For 6 nights, my sister, her husband and I camped at Smiling River Campground on the Metolius River. Every day was a hiking day – some solo, some with company, and every one captured that Metolius Magic. Weather was challenging – days 2-4 with cold wet weather and wind. On the early morning drive over…
A warm but grey day in the valley with promises of afternoon sun … rather than drive, I stayed local. Leaving TH around 6:30am, there were >10 different birds singing in the parking lot. Later in the river meadows, 11 different birds sang while in the nearby woods only 4. A lazuli bunting was a…
For Day 3 of 3 consecutive days of long hikes to assess adventure readiness, my sister joined the fun at Mary’s Peak. Starting around 8:30 with fog on the coast and patchy fog in the valley and thick air, the day finished warm and sunny with Mt Jefferson hardly visible thru the haze as we…
Day 2 of the consecutive 3 day hikes started at Westfir Covered Bridge covering the North Fork of the Middle Fork Willamette River. Walking up-river accentuated following spring up the mountain. But, comparing to yesterday’s Goodman Creek gentle singing in the background, the North Fork was raging and loud. Even the Stellar Jays didn’t call…
Time to hike the foothills to catch spring as it moves up the mountain … keep driving to minimum but hiking experience to maximum: Goodman Creek to Eagles’ Rest. This was the first of a planned 3-day sequential hiking sequence to test conditioning for longer adventures after day hiking all winter. After a 30 min…
To bank carbon karma, I stayed local hiking Mt. Pisgah. Starting from North TH before sunrise, 9 different birds were singing in the parking lot. My car was the only one … Even before rounding the hill from the TH on Tr#3, 3 deer sprinted up the hill from the valley floor. Later on the…
After hiking a couple of very fast hours on the Baldy side of Ridgeline with my nephew, I headed over to Pisgah for a short afternoon ramble as all the rain clouds disappeared. North TH parking lot was surprisingly empty after the morning drizzle. Humans were infrequent on the trails but half had dogs and…
I needed a long hike with a bit of elevation work but didn’t want too drive far with grey, will-eventually-rain skies. The night before I thought Ridgeline a good idea, but in the morning I decided fewer humans and more wildlife a better plan: Pisgah! Mine was first car in North TH lot … a…
Two of us started at Hardesty TH intending to hike up Goodman Creek Trail to Eagle’s Rest and back down. A good plan until we reached the larger creek crossing about 2 miles from TH. The creek was flowing much higher than expected from the recent snow. While rock-hopping across was feasible it required using…
Thursday was a cold rainy morning with promised sun in the afternoon. A good time to hoof it around Pre’s Trail and Alton Baker Park to check on the nesting herons. Started around 11:30 and returned by 3:00. Wore wind-shell the entire time and used an umbrella once. That promised sun was just one of…
