20 miles / 4,500 feet gained / 1 night
In the first week of March, I had the pleasure of going to the Oregon high desert twice, visiting the John Day and Deschutes rivers. The first trip was a bikepack up the Deschutes from the confluence with the Columbia River. We biked up about 11 miles, and camped at the Fall Canyon campsite. Had a nice hike up Harris Canyon to the top of the rim. The camp ha...
5 miles / 1,000 feet gained
A little muddy, but Cowboy LOVED the beach.
4.5 miles / 750 feet gained
Meant to ski up Larch Mountain road but the snow was down pretty low and road in bad condition. Plus creepy dudes in big trucks. This was plan B. Visited the cardavers, and the swans down on the lake.
8 miles / 2,500 feet gained
Cold clear day. We added on some extra fun scrambles, and checked out Little Beacon Rock.
7 miles / 500 feet gained
Beautiful day on the Klickitat River, it gets pretty wild up there. Saw quite a few eagles.
3.5 miles / 750 feet gained / 1 night
Cowboy, nearly two (in February) carried his own pack, finally! It was a gorgeous night.
22.5 miles / 4,750 feet gained
Hiked every day while in Tuscon: 1) Wasson Peak in Saguaro NP 8 miles, 1800 eg 2) Little Elephant Head, Santa Rita mtns, 4 5 miles, 1000 ft eg 3) Cochise Stronghold Trail, Dragoon Mtns, 6 miles, 1400 eg 4) Pima Canyon, Catalina mtns, 4 miles, 500 gain
7 miles / 750 feet gained
I drove up to the winter gate(closed) on Larch Mountain road with my skis, expecting snow. None. Went hiking instead. Took Palmer Mill down to Multnomah Basin Road and wandered around. Looks like folks are carrying on Red Shorts' projects.
4 miles / 500 feet gained / 1 night
Full on Thanksgiving dinner while meeting daughter's boyfriend for the first time. At least he knows what he's getting into.
13 miles / 1,750 feet gained
Crazy route finding adventure in the sandstone. Had a blast navigating slabs and dryfalls, gazing in wonder at all the sculptural features around us. We failed on our first attempt, but spotted a viable option on the way out. Not enough daylight left to try it. We also hiked up the nearby petroglyph trail- tons of images! We wondered why there, and we didnt ...
9 miles / 1,750 feet gained
Cool approach via the Petroglyph Trail in the Sloan Canyon NCA. I really enjoyed scrambling around inthe Canine Crag area. Did not see anyone all day.
9.5 miles / 750 feet gained
Spent two nights at Cottonwood Canyon SP in the cabins. Such a great desert getaway! Enroute, we stopped at Deschutes River and biked up that canyon for about 7 miles, then my partner got a flat tire. We imagined spending a night there doing some winter camping at one of the rafters sites, now on the list! Cold starry nights in the canyon- no wifi, blissful....
16 miles / 2,500 feet gained / 2 nights
Had two more days at Smith, camping at Haystack Reservoir. Friday was ethereal, with little cirrus clouds flowing across the sky. This place is so beautiful. Met up with friends on Saturday for climbing, and we visited multiple crags in the park. The rain came in overnight and we woke up to a drizzling Sunday morning, decided to just head home. But the weath...
4.5 miles / 250 feet gained
Just a pleasant day of wandering in the woods, perfect timing for the golden chanterelle bloom.
8 miles / 2,500 feet gained / 2 nights
Spent multiple days hiking and climbing. Camped at Haystack. Saturday and Sunday trips were to the Marsupials where I led several students on multipitch routes. Birds in a Rut on the Wombat and Living Blindly on the Possum.
10 miles / 2,500 feet gained
Started early to beat the crowds, but they never showed up! Just me and the pikas. Had the lakes to myself and just saw a few folks coming in on my return trip. Would love to return for a backpack and scramble up the local summits. The only drawback to this hike is it takes quite awhile to get away from the drone of I-90. It's like the gorge, but louder.
3.5 miles / 1,250 feet gained
My intention was to hike up to Mt Thomas via the Domerie Divide trail. When I was gearing up at the trailhead, a fish and wildlife officer came along and told me there was a report of an aggressive mountain lion up on the ridge where I was headed. I decided I wasn’t concerned and started the hike. After crossing SilverCreek, a big fat, fuzzy bear jumped on t...
5 miles / 2,500 feet gained
It seemed like all of WA state was out with their dogs on this perfect fall day. 100s of cars lined the highway near the Blue Lake trailhead. Climbing was also busy and we had to wait to get onto the Beckey Route. Lovely to climb on granite.Got benighted again, but luckily it was after we had rappelled and then down climbed the "unpleasant gully".
7 miles / 1,500 feet gained
East of Smith Rock, north of Skull Hollow Campground. Pleasant day of wandering. Winter gates are closed, keeping the ATVs out. Great trail system out here! Desert sageland hiking is very restorative.
5 miles / 1,000 feet gained
Mushrooms are popping, understory warm and barely moist. pretty good haul today.
16 miles / 6,000 feet gained / 1 night
We stashed a bike at the Putvin TH, then drove back down the Hamma Hamma road and started up the Lena Lakes trail. Continued to Upper Lena where we were supposed to camp and climb Mt Bretherton. We were inside a cloud with limited visibility so we decided to skip the climb and continue on the Scout Lake Trail. This was heavenly terrain, undulating through he...
16.5 miles / 6,000 feet gained / 2 nights
Climbed Pinnacle peak with friends and stayed one night at La Wis Wis. On the second day we went up Tatoosh Peak trail to the most amazing spot, as wonderful as my visit 3 years ago, and weather was perfect. We should have stayed two nights there.
8 miles / 1,250 feet gained
Relaxing day. Sat in the dynamic streambed of the Sandy River and skecthed for awhile. The mountain is very colorful this time of year.
11 miles / 3,750 feet gained / 1 night
Great trip in the alpine. We had a gorgeous campsite with Mt Stuart looming above us. Beautiful evening with alpenglow and pika song. Saw a pair of goats at the lake. This is a busy area, and can be extremely crowded during the larch peak time. Started early for our ascent of Ingalls Peak and had it to ourselves for awhile. Congestion on the way down because...
6 miles / 1,750 feet gained
Took the Prindle Mountain trail up. Lots of bear scat down low, and elk duds up on the pleateau. Love the big cedars, firs and hemlocks of the enchanted forest.
5.5 miles / 1,000 feet gained / 1 night
Well. I forgot the tent, so we "cowboy camped" with Cowboy on a gorgeous night.
45 miles / 12,000 feet gained / 4 nights
Lollipop with three other gals clockwise around Grey Wolf Pass, Lost Pass and Cameron Pass. It was possibly the most difficult backpacks I've done.
3 miles / 500 feet gained
My son came with me on a camera check for Cascadia Wild. A lot of critters visited our site(bears, bobcat, deer and coyote), but none of the target species. It was a hot day, but we enjoyed some relaxation in the shade near the creek. We also found a patch of ripe huckleberries.
12 miles / 5,250 feet gained / 2 nights
Started out with an attempt of Sloan Peak in the North Cascades. We were bushwacking in steep terrain when one of our climbers sustained an ankle injury and could not bear weight on it. Successfully used iphone SOS feature to get 911. SAR rescue ensued, took 10 hrs and 18 volunteers to carve a path and haul them out on a litter. Great learning experience. We...
12 miles / 4,250 feet gained / 1 night
Highest point in the William O Douglas Wilderness. We started early and got to the top at 11am. Lovely ridgetop, flowers going strong. Bugs not too bad. Fun summit scramble.
3 miles / 1,250 feet gained / 1 night
Beautiful night even though it was a tad windy. Got our first Milky Way shot of this year.
9 miles / 2,000 feet gained / 1 night
Left White River in a sand storm and made it to our favorite spot on the PCT. This morning, we headed to Timberline Lodge to see if it the snow was passable and it was. On the return, we took some unmaintained trail and made it back to White River.
15 miles / 2,750 feet gained / 1 night
This was supposed to be a Mt Jefferson climb. We weren't sure of the summit conditions but had suspicions it would not be tenable. About four miles in, we were able to see the final approach to the summit block. A storm last week resulted in rime ice on the summit, precariously wind loaded on the western face. The warm temps would make the "terrible traverse...
5 miles / 2,500 feet gained
4.5 miles / 500 feet gained
Father's Day hike with our daughter.
6 miles / 2,750 feet gained
Took up a group of 10. First time leading trad on alpine rock in mountain boots! Luckily it was very easy climbing. The moat has opened up but is just a slightly spicy hop-over. Fun glissades down. We did not glissade the couloir, careful plunge stepping, it is melting out and was posthole city. We caught the tail end of the weather window, started to rain w...
5.5 miles / 500 feet gained / 1 night
Trip to find missing tripod part with no luck. Did put out camper's fire in the morning by the lake. They were less than 5' away from the lake and couldn't be bothered to smother out the fire and left nice wood on top to continue burning.
