We had 8 hikers come out to hike Aspen Butte. Lisa, from Salem was new to our group. I had met her when hiking on Mount Hood. She reached out asking if I could tell her about some hikes in the area for Tuesday or Wednesday, so I invited her to join our group.
We were all very pleased that we did not encounter any mosquitoes at the trailhead or on any part of the hike. It started a little chilly, but by one mile into the hike, we had made wardrobe adjustments. After going by an unnamed pond we reached the cutoff trail and headed up the mountain. It was well marked with tree blazes and cairns.
We took a pack off snack break when we reached the overlook of Lake Harriette. After enjoying the views we started our next section of the trail. With a little over 1 mile to the top, Marilyn caught her foot on a root and took a spill banging up her knee. Multiple people assisted with any need of first aid.
We continued on and took a break to look back towards Mount McLoughlin. As we headed up the last section, many had forgotten about the deep sandy trail. We continued on and Marilyn thought it was best to not go up in the slippery sand and Nanci stayed behind with her.
We had a nice lunch at the summit and tried to identify as many peaks and lakes as we could. We could see Mount Shasta, Mount McLoughlin, Mount Thielsen, Mount Scott, Mount Bailey and perhaps Diamond Peak. The Lakes below were Harriette, Echo, Hemlock and Ebb and Zeb. We could also see Klamath Lake.
We headed back down the trail and made quick time. We got back to our cars and had hiked just under 11 miles and gained almost 2,400 feet of elevation. Lisa thanked the group for being so welcoming and said she would be happy to join us again.