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…
On my way back from Camp Sherman, a standard early morning stop (for the day) is Clear Lake Resort on Mckenzie River trail. Parking at resort is same price as upper trailhead (several miles upriver) – your permit – but so much safer. I stopped at the resort at 05:30 and was hiking around the…
The original plan was to hike Metolius-Windego trail north / northwest until snow pack made it impossible. I left Pine Rest CG in Camp Sherman as part of May Day adventure very early in morning, but headlamp not needed. The planned trip, however, needed to be changed given a missing bridge – and my total…
From Pine Rest campground and my May Day Camp Sherman car camping spot, the first day hike started after setting up campsite around 09:00 April 30. Weather was perfect for the season with clear skies and little wind. The Route From Pine Rest CG, the route went downriver on the east side to the Fish…
There’s few things as vibrant and colorful as spring time in Willamette Valley when the flowers are just popping … these were all a couple of blocks around my house as I walked around today. Opening any photo will display in high quality resolution – extra bonus points to find the bee.
After Tuesday’s jaunt up King Castle in the McKenzie valley, Thursday’s hike was up Alpine Trail to Tire Mt in Willamette valley. I had hiked up Alpine not this far earlier, and the difference in trail conditions were striking – leave it to MTB riders to clean up their trails first! All the blowdowns were…
King Castle is a big rock that sticks up from Mckenzie River outside of Rainbow, OR. A small comms tower at the top spoils some of the views of Mt Washington and the Three Sisters covered in April snows. The trail is mostly used by MTB folks racing down the hill, but Tuesday April 22…
