Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

…Robert Frost

“I’m interested in most phases of data processing”

I just got back from an overnighter in the Canyon Creek Meadows area near Three Finger Jack and it was amazing. Until this weekend I was fully unaware of this little slice of heaven stashed away up on Santiam Pass. I have literally driven by this an un-countable amount of times just miles away on highway 20 without knowing what lay just over the horizon.
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Amber’s co-worker Matt had scouted the area and put together the short little backpacking trip. We started out at Jack’s Lake trailhead, which is about 10 miles off of highway 2o just past Suttle Lake, and hiked about 3.5 miles into our camp in Canyon Creek Meadows.

“My name is Hurley and I am Badass” (no, really, that’s what his dog tag says)

This is the lower meadow on our way to the upper meadow.

Hurley and me with Mount Jefferson in the background. This is the view from up on the viewpoint saddle. The way I am facing looks out at Mount Washington, Three Sisters, Broken Top, Mount Bachelor and Black Butte. Amazing Views.

Flower Power! While we were here we did two different day hikes. The first one we bushwacked up to the Pacific Crest Trail and actually ran into someone who was doing the full PCT. The view up there was pretty amazing as well. One of the things that was astonishing was the size of the B & B Complex fire that occurred in 2003. It literally encompassed nearly 360 degrees and went on forever.

This was about 50 yards from our campsite.

This might be one of my favorite pictures of a stream ever. Amazing.

Here is the full slide show from the hike: