I love driving Santiam Pass before dawn. Afternoon, not so much. But the 3 hour drive from Portland is worth this hike. I was hitting a cloudy Detroit Lake just as the first light was coming up, but by the time I got to the Jack Lake trailhead the sky was pink and clear.
The Canyon Creek trail meanders at a gentle grade east around the lake through a burn zone. The first meadow appears pretty soon, with its beds of lupine and babbling brooks and good campsites hidden off in the woods. The red-and-yellow striated face of Three Fingered Jack looms ahead, and the trail climbs a little to another small meadow. I can't tell if this was Upper Canyon Creek Meadow, since there was a massive, open meadow just over the ridge to the north, which I saw as I climbed up to the viewpoint above the cirque pond.
When I reached the cirque, I was a little disappointed that it was snowed-over and dirty, and then caught sight of a large goat in the crags off to my left. Hooray, finally - a goat sighting that did not require a zoom lens! I took about 100 pictures and then continued gingerly up to the ridge for views of the Cascades to the South. Other hikers came up behind me, and one of them was kind enough to share her binoculars so that I could see a second goat perched in the distance. Smoke from two different forest fires was palatable up there, but the views were spectacular for such an easy hike. Crazy colors and in-your-face views everywhere, all in a eight-mile loop with only modest climbing. Directions here. Loved it.
