In a week of dynamic plans, Tuesday was a 50+ mile bike ride in rural Willamette Valley and Wednesday a hiking buddy and I shared the ride to Willamette Pass to hike Maiden Peak via PCT. From Willamette Pass, the PCT winds north through the central cascade lakes area starting with 3 Rosary Lakes, where…
As the hot weather broke from low 90s to mid 80s, a good bike ride was top of the list, especially after the miles my feet and knees captured last week at Diamond / Crater Lakes. Salsa bike only had frame and handlebar food bags – a light gear kit compared to photo below. Gap…
Over the 5 days With a deep and late snow pack around Crater Lake and high temperatures forecasted, my hybrid backpacking / car packing plan became a 5 day car packing adventure – safety first. 3 nights camping at Broken Arrow CG and the last night at Thielsen View CG. Each day started early before…
To prepare for upcoming PCT adventure, a backpack kit shakeout was definitely needed. After driving last week to ID and planned adventures, driving more than 1 hour away was not an option. 3 hikes were possibles: Alpine Trail to Tire Mountain, King Castle to Macduff Mountain and finally Hardesty to Sawtooth (or June). The decision…
Recent news had Coeur d’Alene, ID in the negative, wtf, spotlight. Strangely, we were visiting the lake last week … we visited Spokane and Yakima, too – Spokane was the highlight as we were there during Hoopfest 2025. here’s what Coeur d’Alene looked like. It’s a weird place without doubt and not one that even…
While out riding along the Mckenzie River today, with the flowers blooming, the sun shining, and the wind blowing, a diving small raptor caught my attention. – truly out of side of eye as I was coasting down a hill. I wasn’t sure what it was at first – it dove, and then waveringly flew…
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…
