After biking last week in Painted Hills, I wanted to make sure my legs hadn’t forgotten how to climb hills. A decent weather day (a bit cool) and a half-moon perfect for a sunrise walk up and around Mt. Pisgah. When I pulled into the parking lot there were 9 cars at 05:15, and then…
On the way to Mitchell for bikepacking the painted hills, an overnight stop at Camp Sherman fit perfectly into the schedule after canceling Ochoco hiking due to high heat. Prior to crossing the pass, I stopped at Clear Lake Resort to hike a good section of the McKenzie River National Recreation Trail. After that hike,…
My bike buddy and I planned to get out bikepacking months ago, and this the first real trip after the recent shakeout. Oregon Scenic Bikeways are plentiful and well documented, and we did a variation of the Painted Hills and Old West, but mostly on Painted Hills and Journey Through Time. We chose to stay…
Hot weather in the upper 80s lower 90s landed in the valley for a couple of days, so an early morning jaunt along Pre’s Trail seemed like a good idea. – All this walking right from my front door. The birds were out in force early before the heat. Merlin recorded songs 2x and each…
A typical June day in Oregon … started a bit hazy / cloudy and by noon blue skies and sunshine. To save more of my knees and feet while getting in a bit more biking to prepare for upcoming bikekpacking trip, a good local bike loop seemed like a good idea. I added water, food,…
Hiked with a buddy Goodman Creek trail to Eagle’s Rest on a wonderful June Tuesday – sunny, warm, but not hot, a small breeze … a good day to be in the woods. We had a ‘must return by’ time box and we wanted to hit Eagle’s Rest so we drove up the forest service…
With new gear and an upcoming bikepacking adventure, shaking out the gear for an overnight with my biking buddy started at Waterloo County Park outside of Lebanon, OR. As large ‘RV’ campgrounds go (120 sites total), the facility along the Santiam River was perfect – clean, super flat and of the 120 sites, there were…
As I age and the miles accumulate from 45 years of mid distance running (half marathons) and 1000+ mile / year hiking for the last 5+ years, moderation and diversity of activities are necessary … to keep my knees, feet and lower back happy – and to continue on! With great support and encouragement from…
Last year I went to Redwoods for about 1 week – split between Mill Creek and Elk Prairie Campgrounds (Mill Creek is emergency campground imho); this year time was split between Elk Prairie first and Jedidiah Smith second. Weather held the entire time – not warm but not raining. May 12-16 at Prairie Creek, May…
For a couple of nights and May Day, I made a home at Pine Rest campground at Camp Sherman on the magical Metolius River. Smith Rock and Camp Sherman have been my traditional gear shake-out for the first overnight of the season, but this year the extra 2 hours of driving couldn’t be rationalized for…
