Duffy Butte Hike
Went on a day hike with friends and coworkers this past weekend to the Duffy Lake area in the Mt Jefferson Wilderness. We started at the Duffy Lake trailhead around 9am, hiked in to Duffy Lake, then to Mowich Lake. From here we decided to skirt around Mowich towards Duffy Butte to make our climb, but there is no trail from this point on, so it was bushwhacking all the way, which wasn't so bad until descending Duffy Butte. Not only was it steep and difficult, but it was an open invitation to accidental missteps that could result in serious ankle injury the whole way down. I probably won't do that one again. All-in-all it was a great day for a hike with clear views of all the surrounding buttes and mountains. We were back to the car by 3pm and we estimate our journey to be about 11 miles. Things I didn't like about this hike: thick layer of dry dust that comprises the trail was hell on the lungs if you hiked behind anyone the mosquitoes were very active and hungry