2017 Trips To Date
Tom Dick and Harry Mountain
6.4 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •
Fantastic day with a good friend to get a bit of restoration. Lots of flowers and the trail was in great shape. Lots of people. We could have sold our parking spot to the highest bidder though :) Several cars lined up waiting for a spot. Just perfect.
June 27, 2017
1
Beyond Ball Point Badger Wilderness
9.2 miles of hiking • 2000' elevation gain •
I decided to reject Sundays cloud forecast and head East into the Badger with a good friend. Views were great. The lower oak savannah, that is the first mile of the trail is pretty much done blooming except for yarrow and blue ceanothus. Once you are on the north slopes of Ball Point the bloom really picks up with a bumper crop of white ceanothus, and even a few Balsams still in bloom. Instead of doing a loop down Little Badger we kept going up. Helispot 122 and the Rock garden were amazing. We went about another mile and headed home. We ran into a couple folks who had gone all the way up to Lookout Mountain along the Divide trail. They reported no major blowdown, quite a bit of snow on the back of Lookout, but none on the top. Wonderful day!
June 18, 2017
Phlox Point
8.2 miles of hiking • 2250' elevation gain •
Beautiful day doing the Hardy Ridge loop and up to Phlox Point. Beargrass, Phlox and a plethora of Penstamens were blooming up at the top. Some pretty extensive trail retreading work has been done. Awesome day!!!
June 4, 2017
Herman Creek to Slide Creek
10 miles of hiking • 1750' elevation gain •
Herman Creek is a great rainy day hike, but I really always love it in the sun as well. Big news is some trail work has been done. Much appreciation. The two big down logs that were requiring a bit of a go around, are gone. They weren't difficult, but scrambling over them in the mud for those of us with shorter legs was always interesting. The water in Camp Creek has gone down substantially. But people were reporting that Whisky and Mullinix Creek were doable, but not necessarily dry footed, with a good bit of water coming through. Wonderful day with a friend.
May 29, 2017
2
Sevenmile Hill and Tamanawas Falls
5.5 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain •
Since it was hot we decided to do two shorty hikes and explore back roads for future options. In the morning we hit Sevenmile Hill. It got hot too fast, and was a bit past peak until you get near the top. Nonetheless it was lovely. Then we took back roads as far as we could and then buzzed down Hwy 35 and parked at the pullout for Tamanawas fall TH. Crowded, but super pretty and refreshing after the heat. Not much blooming there yet. Snow has only recently melted. But the creek was flowing strong and beautiful. Great day.
May 21, 2017
Hamilton Mountain Loop
7.5 miles of hiking • 2000' elevation gain •
Just had to get out there today. Hoping to get a few more hikes in during this stretch of good weather. Marvelous out there. Still very green and the second wave of woodland flowers are starting to pop. False Solomon Seals, Larkspur and even a few phlox at the saddle. Super crowded today, but everyone was in good spirits.
May 19, 2017
Small Dalles Ranch Loop
3 miles of hiking • 500' elevation gain •
Just a lovely day and a small walk on my friends birthday. Lupine and phlox are peaking, The Balsam root is slightly past, but still beautiful. On the way home we did a quick stop at Catherine Creek to see if the Lewisia is blooming and it was full on near the trailhead.
May 9, 2017
Ramona Falls
8.2 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain •
Great day and not too crowded. We crossed the Sandy a bit further up on a log I could scoot across rather than the typical crossing. The mountain is still full of snow and we took the cut off near the falls, from the trail down to the Sandy and walked a ways along the bank to get a better look at the mountain. Some nice looking waterfalls up there, in the distance, right now and still snow on the tops of the cliffs along the river. On the trail, there just a few patches of snow, that were no problem at all and are melting fast. Beautiful mossy creeklets on the back half along Ramona Creek. A few Trilliums, some calypsos and a few blooming willows, were mostly it for flowers.
May 7, 2017
Eagle Creek to past Twister
12.6 miles of hiking • 1250' elevation gain •
Beautiful 80 degree day! I strolled up a ways past Twister falls and ate lunch with a nice Crow friend, The hanging meadows are starting to pop and the second wave of shade lovers like Solomon Seal are just starting. Being short legged and not as sure of my balance anymore, the Wy'east creek crossing just before the potholes is a bit harder this year. But I waded on the way out, and crossed at a log jam below the ford on the way back. Great day!!!
May 3, 2017
Crawford Oaks Loop
8.1 miles of hiking • 1250' elevation gain •
In honor of International workday and that ancient flower day currently celebrated as May Day, I went out with a friend to do the Crawford Oaks loop. Flowers are looking amazing below the ranch. Eight Mile creek is back to being a dry footed crossing. Cloudy, but comfortable. Really great day
May 1, 2017
Cape Horn Upper Loop
5 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain •
Beautiful day. Lots of sun. Many sneak peaks into the gorge in addition to the viewpoints, since the trees aren't leafed out yet. South side of Silver Star was looking snow free, but plenty of snow on the other sides as far as I could tell. The second wave of flowers is starting!!
April 21, 2017
Herman Creek in the Sun!!
10 miles of hiking • 1750' elevation gain •
Lovely day!! Although I'm still not used to the parking lot at Herman Creek filling up. Made it to Mullinex Creek which looked to be a wet footed crossing(although an easy one). Camp Creek was getting a lot of peoples feet wet. The waterfalls were beautiful. Saw a few folks heading up to snow camp and lots of folks headed up to Indian Point and Nick Eaton. So the snow track should be pretty defined. Still really appreciating dirt under my feet.
April 15, 2017
Eagle Creek
15 miles of hiking • 1750' elevation gain •
Lovely day out with Karl. Wy'East was the only creek crossing where I had to think about my options, but no real problem crossing.
April 9, 2017
Horsetail Oneonota
8.2 miles of hiking • 1750' elevation gain •
Beautiful sunny day in the gorge. From Horse tail I went up past Triple falls to check out the washout and see how far I could go before I hit snow. The washout just before the 3rd bridge was fine. I ran out of time before any snow was apparent except small patches at 1600'. None visible as far as I could see above me. Trilliums started to bloom above and some Corydalis down below. Wonderful day.
April 3, 2017
1
Eagle Creek Gazillion Waterfall Tour
7.2 miles of hiking • 500' elevation gain •
Really truly a gazillion waterfalls! Beautiful day, the trail is fine flowers are starting and the water is amazing. The landslide at 3.1 miles looked pretty doable, but I turned around. Perfect!
March 31, 2017
Little North Santiam
6.4 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain •
Dripping wet but beautiful day, The river wasn't silty at all. Still full of that beautiful celadon green color. There's a but more eg than maps show, perhaps an older trail version stayed level with the river. The trail right now is one big creek. A fair amount of down trees, all of them fine, but it definitely slowed my progress, as well as allowing more opportunities for water to get inside my rain gear. An unnamed creek approximately across from Henline was a bit questionable today due to the rain and a good drop off just below the ford. We made it, but not a dry footed crossing right now. Awesome day and good company.
March 26, 2017
Eastern Catherine Creek
7.6 miles of hiking • 1250' elevation gain •
Went east hoping for a bit more sun and to check the bloom. Grass widows are booming and the lomatiums are coming along and the poison oak has not leafed out yet. Wandered east along Atwood road until I hit Burns Farm and made it back to the car before the clouds rolled in.
March 23, 2017
1
Catherine creek Tracy Hill
7.6 miles of hiking • 1750' elevation gain •
Wow a second day of sun in the last week. I spent the day wandering around the old service roads and meadows at the top of Tracy Hill. Lots of water everywhere. Ran into another hiker that I just know from online with his amazing dog Rigby. Had lunch at a secret meadow with a view of Mt Hood. The flowers are just starting. A fantastic day.
March 16, 2017
Lower Deschutes Hike
11.6 miles of hiking • 250' elevation gain •
Flowers starting to bloom sporadically, river running strong and a sunny clearing in the afternoon. No ticks!! We strolled down to the boxcar and wandered down to the river a few times. Wonderful day.
March 12, 2017
Pocket Creek snowshoe
3 miles of hiking • 250' elevation gain •
The roads were finally clear and I did a short and lovely stroll with friends to check on a wildlife camera and look at tracks. We snowshoed, but they weren't really needed except for offtrail and a few random sinkholes. Wonderful day!
January 30, 2017
1
Upper Twin lake Snowshoe
6.7 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain •
Went with some friends on a lovely meetup group hike. The roads were definitely bad in places. An accident had closed the westbound lanes of 26 completely and Hwy 35 was closed both directions from a car accident. We decided to just pull over at Barlow Pass Sno park and snowshoe down the PCT, and then take the cutoff down to Upper Twin Lake. There were no recent tracks on the cutoff trail to Palmatier Point, but there was a very obvious track heading up to Tri-County Ridge. The cutoff to Upper Twin lake was well tracked and the sunshine and blue skies broke out, just in time for the lunch at the lake. Great day!!
January 22, 2017
Icicle Tour
8.2 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •
Great day exploring the ice!! Three short hikes that were truly wonderful.
January 6, 2017
Short Wildwood Hike
5.5 miles of hiking • 500' elevation gain •
Beautiful day with a good friend on the Wildwood!!
January 2, 2017
Tamanawas Falls
3.8 miles of hiking • 500' elevation gain •
Beautiful way to bring in the New Year! Almost a foot of fresh powder on the trees and no wind. There is a rock slide almost all the ways to the falls, which is tricky in snow shoes, with occasional deep wells in the rocks. Fine going up. A little more interesting coming down. Good company and a perfect day.
January 1, 2017
