By:
Submission
Extreme back packing adventure. There were 9 of us on this trip. We all took full packs. My son & I packed extra as we tend to do. A wilderness experience without the wilderness. I use to be member of the Oregon Native Plant Society and some had warned us at local chapter meeting that the extreme up and down nature of this hike with no easy way in and not many unique not worth a day trip.
Serene Lake has 11 camp sites, we had one with a table on the West side of the lake. We camped Thursday & Friday night & left Saturday morning. Early Friday morning at 2 am we woke up to sirens from noises we thought were owls.
I couldn't sleep Friday night, even though instead of a restful 2 night stay my son & I did trail repair both days removing trail debris on the West trail to Cache meadow & Grouse Peak trail. Oh by the way Grouse Peak nothing but trees and thick rhodies covering the trail, no view.
So after midnight Friday I asked God why I couldn't go to sleep as I watched the stars after seeing & hearing lots of high elevation light jet noises & occassionally a military jet dart around the South side of Mt. Hood.
Then I saw dark spots over the lake. I thought I was seeing a mirage of imagination. I put on my glasses as I peered out the hole of my sleeping bag tent, the only one at the lake with one. To my surprise, thousands if not ten thousand bats swooping down, without any sound, across from the Eastside opposite us barely visible as the light of the moon cast a ray of light for an hour before it crested the East Hill side. After which I used a tree to block the moon so I could continue to watch.
I pondered what I saw, from 1230am to 330am until I turned and went to sleep late. The owls likely only came to feast on bats once a week. What we thought were a few owls sirens were actually bats screams as a dozen owls had there weekly feast. Pieces of bats eaten helped keep fish and crawdad's healthy. If you like remote fishing it's a great place including some too large to keep.
This little lake is one of the best Backpacking destinations in the Mt. Hood Forest. Despite the rough road getting to the Frazier turnaround Trail head it can be a very popular destination in the warm summer months. However, there are several very good camp sites all around the lake and even if there are 4 or 5 other groups staying the night it doesn't seem crowded at all. A perfect lake for swimming or just sitting by to take in the beauty of the wilderness.
