Hike to Green Lakes or Great Granny's Got a Gun!

Hi Blog!  On Monday, September 9th, we were on our own as the family went back to work, school, chores and appointments.  We thought this would be a great opportunity to get out and do some more hiking.  We really enjoyed our time with the family around Todd Lake and Elk Lake, and wanted to see more of the Cascade Lakes Region.  Both Leslie and Jeff suggest we hike the Green Lakes Trail.

The trailhead is located just passed Todd Lake and Sparks Lake along the Cascades Lakes Scenic Byway.  This 66 mile road takes you past 11 large lakes and many more smaller lakes.

We arrived at the trailhead and were impressed with the amount of parking available.  They even had designated sites for horse trailers and RVs.  Of course, this type of infrastructure comes at a price - a $5.00 day use fee.  However, they accept National Park Passes, so we filled out the envelope, hung the tag on our rear view mirror and hit the trail.

With temperatures in the 60s and not a cloud in the sky, it was a beautiful day for a hike.  Just past the trailhead, we came upon a bridge over Fall Creek.

We soon learned we would be following the creek all the way up to a col between South Sister and Broken Top.  We hiked most of the way on what appeared to be an old woods road.  The trail was wide enough in spots to hike side by side.  Every mile brought us amazing views of the stream cascading down.

We though you might enjoy seeing one of the largest cascade on the hike in action.  It was quite refreshing standing in the spay of the waterfall.

Along the trail, we ran into several stands of old growth trees.  Here is Dave taking a rest on another candidate for the Game of Thrones (he wants to call it the "Four-Fingered Throne").

As we climbed higher, the trees thinned and gave way to beautiful alpine meadows.  In these flat areas, the creek almost seems to come to a standstill before rushing over the next fall.

As we approached the Green Lakes, we could clearly see where a large lava flow just came to a sudden halt.  It is difficult to see in this photo all the black obsidian shining in the bright sun.

As we walked past the wall of lava, we got our first view of Green Lake and South Sister.  We watched as small waterfalls tumbled down the side of the mountain as the sun melted the glacier.

As we hiked from Green Lake to South Green Lake, we discovered a large meadow littered with pumice.  While they look like normal rocks, they have the consistency of styrofoam.  We took turns balancing them on our finger tips.

Here is South Green Lake with Broken Top in the background.  We never made it to North Green Lake, since we already hiked 4.75 miles by this time and knew we had as many or more miles to get back to the trailhead.

We said our goodbyes to the mountains and the lakes and headed back down the trail.  We soon found our way blocked by a mule train consisting of four mules - two pack mules and two mules being ridden by Great Granny and Great Grandpa.  While Great Granny was working hard to get her pack mule's saddled cinched back up, Great Grandpa asked us to stand our ground, so as not to spook the mules.  It seemed to take forever and we were getting tired of standing and waiting.  We started trying to figure out how to get around them off trail, when Great Granny popped up to get back in her saddle and she was packing heat.  While not being familiar with hand guns, it sure did look like a Colt 45 strapped to her leg.  We are pretty sure there are laws against shooting someone, even if they spook your mules, but we weren't sure that Great Granny know that.  She did apologize for holding us up, but we told her no problem, take your time.  We're retired.  We're not in any hurry. (We also don't want to be shot.)  It took Granny another minute or two to fix her saddle, but they were soon on their way.  Too bad the photo doesn't show her six-shooter.  (It was tied to her right leg.)

We made it to the trailhead without further incident.  After 9.51 miles, we were tired little puppies.  We made one stop on the way home at the Columbia Outlet Store to pick up new day hikers for Dave.  Tuesday is chore day.  We have one last dinner scheduled with the family.  It is hard to believe that our time here in Bend is almost over.