Talapus and Olallie Lakes
Oct. 22nd, 2025 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
Yesterday was another gorgeous afternoon - Tuesdays seem to be hiking days the last few weeks.
This is a quick, easy hike. The trail to Talapus follows an old logging road for most of the way, and it only climbs a little over 650 feet in 1.7 miles, so it's barely noticeable.
Some autumn colour in the understorey beneath the evergreens.
Talapus creek, just below the lake.
Talapus Lake is gorgeous, but has very limited shore access - you get the best view of it from the outlet stream, and there's some nice colour in the scree slopes above it
From Talapus, it's another 1.5 miles to Olallie, climbing another 600 feet. Unfortunately you're climbing through forest, so there's no overlook of Talapus, just glimpses through the trees. Olallie has more shoreline access, with viewpoints at various spots.
A couple of Canada jays were hanging around my feet at the biggest campsite, hoping for food...
Some beautiful spots with sunlight hitting the shoreline vegetation.
I picked this one as my lunch rock. It was delightfully warm in the sun - my T-shirt was perfect, and I could even have been in shorts at that point, though shorts wouldn't have been as pleasant for hiking under the trees in the shade...
Some bushier overlooks.
On the way back down, I took the short side trail along the western shore of Talapus. It only goes to a couple of campsites and then dead-ends, but it allowed a slightly different view of the lake.
A lovely day for a brisk and pretty effortless hike.
This is a quick, easy hike. The trail to Talapus follows an old logging road for most of the way, and it only climbs a little over 650 feet in 1.7 miles, so it's barely noticeable.
Some autumn colour in the understorey beneath the evergreens.
Talapus creek, just below the lake.
Talapus Lake is gorgeous, but has very limited shore access - you get the best view of it from the outlet stream, and there's some nice colour in the scree slopes above it
From Talapus, it's another 1.5 miles to Olallie, climbing another 600 feet. Unfortunately you're climbing through forest, so there's no overlook of Talapus, just glimpses through the trees. Olallie has more shoreline access, with viewpoints at various spots.
A couple of Canada jays were hanging around my feet at the biggest campsite, hoping for food...
Some beautiful spots with sunlight hitting the shoreline vegetation.
I picked this one as my lunch rock. It was delightfully warm in the sun - my T-shirt was perfect, and I could even have been in shorts at that point, though shorts wouldn't have been as pleasant for hiking under the trees in the shade...
Some bushier overlooks.
On the way back down, I took the short side trail along the western shore of Talapus. It only goes to a couple of campsites and then dead-ends, but it allowed a slightly different view of the lake.
A lovely day for a brisk and pretty effortless hike.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-22 10:19 pm (UTC)The canadian jays are grey and white, or is that just the lighting?
Bte, did you see this story?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/strange-bird-spotted-in-a-texas-backyard-is-the-first-known-hybrid-between-a-blue-jay-and-a-green-jay-180987383/
no subject
Date: 2025-10-23 12:49 am (UTC)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_jay
I did see the story about that hybrid jay. A lot of birds refuse to stick to the definition of a species!
no subject
Date: 2025-10-25 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-25 01:30 am (UTC)