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- Dec 1, 2016
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So I've finally hit a lull in work and can post the juicy details of my wilderness outing this last weekend. I did not take nearly as many pictures as
The Warrior
but I hope they are at least half as interesting as his fantastic post in regards to his own weekend adventure.
Now I know I have talked about one of my favorite haunts here before but I will go over it again. A few times a year, some of my buddies and I will venture out to the Firecamp Lakes area just inside the Jefferson Wilderness. Some years ago we affectionately dubbed it Fort Kickass and apparently Google heard our inadvertent petition and it has been named thus in Google Maps ever since...
This is one of our favorite places for a number of reasons. It isn't heavily frequented, though we do occasionally get a few free souls wandering into our camp with their drums and unique odor. But this isn't too far from the Breitenbush Hot Springs and Retreat Center so such unique wanderers are to be expected...
Firecamp Lakes is a small cluster of lakes that is comprised of Crown Lake, Clagett Lake, and Sheep Lake. Crown Lake is generally the first of the three lakes you come to and is the largest, it also tends to attract the most visitors. Hiking a bit further brings you to Clagett Lake (aka Fort Kickass) and this is generally where we set up camp.
However, upon our arrival this time, we found that everything was still covered in snow, essentially wiping out the trail and making trekking rather difficult since it was several feet deep in places and we did not bring our snowshoes (Somewhat unusual to have this much snow at this time of year). Not to be deterred though, we trudged on and made our way to Crown Lake. It was at this point that the others in the party opted to remain at Crown and not carry on to Fort Kickass. The trail is hard to find, even in the best of times, so trying to navigate it in the snow seemed a daunting task. Plus, Crown Lake was spectacular and we found quite an optimal spot for our base of operations.
My brother and I arrived later than the others and these are some of the views that greeted us. The sun was just starting to set. You can see that the lake is still largely covered in snow, much of this melted over the weekend though.
The next morning arrived and these views are what awaited our somewhat sleep deprived eyes. Not a cloud in the sky... You can see Mt. Jefferson peaking above the ridgeline. Hard to describe how brilliant a blue the sky was, my pictures do not do it justice...
Coffee is an essential ingredient to getting any day started on the right track...
Yes... the only way to drink it...
I had my hammock hanging in a world class spot. I could thing of a lot worse views to wake up to.
Now my compadres apparently made a rather lackluster attempt at collecting and processing firewood. Resulting in a less than stellar fire full of smoke and ash and very little in the way of flame and heat. So my brother and I took it upon ourselves to remedy an otherwise dire situation.
My little brother felling a dead tree. And yes ladies (and dudes), he is taken. I found that little vintage boy's axe he is using at a thrift shop, rather my son did. This was the first outing I have taken it on and it performed unbelievably well. I was very pleased....
Processing some wood real quick to at least get a quality fire going. The Bahco performs beautifully, however it is limited due to its size. I promptly put a 21" Sven in the shopping cart when I got home. Thanks
91bravo
for your stellar reviews.
The King doing what the King does: Being undoubtedly awesome.
I am bummed I didn't get more action shots with the 9, it is rather difficult to capture good pics when you are in the middle of working (aka having fun). However, I did get some good shots of the 12 though which will come a bit later.
A few clouds blowing through...
Some random bits of beauty...
To be continued!
The Warrior
but I hope they are at least half as interesting as his fantastic post in regards to his own weekend adventure.Now I know I have talked about one of my favorite haunts here before but I will go over it again. A few times a year, some of my buddies and I will venture out to the Firecamp Lakes area just inside the Jefferson Wilderness. Some years ago we affectionately dubbed it Fort Kickass and apparently Google heard our inadvertent petition and it has been named thus in Google Maps ever since...
This is one of our favorite places for a number of reasons. It isn't heavily frequented, though we do occasionally get a few free souls wandering into our camp with their drums and unique odor. But this isn't too far from the Breitenbush Hot Springs and Retreat Center so such unique wanderers are to be expected...
Firecamp Lakes is a small cluster of lakes that is comprised of Crown Lake, Clagett Lake, and Sheep Lake. Crown Lake is generally the first of the three lakes you come to and is the largest, it also tends to attract the most visitors. Hiking a bit further brings you to Clagett Lake (aka Fort Kickass) and this is generally where we set up camp.
However, upon our arrival this time, we found that everything was still covered in snow, essentially wiping out the trail and making trekking rather difficult since it was several feet deep in places and we did not bring our snowshoes (Somewhat unusual to have this much snow at this time of year). Not to be deterred though, we trudged on and made our way to Crown Lake. It was at this point that the others in the party opted to remain at Crown and not carry on to Fort Kickass. The trail is hard to find, even in the best of times, so trying to navigate it in the snow seemed a daunting task. Plus, Crown Lake was spectacular and we found quite an optimal spot for our base of operations.
My brother and I arrived later than the others and these are some of the views that greeted us. The sun was just starting to set. You can see that the lake is still largely covered in snow, much of this melted over the weekend though.
The next morning arrived and these views are what awaited our somewhat sleep deprived eyes. Not a cloud in the sky... You can see Mt. Jefferson peaking above the ridgeline. Hard to describe how brilliant a blue the sky was, my pictures do not do it justice...
Coffee is an essential ingredient to getting any day started on the right track...
Yes... the only way to drink it...
I had my hammock hanging in a world class spot. I could thing of a lot worse views to wake up to.
Now my compadres apparently made a rather lackluster attempt at collecting and processing firewood. Resulting in a less than stellar fire full of smoke and ash and very little in the way of flame and heat. So my brother and I took it upon ourselves to remedy an otherwise dire situation.
My little brother felling a dead tree. And yes ladies (and dudes), he is taken. I found that little vintage boy's axe he is using at a thrift shop, rather my son did. This was the first outing I have taken it on and it performed unbelievably well. I was very pleased....
Processing some wood real quick to at least get a quality fire going. The Bahco performs beautifully, however it is limited due to its size. I promptly put a 21" Sven in the shopping cart when I got home. Thanks
91bravo
for your stellar reviews.
The King doing what the King does: Being undoubtedly awesome.
I am bummed I didn't get more action shots with the 9, it is rather difficult to capture good pics when you are in the middle of working (aka having fun). However, I did get some good shots of the 12 though which will come a bit later.
A few clouds blowing through...
Some random bits of beauty...
To be continued!
If I had the 9 and the 12 in the woods, I'd be set for life I think...
