Central Oregon Lake Fishing with True Primal Soup

Our second backpacking trip of the season came much later than anticipated because I had a foot injury that took a while to subside. I was feeling the pull of the wilderness stronger than ever as I sat at home, unable to even walk my neighborhood to visit my bird friends around the block. We chose a short backpack to a lake in Central Oregon, unsure of how much my foot was capable of yet. It was about a three mile hike in to the lake and we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived that we were the only humans there. We had the whole lake to ourselves for two days and nights and only saw people the morning we were hiking out. A much needed salve for the soul. 

It was a hot, hot day hiking in, so of course we got in the lake as soon as we dropped our packs. We were both expecting freezing water, because the two little creeks we had waded through on the way up were frigid. But the water was warm! Warm enough at least to stay in and swim for quite a while. We brought our Tenkara fishing rods and did some casting around our campsite, but it seemed like there were only small fish near us. It was shallow water, so the bigger fish were probably hanging out elsewhere.

Dinner on our first night was my favorite True Primal Soup - Savory Wedding - and some plantain chips. We also brought Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and spent several hours reading her essays as the light grew dim. I had already read it a few years ago, but it is amazing how a book can speak to you so differently depending on your focus in life at the time. I fell in love with it all over again and I highly recommend it to everyone. 

 

The moon was almost full and we watched her trace her arc each night from east to west over the water. I felt so blessed to bathe in moonlight on this quiet lake.  

 

The next day we tried hiking an established trail to the top of the mountain overlooking the lake. "Established" definitely never means maintained, which was the case with this trail. The first mile or so was fine, but then we encountered a few downed lodgepole pines. And then a few more. And more...until the trail was just a series of hurdles. Which was actually very fun. Even though we both practice moving through obstacles and natural environments a lot, it was cool to see how, after even just a few hours of picking and choosing how to step over the logs, we became noticeably much quicker, more graceful, and more fluid with it. I'm always amazed what mindful practice can help you achieve in such a short time.

On the hike we saw lots of interesting things, as usual when you start to look. One was a very large Jeffrey Pine...we think. It is apparently very hard to tell the difference from Ponderosa. They used to be considered the same species, and they occasionally hybridize. This one definitely smelled of vanilla or butterscotch, which some people say only Jeffreys smell this way, but others say Ponderosas will also smell this way. I learned after the trip that you can tell by their cones - "Prickly Ponderosa" has barbs on the cones that point outward and will poke you when you pick them up. "Gentle Jeffrey" has barbs on the cones that point inwards and are therefore less prickly. Here's an article with more information as well as pictures of the cones if you're interested! But the interesting thing about this giant Jeffrey was that it was the ONLY Jeffrey pine we saw anywhere on the entire hike. All the other trees were lodgepole pine or noble fir! We couldn't figure out why it was the only one, and why there weren't young ones anywhere. 

Another fascinating wonder of the natural world we came across was a standing stump that was being excavated by carpenter ants. We crouched down and watched as they shuttled piece after piece of wood out of the center via holes in the side of the trunk, then turned around to go back for more. 

On our way back down the hill, we began to hear some interesting animal noises. Kind of a whining noise, and not something I could place right away. Then I caught a glimpse of the animal making the noise and it looked like a horse, then a cow. Which didn't seem right because this was wilderness area, not range land. I told Max, and he said, "Are you sure it's not elk?" Of course! That's exactly what they were. We weren't very far away from them, but because the forest was so dense we could only see a few at a time. They must have caught our scent because they started stampeding, sounding like a freight train in the forest, and we watched through a gap in the trees as cows, calves, and spikes charged past, one by one, maybe 50 of them or more.

When we got back to camp, we got our fishing rods and walked half way around the lake to where we'd seen two osprey fishing the day before. Within about ten minutes, we'd each caught a fish big enough to keep for dinner. The osprey always know the best spots.

We brought them back to camp and used some left over veggies from lunch, a wild onion we found near our campsite, some butter, and olive oil (yes, we had both) to cook a fish stew. I had forgotten the salt in the car, so it was sadly a little bland, but it was amazing to make this meal from fish we caught just 15 minutes ago. 

I feel so grateful for the fish, for the lake, for the mountain, the osprey, the elk. It's trips like these that heal a deep part of my heart. 

Menu:

Breakfasts:  

• 2 Morning Glory Muffins & 1 pepperoni meat stick each

Lunches:

• Salami Bowls - salami, cheese, red pepper, carrot, apple, avocado, w/ olive oil & mustard
• Romano beans from the farmers market

 Snacks:

• Trail mix
• Bars

 Dinners:

• True Primal Savory Wedding Soup (1 pouch each) & plantain chips
  
• Fish Stew - fresh-caught trout, wild onion, red pepper, carrot, Romano beans, steamed in water with olive oil & butter; a bag of plantain chips

North Umpqua River Trail with True Primal Paleo Soups!

On top of our fridge are a couple of boxes of True Primal soup pouches. This is a very comforting thought to me, because it means that a paleo backpacking trip can be undertaken at the drop of a hat. Dehydrated dinners are great, but they take a lot of forethought and planning. Besides their convenience, another thing I love about these soups is that they're so nourishing. They're made with bone broth, and this is the only pouch or canned soup I have ever seen where the broth is actually gelatinous, meaning that you know it's filled with collagen and amino acids. Since my job has been closed for a couple months now, due to coronavirus, and with the weather getting nicer, backpacking is exactly what I want to do, so we packed some pouches of soup and other staples, like our favorite Morning Glory muffins for breakfast and headed out.

For our first trip of the season, we decided to go hike a section of the 79-mile North Umpqua River Trail in Southern Oregon. Most of the trail runs along the river, which would be amazing, except the road also runs along the river, on the other side. The trail is broken into sections, and for the Dread and Terror section, the road winds away from the river, while the trail still follows it closely. We decided to do the Hot Springs segment and the Dread and Terror segment, which is 16.5 miles in total. Instead of dropping 2 cars, we dropped a bike at Lemolo Lake, then went back to Toketee Trailhead to start the hike.

It was a gorgeous weekend for a hike. Temperatures in Eugene were expected to be in the 80s, and we were happy to be able to escape into the forest to avoid the late-spring/early-summer heat. I know there will be plenty more where that came from, so I can wait. On our drive down, we stopped at The Narrows wayside for lunch. This is a cool little section of the North Umpqua where it is channeled through a carved rock slot, creating a beautiful run of rapids. The rocks along the edge of the river  make a perfect natural movement playground. Unfortunately for me, I somehow kicked a root hard enough to rip a deep flapper of skin off the ball of my big toe (and I wasn't even barefoot yet!) after only a minute or so of being out of the car.

We got a late start to our hike, but the afternoon sun is always beautiful to hike in. We had the trail all to ourselves, and promptly found a dipping spot to wash off the car sweat. The first section of the hike ran through some low lands that are probably flood plains when the river is higher, and found some dandelions to munch on.  It's a really beautiful section of the trail, although when we got closer to the Umpqua Hot Springs, we began to find trash, and loud people with music.

Once we passed that scene, we came to Columnar Falls and Surprise Falls. Columnar Falls is a really unique feature with basalt columns running with sheets of water.

We found our first campsite after a couple extra miles of hiking than we had planned. After you pass the hot springs, the trail officially becomes the "Dread and Terror" section, so named because forest workers back in the day dreaded the idea of having to fight a fire on the steep slopes. So, camping spots are few and far between. We found ours around 7 that first night, and not a moment too soon, we would find out the next day. For dinner we had a couple pouches of True Primal's Beef & Mushroom soup, truly appreciating the convenience of opening a pouch and pouring it into a pot, since we had been hiking longer than we planned to. I really loved the onion, carrot, and mushroom, and it's not an overpowering mushroom flavor (not that I dislike mushrooms, but I know some people do). There are plenty of chunks of grass-fed beef in it, too. As usual when backpacking, we added some grass-fed butter to the soup to make it a little heartier. To accompany the soup, we shared a bag of plantain chips and some chocolate. 

The next morning we packed up and started hiking again, and within a few minutes discovered more intimately why this portion bears such a serious name. Across our path lay several large tree trunks, which we scrambled over pretty easily. Not so bad. This time. For the remaining 11 miles, though, we would encounter many more downed trees, and a few washouts, including a fun little root ball where we had to shimmy through a hole in the roots and pass our packs down the drop. We came across a group of mountain bikers who didn't seem to be as entertained as we were. "Rough," was all they said when we asked them how it was going.

Max hiked almost the whole thing barefoot (probably our rockiest barefoot hike yet). Sadly, although I felt like my feet would normally be up to it, I was only able to hike a few miles the first two days before my wound from the rest stop was bothering me too much. In the mean time, I still managed to kick a hole in the bottom of my other foot as well. This doesn't usually happen to me when I hike barefoot, but to be fair, the name of the trail does warn you that you're in for it. 

We had originally been planning to camp on the river the second night as well, but decided to hike all the way out to Lemolo Lake. Along the second half of the trail, we passed Lemolo Falls, a stunning 165-foot waterfall. The word Lemolo is Chinook for "wild" or "untamed." 

At the lake, we found that the campground was closed (no surprise...COVID), but just near the campground was a private little sandy beach right on the water. And since the campground was closed, there was nobody around. We had an amazing view of Mt. Thielsen to the southeast as we cooked our True Primal Savory Wedding Soup for dinner. Of all the flavors of soup I've had from True Primal yet, I think this one might be my favorite. It has onion, cauliflower, and spinach in it, and grass-fed beef, and a warming, unique flavor that I can't say I've had before. 

Menu

Breakfasts:

• 2 Morning Glory Muffins & 1 pepperoni meat stick each
  

Lunch & Snacks:

• Salami Bowls - salami, avocado, carrot, & red pepper with olive oil, mustard, and salt
• Trail mix
• Apples
  

Dinners:

• True Primal Soup pouches (1 each), 1 bag of plantain chips, and some chocolate!