Donaca Lake Attempt

So Casey, I and three dogs (Yeti, Tillie and Muddy) headed out on a beautiful Wed morning to a far off place in the middle of the Middle Santiam Wilderness. Our objective was Donaca Lake. A nice jaunt thru mossy, lush woods. Much different than the mountains near us. We arrived at the trailhead after a long dirt road to an over grown parking lot, the trailhead sign dilapidated and no place to register that indeed there were people in these here woods for the night. We noticed a small plume of smoke behind the parking lot. We evaluated it and it seemed to be smoldering and the opposite direction of where we were headed so we ventured on our way to the first creek crossing only about a mile in. We came upon a small creek with a narrow 20' waterfall cascading down amongst large boulders into a very inviting swimming hole. We weren't quite hot enough to make that plunge so we went above the falls and crossed the creek, barefoot I must add. Ouch!

We continued to meander up thru the green, lush woods and marvel at the scent that surrounded us. I love the smell of the woods. Around one bend we did smell a bit of smoke in a little valley but also heard a maraud of propellers and were a bit relieved to know that some sort of forest service personnel knew about the little fire. We came upon another creek crossing, yes again barefoot, ouch! We continued up the hill and found the trail to be less than maintained. You could see it, but I would bet in maybe a year it will be over taken. So we're having a good ol time and we come to an old road that is truly overgrown.

Yep, that used to be a road.


We were all excited about the next 2.5 miles because the guidebook mentioned ambling. That sounded like fun, then we would reach the little green lake. So along we go and then as we round a corner we see ash in the air. Not a fun feeling in the gut when you are in the woods somewhat in the middle of nowhere. There is a spot fire right off the trail. Little flames here and there. You could see where it had torched about a 20-30' square section of the forest. Fortunately, it is so wet and moist the fire didn't take off. We made our best attempts at squelching the flames with Nalgenes and a trowel. Kinda  a joke, but you do what you can. We grab our packs and look to the little spot again and sure enough more flames. Granted they were little but stilll, come on! So back up into the ash we go. Once again we jump back onto the trail and decide to check out just around the bend to decide if we should continue or head back. Well, around the corner there is quite a large overturned log crackling. Yep, we turned back. Bummed, but feeling like we should maybe not sleep where we could be cut off from getting back in case the fire did take off. At this point, I am not looking forward to my wee little feet crossing the creek again and than a brain burst. We have flip flops on our packs. Duh?! Needless to say we had much more comfortable crossings after that. We don't really want to go back to the car so we find a great spot to have a beer and see if smoke starts to come our way.

The Coors was for you Tay.

We enjoyed the sound of the creek and the dogs loved it.

Well after 2 beers and plenty of smoke free time. We decided to call it a camp and enjoyed the evening. Tillie made a little bed above the river.

Yeti crashed out in front of the tent. He's pretty old ya know?

We had a great time. Good dinner, good conversation and no bugs. Which was like a miracle. We happily closed our eyes listening to the sound of the stream and no crackling. I will admit I woke up in the middle of the night and made sure there was nothing orange coming our way. But all was quiet, and clear. We had a great lazy morning and headed out.

Back at the car for yes, another beer. We could still see the little fire going across the way. the smoke did seem a little more dense so we were happy that all was well over night. As we sat there we could hear chainsaws and saw a helicopter fly over the fire. Gotta love the response to the little fires that were kinda all around us. We questioned how whoever was in there got there because we certainly didn't see anyone. We also wondered if we just missed seeing our friend, Ralph. Who knows if it was smoke jumpers or not? Fun to speculate.

So that's the most recent journey. No glimpse of Donaca Lake but lots of beautiful country and good times.