Sub-24 Hour Marion Lakes Trail System Backpacking Trip

After getting in a long training run last Saturday morning, I had an exciting epiphany: both my Saturday afternoon and Sunday were free of obligations. A blur of texts to potentially spontaneous friends ensued, and one of my bikepacking friends from Portland – Seth Dubois – was able to join me.

Of course, this also meant we had to quickly decide on a relatively close trail system to hike. I opted to suggest the Marion Lake Trail system, as I am somewhat familiar with the area, and Seth was all in. We met up Saturday around 3pm at my house in Salem, and then it was a simple 1 1/2 hour drive to the trailhead. We were hiking before 5pm, which gave us hours of daylight to get to our goal spot for the night: Jorn Lake.

The Map

I’ll let the picture narrative do the rest of the talking, with one caveat: my friend and hiking partner, Seth Dubois, is a professional photographer, and most of these pictures (you’ll be able to tell the difference) were taken by him. Check out his work at his photography website.

Before the Burn Zone

The Burn Zone

The Campsite

The Next Morning

6 Mile Trail Run!

Hiking the Rest of the Burn Zone

Out of the Burn Zone

And we made it!

We both agreed that this trail system had more to offer. There are trails both to the north and south of where we hiked that look equally amazing, and an extended weekend trip (3-ish days) would be enough to see it all. Something to look forward to!

Categories: Pedals and Packs

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2 replies »

    • Yeah, Lucy and Gherkin are kind of the best, and Gherkin was hilarious (the small one). She would block the trail until Bryn went by and then basically try to ‘pounce’ on Bryn. It was pure entertainment the entire hike.

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