Weekend Gem-French Pete, Pat and Rebel Hike & Bike

Camping with the Old-Growth on French Pete

In my quest to immerse myself in the best Old-Growth Valleys in the Northwest, I went down to the Three Sisters area to make a loop out of French Pete and Rebel Creeks. Dropping a bike off at French Pete TH, I headed the 3 miles down the road to hike up Rebel and into the Wilderness. This 27.2 mile semi-loop trip starts off follows the Creek up before you start heading up to Rebel Lookout with slopes of Old-Growth Douglas Firs and the occasional Cedar. This is a trek for the true wilderness lover, with unmaintained/overgrown trails, missing intersection signs and solitude. When the views start opening up a bit to the ridgeline to your right containing the Lookout and down into Rebel Valley, keep your eyes peeled for a old signless trail post on your left before the main trail makes a hard right to the Lookout. Now, in my opinion, I would skip the 600ft. climb to the Lookout and make that left to Beeler Springs instead. The Tower has seen better days, with all of it’s windows busted out and surrounding boardwalk crumbling apart from years of neglect. But in all honesty, I am not much of a fan of historical human dwellings like this one in the first place, the view was great. Anyway, the trail climbs steadily through unmaintained, but easy to follow tread to the Spring where a couple of primitive camps are in a nice sparsely forested saddle. Shortly after the Spring, the trail starts diving down to a unmarked intersection, stay to the left. Continue to a signed intersection for Bear Flat to your left, take that split and begin to enter into lovely meadows on this relatively flat trail. Soon, you will come to a intersection marking a trail to Park Lake, stay left and continue on to Olallie Meadows where great camps can be found.

Today, the trail climbs out of the meadows to open views east to the Sisters before dropping down to the quiet trailhead that leads to French Pete Creek through upper Pat Creek. This section of the valley was by far the most dramatic, with steep river banks and huge trees anchored into the sides of it displaying their ancient grandeur. Matter of fact, the whole 9.4 miles from the trailhead are the finest forests that I have seen in Oregon! When the hits an intersection, stay right for great camping spots among these beautiful trees. The trail eventually leads to a crossing of the Creek, a little past knee deep in the early season with a moderate current, not too bad for May. You can take a mile side trail to avoid the crossing, but it looked like a steep scramble more than a actual trail. The tread crosses the Creek again before descending slowly to the trailhead and your bike. I have a big back basket on my bike that I put my pack into for trips like this, but you could always stash it in the woods out of sight, it is not a heavily used area. Bike back the 3 relatively flat miles to your car and enjoy the peaceful ride home along the McKenzie River.

Rebel Creek Lookout

French Pete Creek crossing

Spring flowers line your way

Big trees everywhere!