[pct-l] Diamond Peak Wilderness last weekend

[david at dalbey.org (David Dalbey)]

Just a quick trip report on a great weekend of hiking in the diamond peak
wilderness.  my wife Karen & I left Odell lake around 6:00pm last Thursday &
hiked to Yoran Lake where we spent night #1.  We saw no one on the trail &
there were only two other groups at the lake, one being a group of what I'd
assume to be a Christian youth group of some sort.  I must say, when the sun
was setting over diamond peak listening to them sing "How great thou art" in
the distance did give me some goose bumps!  The next day we hiked about 8
miles on the PCT to Marie lake.  We ran into one thru-hiker, Bill Smith a
really nice gentleman who was hoping to meet up with family on 8/27 at
Mckenzie pass.  We let him know about the fires.  Bill was the only person
we met on the trail that day.  We had some thunder & a little drizzle, not
much & then spent our next night at Marie lake.  Lots of mosquitos.  The
only other people at the lake were at the other end.  Day three had us
hiking North and East to Diamond View lake on the old Skyline trail.  We
passed two ladies on horses & shared the lake with one other party, (who
were on the other side).  No mosquito's, clear skies and an outstanding view
of Mars.  The afternoon and evening spent at this lake were probably the
highlight of the trip.  The last day found us hiking back to Shelter
cove/Odell lake.  Once again, pretty much by ourselves.  We passed one party
of day hikers.  After dropping our packs we headed over to the store &
bought drinks & read through the hiker register.

I was extremely surprised at the lack of other hikers in this area during
what I considered to be the peak season.  If anyone's looking to get out for
an extended weekend in Oregon this next month I'd hightly recommend this
area!

David
david@dalbey.org