Ice Cap 1

Summer was nearly out, and Pedro and I suddenly realized we had not been backpacking or camping. For both of us, backpacking has had to wait for our varieties of musculoskeletal ailments to heal. His foot and leg are bad, my back is bad. We are both only in our 30s in our minds, so it is frustrating.

I found a campground on Recreation.gov called Coldwater Cove, and it had about a dozen First-Come First-Served sites, meaning we could just show up and take what was available. Normally I wouldn’t plan a weekend over unreservable sites, but there were SO many, I wasn’t worried that we could get one.

We arrived at Coldwater Cove CG about 3:00 pm and the camp host told us all the FCFS were taken! “There are a couple over at Ice Cap, about a mile down the road, if you go right now.” When we arrived, there were other people doing the same as us: hurrying to stake a claim. We whoosed in, plunked some gear down inside campsite #10, then rushed back to the front to figure out how to reserve and pay for it. It all worked out, and within 15 minutes of being there, Ice Cap was full too. Whew.

We had never even heard of this campground, and it turned out to be a great one. It only has 22 sites and 9 are walk-in tent sites. We prefer the walk-in sites because they are less crowded. At this place, they also had a super cool view through the trees. The campground is on a bluff about 40 feet above the water. There were many chipmunks to greet us, and more wildlife that I posted about a few days ago.

Pedro purchased a new tent for me for my birthday back in January, and I had only used it with Kellen for Mother’s Day. It was going to be his first time in it. We set it up and put a homemade quilt from one of my stepmoms in front and it was very cozy. I strung up a hammock I bought last year after a recommendation from another blogger, and it was very comfortable.

We explored the area close to our campsite, which included the reservoir and a trail along the McKenzie River. It was the first time either of us had seen the McKenzie river, and it is so beautiful. The water is an aqua blue colour and remarkably clear. It tumbles over rocks and between narrow walls and froths white, which sets off the blue.

And then, we were astonished!

I knew there were waterfalls identified on the map, but I did not know they would be phenomenal waterfalls! That evening, we made our plans for the next day: we would hike this waterfall loop trail. There was one more nearby, and we would see them both the next day.

The next day we had a marvelous hike. The trail itself is pretty and well-maintained. We walked past a packed parking lot for people who want to drive directly to the falls. In the area between the two falls, there were a lot of people, but otherwise the trail was rather quiet and restorative.

We came to Koosah Falls again, and saw it in different light. It is still incredible!!

We left all the waterfall tourists behind, and crossed McKenzie River at the north end of the loop (where it says “footbridge” on the map), then returned along the river on the other side this time. We got hungry and stopped beside a small falls to eat our lunch.

The trail returned us to Carmen Reservoir in the afternoon.

When we were near the bridge in the photo above, we crossed paths with a couple we had met earlier, whose campsite was near ours. These two women had hiked to a place called Tamolitch Blue Pool. They raved about it and said we must go, but the hike had taken them six hours. We didn’t have time for it that day and we would be leaving the next day.

There were lots of warm, daylight hours left. We decided to explore the reservoir more. We got down close to the water, and walked to the far side, where there is a small power generating operation. This network of reservoirs along the McKenzie River provides drinking water and power for the city of Eugene, Oregon. The other side of the nearly empty reservoir was uninteresting. We wished the water was not so cold. Though the temperature of the air was near 90, and we had both brought swimming suits, the water was shockingly cold and we could not be tempted to get in.

We ended up exploring a peninsula jutting into the low water of the reservoir. The most interesting thing there were wildflowers, so I took their photos.

The next morning we drove to the trailhead for Tamolitch Blue Pool, hoping to walk the one mile trail from the other direction, but we were overrun with weekend revelers. In our quiet campground, we had not noticed the chaos going on out along the highway. Apparently, this is a freakishly popular recreation area. Thank goodness we had been secluded inside and were shielded from the masses.

Anyway…there is a large parking lot at the Blue Pool trailhead and it was full. There is a large overflow parking lot near some more power generation equipment, half a mile from the trailhead, and it was also nearly full, and there were cars lined up along both sides of the highway for an additional overflow area. Pedro and I parked and began walking, and after passing around 30 people in 100 yards, decided we were not interested in continuing.

Instead, we made better plans: we would come back another time and take a whole day to hike the out-and-back route leaving from Ice Cap that the women campers told us about.

The last fun thing I will tell you is that we brought a portable shower! I think many of you know I am a registered member of the Cherokee Nation, and our biggest event every year is when our Principal Chief comes out to Oregon from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Well, this event was Sunday, the day we left the campground. We planned to attend the Chief’s event, but knew we would be filthy from three days of camping. That’s why we decided to try out the portable shower.

We brought a large stainless steel pot from home and carried it down to the reservoir and filled it. We put it over the fire and soon had it simmering. Inside the tent above, you might be able to see the collapsible bucket that we dumped the hot water into and dropped in a pump. Then, you step inside and while the water flow is somewhat weak, it’s not terrible. It was hot and there was plenty of water!

We had left our Cherokee event clothing in the car, so it did not smell like campfire, and when we arrived in Salem at noon, we barely stunk at all! The Chief’s event was great, by the way, attended by hundreds of people – the largest I’ve ever seen here in Oregon. It is pretty exciting to be surrounded by that many people in my tribe, when I’m used to being the only one.

That evening at home, I booked us another weekend at Ice Cap, at the end of August. This time we reserved a spot, and didn’t have to take our chances for a FCFS spot. I’ll post about that next time.