Weekend Gem: The Three Fingered Jack Loop
This Around The Mountain Trail has different milages depending on how you slice it. You can camp at the spectacular Canyon Creek Meadows and take a way trail that follows the main stream and then up to the PCT, a total of 18 miles. Or, hike to Minto Pass and enjoy the Wasco Lake Basin along the way to a great view at the pass and some scenic tarns as the PCT follows a ridge with great views of Mt. Jefferson and surrounding wilderness, 23 miles. Take I-5 to HWY 22 that will lead to Santiam Pass, a windy pass scared from past eruptions and a huge wildfire, make sure you take plenty of sunscreen for this trail! Start out at the TH and hike to a split with TR 4014-Summit Lake and make that right as the trail climbs a bit before dropping to Square Lake. Continue on TR 4014 as it passes tiny tarns with great views up to Jack before arriving at scenic Booth Lake. The trail goes up a gentle pass and down to the car camp area at Jack Lake that mostly survived the rampaging fire that decimated this neck of the woods. Next, finish the day heading back into the forest and into epic Canyon Creek Meadows with one of the finest flower shows in the Cascades that is happening right now! With so many great camp spots in these amazing meadows, it is hard to choose. If you would like a spot with more solitude among the flowers, jump the creek and stay in the lower meadows. If a view of Jack is what you are after, stay in the upper meadows, either way make sure to follow the trail up to the viewpoint above Cirque Lake with a great unclose view of Jack and the green lake as it drains the glacier above, a truly amazing sight!
Today, you can take either the way trail as it follows the lake’s outlet stream and then skirts the edge of the forest to the right of the open slopes up to the PCT and make a left going south. Or to see more of the area, take the main trail to the PCNT connector trail past Wasco Lake to a great view from Minto Pass, high above Wasco Lake with Black Butte looming in the distant horizon. Either way, follow the PCT as it takes a amazing high route along the shoulder of the mountain and then under the West Face of Three Fingered Jack in meadows of beargrass and red volcanic stone. Views to the west open up to Dixie and Santiam Lakes, as Duffy Butte hovers above the surrounding basins. Mt. Jefferson seems close to the north inspiring you to do a thru hike of the PCT to see this amazing section and more. After daydreaming a bit, drop down on easy tread back into the burn as this loop comes to a close with the right hand split back to your car. Feel the satisfaction that comes with a Around The Mountain Trail, a complete understanding of Jack’s many faces and a better understanding of this unique country. Now, what about Mt. St Helen’s Loowit Trail, the next likely installment in the Around The Mountain Trails?
Upper Canyon Creek Meadows with a blanket of lupine
- The spectacular East Face of Jack with Cirque Lake at last light
- The mist lifts on Three Fingered Jack
- The spectacular lower meadows
- On Jack’s shoulder, high above the meadows
- Mt. Jefferson from Minto Pass area
