Day two of my "stay-cation" adventure was going to be that of a redemption story... kind of. After failing once before, I was eager to give Indigo Lake a second try. I also had a few other plans to see a couple of waterfalls. It was another early morning, but I had a hot cup of coffee in my hand and was more than excited to hike into Indigo Lake. When I eventually made the turn from Crescent Lake to head back to Summit Lake, I quickly realized the folly in my thinking that the first trip, this was one rough road, not to mention it would have been completely buried in snow a few months back.
Unfortunately, getting to the trailhead as not in the day's cards. I was able to make it to Summit Lake, but on the west side, I ran into more snow than my truck could handle. I did my best to push through what I could, but every obstacle ahead of me was increasing in difficulty, and I continued. Without a wench and being along, I finally gave into my "spidey sense" that was warning me about getting stuck and decided to turn around. While I was turning around, two dirt bikes came from where I was heading, and I was curious to hear what news they had about the road. Unfortunately, they only confirmed my decision to turn around as that was what they had to do as well. Not wanting to take a complete loss for my efforts to get in here, I stretched my legs for a bit and hikes around Summit Lake on a trail that got me pretty deep into the wilderness to some beautiful small lakes.
Next, I was off to Lemolo Falls. As the crow flys, I was pretty close to the falls, but as the road drives, it was a good little trek. I tried to shave off some time and take an old dirt road pass through the woods but got myself into more snow forcing me to turn around. I need to invest in some better snow options for my truck. Fortunately, this pushed me back to the main road where I curiously explored a quarry for sanding the roads during winter. It looked like the sand was made from old lava rock as the color was a deep red. It felt like I was in Australia or Africa, it was pretty neat.
Now we get to more waterfalls. When I go out, I always love getting into the wilderness around water, any water, it doesn't matter to me. But all the sudden I found my self in a quest for waterfalls that somehow I feel was inspired by my recent trip to Abiqua Falls. So over the course of the next few hours, I would hike in to see Lemolo Falls, Warm Spring Falls, and Watson Falls. All of the falls were equally beautiful in their own ways, but I'm not sure I could pick a favorite. A side note, on my way home a local wood mill not too far from where I grew up caught on fire in the night. I stopped to take a picture from a distance, maybe a mile or so away, I was amazed by how bright the blaze was and how well it lite up the night sky. I hope everyone is ok.
