Demaris Lake: a 'local secret'

Craig Eisenbeis | Last updated Oct 07, 2008 12:0pm0

Craig Eisenbeis count

Jeremy Storton enjoys the vista at Demaris Lake.

This is one of those write-ups that may get me into a little bit of trouble with people who would prefer to keep Demaris Lake off the general public's radar screen.

It's a little farther afield than some of the more popular destinations; it's not on the way to anywhere else; and it's reached from one of those unpopular fee-usage areas.

Quite a few factors conspire to keep Demaris Lake one of those low-profile spots. In fact, we saw only two other people in the vicinity and none while we were at the lake. Total distance to the lake logs in at 5.3 miles, and the elevation gain is only about 1,000 feet, which - spread out over that distance - really isn't much, at all.

For the first mile or so, the predominant tree is lodgepole pine; and it's obvious that the pine beetles have discovered the area, even if most hikers haven't. The first significant trail fork is at 1.4 miles and should be ignored, unless you want to turn north to McKenzie Pass. After this junction, more firs begin to appear as the elevation increases.

There is one large downed tree across the trail, requiring a significant detour. At 1.9 miles, the trail reaches Soap Creek, where there is a fine stream crossing on a large flattened log. An important trail junction sits on the south side of the stream. Take the right fork toward Demaris and Camp Lakes or, 12 miles later, you'll find yourself on Century Drive.

Along this next stretch, the forest grows denser and hemlock becomes the dominant tree. Keep an eye peeled for a "scenic turnout" on the left. The spot is marked only by a pile of small rocks at the base of a tree. Sweeping mountain and valley views are worth the side trip, and a scenic diversion is welcome at this point in the hike.

The next important trail junction is also at a stream crossing. 2.6 miles from Soap Creek is the North Fork of Whychus Creek. The crossing here is somewhat precarious and obviously changes whenever a big slug of melt water comes roaring down from the snow and glaciers of the Middle Sister. Once you've negotiated the crossing and climbed up the stream bank, take the Demaris Lake trail to the left.

Do not go right to Camp Lake. Camp Lake is 2.4 miles up the other trail, but we'll make that trip another time. It's the first of the Chambers Lakes. The others are higher, and unnamed, sitting astride the Cascade Crest between the Middle and South Sisters. Years ago, California Golden Trout, an alpine species from the High Sierra, were stocked here. I caught one in 1988, but I've been unable to determine if any still survive there.

The goal this time, though, is Demaris Lake; and the fork to the left is short, flat and less than a mile. You're at the lake almost before you know it. It's a great place to fish, camp, or just have lunch. I was fortunate to have invited a friend, Jeremy Storton, along on this hike. Otherwise, I might have eaten lunch and marched right back down the trail.

Jeremy, a Sisters fireman, is also a part-time hiking and snowshoeing instructor for Community Learning. He knew of several scenic spots and geologic wonders, all within a few hundred yards of the lake; and we spent three hours exploring them all. Green boggy meadows with springs gurgling from the ground give birth to the South Fork of Whychus Creek just south of the lake. One of these meadows has roiling springs surging up through the sand in the clear bottom of an infant stream. This meadow system leads to, and produces, a spectacular curtain-like waterfall spilling from a rock face below.

Perhaps a quarter mile downstream, the by-then well-formed South Fork shoots out into space for a freefall of nearly a hundred feet.

Southeast of the lake is a rock cliff that provides a panoramic view of the glacial valley stretching all the way from the mountaintops to the High Desert. It's a view worthy of any national park.

When you've seen what this hike has to offer, you'll ask yourself how all these wonders could have been so close yet you never visited them. Well, now you know. So, what's your excuse?

To access this hike, head out Highway 242 and turn left onto Forest Road 15 not far after the high school. Follow the signs 10.5 miles to the Pole Creek trailhead. If you do not have a forest pass, self-serve passes are available for $5. Wilderness passes are also required and are free at the trailhead. Also, since it's deer season now, it's always a good idea to wear orange and make plenty of noise.

Demaris Lake a part of Sisters history

Demaris Lake is a popular backcountry destination, but hardly anyone knows how the lake was named.

Curiously, the Oregon Geographic Names Board didn't have an answer and neither did the Oregon Historical Society. Both organizations noted that the name appears on USGS maps of the area but couldn't say how the name came to be. Historical Society records did note a John Demaris who homesteaded near Prineville in the late 1800s, near Steins Pillar on Mill Creek.

Similarly, the Forest Service was also stumped. No one at the Sisters Ranger District was able to come up with an answer, even though the Demaris name appears on USGS maps as far back as 1959.

As it turns out, the lake appears to have been named for Gail Demaris, who operated a pack string of horses in this area during the middle of the last century. Gail was the grandson of the John Demaris noted in historical records.

Ray Demaris, of Prineville, recalls that his first cousin Gail, "...ran a pack string and hauled fish into the lakes in five-gallon cream cans. The Fish & Game had him do it, and he found the lake. So, they - the Fish and Game people - named it after him."

A.J. Demaris grew up in Sisters and graduated from Sisters High School in 1962. His father Albert "Ab" Demaris was a mayor of Sisters and first cousin to both Gail and Ray. A.J. confirmed Ray's account. "That was back in the early 1950s," A.J. recalled. "He hauled the fingerlings in milk cans. They filled the cans two-thirds full and put in a couple pounds of those little fish, which amounted to a few hundred. The water was oxygenated by the sloshing of the part-full cans as the horses hauled them in."

A.J.'s younger brother, Jim Demaris, remembers that golden trout were among the fish species stocked by Gail. A representative of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said that the last record he could find of golden trout being stocked was in 1958, but some of those lakes in the Chambers Basin may have also have been stocked from the west side.

A.J. and Ray Demaris agree that Gail hired out to the Forest Service and, among other things, distributed salt blocks to cattle grazing on Green Ridge. It was through his work with the Forest Service and ODFW that Gail got into the fish stocking business and discovered the lake that would eventually bear the Demaris name.

Actually, if it hadn't been for poor linguistic and spelling skills on the part of people who recorded immigrants' names, the lake might have been named Thammerus Lake. Jim Demaris reports that to have been the original spelling when the family emigrated from Alsace-Lorraine in 1749.