This is an interesting pair of photos of Sarah Hammell and Florence McClain at the summit of McKenzie Pass. (At least it sure looks like that’s where they are.) I imagine the photos were taken by John Hammell.

A cropped version of the photo above appeared in this post about Mom’s school assignment. In that post I speculated that the location might be McKenzie Pass. But with the cropping, that was not at all certain. Seeing the entire photo here along with the next one, I’m reasonably sure that is the location. Likewise I speculated that the person Mom was with here (standing, above, and seated on the left, below) might be her Grandma Hammell. But now seeing both of these photos together, I’m reasonably sure about that identification, too. In any case, the person seated on the right above and below, is Mom (Florence McClain).

If I have the location correct, I think the peak in the distance at left is Little Belknap Crater. (Corrections welcome.)

It is interesting to see that snow fences were in use along the highway at this time. I imagine that reflects the greater effort made to keep the McKenzie Pass open in the wintertime then. When the Clear Lake Cut-off (US 126) was completed between the McKenzie Highway and the Santiam Highway in the 1950s, it gave the Eugene area convenient access to the lower and more easily maintained Santiam Pass. Since that time, efforts to keep McKenzie Pass open in the wintertime have ceased. It is generally closed from the first significant snowfall in October or November until the snow melts in late June or July now.

It must have been an arduous drive in a mid-1920s automobile to the top of McKenzie Pass. I don’t imagine it could have been a one-day trip from Albany to Eugene and then up the McKenzie Highway to the pass and back again. My speculation is that this trip was made while the Hammells were camping at Lost Creek (Limberlost), which is on the McKenzie Highway. Or at least someplace in that general area. A day trip from there to the top of the pass would have been much more manageable.

As discussed here and here, it is likely that the Hammells camped at Limberlost in July 1928. I don’t have firm dates for the above photos. They may have been taken as late as that camping trip in 1928. There is no direct evidence that Mom was with them during that camping trip, though.