretch had some obscured views of a forested canyon, but was otherwise uneventful.

We reached the Pengra Pass junction where it meets a rutted dirt road. Ironically, shooting stars were everywhere along the roadside here, the most flowers we'd seen all day. Some lupines were also beginning to bloom. Another turn onto a trail marked by blue ski diamonds and a shady forest. We were back at the Yoran Lake trail junction another 1.3 miles later and back at the Trapper Creek TH around 4:45p. We took our time to change out of our sweaty, deet-soaked garb, enjoyed a couple of cool refreshing Pepsi's, and corn dogs from the Crescent Lake store en route back to the campground by about 5:45p.