When you wake up in the morning just unwilling to drive a long distance, Spencer Butte is just so close … especially worth considering after recent rains softened up that hard gravel path. Alpine Trail and Hardesty Mt were discarded as too far to drive … I crossed the Mt Baldy meadows without a headlamp…
Fires and smoke made finding a good hike difficult, but with an overnight permit for Santiam Pass (PCT), I had options. Deciding last minute to take the east side of 3-Fingered Jack on Old Summit trail I set the objective of reaching Canyon Creek Meadows above Jack Lake. Some of this route, I had done…
Over the last 30 days, I rode my gravel bike over mostly the same route up the McKenzie, Mohawk rivers to destinations near Marcola, OR … basically go have great ride along the rivers (beautiful) and stretch out and sweat. So why a post? Roadkill. On both rides, there were newly killed deer along the…
Over the last 5 years, I have now hiked over 6,000 miles in the Northwest forests from the Redwoods to Olympic National Park – almost exclusively within 50 miles of the Cascades Mountains crest, and the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). These woods have become my sanctuary and cathedrals, yet every hike I see and learn…
Wednesday’s hike at Willamette Pass and Maiden Peak gave first hand / eyeball experience of what the fires were doing. Thursday’s weather was worse; stagnant air, more smoke and additional fires created dangerous conditions to be outside & active. I held a day hike permit for Obsidian TH to PCT in 3 Sisters, but need…
Odd weather continued with fires burning around Sisters (Flat Fire), south of Diamond Peak (Emigrant) and new ones surfacing as more thunderstorms rolled through. Wednesday, I headed to Willamette Pass for a PCT day hike that didn’t require a permit, and obviously going Northbound (NOBO) from the pass rather than head directly toward Emigrant fire….
Initially, Fuji Mt was the target destination to climb above the fog and smoke to photo the near-by fires, Emigrant (lower left) and Flat (upper right). Emigrant fire closed all recreational sites around the Middle Fork of Willamette River and is now burning over 10,000 acres and extremely close to Indigo Springs (a small creek…
To close out that broken backpacking trip (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), the final stage was a local hike (minimum driving of 30 min total) at Mt Pisgah. The weather was rain, fog and cool temperatures at least until 10-11am. It rained all the way to the TH (North TH), and I started…
Part 3 of the broken backpacking trip (Part 1, Part 2), early rain in the morning and grey skies and the Salsa loaded ready to go. Left around 10:00 and the ride all the way to Upper Camp Road was just perfect … 6 deer and 5 osprey along the way. But getting to Upper…
After Wednesday’s Salsa ride past Brownsville, Thursday’s day hike was part of the original backpacking plan: PCT from Bobby Lake to Charlton Lake and back with a short detour up the north Twin. With most of the PCT hikers at Cascade Locks for PCT days, the woods were fairly quiet – only 1 pair of…
