PAMELIA LAKE

WHERE:     From Portland take I-5 south to highway 22 in Salem and go east.  Follow the highway for about 62 miles to forest road 2246 on your left.  Follow the forest road for just over three miles to the trailhead along Pamelia Creek.  The trail starts just outside Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Area.

TRAIL:     One of many trails in Mt. jefferson wilderness, I hiked this trail in early April and used snowshoes for a majority of the hike.  The elevation at the trailhead is 3100 feet going up to 3900 feet at Pamelia lake over 2.5 miles.  The snow level was at about 3300 feet and the snow depth at the lake was about 2-3 feet.  You can only camp at designated camp sites near the lake and there are a couple of nice spots by the creek at the trailhead.  From Pamelia Lake there are many trail options if you hike during the summer:  You can climb to the top of Grizzly Peak at 5800 feet or take Hunts Creek Trail to Lake of the Woods Trail which goes past many sub-alpine lakes and awesome views of Mt. jefferson.  The Lake of the Woods trail can loop back to Pamelia Lake via several connections going east to the Pacific Crest Trail then connect back to Pamelia Lake trail by way of a one mile connection on trail #3440.  On my excursion I snow shoed toward the Pacific Crest Trail where the snow actually Disappeared as I left the Lake but it was raining fairly hard.  Once I turned a corner to an open valley there was a wall of snow on a fairly steep north facing slope which didn't bode well for hiking  due to the possibility of sliding downhill.  This is trail #3440 and meets the PCT near Milk Creek which is one of the lowest spots on the crest trail in Jefferson Wilderness.

You can also follow Hunts Creek trail which meets at Pamelia Lake.  This trail will bring you to paths that will access subalpine lakes as well as grand views of Mt. Jefferson.