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December 1 to December 2, 2011 Eagle Creek 20 miles 5,000 feet gained 1 night
Eagle Creek has it's own climate—I need to remember this for future trips. Trying to take advantage of the beginning of this stretch of great weather, a friend and I headed out for a two night loop of Eagle Creek to Wahtum Lake. We hiked to 7.5 mile camp the first night. Despite the blue skies, everything was soaking wet. Drenched. With a low in the mid 30s,...
November 18, 2011 Tanner Cutoff 9 miles 2,000 feet gained
Took a (really quick) jaunt up road 777 from the Tooth Rock trailhead. Fighting sunset, I hiked about 4.5 miles in before turning around and jogging all the way back down to the road until the trail wouldn't let me anymore. On the way up, I ran into a young buck who wouldn't let me pass. He wanted to go down the road and I wanted up, so I eventually climbed ...
November 5, 2011 Ferry Springs Canyon 8 miles 250 feet gained
Easy hike with Shane along the Deschutes in search of sunshine and fish. We found the former but not the latter. :[
October 29 to October 30, 2011 South Matthieu Lake 52 miles 7,500 feet gained 1 night
Went with Chris (arundodonax) on our version of a loony hike—a loony backpack around the Three Sisters in a single night. ## Day 1 Saturday, we opted to start on the west side of the mountains due to the good weather, and it was stunningly beautiful. All three mountains stayed visible throughout the day, each collecting lenticular clouds midday. We blazed th...
October 21, 2011 Sunstrip Campground 8 miles 250 feet gained
Took a day hike with a friend. We were looking for a place that was fishable, mellow, and had some distance. The Clackamas River Trail turned out to be the place! Really easy hike, and caught a beautiful cutthroat halfway up Pup Creek Falls.
October 14 to October 16, 2011 Pine Creek 10.5 miles 1,000 feet gained 2 nights
Left the city late Friday to camp out for an early morning bushwhack down into Salmon River Meadows which is a wilderness established in 2009 southeast of Trillium Lake. We parked at the Frog Lake trailhead, hiked across Highway 26 by headlamp, and ducked into the woods. We hiked for an hour or so until we found relatively flat ground to make a camp spot. We...
September 29 to September 30, 2011 Herman Bridge 2.5 miles 500 feet gained 1 night
I'll let the video do the explaining: <iframe width="500" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HWgjx3GOOJ0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
September 24 to September 25, 2011 Deer Lake 14 miles 3,250 feet gained 1 night
September 10 to September 11, 2011 Bear Lake 8 miles 1,000 feet gained 1 night
Took my pops on his first backpacking trip ever on an easy jaunt on the old abandoned Cascade Crest Trail over to Bear Lake from the Thomas Lake trailhead. Some huckleberries were around for the first mile or so, but none of the bushes higher up have berries yet, let alone ripe ones. I caught eight cut throat trout out of Bear Lake, including a few impressiv...
September 3 to September 5, 2011 Isolation Lake 22 miles 7,000 feet gained 2 nights
Coming from Portland, the scale and ruggedness of the central Washington cascades are overwhelming the first time you see them. They are jagged and looming and give a sense of grandeur that you don't get anywhere in, say, Mt. Hood National Forest. Twelve of us met up at Lake Stuart Saturday with the intent to day hike into the Core Enchantments Sunday. Only ...
August 20 to August 21, 2011 Wildcat 7 miles 500 feet gained 1 night
My wife Christy and I took an easy trip out here to bask in the sun, relax, and swim. I also brought my tenkara fly fishing rod I am absolutely stoked about. I think this might have been my favorite hike of the year. Here's why: 1. We jumped off a 10 foot rock into crystal clear green water over and over. 2. Christy napped in our hammock while I fished. 3. W...
August 13 to August 14, 2011 Kopetski / Opal Creek 8 miles 1,750 feet gained 1 night
Another wonderful trip into Opal Creek. Hiked four easy miles, jumped off cliffs into pristine pools of water, caught eleven fish including a monster 3lb brook trout, slept in a hammock under the stars. Go there before it's fall.
July 31 to August 1, 2011 McNeil Point 11.5 miles 3,500 feet gained 1 night
My wife Christy's sister was in town from Florida and was getting the whirlwind tour of everything Portland had to offer for a week. My portion of that tour was picking a perfectly representative location to backpack. I decided we'd head up to McNeil Point and stay in the shelter up there. At the trailhead when asking about conditions, a lady told me the she...
July 9, 2011 Burnt Lake 7 miles 1,750 feet gained
Zipped out to Burnt Lake for what I thought would be a quick overnight. I only brought my bivy sack for shelter as the forecast was good, but I quickly realized that would be insufficient with all of the hungry mosquitoes around drinking me dry. I tried to fish a little, but was quickly overwhelmed with mosquitoes. I hiked out at 9pm and made it home before ...
July 2 to July 4, 2011 Grass Lake 8 miles 1,000 feet gained 2 nights
June 23, 2011 West Benson Way 10 miles 4,500 feet gained
We planned to climb Hood on Thursday, but with clouds moving in the night before limiting the overnight low to above freezing, we thought it safest to postpone the climb. Instead, we climbed Ruckel Ridge! This is an extremely fun trail, full of ridiculous steeps, precarious foot placements, and plenty of exposure. The trail feels more like an adventure than ...
June 17 to June 18, 2011 Gillette Lake 7 miles 1,000 feet gained 1 night
Quick overnight with friends. Swam, caught two bull trout, and hung out by a roaring fire provided by perfectly seasoned wood from the clearcut. A great camping experience with very little backpacking :)
June 9, 2011 Mount Saint Helens 7 miles 5,500 feet gained
Jon, Shane, Kevin, & I took Thursday off to climb Mt. Saint Helens. We picked up our permits right at 6am, and started hiking at 7:10 after a casual preparation in the parking lot at Marble Mountain Snopark. The weather turned out perfect—mostly blue skies with a random assortment of lower clouds to add interest to the views. We took only one real break at r...
June 3 to June 4, 2011 Mud Lake 18 miles 4,750 feet gained 1 night
We were aiming for Wahtum Lake and Chinidere Mountain, but the ungodly amount of annoying snow kept us away. Instead, we went up to a rocky prominence on the ridge near Tomlike Mountain. We decided against going the few hundred feet further up Tomlike because, damnit, it was the nicest day of the year so far and, damnit, it was freezing cold on that ridge! G...
May 28 to May 29, 2011 Green Point Mountain 19 miles 6,000 feet gained 1 night
Went backpacking with six others Saturday night at Cedar Swamp camp on the Herman Creek trail. I thought that it would be far enough removed from the obvious popular choices in the gorge that we might find some solitude, but unfortunately that was not to be the case. I've never walked so far to camp by so many other people (4 other groups). Sunday morning, f...
May 11, 2011 Oak Spring 9 miles 2,500 feet gained
Shane and I went on a day hike out to see the wildflowers. Unfortunately, the WTA reference we used was horribly inaccurate or too vague about where we were supposed to go, and so we lost the trail through random land and probably ended up wandering through private property. We climbed the unnamed 2800' mountain next to where we initially intended, saw tons ...
May 4, 2011 Pct: Mt Hood 20.5 miles 6,000 feet gained
Four of us took work off Wednesday and decided to attempt Chinidere Mountain. We planned a loop, from Herman Creek Trailhead to the Pacific Crest Trail, Chinidere, and back down the Herman Creek trail. Needless to say, we didn't make it; we made it within 2 miles of Chinidere but the snow was too soft on the exposed faces toward the end of the hike. We made ...
April 29 to April 30, 2011 Deadwood 9 miles 3,000 feet gained 1 night
Really quick overnight with my friend Jon. We left the city at 5pm and made it to the trailhead by 6:30 due to traffic and gas-getting. We made it to Deadwood Camp at about 8:30, put up our shelter, and built a small, damp fire. There was nothing too exciting about the hike as hikes go, although we hadn't had enough time to do the side trail down to Indian P...
April 21 to April 22, 2011 Table Mountain 16 miles 3,250 feet gained 1 night
Camped overnight again this weekend at Gillette Lake, this time for my friend Shane's birthday outing. We hiked in during the late afternoon, hauling hunks of wood from the clearcut above the lake down to our camp spot. We had a great fire, I caught a trout and cooked him over the fire on a stick, and consumed much beer. The next morning, we headed off to Ta...
April 16 to April 17, 2011 Gillette Lake 6 miles 500 feet gained 1 night
Went out to Gillette Lake Saturday night with my wife and four others. Caught two trout—a medium-sized brook and a tiny rainbow—and cooked them over the fire with asparagus and lemon. Great camp out and very different than all my previous snow-bound adventures. Looking for a lake available for backpacking before May? This is the one. Trail was muddy but ...
April 14, 2011 Devils Rest 6 miles 2,000 feet gained
Went for a quick jaunt to make use of the shit-tacular weather provided to us by April. It was literally a quick jaunt—we ran about a third of the trip, completing the 6 miles and 1700' in less than two hours. I was surprised by how beautiful and well maintained the Wahkeena trail is. I want to go back with a pair of my fivefinger shoes and jog the loop.
April 8 to April 9, 2011 Wahtum Express 28.5 miles 4,000 feet gained 1 night
Eagle Creek is one of the most beautiful trails in Oregon, but everyone who hikes regularly has done it plenty, almost to the point of disgust when proposed. So, it was wonderful to get a new perspective on this hike this weekend by finally getting to the terminus of the trail at Wahtum Lake. What the ordinary Eagle Creek hiker doesn't see are the beautiful ...
April 3, 2011 Angels Rest 5 miles 1,500 feet gained
_Another_ hike up Angel's Rest. This time, though, was with a couple friends and my beautiful wife. Mild, dry weather and no wind at the top let us enjoy a delicious picnic of garlic clove ciabatta bread, humboldt fog cheese, raspberries, avacado, and cashews. Great day to be relaxing outside, and am very excited to be feeling warmth in the gorge for the fir...
April 1, 2011 Hope Creek 1 miles 0 feet gained
It's 10pm Friday night. I've been in the car for 15 hours so far, on the way back to where we started after heading down to California. My legs are cramped, but it's from sitting in the car instead of hiking. I **hate** the Redwoods and am never going back. * * * It's Thursday night and we have the perfect hiking plan for the coming great weather weekend. We...
March 23, 2011 Hamilton Mountain 8 miles 2,250 feet gained
After a quick overnight on the Herman Creek Trail, Shane & I drove to the Beacon Rock trailhead to climb Hamilton Mountain. The climb was very tough but rewarding, with nice viewpoints along the "more difficult" direct approach to the summit. Snow didn't appear until the last hundred feet of elevation, but remained for a quarter mile of the less difficult ap...
March 22 to March 23, 2011 Whisky Creek 12.5 miles 3,000 feet gained 1 night
Left early from work on Tuesday and took off Wednesday to bask in the short window of good weather. Shane & I arrived at the trailhead at 4:30pm and quickly started hiking, shooting for Cedar Swamp Camp as our destination. The weather was sunny and warm, and we covered a lot of ground quick. Around 7pm, we made it to Whiskey Creek and realized that the snow,...
March 12 to March 13, 2011 Moody Island 23 miles 500 feet gained 1 night
[Shane](http://wenthiking.com/with/31-shane/hikes/180) and I hunted down the best weather within a 10 hour drive this weekend, and decided on the Deschutes. I'll get this out of the way—the hike itself is pretty boring. It's a long gravel road through an otherwise beautiful canyon, with little bits of trail to break up the monotony. The scenery is beautifu...
March 4, 2011 Coopey Falls 5 miles 1,500 feet gained
Left the city at 3 o'clock for a quick conditioning hike up Angel's Rest. We made it to the top, relaxed 5 minutes and jogged back to the car, arriving a little after 5pm. Fun little trip.
February 25 to February 26, 2011 Terminator 5.5 miles 500 feet gained 1 night
My friend Kevin & I tried to cross-country 5.5 miles through untouched powder to Thomas Lake in Indian Heaven, couldn't find our way across a creek for almost a mile, climbed a hill too steep to be enjoyable while mashing through two feet of powder, figured out the dumb navigational mistake we had made straight from the trailhead (taking trail 150 southwest ...
February 19, 2011 Mount Defiance 14 miles 4,750 feet gained
The single biggest thing I learned from this hike is what nutrition can do for you. I'd say this was, by the numbers, the most ambitious hike I'd gone on, covering 14 miles and climbing nearly 5000', much of which breaking trail in snowshoes. But, I tried a Hammer Nutrition product called Perpeteum, a powdered mix made for >2 hour endurance exercise, and I'v...
February 10 to February 11, 2011 West Benson Way 10 miles 3,750 feet gained 1 night
Based on <a href="http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7020" class="postlink">Pablo's Benson snow-free report from February 6th</a>, I planned a quick overnight up to the Benson Plateau via Ruckel Creek trail. It hadn't rained in Cascade Locks since then, but that doesn't mean it hadn't up high! There's between 4 and 6" on Benson ...
February 4 to February 5, 2011 Robins Island 14 miles 3,750 feet gained 1 night
### INTRODUCTION February of last year, Oregon was hit with a freak warm front that brought over a week of 50º weather and sunshine to the area. I took that opportunity to round up a backpacking trip of me and my friends, branding it “MANPING†to make light of the fact we were casually backpacking in winter, none of us with real four-season camping expe...
January 9, 2011 Coopey Falls 5 miles 1,500 feet gained
