After a long night of sleeping on the Pacific Crest trailhead I was at the base of Three Fingered Jack. While the forecast called for partly cloudy skies I woke up to a white out. My plans started deteriorating as I waited for the weather to clear. I knew that the snow conditions were bad and my only chance was the NE facing bowls. My original plans were to be on the trail by 9 a.m. but was still at the car at noon. I watched the weather for hours as the cloud deck would raise and fall within 500 feet of my head. After a while I decided the weather wasn’t going to get any better. If I wanted to get Three Fingered Jack I was going to have to come up with another approach.
Heading up the Jack Lake Trailhead
After looking at the map for 10 minutes I realized there was another approach. I could start from the south side and it was half the distance to reach the NE bowl. Driving over to the eastern side I was happy to see the clouds burning off over the crest. Before long I was at the Jack Lake trailhead with sunny skies and views of the NE bowl. A few years back there had been a devastating fire that wiped the old timber. At first I started hiking the old summit trail but chose a more direct path to the NE bowl via a Easterly ridge. Gaining elevation the weather started deteriorating bringing along rain, strong winds and low visibility. I was fortunate that this was the only volcano within the season that delivered rain.
Once arriving at my high point the clouds rose one final time giving me views of the summit of Three Fingered Jack. After a 15 minute traverse I was on top of the low angled slope hiding behind a boulder. As I transitioned by now I was getting hit by 40mph wind. The run down Three Fingered Jack was uneventful riding down the open slopes which transitioned to trees.
Once at the end of the snowpack I threw my snowboard on my back and hurried back towards the trailhead. Following Jack Creek through the semi dense forest soon I was back at the burn line. After a half hour I found myself back on the Old summit trail for the final 2 miles. Arriving back at the car I threw my gear inside before driving towards Mount Jefferson.