14 miles, 1200’ elevation gain

After the previous hike (which left me in recovery mode for days) I wanted something a little easier today. I settled on a chunk of the McKenzie River Trail system where I knew the elevation change would be minimal and the photographic opportunities would be good. Despite a gray day, that’s pretty much how it worked out.

I started off at Koosah Falls in the early twilight (which of course comes later every day) and headed upstream on the MRT past Sahalie Falls. Things were damp and drizzly, but there was no sign of the snow that some forecasts were predicting. After a mile or so I got to Clear Lake, which offered some more gray views, and headed up the east side of the lake.

This section of trail goes over a few patches of rough lava, but the Forest Service has helpfully paved those sections to make for easier hiking. There were a few ducks out on the lake but not much else going on. Past the end of the lake, I headed on up to the northern end of the McKenzie River Trail.

Here I (carefully) made my way up the shoulder of the busy highway and crossed over to the access road for the Fish Lake Remount Depot. I hadn’t been there before, and it was an interesting stop. Fish Lake itself is seasonal, which means that right now it is just a big grassy area with no water (or fish). The Remount Depot was an important stop back in the wagon train travel days, and there are quite a few well-preserved historic buildings here. A couple of them are available for winter rentals. I kicked back in an Adirondack chair on one of the porches and enjoyed some lunch.

Then it was back south to where I’d started. This time I took the trail on the west side of Clear Lake, as well as the branch down the west of the waterfalls, for some more variety. I ended up taking 8 hours to go 14 miles, which is a terrible pace, but in this case it was accounted for by stopping to take 300+ photos instead of trail conditions. Overall, this is a nice area for easy hiking, especially if you like seeing tiny mushrooms at this time of year.

GPX track at Caltopo

Misty morning at Clear Lake

There were many photogenic mushrooms

Historic buildings at Fish Lake

Fish Lake

More tiny mushrooms

Sahalie Falls

Koosah Falls