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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2018)
4A ܂ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2018 ܂ APPEAL TRIBUNE Life in the Valley The joy of hiking into the fire-scarred Eight Lakes Basin Mowich Lake in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness was burned by the B&B Complex Fire 15 years ago this month. PHOTOS BY ZACH URNESS/STATESMAN JOURNAL Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK If you’ve ever traveled across San- tiam Pass toward Bend, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the scar left by a cat- astrophic wildfire that raged 15 years ago this month. The 90,000-acre B&B Complex ripped across the forest between Mount Jefferson and Mount Washington in 2003 with a fury that stunned fire man- agers and ushered in a new era of wild- fire in Oregon. Today, the Cascade Crest remains marked by a graveyard of dead trees vis- ible along U.S. Highway 20 as you drive over the mountain pass. Yet the sight of dead trees can be mis- leading. Below the burned-out snags, a rich mosaic of life is regenerating on the forest floor. One of the best places to experience the wildfire’s aftermath is a hike or backpacking trip into the fabled Eight Lakes Basin — an ideal autumn adven- ture. These alpine lakes were once among the most commonly visited places in Mount Jefferson Wilderness. But in one night — seriously, a single night — the B&B Complex torched the entire basin. The Eight Lakes were among the most impacted places in the aftermath of B&B. And it certainly shows, with most of the lakes still surrounded by an ocean of dead or burned out trees. The hike, however, takes you through a wonderful combination of fire im- pacts. I started at the Duffy Lake Trailhead and on a 15-mile tour explored a wide ar- ray of forest types within the burn zone — islands of green, dwarf forests and areas where only wildflowers had re- turned. In a lot of ways, hiking the wildfire scar was more interesting than your av- erage trek into the woods. And, there are plenty of places to camp, fish and climb along the way. “Fire has become a very obvious part of the landscape again, but I hope peo- ple don’t look at it as negative,” said Brad Peterson, wilderness trails man- ager for Willamette National Forest. “Fire has always been part of the natural ecosystem. What people see today is a much more accurate version of what this area looked like throughout time.” Fingers of the burn The trip started at Duffy Lake Trailhead, a moderately popular access point in the Jefferson Wilderness. Ironically, the hike actually begins in a forest untouched by the wildfire, with the first three miles taking you among gigantic old-growth Douglas firs and A small wildfire called pearly everlasting is frequently seen in the scar of the B&B Complex fire in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. hemlock. The first change comes after 3.6 miles when you reach Duffy Lake, a striking mountain pool nestled below hulking Duffy Butte overhead. This is a fairly popular spot to camp and fish, with campsites spread around the lake. It’s also the first time you see B&B im- pact, in the form of bleached-white snags on the mountain above the lake. It’s a mixture here, with the dead trees interspersed with green ones, and what appears to be a lot of low-intensity burn on the edge of the burn zone. Into the burn zone The forest really starts to change as you reach Mowich Lake, about four and a half miles from the trailhead. The trail here is classified by vast swaths of dead trees rising into the sky like pale fingers. A gray ocean surrounds Mowich Lake. Yet below the dead snags is some- thing remarkable — row upon row of tree saplings, mostly Douglas fir and hemlock, experts said. They come up to around knee height and give you the im- pression of walking in a dwarf forest, filled with Lilliputian-sized people. Not all the trees are tiny. In one strik- ing spot where the fire torched virtually everything, I found a young tree taller than me — probably 7 to 8 feet tall. Its striking green color stood out in a land- scape of gray and white and black. A few trails lead down to Mowich Lake, where swimming spots and campgrounds can be found. There’s a large island in the middle I was tempted to swim out to. Green islands Just beyond Mowich Lake, you cross a saddle and drop into the official Eight Lakes Basin — a moment marked by a spectacular view of Mount Jefferson in the distance. And then a funny thing happens: you hike back into a forest canopy. It’s a somewhat jarring moment after miles of open, fire-burned landscape. So what happened? You’ve entered one of the “green is- lands” within the burn scar. “There are multiple islands of green out there, where the fire intensity was just a lot lower,” Peterson said. “Your guess is as good as mine about why these areas didn’t burn as severely — maybe more moisture, maybe a spring.” The really interesting thing is that you can see some fire impact, it’s just along the ground instead of in the branches. This low-intensity ground fire — as opposed to high intensity “crown fires” — are what fire managers want to do more of with prescribed burns. It elim- inates excess fuels without wholesale destruction of tree stands. Heart of the wildfire At the end of the green island, you enter one of the areas in the heart of the burn scar — the Eight Lakes Basin. The majority of this area burned at high intensity, but what’s most interest- ing is the different types of regenera- tion. This is most evident around Jorn Lake and Blue Lake, two alpine pools surrounded by snags 7.5 miles from the trailhead. In some areas, there’s dwarf forest — this time characterized by lodgepole pine — while in other areas, only pock- ets of vegetation mark the landscape. In one particularly interesting area, I came across a forest floor bare except for profusions of white Anaphalis mar- garitacea, commonly known as pearly everlasting, and huckleberry bushes turning red. These varieties, along with fireweed and beargrass, marked a lot of the vege- tation I saw in the most burned areas. In between Jorn and Blue lakes, I scrambled up an unnamed peak — actu- ally a glorified little mound suggested by excellent hiking author Matt Reeder. At the top, there is a panoramic view of the burn scar across the wilderness. A gray ocean of the wildfire scar spreads between Mount Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack. From this height, a person might be tempted to bemoan the “destruction” this wildfire wrought 15 years ago. But in hiking all the way here, through the dwarf forests, green islands and pearly everlasting, we know better. The forest burned by the fire is regen- erating everywhere, becoming some- thing it was always meant to be: a dy- namic work in progress. Eight Lakes Basin via Duffy Lake Trailhead In a nutshell: Long day-hike or back- packing trip to a series of mountain lakes in the Mount Jefferson Wilder- ness, many of which were impacted by the B&B Complex wildfire. Distance (round-trip): 7.2 miles to Duffy Lake; 9.4 miles to Mowich Lake; 14 miles to Jorn Lake Climb: 1,000 feet to Duffy Lake; 1,730 feet to Jorn Lake Difficulty: Strenuous Camping spots: There are a handful of camping spots around all the major lakes Fishing: Fishing is reportedly good at many of the mountain lakes Directions: From I-5 in Salem, drive east on Oregon Highway 22 toward Bend. Once you reach Detroit, continue another 28 miles. Turn left onto Big Meadows Road (Forest Service Road 2267). Stay right at the first intersection to stay on 2267, following signs for Duffy Lake Trailhead and veer left onto a grav- el road at another sign to reach a large trailhead with parking for quite a few cars. Coordinates:N44° 29.453’ W121° 56.996’ Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photographer and videographer in Oregon for 10 years. He is the author of the book “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJour- nal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.
