Due to the illness floating around our house, I stayed close to home. Dense, thick fog just off the ground filled the valley this morning with temperatures above freezing. Patiently waiting for the fog to lift in early morning (it didn’t), I hit Spring Blvd TH around 11:00. Cold and foggy with the trees dripping…
Hiking Ridgeline Trail and Spencer Butte has become a Winter Solstice tradition over the last 3-4 years. This year, however, was the worst weather. Rained for the first 2 hours and then just foggy and misty with just very little sunlight reaching through clouds at times. Gortex top-to-bottom and an umbrella … Once the rain…
As with several recent hikes, I make a plan the night before with great ambition and motivation, but had a contingency or two in back pocket to manage OR weather. I wake up and review the weather and combine everything into a simple balance: how much carbon will burn (gallons of gas) and what is…
I ended up hiking my third selection after discarding the other 2 due to too much driving for their experiences. Spencer Butte had not been hiked in weeks, so logically Ridgeline Trail from Spring Blvd starting early in morning. From Spring Blvd at 6:22, it was straight to Spencer Butte summit with headlamp on between…
After yesterday’s good hard rain, all the weather peeps said that Tuesday, Sept 30 would be clear until 2pm when the rains come again. A perfect time to hike Ridgeline between storms – an often occurrence in fall and winter. My objective was to get a good set of miles and elevation gain, too. Sunrise…
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…
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…
Getting out in the woods on solstice and equinox is a must do. The cascade foothills were covered in snow, creeks and streams were near / above flood levels. Weather suggested cool temperatures and maybe a few localized rain showers. Ridgeline Trail was the perfect trail given the conditions and my objective of spending way…
Longer days, warmer temperatures and a crescent moonset … After a couple of hard rainy days and raging valley rivers from melting snow, Ridgeline Trail seemed like a good idea – waiting for further snow melt in the cascade foothills for later in the week. I started early at 0600 from Spring Blvd trailhead and…
As of last night, 50-50 Alpine and North Fork were my destination with colder weather and possible rain / snow. When I got up this morning the NOAA (quite important to keep funding) snow depth had the snow covering all of Alpine and very close to North Fork. The weather had temperatures in the high…
