Calendar

Past Activity

Obsidian Limited Entry Area

  • Start date: 07/25/2014

  • Start time: 12:00 AM

  • End date: 07/27/2014

  • End time: 11:59 PM

Description:

This is our third outing into the Obsidian Area in the Three Sisters Wilderness for a meadow restoration project given to us by the Forest Service.

Early Friday morning (7/25) we'll backpack 6 miles into the Obsidian Area and set up a basecamp close to sunshine meadow with great views of the North and Middle Sister. We'll spend the majority of our time creating small dams every couple of feet in an old user trail that runs parallel with the PCT. If we build them right, the dams will catch dirt and other sediment during storms which will help make the trail disappear over time. We'll backpack out late Sunday morning.

We'll be working with other McKenzie Wilderness Volunteers as well as Wilderness Rangers, it's a great way to experience the wilderness! I'm hoping my timing off this trip will mean the wildflowers will be in full bloom and the mosquitoes will be gone.

Note: In order to participate, you'll need to have a signed volunteer form submitted to the forest service at least a week in advance. If you're already signed up as a high cascades trail volunteer or FS volunteer then this form is already in place. Contact me for the form.

Car pooling can be set up once the group is established.

  • Event Leader: Larsen Todd

  • Assistant Leader:

  • Event category: Trail Maintenance

  • Area Type: Mountain

  • Departure Location: See Trip Description

  • Rating: Moderate

  • Roundtrip total drive miles: 74

  • Season: 2014

  • Permits Required:

  • Event Status: Passed

  • Supplies and Equipment Required: Backpacking gear (tent, sleeping bag, stove (no fires), water filter, etc) and food for 2 days. Forest Service will provide the tools needed. Since it is in July, bug nets might be helpful.

  • participant prerequisites:

  • Conditions:

  • Total Distance: 12

  • Member Fees: —

  • Elevation Gain: 2000

  • Non-Member Fees: —

  • Committee: Trail Maintenance

  • Junior member fees: —

Trip Report

Lisa and I drove up early Friday morning to the Mckenzie River Ranger Station to meet up with another wilderness volunteer and loaded up the tools for our trip. From there it was on to the trailhead and then we began our trek. We tried stopping for lunch in one of the meadows that we worked on last year, but the mosquitoes started getting to us so we continued on towards our destination of sisters springs. Once we got to the Pacific Crest Trail we ran into a couple thru hikers who we had a great time chatting with. We dropped our packs shortly after this and headed towards sunshine meadow, before we made it there we ran into some flagging and decided to remove all of it. We ended up removing all the flagging all the way up to Arrowhead lake, but were rewarded with great views of the area along with running into several climbers and a fun glissade back down!

On Saturday we woke up to some cool weather, several of the ponds had even iced over. We then headed back down to the meadow and continued working on the check dams we started last year. We were also joined by another wilderness volunteer and a wilderness ranger. I went down to help cut out a large log that had fallen across the trail, and ended up taking almost 5 hours! Sunday we worked on the meadow for a little bit more before starting the hike out before lunch. We ran into several different groups on the way out.

Great trip and great weather, the sun always shines in sunshine meadow!

Members & Guests signed-up & waitlisted

  • Number of spots on trip: 8
  • Number of spots available: 5
No. Status Full name Phone Transportation Needed? Trip Fee # Can Take?
1 Signed-Up Larsen, Todd 509-949-0034 N —
2 Signed-Up Grissell, Lisa 541-653-8687-458-221-2559 N —
3 Signed-Up Haynes, Jennifer 1 949-887-6921 N —