It’s been a while since we hiked in our own backyard, which in our case is Mount Hood. One of our favorite trails was up to Cairn Basin on the northeast flank so we thought we’d approach it from a different trailhead, a little further up Lolo Pass, instead of from Top Spur. We arrived […]
We’d hiked McIntyre Ridge trail three summers ago with our sweet little whippet, Willow, and have wanted to give it another try ever since. When we tried to reach the trail head in March we were stymied by too much snow so we hiked the Clackamas River Trail instead. We’d read about trouble with people […]
The Opal Creek Wilderness is the site of a former mining operation that dates to the 1850s, an hour east of Salem, Oregon. The Opal Creek Trailhead is 100 miles from our house, and several hikes depart from this point. To celebrate David’s birthday today, we hiked both Jawbone Flats and the Cedar Flats. Opal […]
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 […]
In typical fashion, we got a late noon start from Timberline Lodge. This time, our goal was to head east on the Timberline Trail #600 from the lodge and get over to Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area where Umbrella Falls is located. To do so, we’d have to drop about 1300 feet down to the […]
After a donut run to Joes Donuts in Sandy to fuel up and a pit stop at the handsome new Zigzag Ranger District Office, we arrived at the Top Spur trail head at noon Monday. On the weekends, the parking spills out along the road for a long way in both directions, but today we […]
We vowed to get an early start for Sunday morning’s hike from Timberline Lodge. Which means 10-ish. Expecting the parking lot at Timberline Lodge to be sparsely populated at that hour, we were surprised to see it nearly as full as during a prime winter skiing day. Apparently for many, July 14 is also a […]
We had made plans to climb Mount Saint Helens in Washington and reserved climbing permits months ago. With the climb less than a week away, we double-checked our equipment and did more online research in preparation. Recent reports included words such as “ice ax”, “crampons”, “snow field” which really got our attention. We read that […]
We finally found Pup Creek Falls, after two unsuccessful attempts earlier this year. Once, we ran out of time when approaching from the west via the Fish Creek trail head. On the next attempt, we started from the east at Indian Henry trail head, but the water was too high to make the final 1/3 […]
We’ve been hearing about the Dog Mountain hike for a few years (a friend of ours said “it’s the hardest thing she’s ever done”). And now that we’ve had a solid week of 80 degree May weather (unheard of in Oregon), we figured the spring wildflowers that this trail is known for would be spectacular. […]
Trail #791 – Salmon Butte Trail. We haven’t been up to the Salmon Butte trail since the winding mountain road leading to it was converted to trails-only in late 2010. That summer, Chris and nephew Tyler got part way up the trail when he got the itch to burn a few calories with his off-road […]
We started out the day intending to hike up McIntyre Ridge to Wildcat Mountain, but encountered the true meaning of “snow line” 5 miles before the trail head. Stymied by sudden deep snow on the road, we changed direction and headed to a lower elevation to try the east end of the Clackamas River Trail […]
Cougars and skunks and smelt oh my! Well not really, but Wednesday’s weather looked like the usual Spring Break mixed bag— partly cloudy, imminent rain showers, possible sun breaks. With that in mind, we thought a quick stretch-of-the-legs was in order to break up another day at the computer prepping for spring term classes. The […]
We headed up to Mt. Hood for some Valentine’s Day snowshoeing and were the first ones to arrive at the White River Junction Sno-park even though it was late morning. Dramatic clouds formed all around us, with patches of blue sky. The snow was un-tracked with two inches of fresh powder as we followed the river […]
Somewhat on the spur of a January moment, we made on online reservation at the Pickett Butte fire lookout in Southern Oregon. We’ve stayed at a couple of other Oregon fire lookouts, but this would be our first tower. As in 52 ladder-like steps up into the frosty winter air. After driving several hours, we […]
We began our hike at the Fish Creek Trailhead to get on the Clackamas River Trail which would take us to Pup Creek Falls. The trail roughly follows the south shore of the river for miles and miles. It’s a beautiful 7 mile out-and-back hike, with many opportunities for a swim in the warmer months. […]
We tried out our new Atlas snowshoes on the trail, but pretty quickly discovered that they were unnecessary for the conditions (packed snow, not slippery). The view was limited by the tree-lined road. Mt. Hood was visible from a meadow and again at the lake, but that’s about it. Met a handful of cross-country skiers […]
We’ve been looking for ways to get outside during the winter months here in Oregon. We don’t get much snow at our elevation (1000 feet). Instead it’s an unrelenting cold rain which isn’t much fun for hiking or cycling. But, we do have easy access to snow with Mount Hood basically in our back yard […]
This trail is one of our favorites because it’s only a couple of miles away from our house, and we rarely see other people during our monthly hikes. The footing is soft and well-maintained. This particular post documents our Christmas Eve hike down to the river. We follow the equestrian trail, which starts out at […]
I’ll start out this post by stating up front that we’ll never return to Badger Lake or its campground. While it’s less than 60 miles from our house, it’s almost impossible to get there from here. What should have been a hour’s drive turned into almost four by the time we had hurled our new […]
Our second trip to an Oregon fire lookout, took us to Gold Butte at 4618 feet elevation in the Willamette National Forest near Detroit, Oregon. To get there, we drove several hours, taking the beautiful “back way” through Estacada and Breitenbush. The lookout is a steep hike about 3/4 of a mile from where you […]