Strawberry Mtn Eclipse Backpack
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Thinking I might avoid the great eclipse crowds, I opted for the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness near John Day, Oregon. I had done the loop there almost thirty years ago, and was eager to see it all again. I made the drive late on Wednesday, Aug 16th, only to find the small campground next to the Strawberry Lake trailhead was already full! A nice young fellow from New Mexico took pity on me though, and offered to let me pitch my tent on his campsite. After setting up a quick car camp I drove around to the trailhead and parked my car in the last available slot there. I REALLY lucked out! I should’ve been here a day earlier, but how could a person possibly know?
The next morning my new pup Kola and I headed up to beautiful Strawberry Lake for our first night in the “wilderness”. I put that in quotes because it seemed as though this entire wilderness area was already packed with people. As I talked to folks along my trek it became clear that most were from California – there were VERY few Oregonians here. We lucked out though and found an available site next to the lake where I caught a nice little Brook Trout, and Kola enjoyed a refreshing swim.…
The next day (Friday) we hiked over to Slide Lake. It too was packed with campers, but fortunately has a large, fairly open flat area adjacent to the lake with many places a tent can be pitched. We found a spot about 300 feet back from the lake and enjoyed a nice, quiet evening.
On Saturday we continued our trek with High Lake as our goal. This day took us over a high pass with nice views to the northeast…
I didn’t notice the Mountain Goat in that last picture until I got home!
We passed above the Mud Lake basin, which is pretty thoroughly burned out. Not many folks camping down there I’d guess.…
Heading on toward High Lake…
A feature called “The Rabbit Ears” comes into view…
High Lake was full to the brim with people, dogs, kids, makeshift rafts, boom boxes and lawn chairs. Yikes! it was like Timothy Lake on steroids! The closest spot to camp I could find was a quarter mile away in a semi-burned area. In the evening the wind really kicked up, making it difficult to sleep. Not my best backpacking experience ever, that’s for sure.
On Sunday we continued on toward Strawberry Mountain, which is where I had planned to view the eclipse. We soon arrived at the High Lake trailhead, which was packed with cars on both shoulders…
The line of cars continued downhill for at least a mile…
Most of the plates were California. Makes sense. If you’re coming from the south this would be a good entry point.
Continuing on toward the mountain…
Kola’s not so happy about lugging his food for miles and miles…
I was planning on camping at Onion Creek Meadow this night, but had talked to so many folks headed there I was concerned about finding a decent place to camp. Luckily I found a small spring just below the trail on the south side of the mountain and set up camp on the hillside nearby…
Not super comfortable, but at least it was private.
Sunset the night before the eclipse…
At 8 a.m. on the morning of the eclipse I could see a bunch of people had already gathered on the summit…
Having Kola with me I worried things would likely be too hectic up there to watch the dog, and the eclipse, and take pictures all at once. So I opted to hike up to the nearby saddle instead, and was glad I did. Plenty of room here, and still a great view at 8300 feet elevation…
Plus Kola had a great spot in the shade where he napped peacefully for an hour or so…
I chatted for a while with the nice folks here, then set up my camera and began to take shots of the partial eclipse. A minute before totality I looked off to the west to see if I could detect the shadow approaching, but I could only tell it was getting darker to the west. And man was it getting COLD!
Then suddenly it was like someone had flipped a light switch and darkness descended on the Strawberries…
Composite image showing about a 30 minute time frame…
And then it was all over just as quickly as it had come. Minutes later I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a guy RUNNING WITH A FULL PACK, back to the trailhead. Then another. Then another. Crazyness. Some folks just gotta beat the crowd I guess.
Kola and I went back to camp, packed up, and headed over the saddle to Onion Creek Meadow, which was nearly empty by the time we got there. We found the best campsite of the trip there, and enjoyed a nice, relaxing evening.
On Tuesday we hiked out to the car. Along the way we encountered a Forest Service cleanup crew, and I asked them if they had any idea how many people had been in the Strawberries for the eclipse. The gal said the Forest Service estimated 1200 folks! Wow! I’ll bet normally there’s less than a hundred.
Final shots on our very smokey last day…
Awesome trip!
Gordon
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