We began our trek on the newly reopened Pamelia Lake trailhead at 10 a.m. A glacial outburst flood from Mt. Jefferson’s Milk Creek Glacier had devastated the trail in early November 2006. We witnessed a lack of vegetation and muddy watermarks three feet up on trees in the flood's path.

When we arrived at Pamelia Lake we were surprised by the thick haze on the mountain and presumed it was due to a forest fire in the area. Later, from our Shale Lake camp, we could view the billowing smoke of a forest fire to our south. We would later know this as the "GW Fire" burning the northwest side of Mt. Washington.

We were up and eating our breakfast at 3 a.m. and climbing by 3:30 a.m. Assistant Mike Niemeyer kept the party on route utilizing a series of GPS waypoints that pieced together bits of trail to get us through the dewless trees and underbrush and onto Jefferson's south ridge. Assistant Tim Smith brought up the rear.

Once on the ridge we could see the flames of the GW fire to our south and the horizontal plume of smoke being sent straight east over Black Butte Ranch, Sisters and on to Redmond. We were buffeted by a steady cool wind above tree line and found relief on the eastern side of the ridge. Party caused rock fall was a constant concern during our final 1000 feet to the red saddle and we angled our way across the fall line to mitigate this risk.

We reached the Red Saddle at 9:00 a.m. and started across the traverse at 9:15 a.m. going just below the small snow patch. We recognized the objective danger of rock fall as we quickly crossed the 30-yard "danger zone" and reassembled on the north shoulder. From here we easily navigated our way to the north ridge and scrambled on to the airy summit arriving at 10:15 a.m. Chemeketan Climb Leader, Herb Fecker, was likely the most jubilant among us, finally summiting on his fifth attempt and winning the club's prestigious 18 Peak Award. Several group photos were taken before we headed back down. We were back to the Red Saddle by 11:15 a.m.

Assistant climb leader Mike Niemeyer led down with assistant Tim Smith herding our stragglers. We were back at our Shale Lake camp by 2:45 p.m. (under 11.5 hours!).

The next day’s hike out was uneventful with a regroup at "switchback spring" and then again at the trailhead. Robin and Tim Smith shared muffins and cold watermelon as we enjoyed our accomplishment in the shade of towering old growth on a beautiful Oregon Summer morning.

We distributed summit certificates and enjoyed a post-climb pizza lunch in Mill City before heading our separate ways.

Trip Stats: 25 miles and 7400' of elevation gain.

Participants were Steve Dougherty (Leader), Mike Niemeyer (Assistant) Tim Smith (Assistant), Linda Bedard, Joel Bruhn, Jeff Chicoine, Jeff Howell, Rod Jacobson, Lynn Kropf, Robyn Smith, Greg Tedrow, and Herb Fecker.

The rockfall frequency may actually be increased without the snow, we did witness several large boulders break loose and crash down the mountain - the largest maybe the size of a mini-fridge. However, one can move so much faster when not tethered, the time spent in the danger zone was very minimal. Next time I climb Jefferson on this route, I will wait for the snow patch to become passable. Not carrying all that gear really increases the enjoyment factor.

Equally entertaining on the way up the S ridge was the last few hundred vertical feet. Much of the rock in this steeper zone is not really attached to anything! Just sort of balancing there. We stayed to the E side to avoid some of the wind, but the tradeoff is a bit of tricky scrambing around balanced rocks. Our group pulled this off like pros though, and using great communication, a bit of route finding and cleaning, all went well.

All in all a very memorable way to complete my list of 18 peaks. It was my pleasure climbing with everyone on this team.