SAC members Bill Nelson, Carrie Kyser and Greg Terhune and companions arrived at Olallie Lake Scenic Area on Friday, July 31 in the afternoon and evening.
After spending a pleasant night camping at Lower Lake campground we started the Olallie Butte conditioning hike at 09:20 on Saturday morning. The team consisted of Bill, Carrie and her two sons Max and Zeke, Greg and his wife Janette. (sp?) We were accompanied by Bill's friend, stalwart hiker Jim O'Brien. (note: Jim may be a good contributor to SAC having traveled extensively in all parts of Oregon.)
The hike is about 3/4 or more in mixed shade and sun in the trees, and the last 1/4 or less in open sun as the summit is approached. We summited at between 11:30 (the faster hikers) and 12:00 Noon (the slower hikers). At 7215 ft. Olallie Butte has two summits, North (true summit) and South (false summit) separated by a shallow saddle. The North summit has the remains of the old lookout. It afforded a view of Mt Hood, Mt Adams, Mt St. Helens and Mt Rainier. The South summit gave us a spectacular view of Mt. Jefferson as well as Faith, Hope, Charity and Broken Top.
We descended and made cars at about 3:00 pm. Some of us treated ourselves to a swim in Lower Lake which felt fantastic after the heat of the day!
Highly recommended hike for those wanting photo ops of all these mountains from one location. I would recommend a haze filter for cameras.