Canyon Creek Meadow Painting Trip

In July this last summer, I hiked to Canyon Creek Meadow, the flat area right below Three Fingered Jack on the Cascade Crest of Oregon, where in the soil comes alive with wildflowers in the height of summer. My goal was to bring my watercolor gear and try my hand at painting Canyon Creek Meadow and the mountain that looms above.

I needed a wilderness pass from the Forest Service to hike this trail, as it is required any time between June 15th and October 15th. Figuring this part out required some research and some patience. A portion of the permits for a given day are released ten days in advance and the rest are released two days in advance. I almost forgot to log in at 7am ten days before to be sure I would get a permit. But after paying the $1 fee, I had a permit in my possession. Some quick research online gave me an idea of what to expect, and I even found a helpful map of the trail.

I left early in the morning from Salem Oregon and drove over Santiam Pass and down into the ponderosa forests of central Oregon before taking a left turn onto a Forest Service Road that soon turned into a bumpy winding gravel road taking me to the trailhead, at Jack Lake. I arrived not too long after 7 am but already the parking lot was filling up, although I speculated that perhaps some were cars of those who had camped for the night.

The Hike

I loaded up my pack – considerably heavier than a usual day pack given my goal of plein air painting — and set out. The trail winds through the area burned by 2002’s B and B Complex fire, mostly hardy manzanita bushes and silver snags. Curving around Jack Lake, the trail immediately splits, with a wilderness-style unpainted sign pointing the way. The left fork was recommended for folks ascending the trail, and the right side reserved for those returning as well as those heading to nearby Wasco Lake. As the trail gradually entered unburned forest, I was met by a calm, nameless lake set among the trees.

Respite was brief though as I had much to do. As the trail continued into the forest, the timber became heavier, old man’s beard lichen dangling from the branches above, and the trail was crisscrossed more frequently by roots. Soon, after I crossed paths with a wary deer, and after winding around another small unnamed lake, I emerged into the the “lower meadow” of Canyon Creek. The flowers were perhaps not at peak bloom but they were getting close and my photo below is painfully inadequate in capturing the splendor of these flowers. Canyon Creek Meadows are known for their wild flowers and I was not disappointed.

Now the trail was winding through the meadow, with occasional stream crossings. Three Fingered Jack was now visible, looming above the trees, gradually becoming larger as I continued down the trail. Finally, after a gradual incline, I came out into one last meadow, beyond which only one layer of trees separated me from the mountain, or at least so it seemed.

At this point I wasn’t quite sure where the “lower meadow” or “upper meadow” were or even where I was, exactly, despite my careful study of the map. Only later, after some traipsing around in the brush, did I find the true “upper meadow,” located on the other side of the ridge to the right in the picture above. The upper meadow is a pronounced flat area that stretches nearly to the base of Three Fingered Jack, in the summer filled with wild flowers. I think this upper meadow was quite clearly glacier-carved, lined by large moraines that are well on their way to fading away into the surrounding landscape.

Time To Paint

I decided to paint right at the edge of the upper meadow, along what I think must be an ancient moraine. Spectacular painting spots confronted me at every turn along this trail but I chose this one because of how the view of the mountain dominated from this vantage point and I thought the rocky foreground interspaced with trees suggested lots of opportunities for painting interesting shapes and textures.

Quickly I set up my easel and set up my painting kit. Usually I do a quick charcoal sketch of three values, but today I wanted to try a quick watercolor sketch with five values.

And let’s see how I did with my values:

The lower left corner is kind of a mess, and perhaps the difference between the lightest value (1) and the second lightest value (2) is too slight, but that’s okay. I especially liked how breaking the dark values into “4” and “5” would give a lot of space to work in the foreground. And the “2” value was doing a lot of work pulling everything together. All the pieces were there. I was ready to paint.

Here is my value study.

Then I put down my first wash. This had my #1 and #2 values.

Then I put down my #3 values in the mid ground and on the mountain:

And finally I put down my #4 and #5 values:

I had to work fast because after painting, I still had to hike back down the trail and drive back home to Salem. But it is moments like these that make me enjoy watercolor so much – it is fun to paint outdoors, but more than that, I love how expressive watercolors can be. I felt like I was putting on paper not just what I saw but what I felt. The brushes and the water and the paints of my kit became a direct conduit between me, the paper and the world.

After some touch up at home, here was the result: