Angel’s Rest Redux

With five days of rain headed our way, we decided to get a hike in while the weather held. We decided to try Angel’s Rest again which is less than a half hour away from our house. The temperature hovered around 50 degrees with overcast skies.  About half the parking lot was full when we […]

Year of the Dog(s)

2014 was a year of big changes. Sorely missing our little whippet, Willow (she died in 2012), we finally felt ready to find another sight hound. Enter the newest member of the Beyond family, Prospect. Prospect is a 3-year old brindle-colored retired racing greyhound from Kansas. After arriving in Portland in August 2013, he spent […]

Palisade Point

Wow! This first part of our hike, Lookout Mountain Loop is a keeper, featuring the most dramatic views in the shortest distance for the least effort. True to form, our arrival at the High Prairie trailhead was straight up noon. On the dot. That left less than six hours to get back to the car […]

Gray Butte

We headed to central Oregon to enjoy the gorgeous fall weather, intending to hike around Smith Rock State Park and then drive south to Tumalo State Park to camp overnight. Unfortunately, Smith Rock was packed full of people (an archeology event and lots of other like-minded hikers/climbers). To avoid the crowds, we thought we’d hike […]

Elk Meadows

We thought we’d try an overnight on the mountain by starting at the Hood River Meadows Trailhead. Before departing, we each weighed our packs and came out pretty even at 27 pounds. In addition to our clothes, sleeping pad and bag and three liters of water, David hauled the tent and I carried the cook […]

Oregon Scenic Byways

On the way back home from Sun Valley, Idaho, we decided to take a different route once we got to Oregon border. We left the interstate (I-84) at Baker City, had lunch and then took Hwy 7 towards Sumpter, which also turns out to be the southern half of the Elkhorn Scenic Byway. This is […]