For several nights, my sister, her partner and I camped at Walton Lake in the OR Ochoco Mountains. This was my third visit in four years, and their first time. Seasonally, this was the latest I’d been there even though same on the calendar. Snow was complete gone even above 7,000 ft. Large mammals non-existent,…
Central cascades snowpack remains historically low and suggests that early June could be the start of Willamette National Forest’s great mosquito gauntlet – a couple weeks early traditionally. If you have not experienced that gauntlet, don’t … find another hike. I headed to Mckenzie River trail to add the lower, wild section downriver from Koosah…
A warm, balmy day threatening rain all afternoon, but the scrub oak meadows were full of summer flowers, interesting lizards, new song birds … how better to spend the afternoon? I left North TH around 11:15 and hiked Mt Pisgah via trails #3 and #4. Human traffic was seasonally low – almost none. The threatening…
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…
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…
