WHO

Brandon (1st backpacking trip)
Chase (1st backpacking trip)
Myself

WHERE

We found an All Trails backpacking trail called "Duffy Lake Trail to Red Butte" and thought it sounded pretty cool. It's located in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Area, where I've never been before. The map showed a few more lakes than what the All Trails description listed. The first night we camped at Duffy lake, and Jorn Lake the second night. We set-up camp and decided to venture further on Blue Lake Trail, and that's when we were rewarded with the amazing sights of Blue Lake. We were tired and feeling pretty lethargic, but if we were to do this hike again we absolutely would have camped at Blue Lake instead of Jorn. It was a more remote location with less people, and the lake had a very inviting presence.

UNUSUAL SUSPECTS

Unbeknownst to us, we set-up our campsite the 2nd night right smack-dab in the middle of a game trail. We had just finished dinner and were enjoying a nice cup of whiskey, when two fairly large bucks literally walked up to our bags. There were only deer, but seeing a pair of yellow eyes in the dark tends to bring out your fears of something worse. Once we got over the initial shock, it became an incredible experience. Deer were coming at us from every angle thinking we were the weird ones for cramping on their style. When we went to bed later in the night we could see them sniffing our bags and chairs for any evidence of our Cheese Sour Cream Ruffles (the best chips produce on earth).

FAILS

1st night campsite failure for sure. We hiked to Duffy lake at a very brisk pace, and we arrived early enough to scope out some awesome spots. I had the idea to keep moving to Mowich Lake, because it looked more remote on the map. Unfortunately, I wasn't keeping track of the time, and underestimated how tough it is to find a camping spot as the sun goes down. We got to Mowich Lake too late, and had to make the choice of either searching around in the dark or go back to Duffy Lake. We decided to just go back to the cool spot we picked out at Duffy lake. As luck would have it, that spot we had originally picked out was taken, as well as a few others we had our eyes on. It ended up working out, but it was a big failure on my part for sure. Note to self, don't get greedy with campsites!