Footprints

Silver Star via Grouse Vista, Nov 13th

2012-01-26T16:25:00.000-08:00

Silver Star is a great destination. Even though it doesn’t seem to be too high, it certainly can give you that sense of reaching a high summit. Part of it might be due to the surroundings but more than that, I think it’s the views you can get from the top… when weather permits that is. In the past I’ve done several hikes in the area and covered most of the trails on the north side of the mountain that offer different challenges ranging from distance, elevation gain and really bad roads. I had also done a couple of trail on the west side of the mountain but never reaching the summit so there was a bit of room for exploration there. One trail that was on my mind was the Grouse Vista. The reason I had not done it was because going up and coming back down the same route was not enough of a hike to compensate for the drive. Looking at the map and knowing there are several approaches to Silver Star, I started looking at how to extend this trial and maybe do a loop. One option was combine this with the Sturgeon trail which I haven’t done either for pretty much the same reason. The other possibility was another trail further north that, as the Sturgeon trail, descend to the Tarbell trail which ends at the Grouse Vista trail. With these two possible options, I had a plan. So I headed off with a small group of hikers and bad weather to Silver Star. The hike was great, the views weren’t. In fact, there were barely any views. On our way we were barely able to see a glimpse of Pyramid rock, a rock formation that invites you to climb it. Further up, the wind, the snow and the low lying clouds blocked everything to the point that from the summit, you couldn’t see the saddle right below it. I’m not going to say I didn’t like the hike, Silver Star is always great and we got a very descent amount of exercise out of this one. I was able to only take a handful of pictures that you can see bellow. In the future I might revisit this with good weather and get the pictures though.

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Hunchback Mountain to the Rock Pile, Oct 22nd

2012-01-03T16:16:00.000-08:00

Here’s a short and sweet hike that has a lot to offer. On this first section, even though you don’t do a lot of distance, you gain plenty of elevation and get some pretty descent views. It also offers the possibility of going further; way further to Devil’s Peak or even make a loop coming back down via the Salmon River trail. On this little adventure, it was only Valarie and I in need of some exercise and outdoor time. Weather was not very good as it was a bit chilly and rainy. That obscured the magnificent views you can get from the ridge and further up from the rock pile, but even with that, we had our fair share of magnificent views and colors. The best part of the hike was the company... The views were icing on the cake!

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Eagle Creek, Oct 8th

2011-12-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

This hike, along with Multnomah Falls, is probably the best well known and most visited trail in the Gorge. Reasons are many, it offers multiple waterfalls along the way, it can be a short or a very long hike depending on how far you want to go and it’s relatively close to town. I’ve done this hike many times, to different destinations and even as an exit route from a backpacking loop. This time it was a jaunt to Tunnel Falls and back as Kim was training to become an assistant organizer in my group. We started on a very foggy morning that offered some great views of the canyon but limited possibilities for pictures. We also noted that the creek was running a bit lower than usual which left some waterfalls a bit less impressive than usual but equally pleasing. One thing’s for sure though, if you have a chance to do a single hike in this area, this should be high up in the list.

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Hamilton Mountain, Sep 17th

2011-12-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

Hamilton Mountain is one of those classic hikes in the Gorge that gives you very nice views and a descent amount of exercise. It’s definitely a weird summit though. Most times, the word summit comes accompanied with 360 degree views which is not the case of Hamilton. This summit actually “point” to the east so you can only see that way. Better than the summit itself though, is the actual hike up there and the walk thru the saddle after the summit. Both of these offer great views of the Columbia River, Bonneville Dam and Mt Hood on the other side (only visible on clear days). This hike was like any other time I’ve done Hamilton in the fall. Great colors and amazing scenery. The only unexpected thing that threw me off a bit was finding a group of about 200 kids up at the saddle. I talked to one of the “leaders” and he told me it was a group from a Christian school that hiked all the way from the horse camp. Other than this “encounter”, the hike was very nice with a fun, small group of people.

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Trapper Creek, Sep 10th

2011-11-22T16:32:00.001-08:00

With many things going on, I was about to post a hike on my own when Zach, one of the hike leaders in the group, posted a hike in Trapper Creek. Since he had been doing some really nice hikes that involved considerable distance and elevation gain and I needed a bit of exercise, I decided to join him instead. I’m not sure what was it but the day did not start very good. I guess I might have been a bit dehydrated which combined with the high temperature and humidity triggered a headache that left me walking almost by remote control. I was not happy. As if that was not enough, my well worn hiking shoes gave out and started bothering me. About half way thru the hike I opted for taking them of and hiking barefoot. That didn’t work well in the long run as I couldn’t find a god way to keep my socks and insoles in place (despite the duct tape) to protect my feet. At some point Val came to my rescue (thank you sweetie) and gave me her shoes which worked nicely for the rest of the hike while she wore mine. I guess the way I break shoes didn’t affect her at all… go figure. Anyway, despite all of the above, the hike was not terrible at all. The Trapper Creek wilderness is wonderful and incredibly beautiful forest with some old growth sections, many creeks and streams and some great scenery. It does offer some trails for backpacking adventures and explorations as many spur trails cross the area giving you more than a couple of options to reach different destinations. Zach’s choice was great as it gave us a good sample of all that and left the possibility open for future hikes in the area.

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Battle Ax, Sep 3rd

2011-11-10T15:12:00.001-08:00

I did Battle Ax about three years ago and was fascinated with the views from the top as well as the wintery scenery on the back trail coming back down. For some time now, I had been thinking of re-doing this hike but stayed away from it as it requires a long drive for a not so long hike. For this weekend though, I had not planned anything with the group so, considering the good weather forecast, I took of with Val to do this great little hike. Views were as expected with the added bonus of being able to see the big smoke cloud hovering over Mt Hood due to the Dollar Lake fire which was, coincidentally, the place we visited two weeks before. Looking at it from the distance gave us mixed feeling. ON one side it looked incredible but on the other, it was hard to imagine the destruction it was coming from. This hike is still one of my favorites for some reason and being able to share it with Val was the icing on the cake.

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Table Rock and Rooster Rock, Aug 27th

2011-10-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

This is a hike I did a long time ago but then, I was not able to get to Rooster Rock. Part of the reason was that we found considerable snow which made the hike a lot more difficult than expected. This time though, being the middle of the summer, not only we had spectacular weather but also time and energy to do it. The hike itself is not too hard although it certainly has more elevation gain than what the books say. The reason is that, between Table Rock and Rooster rock there’s a deep valley you have to descend to before climbing on the other side. The first part of the hike was pretty much as I remembered although this time, without snow on the ground, we were actually able to follow the trail. I remember last time we took a higher path thru the forest which made the rock traverse a bit more difficult but still doable. Views from the top of Table Rock included Jefferson and Hood with very faint views of other volcanic peaks. From there to Rooster Rock was a bit of a jaunt with a steep climb but we found it to be well worth it. I can certainly see why Table Rock has that name but for the life of me, I can’t see any resemblance in Rooster Rock to anything

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Dollar Lake and Barret Spur, Aug 20th

2011-10-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

This area might not look like this anymore. A few weeks after I did this trip, a forest fire broke up and burned most of the area. Located in the north side of Mt Hood, this is one of those trails that offer a different perspective of the mountain. I can safely say that the first part of the hike, from the trailhead until you reach the Timberline Trail is like any other forest hike. You meander thru the woods with limited views, but this trail offers some nice streams and creeks that add to the beauty of the place. But then, just before you reach the Timberline trail and, in our case find our way thru mud, you get some interesting views of the cascade peaks to the north. Once on the Timberline Trail you have to look for a small cairn and a user trail to the right that climbs to Dollar Lake. Incredible enough, this is not an established trail despite the fact that a lot of people go that route, primarily to spend the night at the lake. From the Lake, that is located in a small basin, you don’t get a lot of views although you can clearly see the route you need to take if you pretend to climb to Barret Spur. After a short break and lunch we tackled that route with the intention to reach the saddle. That climb was arduous as it was hot and we were on an exposed trail. AS you gain elevation though, the views keep getting better and better. In the pictures you’ll also notice the dramatic change of scenery that goes from lush greens and valleys to rocky ridges and slopes. From the saddle we got an incredible view of the Ladd Glacier, Pulpit Rock and the top of the mountain. With the group, we decided to climb a bit more to the ridge to a higher point on Barret Spur. I had read you could go further than what we did but that would have been a bit dangerous. Still, from our return point we got some magnificent views of the Coe Glacier to the east and some amazing crevices down below. Indeed a hard hike but very rewarding with the views and scenery. For me it was even more rewarding. That’s the day I really noticed Val.

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Wallowas backpack, Aug 7th to Aug 11th

2011-09-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

This is probably the best backpacking trip I’ve done so far. The combination of amazing scenery, beautiful lakes, incredible peaks and views, great friends and long distances traveled made this a memorable trip. The Wallowas, also known as the Oregon Alps, is a mountain range in the northeast corner of the Oregon State that are crisscrossed by multiple rivers and filled with lakes. Up there you can find multiple backpacking options that range from an easier three day trip to a multiday trip where you can pick and choose your route and campsites. For this trip, we opted for the most common loop with some added side adventures to get a good sense of the area. We thought it would be enough to know the Wallowas but after this trip, we realized we’ll have to go back and explore some of the other more remote options.

Day 1: Wallowa Lake Trailhead to Ice Lake

After a good night sleep and a great cowboy breakfast in Joseph, we drove to the trailhead on a wonderful and already warm day. We noticed a lot of cars parked in the area but not many backpackers so we couldn’t predict what we would find. We started our hike on a dusty trail that soon made a turn and gave us a view of the west fork of the Wallowa River which we would follow for most of the day. From that turn, we continued uneventfully thru dense forest with limited peak views in the distance. At around noon, we finally reached a meadow that gave us a better view of the canyon and the trail sign indicating our turn to Ice Lake. Looking at the map, we knew we had to cross the river so we followed the trail to a small campsite to find a fast moving river and no bridge. Just up from where the bridge was supposed to be, we found the reason for no bridge. A Big tree had taken it down but luckily created a big pile of logs that we could use to cross. Right after that, we found our first interesting view. The forest opened up to a small meadow with Craig Mountain right up ahead that also gave us an idea of the climb ahead of us

After the meadow, we got back in the forest and quickly started gaining elevation thru a series of switchbacks that eventually would lead us to Adam Creek. At that point we could still see the creek but the views behind us were outstanding as we could see the valley we just hiked thru. We continued on more switchbacks, this time under the inclement sun up to a second point where we did get a full view of the creek all the way up to the saddle. We knew this creek was the outlet of Ice Lake but what we were not expecting was to find a lot of waterfalls.

As we traversed and continued climbing, we passed by a spectacular waterfall were we took a mental note to come back later in the evening. On top of this waterfall, we found a big meadow with a new view of the range but no clear idea where we were going. We made numerous guesses as to where the lake would be and all were wrong. After traversing the meadow on the high side, we got back to the creek and more switchbacks, each offering a new perspective of Adam Creek and the Valley behind us. By then we knew that getting to the lake would be one of those surprise moments were you make a turn and voila! There it is. And certainly it was. We noticed that the trail forked to either side of the lake and opted for the left as it looked to be the trail to potential campsites. Right after crossing the outlet, we found a perfect site with room for our tents and my hammock. Being a bit early, Mark and I decided to hike back down to the waterfall to explore a bit more and take a couple of pictures. The sun had already moved bellow the ridgeline which shadowed the whole Adam Creek Valley while still illuminating the ridge on the other side of the Wallowa River valley. Before getting to the waterfall we wanted to go to, we took a short detour to an upper waterfall we had heard before. The fall was as beautiful as the other one as it had a small drop off at the top and then was showering down the rocks.

From that view, we found a faint trail that followed the creek down that eventually took us down to the main waterfall. We explored in the area for a while and took several pictures before heading back up to camp. As if the waterfall spectacle was not enough, as we were hiking up, the moon appeared over the ridgeline while there was still a streak of sun shining thru. We made it to camp with that image and ready for food and a well deserved night sleep.

Day 2: Matterhorn Climb

After the long hike with heavy packs to Ice Lake, we had decided to climb the Matterhorn and explore around on our second day. We started shortly after breakfast walking around Ice Lake to a small meadow and a trail going uphill on the other side. From there we could already see it was going to be a great day. On one side we had hills covered with wildflowers and red rocks, on the other, sporadic trees and up above, granite peaks. As we were going up, it was difficult to concentrate in one scenery as all were equally beautiful. We were also able to see behind us the whole lake and how it dropped to the valley right behind where our campsite was. Once we had gain sufficient elevation and were above tree line, the mountains became far more interesting. Some of the peaks were massive granite blocks while others were simple big rock piles. The combination of both gave the whole terrain some really interesting colors that ranged from white to dark red and brown. It was hard to imagine how all that held together.

After climbing some more on the loose rock, we finally made it to the transition line to granite. I’ve seen granite before but like this that seemed to have flowed from somewhere or had been in liquid form. The side of the mountain had multiple shades that gave us the idea that all this mountain range was, at some point, under water. It still took us a while longer to get to a saddle between the Matterhorn and an adjacent peak. From this vantage point, we could see a steep drop off all the way down to the Hurricane Creek Valley on one side, and the valley behind us with its glaciated pools. From there, we climbed around until we reached the summit. From there, we could see the Hurricane Divide and all the peaks behind it as well as the Hurwal Divide. To the south the views we a bit less expansive as the ridgeline from the Matterhorn curves to that side with very tall and thin rock wall that looked more like a sail. Being almost noon, we decided to take our shoes off and have lunch up there. We noticed that, from the Matterhorn, we could follow the ridge along the Hurwal Divide or go to Sacajawea Peak, the tallest point in the area. Not knowing if there was a way to get there, we opted for just following the trail and decide later. Looking at the map, we noted that the peak where the ridge divided in two had no name so we opted for “Fred”.

Once we got there, we took a bit of time to admire the views and then decided not to continue on to Sacajawea or the Hurwal Divide. From our point of view both trails looked pretty exposed and maybe more dangerous than what they really were. For our return, we had first to go back to the Saddle between Fred and The Matterhorn, climb a bit and then get back on the trail which we did. On our way up, we did notice a huge plateau directly east of the summit. On our hike up, we followed a path on the north side but once we got back down there, we opted for a backcountry route around the lake on the south side. That ended up being a bit more difficult and interesting than expected. Most of the way we navigated thru granite rocks trying to find our way without falling of a cliff. On two occasions we had to backtrack a bit as we couldn’t find a way down but finally, towards the end of the day, we made it to the lake on the south side. From there, we thought going around the lake was going to be the easy part but it turned out to be a lot longer than expected. From the point we got down, we were not able to see that lake actually turned almost around us. In the end, we finally made it before sundown and in time for dinner.

Day 3: Ice Lake to Douglas Lake

The Plan was to go as far as we could during the day so we could have time to climb Eagle Cap later on. That meant not staying at Horseshoe Lake, one of the most scenic lakes in the area but continue, possibly to Image Lake. With that in mind, we woke up early and by 8:30 we were already on the trail. The first part was easy and known as we were on the steep descend from Ice Lake all the way to the Wallowa River. Since we knew the scenery, we took a bit of time to see the variety of wildflowers. Once we got back down, we crossed the river again and made a short stop at the campsite we found on our way up. From that point, we continued towards Six Mile Meadow. This section of the trail gently climbs thru the forest with limited views of the ridges on both sides. That gave us the opportunity to cover the distance quickly until we got to the meadow where we had two options. The trail we were not taking is a shortcut that cuts the best part of this loop, so we turned right towards the Lake Basin. The first thing we encountered was that the trail was inundated. We followed the little stream for a while until we got out of the running water and ended up next to the river. At first we couldn’t see where to cross and being early in the afternoon, we opted for stopping for lunch and then investigate if we needed to jump, swim or find a log to cross. As we were having lunch, another couple arrived and indicated that there were a couple of logs not to far downstream that we could use to cross safely. After lunch and getting our feet wet in the river, we hiked to the logs, crossed and then crossed again two more times to actually get to the other side of the river and back on the trail. As we climbed towards the lake basin, we got some nice views of the mountains far ahead that we eventually would get to. Not long after that, we finally made our way to Horseshoe Lake where we found some incredible scenery. We kind of regretted not having more time to stay there the night and continue on to Mirror Lake the following day, but we wanted to save time to climb Eagle Cap.

As we were circling the north shore of the lake, we stopped to talk to a group that was staying the night there. Our plan was to continue to Crescent Lake but they mentioned that Douglas Lake was a lot prettier. Looking at the map, we noticed that you can go either way so we decided to wait until we got closer and to make a call then. Once we left Horseshoe Lake, the trail got a bit confusing. We found a couple of un-marked forks where we had to go with our best judgment. That eventually took us to another lake tucked in the trees. Since we had not seen the fork to Crescent Lake, we assumed for a while that we were looking at a small pond that shows in the map that, if it was the case, meant that we had passed Crescent already. That didn’t make a lot of sense so we continued on and finally got to a bigger lake. Since it was getting late, we decided to look for a campsite, set up and then, during dinner, take a look at the map and try to figure out where we were. After a bit of debate, we finally figured we were at Douglas Lake and that we had missed the fork to Crescent Lake. The Lake we had seen earlier was Lee Lake. That meant we had made it to our intended destination and that the following day would be a short hike to Mirror Lake.

DAY 4: Douglas Lake to Mirror Lake and Eagle Cap climb

One of the great things about doing a multi-day backpacking trip is that your days usually start with great views. Waking up in front of Douglas Lake was fantastic and gave us the energy to tackle the day

After a nice breakfast and breaking up camp, we continued our way towards Mirror Lake. At first, the trail continued circling Douglas Lake but then veered of from it and we started climbing. It didn’t take long to come up to the next lake, actually a little lakelet that is connected to Moccasin Lake. As we walked on the north shore of the lake, we started to get our first glimpses towards Eagle Cap. Towards the end, we came to the Mirror Lake fork between Moccasin Lake and Sunshine Lake. We noticed that to continue on day 5, we were coming back to this point and taking the trail between the lakes which including jumping from rock to rock. From there, a short climb brought us to Mirror Lake. We hiked for a while around the shore looking for a possible campsite which proved to be a bit more difficult than expected. On one side, there was a lot of people camping in the area and on another, several campsites where closed for restoration. After a while we finally found a good campsite that was a bit away from the lake but still had great views. After setting up camp, we had a light lunch and planned for the afternoon. Brian was having a bit of foot pain so he decided he was not going to climb Eagle Cap with us so after getting our gear ready, Mark and I took off towards the summit.

The first part of the hike took us around the end of Mirror Lake thru a meadow and then to Upper Lake. In sections the trail was a bit difficult to follow as a stream runs thru it from Upper Lake to Mirror Lake. We found Upper Lake to be almost a pond with very nice features. His lake is pretty much melted snow that falls from the mountain behind it. All that water creates a bit of a current that flows thru the lake to the outlet that continues on the small creek we had just passed. Since a lot of rocks in the area have a lot of Iron content, parts of the lake had kind of a red hue while there was a clear blue “river” flowing in the middle of the lake. It was probably one of the most interesting lakes I’ve seen. Unfortunately, pictures didn’t do it justice. We quickly learned that you could not stay there for long and admire the lake, in a matter of seconds; we were literally eaten by bugs so we started moving quickly out of there and climbing towards Horton Pass. As we gained elevation, incredible views started to open up in all directions. Behind us, we could see the entire Lostine River valley where you can see how it was formed by ancient glaciers, to the northeast; we could see the Matterhorn from the other side. From this perspective you could see that it was a single gigantic granite rock with an incredible steep cliff and in from of us, our destination, Eagle Cap. Higher up, after passing Horton Pass, we added lakes and more valleys to our views. Bellow us Moccasin Lake actually started looking like a shoe and the Hurricane Creek valley started opening up towards the north.

After Horton Pass, views changed completely. We were now on the other side of the ridge enjoying a view that was new to us. Looking at a map, we noted that we were looking at the East Fork of the Eagle Creek. From our point of view, this valley looked greener that the valley we came from which is probably due to the elevation difference and also because this new valley has a lot more sun exposure. Then, we circled back towards the ridge, did a couple of long switchbacks and just when Glacier Peak started showing its peak, we reached the summit. We were not expecting a welcoming committee, but as soon as we put our packs down, two chipmunks came to greet us and hope we would let some food fall on the ground. Needless to say, the views from up there were just outstanding and even better than what we got on the way up. The only added bonus was been able to see Glacier Lake below us (which we could pass on day 5) and the ridgeline towards the southeast. Here are some pictures to describe the views

Glacier Lake

The Matterhorn on the left, Moccasin Lake below and the Wallowa River Valley towards the desert

Our host at the summit

After enjoying the views for a while and waving our hands in the hopes that Brian would see us from the campsite, we hiked our way down the same way we used to climb. After dinner, I took another stroll around the lake to get the different sunset views before calling it a night.

Day 5: Mirror Lake to Frazier Lake

Day 5 was the first of two long days with plenty of elevation gain. We woke up to another splendid blue sky day and where on the trail as early as we could. The first part of the hike was basically retracing our steps back to Moccasin Lake which gave us the same views we saw the previous day, this time, without having to turn around every five minutes. In almost no time, we made it to the fork and turned right towards Glacier Pass which we knew was going to be a hard hike. The uphill came right after a very green and inviting meadow and contrary to what we were expecting, the trail was actually pretty straight with almost no switchbacks. Sooner than expected, we were up in Glacier Pass looking down at Glacier Lake and the Valley of West Fork of the Wallowa River. To our backs, we could see Eagle Cap and Glacier Peak. The scenery was a bit different from what we had seen from the summit of Eagle Cap but the other thing we noticed is that this area had more snow and looked more wintery. We took a short break at Glacier Pass enjoying the views as we knew the climbing was over and from there on, it was going to be all downhill

The hike down to the lake was pretty interesting as we lost the trail a couple of times due to big patches of snow. We finally made it to the north shore of the lake where it flows towards a small waterfall marking the beginning of the river. From that point of view, we could see almost our entire route down the valley towards Frazier Lake. As we started going down, we began to see the most amazing flower display that included Indian paintbrush in a lot of other colors I hadn’t seen before, Elephant Heads, Columbines (or something that looks like a columbine but is yellow) and many others that I don’t even know their names. About half way down, the trail got pretty wet as water was flowing from the side hills down to the river. What surprised us though was the smell of wild onions, they were everywhere. We picked up some and ate while hiking and I saved a bunch that I would use later for dinner. After that, the trail got a bit longer than expected or the day got hotter making it feel like longer. Finally we made it to Frazier Lake that had some interesting features. First was the connection to Little Frazier Lake, a much smaller lake towards the hill but the other was a rock field that looked like someone started throwing rock all the way for the mountain.

After walking around for a while, we finally found a nice campsite on the east shore of the lake. After setting up camp, Brian and I went for a walk around to take pictures but where soon scared away but very hungry mosquitoes. On the way back to camp, we stopped at a sandy area on the shore of the lake and decided to jump in. Being a shallow lake, the water was not too cold so we were able to stay in for a while before heading back to camp and dinner. Right after sunset, temperature started dropping quite fast and a little breeze from the valley started to blow. I can certainly say this night was the coldest of the whole trip even though we were not at the highest point.

Day 6: Frazier Lake to Aneroid Lake

The early morning at Frazier Lake was by far the most spectacular I’ve seen in a long time. Over night the wind died down and we woke up to a quiet, cold and very still morning. The lake was so still that it was a perfect mirror reflecting the illuminated ridge on the other side. It was fascinating to look at an upside down world for a while

After a very cold breakfast we finally left just when the sun finally started hitting our campsite. Unfortunately, because of the angle of the valley we were on, we remained in the shadows for half of the morning. We followed the river and river bed further down finding even more flowers and beautiful scenery and eventually lost the trail. After a bit of map reading we finally figured out that we needed to be on the other side of the river and that we had missed a log to cross. We backtracked a bit, found our way and were back on track to a fork were we would make the call to weather take a shortcut or do the hard climb to Polaris Pass and Tenderfoot pass on our way to Aneroid Lake. As we started ascending on the ridge, we saw the sun line getting closer and closer and illuminate the entire valley towards Glacier Peak. It was quite the scene. Shortly after we finally got the sun on our backs, we got to the fork and decided to take a break, adjust layers and tackle the climb towards Polaris Pass. Almost as soon as we started, we started navigating thru immense wildflower fields were the trail was almost invisible. The variety, colors and abundance was quite surprising considering the weather and elevation.

Then came the switchbacks. I actually can’t recall a trail that has more switchbacks than this one. It certainly makes the climb a lot more gradual and easier to tackle but it also makes it very long. As we gained elevation, or views depended on whether we were making a turn on one side or the other of the switchbacks. On one side we had a view of a bare, rocky slope with amazing colors. On the other, we had a creek valley with trees and flowers. Going from one to the other, was just a flower garden. Finally, as we were getting closer to the pass we left the taller trees and shrubs but not the flowers, even when we were about to get to the top, portions of the slope where covered in Lupine. From there, we could notice a faint straight line to the pass as it went on loose rock that we still can’t understand how could they stay in place. We finally made into the pass and realized we were not exactly were we needed to be. The trail was easy to identify so we backtracked on the ridge for a bit to a point where we stopped for lunch before continuing.

From the ridge we finally got a view to the other side. Originally we thought it would be an extension of the scenery we were leaving behind but we were both surprised and maybe a bit disappointed. All the ridges and mountains on the other side are much lower in elevation so there was no snow and no alpine scenery. The whole area looked like big meadows and drier land. After lunch, we continued on more switchbacks descending to the valley on the other side and traversing towards Tenderfoot path. We had heard from another hiker that there was considerable snow on this route making it difficult but as we traversed, we got the impression he was talking about a complete different trail. This trail, still covered in lupine was more arid than the other side. In fact, we could not see any signs of a creek or water source which, by then started to worry us a bit since it was getting hot and we were quite low on the precious liquid. For quite a while we traversed an endless grass field until we got to the fork with the Imnaha River trail. From there, our last high point of the trip, tenderfoot pass was visible which also reminded us that we were on our way out. Without resting much, we started our way to the pass trying to keep as cool as we could

As soon as we got there, we got a sense of relief. The hard work was over and from there on, it was all downhill to Aneroid Lake. On the way down we soon got back in the shade which was a big relief but not enough considering we had ran out of water. Further down we finally reached a creek were we stopped to drink and filter water for the rest of the day. We were so thirsty that we didn’t even care about the fierce mosquitoes. While doing that, I took the time to take a couple of pictures that I consider to be among the best of the whole picture set

From there, it took us about an hour to get to Aneroid Lake which we reached when the sun was already below the ridgeline. After walking for a while, we finally found a nice campsite next to the lake, set up camp, started a fire and had dinner. Before going to bed, we went to the lake shore to see the stars for a while and saw more than a couple of shooting stars. We were not sure then but that night was the peak of the Perseid Meteor shower so we had a bit of a spectacle.

Day 7: Aneroid Lake to Wallowa Lake Trailhead

This was our last day of the trip with a short hike back to the car. We started at around 9 when the sun had just appeared on the eastern ridge. For quite a while, we walked thru green meadows with small creeks running thru it. It was a different scenery as what we had seen in the previous days as we were at a much lower elevation and parts of this area are actually private land. Behind us we were leaving magnificent mountains and beautiful sceneries. Towards the corner of the meadow, we got back to the river, crossed a footbridge and started a quick descend. At first it was just a traverse on the side of the mountain as we circled the last peak. On that section we found a lot of dead trees. We were not able to figure out why, but it looked like they were attacked by some sort of plague. Certainly it was not inviting and nothing comparable to anything we had seen during the loop. I do recall talking with Brian and Mark that most books recommend doing this loop in the reverse direction as we did. I think if we had done it that way, the first day would have been really disappointing. As we were coming down, and getting closer to the trailhead, we started passing day hikers and horses going up to the lakes for the day. The trail got hotter, the scenery disappeared and Wallowas Lake appeared in front of us. A couple of switchback and we were out and back at the parking lot ready for a 5 hour drive home. I can only say it was a great place to discover and certainly a place I will visit again.

You can check the pictures here

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Mt Adams climb, Jul 30th

2011-09-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

This is becoming a yearly thing I guess as this is the third time I do this trip. As last year, I planned to leave early on Saturday, drive to the ranger station to pick up the permits and then get to the trailhead and start climbing. At the ranger station we learned that, with all the snow still lingering around, the summer route was not doable. I didn’t know the south climb or the route I’ve done in the past was known as the summer route or that there was an alternative. They told us that, instead of turning northeast and crossing the Morrison Creek to keep straight up and follow the path being careful not to go the wrong way. So a bit baffled, we drove to the trailhead and, as informed, we found some patches of snow at that elevation. Once on the trail, we found several patches here and there until we got to the fork with the trail that goes around the mountain. From that point on, we were on snow. This is pretty rare this time of year but a clear indication to what lay ahead. This route, contrary to the normal route seemed steeper and more direct to Lunch Counter as we noticed that we were gaining elevation quite quickly. The views were not late either as we got the amazing view of Mt St Helens right next to us and Mt Hood in the back. As we continued climbing we passed right next to South Butte, a small red pinnacle that you can see from the summer trail as well. After passing the ridge, that was the last section without any snow, it was down to the hard snowfield between Crescent and Gotchen Glaciers. At certain points, the hill seems to be as steep at the upper section of the mountain which, with our heavy packs, made the whole thing quite the workout. Early in the afternoon we finally made it to Lunch Counter and found some unoccupied wind shelters (the same shelters we used the first time I climbed). Once the whole group got there, we took our time to relax, eat, filter water and set up our tents. Later in the afternoon we took a walk towards the eastern side of Lunch Counter that overlooks the Mazama Glacier. Views were fantastic as ever. On our way back, as the sun was setting, we got a pretty spectacular show of colors and scenery as Mt Hood turned red and Mt St Helens stayed in the shadows. On Sunday we woke up to a magnificent clear day. After a quick breakfast and breaking down camp, we got ready for our summit and started climbing. As soon as we got to the slope, we noticed that wind was picking up. That was kind of refreshing as it helped us cool down a bit as we climbed. With temperatures starting to rise, we got a perfect demonstration on how weather works. Wind started picking up moisture from the melting snow and taking it up the slope towards the summit. With the colder temperatures up there, clouds started forming really quickly. As we were approaching Pikers Peak, we could see that clouds were increasing pretty fast to the point that, once we got to Pikers Peak (the false summit), the rest of the mountain was completely covered. We made a quick stop to adjust gear and then continued up straight to the summit. We did this section pretty much by memory as there was absolutely now views. Once at the summit I just put my camera away as there was no point in even taking it out. We stayed there for just a couple of minutes and then got ready to glissade down. From the summit to Pikers Peak we took an alternate route that allowed us to get there faster. Then, it was a single run all the way down to Lunch Counter. The glissade was a lot fun despite the two girls in front of me stopping all the time as they didn’t want to go too fast. Once at lunch counter, we took a break to re-group and eat something before heading down which happened without any major incidents other than taking the wrong route which we had to correct. In all it was a fun trip and always good to be on the top of a big mountain. As with the trip last year, we didn’t get the views so we’ll see what happens next year

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Table Mountain from the North, Jul 10th

2011-08-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Table Mountain is that prominent peak on the other side of the Columbia River near Bonneville Dam. If memory serves me well, I have climbed there at least three times via the Heartbreak trail. Yes, the name is appropriate for this trail as it climbs relentlessly to the top passing by a rock slide and numerous switchbacks where you have to make multiple stops to catch your breath. The rewards are incredible as you can get to the very edge of an incredibly high and vertical cliff that overlooks Bridge of the Gods, the river and Mt Hood in the distance. From the top, you can hike to the north, pass the actual summit hidden within a small forested area and come out on the northern side that offers equally impressive views. From that point, I noticed in the past a faint trail that continued on the ridge and got lost in the forest to the north. Most books and guides don’t show this route as it’s not an official trail but looking at map, you can make certain features that make this access possible. The most important aspect is that the PCT goes around Table Mountain so any access would veer of this major trail. After doing a bit of research, I learned that you had to navigate of trail towards the power line and then follow very old and abandoned jeep roads and user paths to reach the summit of Table Mountain. What proved to be hard was finding the trailhead though. After driving for a bit around different forest roads and realizing were close to the trailhead but not on the right road, we opted for just parking the cars and bushwhacking to the trail. That added a bit of extra adventure and a bit of a warm-up for what lay ahead. Soon after we were on the PCT walking thru the forest with more than a couple of openings offering views of Helens, Adams and even Hood. As we traveled south, we reached a point where the PCT veers hard to the right to start descending towards the valley skirting the power lines. At that point I found a very faint path that continued down towards one of the towers. Once we got down there things got a bit more complex as we found a service road for the power lines and not one but two jeep tracks following south. Making my best judgment, I opted for the road on the left which proved to be the correct option. Certainly this road has not seen traffic in a long time given the undergrowth and obstacles we found. Still it was not very difficult to navigate this mile long road to the end. After that, we continued on a faint footpath that followed the ridgeline switching back and forth between the east and west side. On this section we found one of the most beautiful wildflower displays we had seen so far this season. The hike was very interesting as well as we had pretty steep cliffs on both sides of the ridge. After about a mile and a half off cuts, bruises and some heavy bushwhacking, we finally came to an opening that I recognized as the faint trail that is visible from the top of Table Mountain. Further ahead was the actual peak which required a very short but very steep climb to reach. The views were magnificent as expected so we stopped for a while. Before heading back, we decided, since we were already there, to hike to the south view point and enjoy the views of the Columbia Gorge. The return was easy, following the same path we did to get up there, but after doing this trail and considering that it certainly has less elevation gain that the Heartbreak Trail; I can’t say for certain it’s easier. The effort for the elevation we didn’t gain was certainly used to bushwhack our way there but it was totally worth it

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Quartz Creek Backpack, Jul 2nd

2011-08-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

Ever since I went to Quartz Creek I’ve been wanting to backpack in the area. After a failed attempt back in May when we had to cancel the backpack due to snow and conform with just a day hike, it was time for one more try. We still found snow so we were not able to do part of the loop I wanted to do but finally I was able to explore the upper section of this wonderful trail. Since my last trip was not long ago, I will spare the first part of the trip as there’s not much to say about that I have not said before. The only great news is that WTA has been actively working in the area so the lower part of the trail is in much better condition than before; in fact, we even saw bike tracks on the trail which I don’t know if I feel happy about. On our way in, we made a short stop at the small campsite near the junction with the Quartz Creek Ridge trail which has always been the point I get to on a day hike. After that break, all was new to me. The trail from that point on actually climbs away from the creek as it skirts the canyon and goes uphill. There are few viewpoints and many sections with downed trees that required some heavy bushwhacking that, with a heavy pack is a whole other story. We crossed a couple of creeks and finally got back down to Quartz Creek and big log to cross it. By then we were all pretty tired and it was getting dark so instead of continuing to the intended campsite on the French Creek trail, we decided to stop there at a small campsite we found. After setting up camp and getting water we started a fire and made dinner which was accompanied by a delicious Pizza that Celeste brought for all of us. Later that night, I looked at the map and decided that, instead of breaking up camp and continue further to a second campsite, it made more sense to leave camp and do a day hike. That way our hike out on Monday would not be too hard. On Sunday we woke to a rather cold morning which forced us to have an early fire. After a nice breakfast and another food surprise, we took off on our day exploration of the upper section of the Quartz Creek trail. The first part was a bit of an uphill with a couple of downed trees but much cleaner than the previous section. On our way up, we crossed a couple of smaller creeks that were a bit unusual. In most cases, the creeks we find are filled with rocks and shrubs. The creeks in this area are basically a very long rock slab that resembles a slide. Crossing these is not as easy as one might expect though. Since there’s no rocks to hop on or under water and the rock surface is slippery, there little to hold on as you cross. So even with water rushing at ankle level, you feel the creek trying to drag you down. On the second creek crossing, we could see the water flowing down a small and very steep canyon down to a pool far below. On that same pool we could see more water pouring from another side but we were not able to see where it was coming from. Shortly after the cross, we came to the intersection with the French Creek trail and noticed a side trail to the side. Hearing a roaring waterfall we decided to check it out and discovered the other source of all the flow in to that pool we could see. Just from the side of the trail there’s a 60’ drop with a beautiful waterfall that plunges into an enclosed canyon far below. On the side of that canyon is the smaller waterfall from the second creek and further down the creek continues thru lush green forest that get water all year long. The views from the top were amazing and inviting enough to make a mental note to try to find a route to go down on our way back. We continued up getting closer to the ridge line but without any interesting views. In the end we got to the top to a trail sign at the fork with the boundary trail that opened views to the Juniper Ridge where could see Jumbo Peak and Sunrise Peak. At the top we found a lot of snow so we continued for a while until we realized there was no easy way to predict how the rest of the day would go. So after exploring for a bit, we turned around and started heading down the way we came. Once we got back to the fork with the French Creek and crossed the second creek, we started looking for a possible way down. After a short walk on the trail and passing the waterfall, we found a ridgeline that seemed doable to climb down. We tried that and ended up descending all the way to the creek where we found a couple of large logs right where we needed to cross. After that, a short bushwhack took us right to the base of the waterfall. I think the only word I can say about the view is spectacular. We stayed there for quite some time admiring the scenery and the waterfalls before continuing down back to campsite. For our last day, it was just the hike out the way we hiked in on Saturday so after a good breakfast, we started our journey back out. I can say I’m happy I finally made the backpacking trip to Quartz Creek but somehow have the feeling I didn’t explore everything I wanted to explore. We did not make it to the Dark Meadow so I guess I will have to come up with yet another trip to this area. The only thing is, having done this trail three times already; I need to give it a rest for a while. Perhaps next time I will approach it from a different route.

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Olympic Coast, Jun 24th

2011-08-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

After an epic fail about two years ago, I had to try the Olympic Coast again while trying to avoid all the pitfalls. In my first attempt I made the mistake of underestimating the route and over estimating the group which in turn brought a bunch of other issues. I will not go thru the whole story here but just imagine being showered with Diesel fuel before we even got on the trail… I’ll let your imagination fly. The Olympic Coast trail basically covers the whole coast of the Olympic Peninsula. In the southern section, near Forks, there’s a remote 18 mile section that you can do as a car shuttle. With a much smaller group of four experienced backpackers, we left early in the morning on Friday with ample time to get permits, have breakfast and leave a car at the exit point at Third Beach. Then, on our way to the trailhead we got a pretty strong passing shower so we were a bit skeptical on how the weather was going to play out for us, but as soon as we hit the trail, we had beautiful blue skies and perfect weather. For this first half hour or so, we walked on the north side of the Hoh River towards the ocean with limited views thru the bushes. From there we got our first glimpse at the type of scenery we would enjoy for the following couple of days.

Hoh River Delta and Middle Rock

As soon as we turned north on the coast and left the Hoh River behind, we found ourselves walking on an immense beach. We could see far in the distance plenty of rock formations at sea. Our first highlight came shortly after that when we got to Diamond Rock, a conical rock right on the shore. We were close to the lowest tide of the day so we were able to get really close to it. Right after we had our first challenge, a rocky section that requires the tide to be below 2 feet to pass. Jumping from rock to rock, we made that section while watching the waves break into the rocks. It was quite the spectacle and soon enough, we were on the other side, walking on a sandy beach. Although Jefferson Cove is very inviting, it’s easy to see that staying there for the night could be a bit problematic if the tides get high enough. At the northern end of the cove, we found or first set of ladders, the other repeating theme of this trip. Looking at a map, you can see that there are numerous heads with rock cliffs down to the ocean. The only way to pass those is to climb over, hike on the forest and then climb down on the other side. Due to erosion and the steepness of the terrain, there are rope ladders on all these sections. After climbing the first section, we had a second where only the rope was available. Right after that, we landed on mud, deep mud. For the following couple of hours, while we hiked thru the forest to Mosquito Creek, we passed numerous muddy sections where our sandals would get caught forcing us to dig in and pull them out. This made our pace go a bit slower as we needed to keep our balance while sliding everywhere. Along this trail we got numerous views of little bays bellow us and a very lush forest. Finally we made it to Mosquito Creek were we found a nice, occupied campsite right next to the creek. We hiked back a bit to another big campsite right above the coast line to stay the night where we had some really nice views of the coast.

Looking South towards Hoh Head from the campsite

After setting up camp, making a run to get water and having dinner, we enjoyed a spectacular sunset. Mark and I, looking for better or different views, climbed down to the beach and follower it south to the end and climbed over a small head to a small cove on the other side. It was a perfect way to end the first day of our trip.
On Saturday, we started by climbing down to the beach and hiking north on the soft sand. We crossed Mosquito Creek and continued on with looming grey clouds above us. On this long walk we passes more rock formation on the coast, one resembling a fin and others looking like spears. As we walked, the weather seems to be unsure of what to do, whether to give us some rain or some sunshine. Towards the end of the beach, we passed by one of the bigger rock outcrops that looked like a little island. On this rock, some vegetation was able to grow and you can easily see a complete ecosystem surviving right there. We got to the end of the beach roughly at noon so instead of going ahead and climbing the stairs, we decided to explore a small cave on the left side and have lunch in it. That proved to be a wise decision as it started raining while we were there.

Mark and Brian in the cave where we had lunch

After lunch and the rain, we headed up the rope ladder as we needed to hike around the head and cross Goodman Creek. This section of the trail is probably the most beautiful coastal forest I’ve seen. Not only has some of the biggest trees I’ve seen but also lush greens.

On our way to Goodman Creek

Once we got close to the creek, the trail got interesting. We had to switch back and forth many times as we walked on downed trees that have been carved to form the path. At some point, almost on top of the creek, we found ourselves climbing down next to a fallen tree that almost seemed like it was put there so you could climb down. We passed a small tributary to the main creek and more huge trees before we actually made it to Goodman. After crossing the creek a couple of times, we heard a small waterfall nearby and decided to walk upstream to find it. Looking at the map latter we learned that this is Goodman falls, a small multiple stream waterfall that probably dries up in the summer. After that, we continued walking thru giants and mud and eventually passed by the biggest tree I’ve seen. This particular tree had roots that actually looked like separate trees attached to the main trunk. Looking up, you could see other plants growing from the branches of the massive tree.

The biggest tree

Soon after, we were back on the beach walking towards Toleak Point. This point is a very shallow head that, when the tide is low, rises above the surface showing a big field of rocks. We made a stop here to explore a bit while enjoying the views to both sides. Towards the south, we could see the head where Goodman Creek is and the rock with the natural arch. To the north, we could see Strawberry point and the Giants Graveyard. While we were sitting on the rocks, we noticed a couple of seal popping their head above the water and looking at us.

Toleak Point

We continued on the beach passing Strawberry Point, another huge rock formation on the coast line and headed towards Scotts Bluff where Scotts Creek dumps its waters into the sea. I can say this last section is probably the iconic part of this trail where you have the bulk of the rock formations out at sea. Being Saturday, we got to Scott Bluff only to find most, if not all of the campsites already taken by weekend warriors that come here just to spend a night in the coast. Just before the trail turns back and goes uphill, we found a small space, big enough for our tents where we were able to set up camp. The advantage was an incredible front seat view of the ocean and another spectacular sunset.

Early morning view towards the Giants Graveyard from my tent

Sunday came and our time to hike the last portion of this trip. Since we were almost right next to the next head, we started hiking up gaining considerable elevation and then descending on the other side to Second Beach. Here we got more great views and more rock formations until we got to Taylor Point. I did remember from my first failed attempt that at this point, you had the chance to go over the rock formation using rope ladders or actually hike around the rock, getting your feet wet and crossing a small cave. Having very adventurous friends with me, we opted for the later. We found a tree that had fallen into the mouth of the cave so before we could even get in, we had to break a lot of branches and clean the path to climb down to the cave and walk around it. Once on the other side, we sat for a while in a tiny rocky cove before heading up the rope ladder. While resting, a deer came down from the mountain and passed by and around us and then climbed back up on the other side. Although it’s known that there’s deer in the coastal forest, is not a sight we were expecting. Then we climbed up on got our last view of second beach and Strawberry point. Half way thru the forest we got a glimpse of Third Beach, our last section of coast line before hiking out to our car.

Third Beach

Once at third beach we felt like the hike was over. Being the first beach you get to from the trailhead, we found a lot of people that erased from our minds that sense of wilderness we had the previous two days. Still it was a comfortable hike to the trail and then back to the car.

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The Silver Star Grand Adventure, Jun 12th

2011-07-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

If you look at a map of Silver Star Mountain in Washington, you’ll note there are several approaches to the summit. In the past I’ve done Ed’s trail which is an easy hike on a ridge that requires a long drive on a very bad road. I had also attempted the Starway trail a couple of times with no success, either because of just being tired or too much snow on the ridge. This time I decided to take this to the next level. Not only was I planning to do the entire Starway trail and summit Silver Star from that approach but also, I wanted to come down a different trail that I had not yet done. The combination of both trails plus the section required to reach the Summit of Silver Star placed this hike in the very difficult range with over 12 miles and about 3000 feet of elevation gain. Oh, and we needed to do a car shuttle. So I met with a small group of brave souls to tackle this hike and took off to Silver Star. The first problem we found was that the road access to the exit point (the Bluff Mountain trailhead) was snowed in from about a mile in. That meant that, to complete the loop, we would have to hike an extra mile on the road. Everyone Ok’ed this so we proceeded with the plan. The first part of the hike was uneventful and being a steep climb deep in the forest, we did it at a steady pace. After a couple of hours of huffing and puffing, we made it to the snow level and some views of the northern ridge. Shortly after that, we reached a small peak with no name that I’ve come to call the “oh shit peak”. From that point you finally get views all around you and realize you are not at the summit of Silver Star, in fact, the destination looms on the other side of a valley way out there, almost unreachable. Still, if you only get to the point, you should be proud and the views will be rewarding enough. Not only the ridge line and Silver Star look amazing from this spot but also, you can see several waterfalls on the northern side of the mountain that are invisible from anywhere else. One of this falls, way down the valley, falls sideways into a rock carved canyon that look impressive even from high up in the mountain. I’ve promised myself that one of these days, I’ll do a bushwhack adventure and try to reach it.

After a short lunch break, we continued our traverse by climbing down on the saddle that connects “Oh shit peak” with the ridge that goes to Silver Star. In this area, I had to navigate a bit as the trail was covered in snow. Still, I was able to reach my mark, the junction with the Bluff Mountain trail, with no problem. Once there, as I had planned, I consulted with everyone whether we were continuing as planned or not. We decided to go for it. Navigating the backside was actually easier, for the most part, than what I had expected. The trail followed a rocky ridge curving towards Silver Star. Not only the trail was very interesting to do but the views, despite the weather, were incredible. Nearing Silver Star, I lost the trail and started climbing a bit towards the peak, thinking that we could scramble up and make it. Just by luck, we found a rock arch on our path and were able to climb to it. It was a very interesting sight whether you were looking in, out or thru it. In the picture set, you’ll see one photo that looks like a crushed rock face that was taken in that spot. After looking around, we finally realized that there was no easy way to scramble up to the summit from there so we started climbing down and were able to make some faint tracks down below. After making the turn, we made our way and finally found the trail to the summit. Although we didn’t have a clear and crisp blue sky day, the views from the summit were very nice. We took a short break there before heading back down as we knew we still had a long way to go. We retraced our steps back thru the ridge all the way to the fork with the Starway trail where we re-checked our time and energy to continue. Everyone was remembering the arduous hike coming up so we all opted for trying the Bluff Mountain trail to where my car was parked. From our point of view, we could actually see most of the trail as it traversed around Little Baldy and Bluff Mountain. As we were hiking the views of the valleys to the north changed three times and the valley to the south did the same twice. Way back we could see Silver Star and almost the whole route we had made so far.

After passing Bluff Mountain we found considerable snow and lost the trail one more time. I navigated as good as I could but noticed, after a short while, that we were not on the right path. Not only were we heading south but we were actually gaining elevation. At some point we decided to turn around and hike back and take an alternate route to avoid the ridge we had started climbing. We could make the trail ahead of us so we just went straight to it. That ended up not being a great idea as we had to traverse a snow filled, rock slope. That took about an hour to sort but finally we made it to the trail. By then it was already starting to get dark, not because of nightfall but because there was some rain approaching. We hiked, and hiked and hiked snaking around small mountains and slowly descending, passed a couple of snow fields and finally saw the road up ahead. By then we were all hiking in auto mode. We made it to the road and then hike the extra mile back to the car just in time to avoid the rain and night fall. It was an epic hike, maybe more after I learned that there have been very few that have done this entire loop.

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Huckleberry Mountain via Bonanza trail, Jun 5th

2011-07-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

The Bonanza trail is a weird thing in a good way. This trail has been in my to-do list for quite some time and the only reason I had not done it before was because I knew there were some parking issues near the trailhead. According to the information I had, there were very limited spaces you could use near the trailhead as it’s located in a residential area (a very nice area btw). As I drove there, I noticed a couple of places where it seemed I could park but I opted for a safer place to avoid being towed away. From the trailhead, it’s difficult to say how much traffic or maintenance this trail gets. Obviously the locals use it but there are some sketchy spots were it seems like the trail doesn’t get a lot of attention. For starters, the maps show one trailhead but there are actually three places where you can start from. If you start from the one indicated in the maps, as I did, you’ll see all three and notice an absurd loop back. After passing all that and realizing you are actually on the trail you want to be in, you get to a small creek that is absolutely beautiful. The creek doesn’t have a name and there’s no bridge over it which would indicate that it may dry later in the season. I had to walk upstream a bit to cross on a couple of logs I found. From there on, you continue hiking on a gentle slope alongside the Cheeney Creek. There’s a spot along the way were you can see huge boulders on the creek bed surrounded by multiple little branches as the creek goes around them. I was able to climb down there and take a couple of nice pictures as I enjoyed the scenery. Shortly after, I left the creek behind and started the arduous climb. The trail got drier and the scenery around me changed a bit. You could say it was almost arid in places with limited views of the Salmon River canyon. About halfway thru the hike, the trail passes by an abandoned mine on the hill side. I knew about this so I had a couple of light sources I brought with the intention of exploring the shaft. Unluckily I wasn’t able to do so. The mine was completely flooded. After the mine, the trail is not very interesting but it’s certainly a difficult climb as you climb roughly 1700 feet in about 2 miles. Near the top, where the Bonanza trail joins the Huckleberry trail I found a bit of snow but nothing that would have prevented me from navigating thru and reaching the top. Once on the Huckleberry trail, you reach the summit pretty quick but there are no views as it’s covered with trees. To get the big rewards of this hike, you have to continue on the ridge for about half a mile to a saddle where you are welcomed with a spectacular view of Mt Hood. Looking north from that same point, you can see Adams and Rainier while Mt St Helens hides behind the tree line. I had a bit of a déjà vu moment when I got there as this is the same destination you can get to from the trail that starts from the Wildwood Recreation Site and Picnic Area (which obviously has much better parking)

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Grassy Knoll and Big Huckleberry Mountain, Jun 4th

2011-06-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

As weather is getting better and better every day, I opted for a long hike with some elevation and interesting views and what a treat I got. Grassy Knoll and Big Huckleberry are like two hikes in one. Located in the Washington side of the Gorge, you can do the short version just to Grassy Knoll, or the more adventurous trip to the second Big Huckleberry. After getting all the information, map and forecast, I went out with a small group of just one extra hiker. I guess part of that was due to the possibility of finding snow on the trail. Oh well. After meeting up, we drove to Triangle Pass where I thought the trailhead was (as it shows on the map). Contrary to any information, I had, we did not find any trail signs or other cars. After trying to solve the puzzle for a minute or two, we decided to follow the trail as it was going in the right direction. After about one hour of hiking on a not very well maintained trail we finally got our answer. We did not start at the right trailhead but from an alternate point a bit over a mile south. Obviously there was a big parking lot and a nice trail sign at that point and you could see a nice trail curving around going towards the ridge. So we followed the trail and very soon started getting very impressive views. The first thing we noticed was that most of the trail just follows the exposed ridge so the views are not only open to the north east with Mt Adams in the distance but also due South with Mt Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. About half an hour after we passed the trailhead, we got to one of the smaller peaks on the ridge. From this rock formation we got a fantastic view of Mt Adams in the distance and the Big Lava Bed below us. This area was flattened by a smaller volcano that erupted many, many years ago. The trail continued in the forest for a bit as it turned west until we saw the rock wall just bellow Grassy Knoll. As we got closer to it, we started turning and at some point we veered left and continued skirting the mountain until we reached a big snow field. Instead of going straight, where the trail is supposed to be, we followed a foot path on the edge of the cliff that took us straight to the base of where the old lookout tower used to be. Needless to say, the views were incredible with distant peaks, green valleys and not single cloud in the sky. From Grassy Knoll we could see part of the trail as it continued on the ridge and more patches of snow. We continued traversing without any major hiccups until the trail seems to veer off the ridge to the west side. Later we found that it was basically avoiding some rock formations that would have not been easy to traverse. The problem is that we got in the shaded area of the forest so we found a lot more snow and soon enough lost sight of the trail. AS I navigated thru the forest, we passed by a small canyon with big rocks on our right. I was guessing the trail would be there somewhere until I fell in a posthole deep enough to get my hole leg in it. After that little incident, we corrected a bit and continued until we saw the ridge again and found the trail… well, not actually the trail but clear indications of it. Finally we made it to the point where the trail intersects another trail that leads to the top of Big Huckleberry. We followed that path and shortly after we were sitting at the top of the mountain enjoying the views. The only weird thing we found up there that I don’t recall seeing anywhere else was a lot of ants. The weird part is that all where clamped onto any little piece of plant, bark or leaf they could find. It almost looked like a little life safety boat with a bunch of survivors on it in the immense white snow ocean. After enjoying the views for a while, we started our hike back the same way we came. Once we got to the real trailhead, we realized we still had a bit over a mile to go to reach the car, so instead of being a bit over 10 miles ended up being a 13 mile hike.

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Rock of Ages, May 30th

2011-06-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

Rock of Ages is one of those hikes you hear about but can hardly find information on it. The main reason is because it’s a very difficult, unmaintained trail that is no longer on the maps. About two years ago, I attempted this hike without very good results. Despite the fact I was able to climb all the way to the plateau, at some point I lost the trail and ended up bushwhacking my way down. I recall it being a very long day were I thought I would be spending the night somewhere up there. Maybe that’s why it took me so long to re-visit this trail and do the loop I had intended back then. So better equipped with proper maps (not that I didn’t have them back then) and a GPS, I embarked on a mission to conquer the loop with a small group of brave hikers. Having hiked the Quartz Creek the day before, I opted for a later start considering the drive was quite short to his trailhead. We started up on the Horsetail trail and very soon, after passing a couple of switchbacks we got to the famous tree with roots that resemble a small staircase. We climbed those three or four steps and found the uphill trail just behind it. The climb was quick and steep with numerous switchbacks and going over loose grounds, exactly as I remembered it. Not long after we came to our first fork that most people ignore and just continue up. Knowing better, we turned left and followed a faint path to the Arch, one of the highlights of this hike. The Arch is just a rock outcrop with outstanding views of the Gorge. Right in the middle of it, there’s a small arch (big enough for two or three people to sit under it) that formed by years and years of wind erosion. From that vantage point, not only you can see the eastern side of the Columbia River Gorge but also the cliffs and peaks on the Oregon side. After a short brake, we climbed down and went back to the fork to resume our climb towards the Devil’s backbone. Although most of the trail is covered, it travels on a ridge where you can easily make the steep cliffs on both sides. After some more switchbacks, we came up next to a rock wall that can be climbed or walked around. That wall is actually the beginning of the Devil’s Backbone, a bare rocky ridge with steep drop offs on both sides. Definitely not for the faint of heart and not the best place to be in a storm. We found another group having lunch at that spot so we stopped for a couple of minutes before continuing on. From there, the trail dives into the forest but it doesn’t level or go down. By that point, we still had about 2/3 of the elevation to gain. From there to the plateau, the hike was pretty similar to other steep hikes in the gorge like Rudolph Spur or Ruckel Ridge. Then, all of a sudden, the trail level a bit and we got in a foggy forest. I started having some déjà-vu moments as I recognized some of the views I saw two years ago as I was getting lost. This time, without snow on the ground, the footpath was easy to follow until we got to the Horsetail trail. Shortly after the turn, we came up to our first creek crossing. It was not a big thing but we still had to find a good spot to walk on rocks and logs to make it. Being a bit after noon, we stopped on the other side of the creek for lunch while we watched the water rush thru rocks and logs. From there, we continued meandering thru a lush forest and crossed two or three more creeks on the way. We knew from several reports that the last creek, the Oneonta Creek, was running pretty high making that last crossing a bit of a challenge. A friend even sent me an email indicating they had flagged the best crossing point when they did it. As we continued traversing, we turned in towards a canyon and started descending a bit into wet lands. At that point we could already hear the rushing water but only saw the creek when we got to it. Yes, it was running much higher than usual. The strange thing about this trail is that, if you look at the map, the trail crosses the creek, then loops back and crossed again on a wood bridge about a quarter of a mile downstream. A good friend told me he was able to bushwhack down and find the trail after the second bridge eliminating the need to cross the creek. My idea was to try the same thing but what I was not counting on was having mature Devil’s club all around. After a couple hundred yards of bushwhacking we decided it was better to just get our feet wet. Interestingly enough, the point where we ended up crossing ended up being much easier than the marked path on the trail. As we crossed the frigid waters, we only found a single knee deep pool that was easy to manage. Although weather forecast was not indicating it, it started raining the moment we got to the other side, so we quickly dried our feet, put on the shoes and continued hiking along the Oneonta Creek. After that, sun came back just in time for us to make a quick stop at triple falls to take a couple of pictures and continue down to Horsetail falls. In the end, we were able to complete the loop with no issues. To me, it felt more of an accomplishment as I had my previous experience in mind.

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Quartz Creek, May 29th

2011-06-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

Our original plan for Memorial Day weekend was to go backpacking somewhere. Originally we thought somewhere in the Olympics but found out there’s too much snow up there. Then we looked south, same thing. Then, as a last resort we started looking closer to home and it occurred to me to backpack the Quartz Creek trail which I hiked last year. Unluckily, weather was not looking good for the weekend so we had to cancel that plan as well. From the three days, Sunday was looking to be the better one so we decided to go to Quartz Creek anyway and do as much as we could. We ended up doing pretty much the same route I did last time with the addition of a side trip to go check out the Lower Snagtooth Fall. We settled up for an early start so we were at the trailhead at around 9AM. On the way there, we noticed the Lewis River running pretty high (there were flood warnings all over Oregon and Washington). The first part of the hike, all the way to Straight Creek was easy going as we walked thru dense old growth red cedar forests. On the way there, we crossed the bridge over Platinum Creek. Last year, when I did this hike, the creek was almost dry. This time though, with all the snow melt, it was running pretty high. That made me start thinking about the couple of creek crossings we had ahead. Then we got to Straight Creek and noticed it was running very high. Crossing it would have been a bit of a challenge so we bushwhacked our way upstream to a big pile of logs and found a way to cross on them. Behind those logs there’s a nice waterfall were last year we took a group photo. This time, the water was high enough that the little dry area was completely submerged. After that little adventure, we started with the hard part of the hike. From Straight Creek on, there’s a lot of blowdown so, not only finding the trail is a bit of challenge but also you need to climb over or go under a lot of trees. In most of the pictures, you’ll notice that we are walking on trees, not on a trail. Snagtooth Creek looked a lot different than what I recalled. Last year, it was a tiny creek that we could easily cross using a couple of rocks. Not this time. We explored a bit upstream looking for a crossing option but did not find any so we stopped for lunch and then headed downstream. We found two good options, one was a very large tree at a steep angle that crossed the whole thing and the other was a couple of logs, one sitting on top of the other that offered equal opportunity to cross. A bit of a bushwhack later, we were back on trail. Shortly after that we started finding snow so once we got to the fork with the trail that goes to Quartz Creek Ridge, we took it and got to the same campsite where I returned last year. It was not as scenic this time but still usable. We talked about continuing on which was very uncertain or, head back and do some exploration. Since we didn’t want to go too far, we opted for the second option and explore a side trail we saw right after crossing Snagtooth. So we got back and took the side trail which ended up being just an animal path. Soon we found ourselves bushwhacking but opted to continue as we could see, far in the distance and hiding in the trees, a large waterfall. We found a path that took us thru a little gorge and a huge log that crossed from one side to the other. From there, I little walk upstream until we got a partial view of a huge waterfall. It was a good payoff for the effort. Then, it was time to head back thru our grueling exercise. As last time, it was a fantastic trip but I still need to backpack in the area!

You can check the pictures here

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Elk Mountain Loop, May 21st

2011-06-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Located in the Tillamook Forest, Elk Mountain is one of the peaks you can visit. Although the views from up there are quite fantastic and different than the views you get from any place in the cascades, most people do it as a training hike in preparation for longer and steeper climbs in the summer. This trail can be done in conjunction with the King’s Mountain trail forming a grueling loop with lots of ups and downs or the shorter, less traveled version coming back down on the Elk Creek trail. In the past I have done Elk as an up and down only and also the traverse. This time we did the Elk Creek trail to check it out. So we got to the trailhead and I did my normal pre-hike speech explaining what we were doing and what to expect. I did note that one of the hikers in the group showed up in jeans, cotton t-shirt and dressy shoes. I told him that I was concerned about it because I knew how steep this trail is and not having proper shoes was going to be a problem. After a bit of debate, he said he was going to be ok… I was still worried as I though he didn’t know what he was getting into. So we got to the trailhead, looked up, and started climbing. Contrary to most trails that have an approach before you start climbing, this trail shoots straight up, there’s no warming up or getting into it. Just to give you an idea, the total elevation gain of this 8 mile loop is 2350 feet, the summit is at 2000 feet which you climb in 1.3 miles! On the way up, there are several viewpoints that overlook the Wilson River Valley and the highway as you leave it far below. When we got to the first viewpoint, our friend in jeans was panting really bad that had to sit down for a while and rest. About a minute after he started vomiting and my guess is that he was overheating. We waited for a while until he got his colors back and then with Pat he went back down to the car while the rest of us continued on our adventure. After about an hour of huffing and puffing we made the summit just in time to see dark clouds moving in. We opted for a short stop for lunch and then continued on the back side of the mountain where you scramble your way down just to climb back on the next ridge. We did several times until we reached the fork with the Elk Creek Road (an old and abandoned logging road). From there we turned right and started descending towards Elk Creek and soon found ourselves on one foot of snow. This section of the trail is very obscure and dense making it completely different from the ridge walk we had just come from. Shortly after, we found the second fork with the road where we turned right again. As we continued descending, we got closer to Elk Creek which has seen a fair share of destruction. Most of the upper section of the creek is almost covered with downed trees and remnants of old floods. Once bellow a thousand feet or so, the scenery changed a bit and opened up to nicer views of the creek. At some point, almost at the end of our hike, I saw a nice little waterfall and being adventurous as I am, I bushwhacked to it to take a picture. I can tell you I was not expecting the rocks to be as slippery as they were. As soon as I stepped on one rock, I slid sideways, hit my head on a log and landed on my but, in the water… I guess that should teach me a lesson. I did get the picture though.

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Ghost Ridge – Palmateer Point – Devil’s Half Acre, May 1st

2011-05-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

There’s that saying April showers bring May Flowers but here in Oregon it seems winter doesn’t want to go away this year. Earlier in the season we didn’t have a lot of snow at low elevation but now, we have a lot, and at much lower elevations that usual. So instead of trying to find a nice place to go hiking, I opted for grabbing my snowshoes one more time and head up to the mountains. The decision also took into account the forecast that was looking really promising for the weekend. As always, when I think snowshoes, I also think Barlow Pass as all the trails in that area are just fantastic with possibilities of great views. From those I picked something I did not so long ago (although I didn’t get the views back then). I combined Ghost Ridge with Palmateer point, but to make it a bit longer and even more interesting, I added Devil’s Half Acre. Ghost Ridge and Palmateer Point are two, non-official names, for the top of two ridges in the Barlow Creek Area. Combining these two means going off trail and navigating thru the woods. Getting to Devil’s Half Acre is not much different although, instead of going uphill, you just go down to a Meadow and hope not to get in the water. So we started on a bright and sunny Sunday morning from a completely empty parking lot and headed towards the PCT. This first section is actually really easy to follow as the PCT is very well marked and a lot of people do this route to Twin Lakes. As soon as we got to a Saddle where the trail veers off south, we turned slight left and headed uphill. From here the slope got a bit tougher as it’s steeper and there were no tracks to follow. Following the ridgeline, we passed a couple of clearings that gave us partial views of Mt Hood behind us. Then after turning one last tree we came up to our first destination, Ghost Ridge. At this point, not only you get a first grade view of Mt Hood but you can also see all the way to Jefferson and beyond.

From that point we were able to make also our next destination across the valley. Instead of turning there, we continued on the ridge down to a saddle and veered east on a shallow canyon that soon met back with the PCT. By then it was almost time for lunch so we explored a bit until we found a nice spot for lunch. We then continued east towards the south end of the ridge where Palmateer point is. That made us pass by a meadow and a lot of snowmelt but soon we were back on dryer ground. Finally on the ridge, we turned left again and headed straight uphill towards blue ski. As soon as we came out of the trees we felt the snow giving away under us. It was not enough to be a concern but quiet eerie when you step on it and see little cracks form all around you. We did a couple of switch backs to ease the uphill and finally made it to our second destination.

Last time I tried this, I made a straight line from Palmateer Point back to the parking lot at Barlow Pass which ended up being long and very uninteresting. This time, I wanted to explore Devil’s Half Acre Meadow. Today there’s summer campground in the area but this place used to be the pioneers route to the west. I read somewhere that the name comes from the weird weather you can get there because of its geographic location. To get there, we started on a steep and fun downhill that went from an open slope to a lush green forest. On our way we found several soft spots where loosing traction or even post holing was very easy, in fact, Heye entertained us by doing a full face plant as he was coming down. The part I was not expecting was finding the meadow with a lot of snowmelt and standing water. In the map you’ll notice a sharp turn right from that spot that we had to take to gain a bit of elevation on the other side of the road to get away from the water. We followed the contour of the slope for a while until we reached the open area of the campground. It was nothing spectacular so we just crossed the area and continued on the road back towards Barlow Pass to complete the loop

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Rudolph Spur, Apr 30th

2011-05-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

In my constant search for new adventures, I found an old, un-maintained trail in the gorge that looked very promising. Starting from the PCT just before the fork to Dry Creek Falls and connecting via Benson Plateau to the Ruckel Creek trail, Rudolph Spur looked very promising in every respect. So with a very strong group of hikers we decided to explore that area and navigate thru the woods to complete the loop. We started from the parking lot next to the Toll House in Bridge of the Gods where you can get on the PCT going south. The first part of the trail is not very pretty as it goes under the highway and then climbs to the power lines. After that, the trail gets a bit better as it traverses some nice forests until it reaches Dry Creek. Right before the intersection, we found a very faint foot path to the right which, according to the information I had, was the start of Rudolph Spur. Before heading that way though, we decided to continue a bit further to the bridge and take the short trail to Dry Creek Falls. I had visited this falls in the past and recalled them been very scenic. It did not disappoint. After a short break, we hiked back down to the fork and backtracked a bit to the faint foot path and turned there. Between the ground cover and low bushes I was able to make a faint path that was easy to follow but we were still unsure we were on the right place. After a couple hundred yards we found an old trail sign on tree. The sign doesn’t show anything anymore, but why would there be a sign if that was not the trail? The path continued uphill on a shallow canyon that isolated us from the highway noise and any views until we got to a knob that shows in the map as Manzanita. From there we got our first view of Table Mountain on the other side of the Columbia River. Then the hard part started. After traversing an open ridge, we turned west and followed the ridge up all the way to Benson Plateau. Most of this section was under a thick tree canopy with only a couple of clearings. Near the top of the ridge we found another view point with much better views of Table Mountain, Bridge of the Gods and Cascade Locks. On this rest, we took a short break for pictures (including a picture with all our backpacks that happened to be Osprey) before continuing on around the ridge to the top. Just a bit above 3000’ we found snow that became shin deep in no time. While being up front, I was able to make a very faint foot path that looked to be no more than a week or two old. Not trusting that entirely, I kept an eye on my GPS to make certain I was on the right track. While traversing the ridge, at some point we started to hear some voices. Obviously this was completely unexpected as we did not think anybody would be behind us. In the end we found that it was another group doing the Ruckel Ridge – Ruckel Creek loop. They were a bit off their track so when they saw us, they started following our tracks until we got to the Ruckel Creek trail. Once we made that turn, it was all downhill on a very steep, muddy and slippery slope. We stopped at several viewpoints along the trail that almost hang from the cliffs and offer some amazing angles of the river and Cascade Locks. When we finally got down to trail 400, we turned east to head back to the parking lot. This last section was completely uneventful and unattractive as it travels next to highway 84. Once there and having finished the loop, we did our mandatory stop at Charburger for a well deserved Burger and beer.

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Opal Creek, Apr 23rd

2011-05-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

This is one of those hikes that has always been in the list but I’ve kept putting it away because I knew it would be on the easy side. Finally I was lazy enough to say “ok, let’s go check it out”. I have to say I’m happy I did. On one side, this is an incredibly scenic hike, not only offers the beautiful views of the Little North Santiam River and Opal Creek but it also has several small waterfalls, some blue/green very inviting pools and a lush green forest with tall red cedars. On the other, the trail offers a bit of history as you pass the remnants of an old mill from the depression era and a little town that has been preserved since the 1930’s. If you top all this with a bright sunny day and a great group of people to go with, the hike can certainly be a great day. The first part of the trail is not very interesting other than the scenery. The reason is that it starts in the middle of the road and it just follows it for almost three miles to Jawbone flats. On this section you get some seasonal creeks and nice views of the forest but only the sound of the river down in the canyon. After about two miles we reached Merten Mill where we found some old machinery laying around. While exploring this area, it’s hard to miss the roaring sound of a nearby waterfall. As we explored around, we found a faint trail behind a very old house. That trail led us to Sawmill Falls, a 30ft drop into a blue pool with amazing scenery. The crystal blue waters I this section are very inviting but nobody should jump before testing how cold it is… it is very cold! Continuing on the road, we got to Jawbone Flats and were surprised to learn that this old town has been preserved and still in use. Some of the 27 houses are actually rented out to whoever wants to spend a couple of days there while others are used by park administrators that take care of the place. Going “thru” town is not that interesting until you get to the other side and cross the bridge. As the trail continues towards Opal Creek, there’s a section that resembles an open air museum where you can see old mining cars, tractors, trucks and a lot of machinery. It’s a very interesting place to explore and take pictures. From there, we got back to nature and to the more rugged part of the hike. After crossing the little bridge over Opal Creek, we stopped for lunch and then continued on. The trail goes all the way to Beachie Creek just past Cedar Flats along Opal Creek. It’s a very scenic section with lush forests and some nice waterfalls. In the upper section we got a lot of snow so going got slow until we got to Cedar Flats. By then weather was starting to turn for the worse so we decided at that point to turn around. Once we got back to the bridge over Opal Creek, instead of crossing towards Jawbone Flats, we continued on the trail to Opal Pool, one of the many highlights of this hike. I think the name couldn’t describe better this place. As you’ll see in the pictures, the color of this pool is so incredible that it almost seems unreal. From there we continued to the second bridge that goes over the Little Santiam River and back to the road for our last two mile walk to the car.

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Dry Ridge, Apr 16th

2011-05-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

While we still wait for better weather, I picked up a hike that offered distance, elevation gain and somewhat good shelter from rain. This hike had all three which was good, but what I forgot to put was a bit of scenery. This hike is interesting but not very scenic. With gloomy weather, the few good views almost disappear leaving this hike as a pure exercise jaunt to the top of the hill. With five other brave souls, we met early in the morning and drove to the Roaring River Campground that is closed for the season. After leaving our cars almost in the middle of the road, we walked past the campground to the end where we found the trailhead. Without much anticipation or warming, we started climbing thru a dense and very foggy forest where the only interesting thing was the rushing water of a nearby creek. After several switchbacks we got to a point right on the ridge with a limited view of the Clackamas River valley. Unfortunately views were not that good but still it was impressive to see down bellow and gauge how much elevation we had gain so far. From that point on, the trail turns on the North side of the ridge into a valley limiting all views. We crossed a couple of seasonal creeks on the way until we got to Grouse Creek. For the size of it, I thought we would find a bridge but there was none. After exploring around for a while, we just used logs and rocks to hop to the other side. Further up we found a second creek with no name that was a bit easier to cross. Right after that, we found snow which I was expecting, so we stopped for a bit to put out snowshoes on and continue on up. The forest was very nice but nothing impressive which is why I don’t have a lot of pictures to show. As we were hiking in rain and wet snow, my boots gave up and my feet started to get wet. Obviously that made them get cold so we made a stop for lunch that I used to change into dry socks and put feet warmer insoles. By then it was already early in the afternoon so we continued until we got to the fork with the Grouse Point trail. Knowing that views were going to be very limited due to the weather and since some of the hikers needed to be back in town early, we opted for turning around and heading back. I can’t say it was a bad hike, at the very least we got a very good exercise out of it.

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Torres del Paine Circuit, Feb 21st to Mar 3rd

2011-05-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

I have to start by saying this was one of the best trips I’ve done. That is not only because of the location and scenery but also because it was a great experience for me. Learning like this that you can be out there for 10 days and be self sufficient feels really good and opens a whole bunch of possibilities. The whole idea of this trio started from a conversation with my good friend Jocelyn when she told me she was going to Peru and then Chile to attend NOLS down in Coyhaique. We almost immediately though about Torres del Paine as it’s considered as one of the best treks in the world. We started looking at dates and possible scenarios and considered either doing the 5 or 6 day “W” circuit that covers the highlights of the park which would have left us with time to maybe cross to Argentina and do part of Fits Roy or do the “Q” circuit which, besides covering the highlights, goes around the Paine Massif. Being explorers like we are, we opted for the second option. It’s better to cover an area well than try to do too much and miss half of it. So finally we agreed to meet at a certain date in Punta Arenas, travel to Puerto Natales and then head from there to the park for the 10 day trip. So while Jocelyn was down there getting her NOLS certification, I started training and getting my gear ready for this. I recall doing numerous hikes carrying a backpack with a couple of sand bags just to get used to the weight. About a week of, I started my final preparation by putting all my gear and food on the floor and trying to guess how was I going to fit all that in my bag. Surprisingly it did so I was ready to start the long journey. On my way south I stopped in Santiago for a day to visit my dad and the following day I flew to Punta Arenas (Punta Arenas is the southernmost point in Chile that faces south to the Magellan Strait). Once there I took a bus to town to meet up with Jocelyn and then another bus with her to Puerto Natales. Once we got there, we still had to go out and buy the last couple of things and get our gear ready for the next day. That night, just to relax a bit a think about the next 10 days, we took a short walk to the waterfront where we were welcomed with a beautiful sunset.

Day 1: Park administration to Paine Grande

Part of the service provided by the Hostel we stayed in Puerto Natales was a “Hikers Breakfast” just before the bus came to pick us up and take us to the park. The ride took a bit more than 2 hours just to get to the park entrance where we made a stop to pay the entry fee. From there we continued to the first entry point where more than half of the people got of the bus to take the Catamaran across Lago Pehoe to Paine Grande. Since our plan was to do the whole circuit, we stayed on the bus as it went around the lake to the Administration office on the south west corner of the park. We were a bit surprised as the scenery was not showing much of what we expected to see. When you see pictures of Torres del Paine you see massive glaciated peaks and lakes. Instead, we were traveling around low ridges and mountains and lakes. Far to the north we could barely see a mountain range but the low cloud cover was keeping it mostly out of sight. Once we got the Administration office, I started raining so we stayed there for about half an hour while we filled our water bottles and got some final details from the park rangers. Seeing that it was almost noon and we had about 11 miles to hike to Paine Grande, we decided to get our rain gear out and start hiking. The first section was probably the strangest and most unexpected. From the guides I’ve read that it was better to start as we were doing it because you had to “approach” the massif. Well, the hike was exactly that. We traversed an almost endless flat land (pampa) that only showed low hills here and there. At some point we were able to barely make the Horns (Los Cuernos) between the clouds but we never got magnificent views. Even though the hike seemed endless, at some point we turned around a small ridge and found the Grey River (Rio Grey). Following the river did not last long though, soon the river was gone and we were back on the long, flat walk. On that section though, we had small brown and white birds that would occasionally fly in front of us or actually walk on the trail as if they were leading or showing the way. At some point I did see a larger bird that flew across the trail and landed on a nearby branch. When I looked closer, I realized it was a tiny owl (I learned later it was a Pigmy Patagonic Owl). I managed to get real close to it and snap a couple of pictures of the little guy

Then, all of a sudden or scenery changed as we started slowly going up thru some forested areas with low lying Lenga trees. Soon the clouds started moving a bit and the outlines of the Paine Massif stared showing at the same time we reached Lake Pehoe. I had thought that the water color you see in the pictures was probably a bit of sky reflection, but that was not the case. Even with a day as cloudy as it was, the lake had a majestic blue/green color that was almost unreal. We hiked for a while on the west side of the lake going up and down numerous ridges until at some point we saw our destination. Our first stop was Paine Grande which has a big lodge and some flat camping ground. It was a bit difficult for us to find an empty spot as there were tons of hikers there but we finally did. After quickly setting up camp and having dinner, we walked around and got the impression that this park was not going to be a true wilderness experience. Having working bathrooms with hot showers didn’t fit very well in the picture. In any case, we were so tired that we just put that in the back of our minds and went to sleep early.

Day 2: Paine Grande to Campamento Britanico

We woke up to a fantastic day for our second leg of the trek. After a quick breakfast, we packed our gear and headed out on a trail that was bordering Lake Pehoe. We passed numerous ridges and valleys going up and down and turning in and out. The only constant for most of the morning was the “inverted skies”. As we walked by Lake Pehoe and two other smaller lakes en route to Campamento Italiano, all the lakes were reflecting the sky in a way that was almost unreal. To the north, the skies were not as welcoming as most of the mountains right next to us were mostly covered. Although it was not time for lunch just yet, we made a rest stop at a high view point we found on the way.

From there we could barely make the glaciers above us and a waterfall cutting the mountain in half. As we continued hiking along the lake, it was obvious we were heading for the river. Soon after, we got to a hanging bridge over Rio Frances (French River) that gave us a limited view of the valley ahead. On the other side of the bridge we found Campamento Italiano which was originally a potential stopping place to spend the night and do day hikes from there (like most people do). A friend we met told us that staying there was not a good idea. For starters, it didn’t ensure good views up in the valley but worse than that, the toilets were smelly and the camp noisy. With that in mind, we didn’t even stop. We just made the turn and started the long and arduous climb to Campamento Britanico. The first section of the trail followed the French River from a side ridge that, every now and then offered some views of the Paine Grande and the Glaciers up on top. As we were climbing, the skies started to clear up until all clouds were completely gone. By then we had gain a lot of elevation and got to a viewpoint where we got our first glance at the Cuernos (The Horns) from the back side. In the pictures you can see these two peaks as being quite massive, almost white granite peaks with black sediments on top. That view was well balanced with the glaciated peaks to our left.

Further up, we got a second viewpoint that, besides showing us one of the Cuernos, it showed some of the other peaks in Valle Frances (French Valley) including the Shark Fin which I personally think is very impressive. The rest of the afternoon turned to be really hot so the last part of the climb to Campamento Britanico felt almost like torture that was only softened by the amazing views. At some point we veered to the north east and that was the last time we saw Lago Pehoe and the valley we came from behind us. From there on, in front of us, was a huge mountain cirque with Cerro Paine and Cathedral on one side, The Twins in the middle with the Shark Fin in front of it and Cerros Cabeza de Indio, Escudo, Espada, Hoja and Mascara (Indian Head, Shield, Sword, Leaf and Mask). Later that day, after we made it to Campamento Britanico and set up camp for the night, we hiked a bit uphill to a flat open area that gave us an almost complete view of Valle Frances (French Valley). We didn’t explore much that evening as we were pretty tired from the day hike plus we had the whole third day to explore. We waited for the sunset up on the rocks waiting for the peaks to turn red but they never did. I guess those colors are reserved for early spring or late fall only. That night, on our way back to the tent, we crossed paths with a Huemul that did not seem to care that we were there.

As we read in one of the guides, this endangered species is known to inhabit the area but hard to find, so having one walk by right in front of us was certainly a nice treat to end a great day

Day 3: Exploring Valle Frances

We had two options for the third day and choosing one of the other was only a matter of looking up early in the morning. Since the day was looking good, we opted for the option of staying in Campamento Britanico an extra night and use the day to explore Valle Frances. Looking at our map we decided to head up towards a viewpoint where the trail ends and then continue up and potentially reach the saddle next to Cerro Fortaleza to check what we could see on the other side. Going up without a heavy pack was really a change. We reached the viewpoint in almost no time as some of the clouds were drifting away. Even though you can see the whole Cirque from this vantage point, you can barely do it without having to turn around. We took a couple of pictures trying to capture it but it was very difficult to select were to point the camera.

From there we took a path going around smaller Lenga trees that looked almost like little Japanese trees alongside a small stream. We followed that path uphill until we were above the tree line. At some point we reached a plateau where the stream was forming a couple of little ponds. All that water was feeding abundant hi elevation flowers which, in contrast with the granite peaks made for very nice scenery. Then, the worst thing that can happen on a scenic trip like this happened. MY CAMERA DIED!! I tried numerous times to bring it back to life with fresh batteries, cards, etc to no avail. Basically my camera became a beat up paper weight. Luckily Jocelyn had her camera so from that moment on, we pretty much shared it the rest of the way. After the frustration and urge to throw the camera as hard as I could down the valley was controlled, we continued scrambling up and quickly learned something I noticed years ago when I spent some time in Coyhaique. In Patagonia, distances are much longer than what they appear! We reached a saddle that we thought was going to be right where we wanted to be only to find out that we needed to keep climbing. That same story repeated itself three times until we reached a glacier that we could not see for further down. From there we could only guess how much longer of hike it would be but not having the proper gear to walk on ice made us veer of the idea of even trying it. Up there we had to find a rock shelter to have lunch and do a bit more exploring around the ice before heading back down. Needless to say, the scenery up there was incredible. On our way down, instead of retracing our steps, we opted for following the slope south which gave us a partial view of Lago Nordenskjold down in the valley and part of the plains we covered the first day.

We got back to camp mid afternoon and rather than do something else, we opted for a bit of rest. While Jocelyn took a nap in the tent, I went to the river to dump my legs in icy cold water. I think my knees are still thanking me for that. Later that evening the wind picked up and clouds started to move in quickly. We thought we were going to get a lot of rain that night which didn’t happen but all that wind made the night a bit cold.

Day 4: Campamento Britanico to refugio Cuernos

We woke up to a very grey day but luckily no rain (yet). After a nice breakfast and packing our gear, we started our long descend to Campamento Italiano to continue on to Refugio Cuernos. The no rain part did not last very long. As soon as we started moving we had to stop to get our rain gear out and knew it was going to be along day. Suddenly all the scenery we had enjoyed for the last couple of days in Valle Frances disappeared as we were engulfed in grey clouds. It was almost like we were in an entirely different place. That made the hike interesting in a complete different way as we could only hear the rain, the French River next to us and the occasional rock or chuck of ice that would fall from the mountains. It was an eerie sensation as you didn’t know where all that was coming from. On our way down we crossed path with Viva, a girl we met at the Hostel who was in the last leg of her solo trek doing the “W” circuit and further down we met Mark, a guy from Australia that on a whim went and bought some basic stuff to do the “W” trek as well. When we finally made it to Campamento Italiano, we thought of stopping for lunch but with the rain and no good place to stop, we opted for continuing on. The trail then became a twisty track going thru some pretty dense bushes that every now and then allowed us to see the lake down bellow. On the other side, we could barely see a vertical wall going into the sky and disappearing into the clouds. On this section, although we didn’t have significant elevation changes, we were pounded by the hard packed terrain a rocks on the trail. It was a continuous exercise in keeping the balance while moving. At some point the lake started to turn from grey to blue again which hinted us that rain was almost over (or so we thought). Roughly at the same time, we got to the lowest point on the trail were you reach a beach that is completely covered with black and white rocks. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures but the contrast of black, white and the blue water was just amazing. From there we could see a waterfall almost slicing the mountain in two and knew we had to pass right in front of it. Eventually the trail took us to the river which, with all the rain was overflowing. Without thinking too much we just crossed it and got are feet really wet (as if they were not wet before). Finally we made it to Refugio Cuernos where we found a small lodge perched on small valley with some camping spots and some rental huts. We located a potential spot to set up camp that ended up being too small so we had to move all of our gear and tent to a slightly bigger site. As soon as we did that, a storm hit us really hard. Luckily it didn’t last too long and we had all of our gear properly covered. Later that evening, when the rain stopped for a bit, I went out for walk and to try to get some pictures. Here’s Lago Nordenskjold after the storm.

Day 5: Refugio Cuernos to Campamento Torres

On day five, we woke up again to a dry day so we took a bit of extra time to dry some gear, re-pack our bags and do some much needed stretching. We then took of and had the first surprise of the day. Just past Refugio Cuernos there’s a wood bridge that crosses right in front of a beautiful waterfall. As I was crossing I had an Indiana Jones moment when one of the boards broke under my feet. Luckily I was standing firm with my other foot so I didn’t end up in the water. That little episode ended up being the beginning of an endless joke about all the bridges we found from that spot on where we would cross singing the Indianan Jones movie song. From there the trail was pretty much the same experience as part of the previous day; rolling terrain with the corresponding changes in scenery. Being close to the lake brought the little birds again that were guiding us in our progress. Along with those, we saw other birds, a bit larger, that seemed to really enjoy flying thru obstacles. As we were walking we could see them take of, flap once or twice to get some speed and then close the wings and dive at high speed, steering thru shrubs and rocks. Then the scenery ahead started changing again to a more flat land without a lot of vegetation. I had to remind myself many times to stop and look backwards just to make certain I was not missing something. While doing that, we got our last view of the Cuernos before we turned one more valley and started going uphill

According to the map I had, we had to hike all the way to Hosteria Las Torres and head up to Campamento Torres from there, but as we were gaining elevation and getting away from Lago Nordenskjold, we found a fork properly marked with a shortcut to the trail to Campamento Torres. Since we had gain some considerable elevation and we noticed that the trail toward Hosteria was downhill, we opted for the shortcut and keep going up. From that point on, it was a bit of a grueling uphill. We kept gaining and gaining elevation but could not see the Ascencio river canyon which we knew we had to take. Suddenly we started approaching a turn on a ridge and in a matter of two steps, everything changed. The scenery we had on our backs disappeared completely and the Ascencio River appeared in front of us. Not only the river is spectacular but the canyon itself is amazing. On the opposite side of the river we could see jagged rock walls while on our side there were little vegetation islands and bare rockslides we had to traverse. On certain spots we wandered what kept the trail from falling. Further up in the canyon, we could see that the trail descended to river edge and eventually crossed to the other side were Campamento Chileno is. It took us a while to get there but it was a nice place to stop for a quick rest before continuing on to Campamento Torres. From Campamento Chileno, the trail followed the river bed under a dense Lenga canopy. In almost no time we made it to Campamento Torres were a park ranger came to greet us. We told him about our plan to go check out the viewpoint for Las Torres (The Towers) early the following morning to get the good light. He mentioned that unfortunately that was not going to be possible. For starters, the bright reds only happen early in the spring or late in the fall but the worst part was that the forecast was predicting some rain for the following day. From the map we knew it took about an hour to get to the Mirador so the ranger suggested to setup camp, eat and head there before nightfall as the day was not that bad. So we did just that, set up camp, had dinner and then grabbed a couple of things and headed up to the Mirador. The trail was a bit sketchy at points but easy for us to follow as we were scrambling thru a boulder field. We got to the Mirador as the last group was about to leave and with plenty of light to spend some time up there.

It was a good thing we took the advice of the ranger as the following day was cloudy and we had a long way to go to our next campsite.

Day 6: Campamento Torres to Campamento Seron

Although there are some little details about day 6, I think it was the most uneventful day of the whole trip. After a quick breakfast and packing our gear, we started hiking towards Campamento Chileno. On the way we got a bit of rain but nothing major. From there we had a bit of an uphill and that’s were foot pain started. I guess both my feet were a bit sore from the scramble the night before so I was definitely paying the price. Luckily we reached the turn quickly and from there it was a long downhill all the way to the Hosteria. The only “extraordinary” thing that happened was that I met an old couple form Wales that stopped me to ask me about the Kilt. They were very surprised to see a non Scotsman wearing one so took some pictures to share with friends. Closer to noon we reached the Hosteria which is a very nice hotel that almost seems out of place. I needed to get some batteries for my GPS so we had to wait for a bit just to find out that there were none. They did point us to another nearby store at another lodge to try so we started heading that way and met a group of people from Uruguay that picked almost immediately that I was from Venezuela. After a short talk we continued and finally reached the store and got the most expensive batteries I have ever bought. I have the impression that we took a wrong turn after that as we had to cross another lodge to get back on the trail. Once we got on it, it still felt strange. For a while we were just following a fence and land that resembled more a farm than anything else. We followed what looked like an old jeep road that for a while traveled thru a narrow canyon and then got back in to the open. A bit further, we crossed a gate and left the fence behind and everything seemed to jump back to normal. Right after that point, we found a large bird foraging on the ground. We’re still not sure what was it but it certainly looked like an eagle. Strangely or coincidentally, further down we passed a forested section where we counted 4 or 5 falcons. With Jocelyn we were commenting that these birds didn’t seem to mind hikers walking by. We spent the rest of the day traversing immense flat lands with hidden rivers and no sign of mountains, glaciers or anything we had seen in the past few days.

Finally we made it to Campamento Seron which was very different from the other places we had stayed. This was a house in the middle of nowhere with a big yard where you could set up a tent. We found a nice spot to set up our tent and as soon as we did, it started raining. We fumbled for a while trying to set up a tarp above the tent to extend the vestibule so we could cook and under the rain. Being almost trapped there, we had no other option than to just joke around and laugh about everything until we went to bed.

Day 7: Campamento Seron to Refugio Grey

We started again on a rainy day traversing rolling hills and vast flat lands. Soon we found ourselves following the Paine River towards a mountain range far in the distance. I didn’t realize at that moment that we were supposed to walk to those mountains and then continue on the back side. By mid morning, rain picked up and we got a bit more wind. For a while it got really nasty and there was no way to stay out of the rain. We bundled up as well as we could and continued trying to keep warm. Even though the day was very grey, ground colors were amazing. I’m not sure what type of plants we were looking at but they grew in big rounded shapes that almost looked like rocks covered in moss.

About three hours later, the sun finally started slipping thru the clouds and eventually it stopped raining. As quickly as we got wet we got dry again with the exception of our boots. After passing the section with the big rounded trees, we turned around a small ridge and descended back to river level. With all the rain in the last couple of days, the low lands had almost flooded so we found several mud pools. The bigger one had bridges going above them but the others only had logs that were partially submerged. We did not find a way to keep our feet reasonably dry in that area. From pictures I had seen, I knew we had to get some elevation and get closer to glaciers to get to Lago Dickson so the only possibility was that we needed to walk all the way to a mountain range we could see in the distance.

I figured that our destination would be close after passing a dividing ridge we could see from the trail. As we started to get closer to the mountains, clouds continued moving in and out of the area. At some point I was startled by something I was not sure I was seeing. Far in the distance I could see a big mountain and another behind but there was a very faint white line connecting these two mountains. At first I thought it was a weird cloud formation in a valley between the two mountains as this line we pretty high but then the sun peaked again thru the clouds and illuminated the area and that’s when I realized that I was looking at the top of a Glacier. I’ve seen snow and ice fields in the past but never something like this. It almost felt like the mountains were tiny compared to the size of the glacier making it almost impossible to guess the size of the ice field. I knew then that we needed to get a lot closer as Lago Dickson is at the foot of that glacier.

The sight of the glacier disappeared for a while as we had to go thru another low land area with even more mud than the previous. It almost seemed like it was not going to end but then we started gaining elevation and going towards a ridge. After a short climb, we finally reached the pass and in front of us we found a postcard image. It was a view of Lago Dickson with the glacier in the back and a big flat area where we would spend the night. The contrast of the cloudy skies, the green/blue lake and the glacier was incredible, but more than that, we were so tired of the long walk that we almost ran down to the campsite. Once down, we found a good campsite where we set up the tent and took turns to walk around the lake and take some pictures. The rest of that evening, the weather kept changing with clouds moving in and out quickly. We got a bit of rain, a bit of sun and then more rain but at least we were able to dry some gear before going to bed

DAY 8: Refugio Dickson to Campamento Perros

The previous night, while looking at the map to see what was ahead of us, we noticed we had to options. One was to hike only to Campamento Perros which was a shorter 5.6 mile hike and leave a much longer 13.7 mile day for the following day or hike 13 miles to Campamento Paso and leave 6 miles for the next day. I thought we had kind of agreed on the second choice so we needed to be on the trail early in the morning. I guess we were more tired than what we thought we were because we woke up much later than usual so it took a while to get out. The first portion of the day was a bit of a climb to get back on the ridge but from there we entered a very dense lenga forest with the tallest trees we had seen so far. We found a handful of open areas with views of Lake Dickson behind and the canyon up ahead. While hiking in the deep forest we heard some woodpeckers and were actually able to watch them for a while. We spotted three of them, probably two males and a female judging from the color of their heads. Male Magellanic Woodpeckers have a bright red head crowing their black body while females are mostly black. It seemed to us that one of the males was a younger bird that was being taught how to look for food. As we stayed there for a while, we saw the birds jump from tree to tree and limb to limb looking for insects in the wood. We continued after they finally decided to move to other trees and soon started hiking next to the river. As we were hiking, the day cleared up and we finally made it to Cascada Perros. This waterfall is not very tall but is incredibly scenic as it’s tucked inside a small canyon. With lights hitting in the right way, you get the added rainbow bonus in front of that made it a great photo opportunity.

We continued and soon came out to a clearing and had to cross a talus slope before getting back in a forested area. That happened two or three more times and on all those, we could see the Valley and just guess where Paso Gardner, the highest point of our trek, was. The last clearing opened up to an enclosed valley with a big rock pile to our left. As we continued scrambling up, we got to the ridge of the rock pile just to find Lago Perros (Dog Lake) on the other side and a small glacier on the opposite shore. From that ridge we could also see the entire valley in front of us and Paso Gardner in the distance. The wind was a bit strong in that area and we knew we were pretty close to Campamento Perros so we decided to continue.

Once we got to Campamento Perros in the early afternoon, we made a stop for lunch. While doing that, we talked about continuing and Jocelyn made the point that it was a long way to go and probably not safe. I made the argument that if we stayed there, the following day would be a very long day. After a short discussion, we decided to stay the night there. Since we had plenty of day left, I grabbed the camera and hiked back to the Lago Perros ridge trying to get as close to the glacier as possible. As I scrambled up, I missed one rock which made me land quite hard on another. I didn’t break anything but it sure felt like it. After taking some long, deep breaths, I continued on and finally got to a rock outcropping were I was able to admire the glacier and see, fro very close, how chunks of ice were falling from above all the way to the lake. It felt like a small National Geographic moment.

That night we made peace with Jocelyn (not that we fought or anything) and went to bed with the clear plan that we needed to be up early in the morning to tackle the long day ahead.

Day 9: Campamento Perros to Refugio Grey

We woke up at 6AM to a very cold morning so we stayed in the tent packing and coking breakfast and by 8AM we were on the trail. We knew the day was going to be long and that we had to gain a lot of elevation to get to Paso Gardner but we were not expecting to walk out of the campsite and start climbing right away. The other thing we were not expecting was a trail completely submerged in mud. Climbing on those conditions was not easy as we had to aim for a rock or a log each step. AS we hiked up, both Jocelyn and I missed one or two logs so we ended with our boots full of mud. After about an hour of this, we came to an opening that gave us a bit of rest and a clear view of the ridge ahead of us. It was still difficult to identify where Paso Gardner was and we could see that we still had more forests to go thru. Little by little the trees started to get shorter and soon we were out of the forest walking on a rocky mountainside. Wind picked up as kept climbing towards the pass. As we did that, the valley around us started shrinking. On one side we had Cerro Condor and Cerro Amistad with a glacier between them and on the other, a steep, rock wall and a small waterfall. On our way we had to cross a wide creek with water running just below the rocks. As we crossed, it almost seemed like we were walking on water. Finally we were able to spot the marks on the trail and what looked to be the pass. Once we got there, we stopped short as we were in front of the most spectacular view. In form of us, down bellow was Glacier Grey with the mountain range in the back and 7 or 8 smaller glaciers. It was a scene out of this world.

After a short break, we continued but now descending on an even steeper trail. Most of it had wood planks to prevent erosion that also served like stair steps. As we were going down my knees started hurting really bad. Luckily the views were good compensation for that. Soon we were back in a forested slope going towards Campamento Paso as we walked alongside the glacier. From our point of view it was easy to determine that the glacier was huge and the ice wall was immense but were not able to tell how high. About five hours after we started, we reached Campamento Paso. We looked for a spot to have lunch and didn’t find any so we continued down until we reached a view point where we stopped. It was very windy so keeping the food from flying was a bit of a challenge but the views were very good.

We picked up the trail about half an hour later and continued descending with magnificent views of the glacier. About two hours later we started seeing the tip of the glacier which we knew was roughly were our next campsite was. As we continued, we had to cross a couple of gulches formed by creeks coming from way up in the mountains. These were not that difficult and there were ropes to assist. The third one thought was a bit of a different story. The gulch was very deep and the only way to get down was on an iron ladder that was tied to some rocks. Saying that the ladder moved is an understatement and the views did not help to concentrate on the task. Looking back at the whole trip, this was our last “Indiana Jones” moment

Finally we got down to Lake Grey and soon we were at the campsite. There we meet with Arnie, a friend we met the first day and that we saw a couple of times during our trek. After setting up the tent and having dinner, I spent a bit of time with my legs in the coldwater to relax while Jocelyn found a secluded spot on the beach to do some Yoga. Then, before nightfall, I went up the trail a bit to take a last look at the glacier before going to bed. The following day was the last day

DAY 10: Refugio Grey to Paine Grande and then Pudeto

On our final day we woke up to the story that fox had been wondering around camp steeling food. We learned that some campers close to our tent add bought some egg for breakfast and in the morning there was nothing. I was a bit sad because I wanted to see foxes in the area. Without loosing much time, we packed and took off as if we were in on a mission. Even though it was a short day, we wanted to be in Paine Grande before noon to catch the early Catamaran so we would be back in town in the afternoon. Soon after leaving, we found some new construction were the park is building some new shelters to camp near Lago Grey. As we passed by, we saw under the structure a couple of foxes. We stopped behind a tree but didn’t have the camera handy to take some pictures. For a couple of minutes we stood there and so did the fox that seemed not to care we were there. After it took off, I felt complete; I was like I saw everything I wanted to see during the trip. We then passed a small ridge and were we lost the protection from the wind and things got a bit nasty. At some point I was hiking behind Jocelyn and saw clearly when a gust almost picked her up and pushed her on a nearby bush. It was both funny and scary. Finally we turned and passed a small saddle leaving Lago Grey behind and seeing Lago Pehoe in front of us. The end of the trip was near. We finally made it to Paine Grande with more than an hour to spare. We left out packs in the main building and sat with Arnie in the little eating place where we munched on all the food we had left. At noon we moved to the pier were we boarded the Catamaran that was going to take us across Lake Pehoe to Pudeto to catch the bus to Puerto Natales. From the boat we were able to capture one of the iconic images of the park

From Pudeto we got in the bus and three hours later we were back in town. For me the last thing I needed was to get a poster of Torres del Paine which I have in my office (I would have preferred one of my own pictures but since my camera died). While I was doing that, Jocelyn stayed back at the hostel and made dinner for me in exchange for having me bring home some of her gear (which I would have done anyway). Having dinner with Jocelyn that night, sitting on a table in the Hostel, was a nice ending to the great trip. Certainly something I won’t forget.

You can check the rest of the pictures here

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Fish Creek Mountain, Feb 6th

2011-04-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

This was a weird outing. Fish Creek Mountain is located near the Clackamas River near Estacada. Due to its elevation, this is a trail that should be done more towards the summer when the snow has melted but since we had a window of really warm weather, I thought there was a good chance of doing this without snowshoes. The other detail is that this trail was almost abandoned some time ago as the original access road was washed out back in 1996 leaving the trailhead completely inaccessible. In recent years an alternate route was opened from the east side of the mountain mixing part of the old trail and a new section. So we got there and our first surprise was that the road was covered in snow so we were not able to drive to the actual trailhead. After leaving the car, we hiked on the road for a while until we found a fork going in the direction we wanted to go. According to my map, the trail was supposed to be there and run parallel to a very old logging road. With the snow and overgrown branches we missed the trail and took the road. That ended up being a bit of a torture with tons of ups and downs, slippery rocks, postholes and a lot of branches in the way. After bushwhacking for a while, we actually got to a second road that looked much cleaner and with no snow which we took. After walking for a while, we found a trail marker that was actually the trail that we had missed so by then, at least we knew we had taken the wrong way but we were back on track. At the end of the road we finally found the original trailhead which is still, amazingly, clearly marked. From there it was very easy following the trail up the ridge as it climbed. We found a bare spot on the ridge that on a good day must have some impressive views where we stopped for lunch. From there we continued to the summit and I must say that it was rather disappointing. The area is basically covered with tress so there are some limited views of the valley below but more than that, you can’t really tell that you are at the highest point. Also, since we were in some deep snow, we were not able to see any trail markers indicating we were at the actual summit. After walking around for a couple of minutes, we started heading back and took a detour to go check High Lake. This lake is tucked in the forest in what seems to be a shelf. It was complete covered in snow but judging by the scenery around us, it must be a little gem I the summer. Then it was the return back to the car, this time on the actual trail that proved to be easier and faster than the road we took on the way up.

News and changes to this… blog

2011-04-18T16:23:00.001-07:00

So if you’ve noted the date of the posting and the date of the actual hike, you’ve noted that I’m running behind… that’s what work can do to you. But trust me; I’ve made a big effort on keeping you up to date with my adventures. In the works I have one more trip before I’ll be able to post the big trip, the 10 day backpack in Torres del Paine down in the Chilean Patagonia. On that trip I had the misfortune of seeing my camera die. Yes, of all places, it decided to die there. I was lucky that Jocelyn had a camera and was kind to let me use it for some pictures so not all is lost. With that trip posting I’m planning on adding some new stuff on my blog. One of those is a map of the area highlighting the trail or track. If all goes well and I have time, I’ll try to make a catalog with maps of all the hikes I’ve done in the past (wish me luck). Yes, it’s a big task and it will take a lot of time but all projects start like that, with an idea. The other thing I’m thinking of adding is a tab where I can talk about gear. At first it will be the gear I have, what I like or why I hate it but further along I might be able to talk about other stuff as well.
So there you go. Let me know if you like the idea or have any comments. I would love to hear those.

Wahkeena to Multnomah loop, Feb 5th

2011-04-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is certainly a title you’ve seen before in my blog so yes, I did the loop one more time. As the days where getting closer for my backpacking trip to Patagonia, I needed to do some good distance and elevation gain carrying some weight. Rather than organizing my own hikes, I decided to tag along some other hikes that were being posted and use those for training. As always, this loop did not let us down. It was beautiful as always with a great group of friends. I’ll let the pictures do the talking now

Greenleaf Overlook, Jan 30th

2011-04-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

This was a little hike I decided to do just to keep active. Since weather hasn’t been cooperating much I wanted something somewhat easy, in the forest but with potentially good views. This hike is on the north side of the Columbia River Gorge right across from Bonneville Dam. Being part of the PCT, you can actually make this hike as long as you want but for a short day hike, the Greenleaf Overlook is a great option. The first part of this hike goes gently uphill in a fern covered forest but then, after you pass the ridge and cross a forest road, you start descending to Gillette Lake. This little gem is so close and easy to get to that most people just ignore it. There are several camping options around it for easy overnight stays that are not that far from the highway (which can be a good and a bad thing). From thee we continued up thru the forest passing another little lake tucked within the trees. Soon we came to an open area with open vistas of the Columbia Gorge. At this point, the trail turns and starts heading away from the river and into the forest so there’s no more views for quite awhile. We decided to stop at that point and have lunch while we enjoyed the views. Unfortunately that didn’t last very long. The weather got worse and colder so we started heading back soon after. At least I was able to get some hiking done so it’s never bad.

Tanner Creek, Jan 29th

2011-04-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

Tanner Creek, along with Tanner Butte is one of those trails that it’s being lost for lack of use. The primary reason is that we use to have a forest road to access the trailhead. That road was washed out some years ago and closed forever. So to do either of these hikes means that you have to start farther down and hike a good 3 or 4 miles just to get to the original trailhead and then start your adventure. You might recall that I did the Tanner Butte trail as a backpack with Mark and Brian in March last year. This hike was organized by Jessica and since I needed to start training for my trip to Patagonia, I decided to tag along with a big backpack filled with sand. We started from the Toothrock trailhead which offers easy access to the old road and a bit shorter distance. The first part of the hike was the expected uphill on the forest road. Besides passing the original washout that made them close the road, we passed two new washouts much bigger than the previous ones. One of them was big enough to almost cut the road completely. Further up we got to the Tanner Butte trail and continued on to the Tanner Creek which we found after a loop back turn with some nice views of the canyon ahead. Once there, the hike changed completely. What remains of the Tanner Creek trail is very little if any. We had to bushwhack part of the way, cross a couple of streams and find our way thru very old and almost disappeared signs. As some point Jessica was leading ahead and got to a point where she couldn’t make the trail any longer and didn’t think it was going to get any easier. At that point, she decided to turn around and head back. On our return I found an unreadable sign on a tree indicating probably the cutoff trail to Tanner Butte. The sign was not unreadable because it was old but because it was literally consumed by the tree.

We also found an old campsite with a much newer sign. I guess some people have used this campsite recently and are trying to keep it alive. Certainly it’s a place that can be explored on a longer backpacking trip. I also made a quick stop at one of the creeks that flows under the road for a couple of extra pictures. It was very nice getting out and definitely a good training hike still; it left us with a bit of a sour taste as most of it was on a forest road and not discovering some new path.

Devil’s Cauldron, Jan 23rd

2011-04-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

Middle of the winter in Portland can mean a warm and beautiful day. When that happens, there’s nothing better than getting in your car and heading out to the coast for a little hike and magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean. My intention for this day was to go around Devil’s Cauldron and then track back, cross the highway and head up Neahkahnie Mountain. What made me change my mind was a low cloud hanging around the top of the mountain that would have obscured any possible views. It still ended up being a great day. We started from the Oswald West State Park following the trail to the beach where we could see some surfers enjoying the waves. From there, we hiked to the edge of the park were a hanging bridge gets you to the trail that stats climbing the head pretty fast in a dense coastal forest. On that trail we passed one tree that I’ve like. In the pictures you’ll see that the trunk is divided and lands on both sides of the trail. From the distance it looks like a dinosaur crossing the trail. Soon after we were up on the head with more than a couple of nice views of the ocean. After passing the second forested area we came to the meadow that sits around the Devil’s Cauldron. Most hikers go to the left where you end up at a view point with a fence that overlooks the cliff and the ocean. We, trying to experiment a bit, followed a very trail to the other side that climbed to the tree line on the other side. Right at the edge, we found a small flat area that had amazing views view of the ocean a couple hundred feet bellow and the cauldron to the back. Rather than stop there for a bit and then continue, we decided to stay there and spend a couple of hours relaxing in the sun and enjoying the views before heading back… and all this in the middle of winter!

Kings to Jones traverse, Jan 22nd

2011-03-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

Warm weather, completely unseasonable warm weather for this time of year. It had been so warm that we decided to start doing spring hikes even though it’s still the middle of the winter. Seeing that the weekend was going to be nice, I decided to tackle again the section between Jones Creek and King’s Mountain trail in the Tillamook Forest. As some might remember, I did this hike, or at least planned to do this hike back in November. That time we were not able to do the whole thing because it was rainy and cloudy and also because we didn’t have enough cars for the car shuttle required. This time we had sun, clear skies and a very nice group of people. Rather than do it like I planned the previous time, this time I opted for going up from the King’s Mountain trailhead and follow the Wilson River trail all the way to Jones Creek. To that, I was adding the trail we discovered the first time, The Coronary Ridge. As it happens in a lot of my hikes, we added something more but I’ll get to that in a minute. The other new thing is that I finally took my brand new hiking kilt for a spin. I think the only word I can use to describe the experience is bliss. So after the short drive and leaving cars at both ends of our journey, we started on the King’s Mountain trail and soon veered off on the Wilson River trail. The climb was not as bad as I had expected. I guess that we were a lot closer to the trailhead the first time we did this. In any case, it didn’t take us long to reach the ridge and easily find the Coronary Ridge trail. At that point I had warned my fellow hikers about this section so much that they were all in the right mind set. So we climbed and got to the viewpoint where we turned around the first time. Only this time we actually got a view, a very nice view. From the map I had, I noticed that there was the possibility of connecting the Coronary Ridge trail with the Kings Mountain Trail. Looking around, I noticed a faint foot path and after talking the group into it, we started bushwhacking our way. It took us about an hour of steep ups and downs until we got to the Kings Mountain trail. At that point, it only made sense hike the extra mile and climb the extra 1000’ to the summit so we did that. The views up there were fantastic. I think this was the first time that I was able to see Mt Hood from Kings. After signing the log book at the top, we found a spot for lunch under the warm sun and beautiful views and then we headed back. We took the same connector trail thru Coronary Ridge back to the Wilson River trailhead. At that point, we still had more than a couple of miles to go to Jones Creek so without hesitation, we turned right and started hiking downhill. The rest of the hike was pretty much what I remembered from the first time, deep forests, fern covered slopes and beautiful scenery. After s long hike we finally made it to the bridge and then the last mile from Diamond Mill to Jones where our cars were waiting for us.

You can check the pictures here

Silver Falls State Park, Jan 15th

2011-03-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

About once a year we try to have a hike leader meeting where al the current hike leaders in our group (The Portland Hiking Meetup Group) get together to discuss things about the group and the future. This time, we decided to rent a couple of cabins at Silver Falls State Park for our meeting and also as a weekend getaway. Being January, read middle of the winter, we expected it to be a bit cold and maybe some rain. Well, that week we had record rainfall so it literally poured the whole weekend. We were able to have our meeting and with just a couple of brave souls, we did the 10 mile hike around the park that goes by all 10 waterfalls. The scenery was spectacular as half of the park was completely submerged in fog and rain but what made this even better was the amount of water. I’ve been in this park at least a couple of times and some of the waterfalls sometimes just trickle a bit of water. This time, the water level was high enough that it was actually flooding parts of the trail. As you’ll see in the pictures, besides low light and mostly grey tones, the scenery is still amazing.

Newton Creek, Jan 9th

2011-03-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

Having done most of the well known snowshoe routes in Mt Hood, I wanted to try something new. After a bit of research, I decided to explore Newton Creek. While doing my research, I did find some non-official winter routes that, in combination with the Newton Creek route opened the possibility to do a loop where more than half was backcountry. The only not so good thing was that weather forecast was not so good for that day. After meeting at our normal spot, we drove all the way to the Mt Hood River Meadows. This is a Nordic ski area located on the east side of Mt Hood Meadows. In the area, there are several trails established for cross country ski and some other summer routes that get very light use during the winter. Weather was as predicted, overcast and snowing. We started heading east on a well marked trail that crossed a small creek and then continued to Newton Creek which we reached in less than half an hour. The views, despite the weather were very interesting although we did not see even a hint of Mt Hood. From the map I had, it looked like we could follow the creek uphill for quite a while but reality was a bit different. Due to the map scale, you can’t make a steep wall on the side of the creek that makes this route impassable. After discovering this, we had to backtrack, not for too long, and then take a parallel route. As we did this, weather changed completely and most of the clouds disappeared giving us a nice blue sky. We continued climbing thru the woods which didn’t offer a lot of views but we were able to see Gnarl Ridge from a couple of points. As we continued up, the small valley we had to our left started to change and close and soon we found ourselves traversing on the side of a slope. Further to the left was another ridge, much higher than where we were, that was our return path, so we knew that at some point we would need to make up there. As we continued, we did notice the valley getting closer to our elevation and suddenly we found tracks crossing to the other side that didn’t require descending too much into the gully. Not climbing further made us pay the price though. From that point, the only way to get up to the ridge was climbing a very steep hill. After some huffing and puffing, we finally made it to the ridge where we stopped for a while to enjoy a bit of sun and the views. I thought that we would still have to navigate back to the cars but quickly found that someone on a snowboard had done the same route earlier that day. We followed those tracks as they wound lazily thru the trees following the ridge all the way down. That section almost made us regret not having something to slide on as the snow was a very nice powder. Then, weather started turning for the worse but luckily we were back on the connector trail that took us in the morning all the way to Newton Creek, so from there we turned right and went back to the cars.

You can check the pictures here

Cast Creek, Jan 2nd

2011-03-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

In winter time there are sections of the mountain that you can’t get to because the roads don’t get plowed. One of these roads is Lolo pass that circles around the northwest side of the mountain. On that side, there’s a sno-park called Old Maid Flats as well as numerous other summer trailheads. Wanting to explore this area a bit and considering we didn’t have a lot of snow at lower elevation, I decided to adventure myself to that area. The first thing that happened was almost expected. I got stuck in snow… yes, lesson learned. After toying around with the shovel and finally getting one of the chains on, I was able to get the car out not without a lot of sweating and swearing. At that point, we hadn’t decided what route we would be doing. Choices were the low elevation trails in the sno-park area or adventure ourselves up on one of the summer trails. With Kim we decided on the later as that would give us a better workout and views. So we started navigating thru the woods and quickly got to a small creek where we couldn’t find an easy way to cross. We went around for a while until finally found a path to a campground and from there the Cast Creek trail. With the low amount of snow on the ground, we found the trail very easy to follow. We hiked up and up and up always navigating thru a very dense forest. At some points it looked like we were getting close to views but that never happened. The trails pretty much follows close to the ridgeline but rarely opens up so there were no views to talk about. Since we started rather late, at some point we decided to set up a time to turn around and head back down so we would not be stuck in the dark. When the time came, we sat for a couple of minutes under the little sun that was filtrating thru the trees while we ate a quick lunch. After that, it was a race down arriving at the car just when the sun was setting. As you’ll see in the pictures, we got the last bit of light on Mt Hood as we were pulling out.

Lower Twin Lake, Jan 1st

2011-03-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

After the New Year celebration and having eaten a lot of very tasty food, the logical thing to do for a hiker is to go hiking and burn all that. Knowing that most would have been partying the same way, we decided to do a rather short snowshoe to Lower Twin Lake. This is a trail I’ve done many times before and it’s always beautiful. This time we had a really nice group of people which included some new members that were trying snowshoeing for the very first time. The first part of the hike, going up from the Frog Lake Sno-Park was forested and covered as usual but then we got to the lake to an open blue sky and great weather. Instead of continuing on and making this a longer hike, we stayed there for about an hour eating lunch and feeding the blue Jays as they dived from the trees to grab a piece of our food. After that relaxing time, we hiked our way down back to the cars.

White River – Boy Scout Ridge, Dec 31st

2011-02-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

After many grey days, we finally got an amazing day for New Years Eve. Although a bit colder than usual, we woke up to crisp blue skies and almost no clouds. Luckily, I had picked a snowshoe in one of the most scenic sections of Mount Hood. I rarely take pictures on the way to the trailhead but this day it was worth it. Once we got to White River, we started from an almost desolated trail snowshoeing on the river basin. Instead of taking the normal cutoff trail that goes into the forest and climbs towards Boy Scout Ridge, we continued up as far as you can go which ends on a very steep hill that climbs towards the ridge. Not only the views here were just amazing, but the snow was also fluffy and slippery. That made the climb a bit difficult as we were losing a bit of traction. After a grueling hour or so, we finally made it to the ridge just above tree line. From this vantage point, the white river extends bellow us while we had a clear view of the mountain and Timberline Lodge. At this point we stopped for a lunch break and some snow play. You’ll see in the pictures some of the hikers in the group trying some yoga poses. Then, it was time to get in the woods, so we started snowshoeing south on the ridge. As we continued down, aiming for the Boy Scout Ridge Trail, we were braking new snow and navigating thru the forest. We completed the loop and got back to the White River trail on the cutoff that we didn’t take on the way up and were surprised to see that a lot of people had arrived to white river to play in the snow. Besides being run over by a couple of sleds, it was a very nice winter scene. On our way home, we stopped, as we usually do, to grab something to eat which we thought was a nice closing for the hike and the year but we had just one more surprise. As we drove back to gateway, we had a spectacular sunset. I guess you can say 2010 went out with a bang.

You can check the pictures here

Ghost Ridge and Palmateer Point, Dec 24th

2011-02-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

I don’t think I can figure a better way to spend Christmas than doing a backcountry snowshoe route so that’s exactly what we did. I’ve done Ghost Ridge before, both in the summer and the winter. This trip requires a bit of navigation once you veer of the PCT but it’s not difficult to get there. From the other side, I have done Twin Lakes several times and taken the short unmarked trail to Palmateer Point which requires similar navigation skills. For this trip, I decided to combine those two destinations in a single loop which involved finding a way from one end to the other while navigating thru the woods. If that wasn’t fun enough, we had several inches of fresh snow on the ground. So we started from the Barlow Pass trailhead on the PCT heading south. This first part doesn’t offer much as you are just traversing the woods without views as you steadily climb to a saddle. From the saddle is where the fun begins, instead of continuing on the PCT, we followed some old tracks towards Ghost Ridge… Ok, not much navigation there. Even though there’s no trail to Ghost Ridge, a lot of people head that way so finding it is not difficult. Since we had a dense cloud cover, there weren’t any peaks to see. Still we could see, under the clouds, to the far east to the high desert which was quite a treat. From there we continued south for bit and then veered off and started navigating towards Palmateer point. For a while we were steeply descending on deep powder which is always a lot of fun. We continued until we crossed the PCT right at the point where it forks to Twin Lakes choosing a flat spot for lunch. After that, we continued on the Twin Lakes trail for a while but took off from it shortly thereafter. I guess I was further north than expected as we had to descent quite a bit to cross a creek before starting an arduous climb towards Palmateer Point. The climb proved to be more strenuous than expected as we found deeper snow but finally we made it to the clearing. Due to the weather we didn’t get the magnificent view of Mt Hood that you usually get but that doesn’t mean the scenery wasn’t spectacular. By then it was already getting late so instead of tracking back towards the trail, we decided to shoot a straight line to the parking lot. There are not many pictures of this area as we were hiking fast trying to beat the sunset. I guess the only thing we missed was the blue skies!

Wildwood to Pittock Mansion, Dec 19th

2011-02-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

About three years ago I took over the leadership of The Portland Hiking Meetup Group as Joe, the founders and organizer, was relocating. Back then it was decided to keep him as a hike leader in the group even though he was not going to be leading hikes. Since he came to visit Portland for the holidays, it was just logic to lead one of the city’s classic hikes with him. So we meet at the Zoo’s parking lot early in the morning to hike via the Wildwood trail all the way to Pittock Mansion. The hike was as expected, a beautiful walk thru Forest Park on muddy trails. Just out of good luck, we had fantastic weather and clear skies so once we got to the mansion, we stayed there for a while enjoying the scenery before heading back down. There’s not much to say about the hike but certainly it was great to get some old friend together with some new group members for this classic hike. It was all fun.

Pocket Creek, Dec 5th

2011-01-31T14:27:00.000-08:00

Having done most of the most recognized snow routes in the Mt Hood area, I wanted to try something new which obviously meant more driving. Pocket Creek is located on the Eastern side of the mountain right after Teacup Lake. Both of these places, but specially Teacup, are reserved for cross country skiers as the Nordic club grooms these trails. From Pocket Creek, there are a couple of trails that are not groomed and seemed to offer great views with a descent workout. From the parking lot, we started snowshoeing on a forest road up the hill. At first, the views were not very good but right before we got to the first turn off to descend to Teacup, some views of the valley opened up. About half way up, we found a fork that, on one side goes to Bennet Pass which would require a longer day and a car shuttle, and a road that goes uphill for a while until it ends at the Pillory Vista which we took. The hike up was as expected quite the workout. The views of the valley of the hood river were splendid but we completely missed the views of the mountain even on the couple of minutes that we got blue skies. There’s plenty to do in the area and I did notice a creek so some backcountry snowshoeing will probably happen in the area before the season is over. One thing that did stand out though was the face in the snow. That was really cool

You can check the pictures here

June Lake, Dec 4th

2011-01-26T12:41:00.000-08:00

On one of my previous hikes, I met Debby, a fellow hiker and amateur photographer. On that hike, we talked a lot about photography and within that conversation, she told me about photography Meetup group that she belonged to. I checked it out, joined and went with them to June Lake up in Mt St Helens. I knew about this place but had not gone to it because it’s a fairly long ride and not too much hiking, but since this group was going there to take pictures, I figured I could do some exploring around and also take time to take pictures on my own. The hike, as expected was short even considering we had to add some distance to get to the summer trailhead as the road was closed for the winter. On the hike there we crossed the creek that comes down from June Lake and had some magnificent views of the south side of Mt St Helens as it was barely creeping thru the clouds. At first, weather was not cooperating well but then we got a small break with some interesting lighting that allowed us to get better shots. Once we got to the lake, we were welcomed with a partially frozen surface and untouched snow. Tripods, big cameras and lenses came out and we started shooting like paparazzi. At first we were looking at one side of the lake where you can hear the waterfall that feeds it but you can’t see it. Walking a bit further, we got to an angle view that allowed us to peek into the hidden fall. It was a magnificent view.

View of the Waterfall

From that same angle, all of tried to zoom in to the lower portion of the fall where the water dumps into the lake as that was the most scenic portion of the whole thing. While that was happening, I noticed there was a possible way to walk around the lake and get closer to the fall. As I did, I traversed thru a steep slope with over hanging icicles that looked like menacing teeth. Shortly after that, I found a semi-flat spot on the other side where I got a better shot of the lower section of the fall.

Lower section

From there, I pushed on a bit further and got to very base of the waterfall. I wasn’t able to take many pictures from that angle as my lens was getting wet, but I was able to look back at the other side of the lake where the rest of the group was. After a couple of hours of intense picture taking and being satisfied with the views, we headed back the way we came back to our cars

You can check the pictures here

Yellow Jacket, Nov 28th

2011-01-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

This is one of the classic snow shoe routes up in My Hood. In the past, all the times I’ve done this route, I’ve started from the Snow Bunny Sno Park and done an out and back which covers probably the more interesting part of this trail. But, if you look at a map, you’ll notice that this trail is a lot longer giving the ability, by connecting with other trails, to do a complete loop. I have already explored most of the connecting trails in the White River Basin and Barlow Pass area so I wanted to check the portion between Timberline Road and White River. Since this would be a long day if you wanted to come back, I decided to plan this as a car shuttle leaving half of the cars at the exit point in white river and then parking the rest at the entry point in the Summit Ski area. After all that logistic, we finally hit the trail at around 11AM on a mild day with good snow. The first portion was easy to navigate as I was following the tracks of someone that was ahead of me. I learned quickly that whoever it was, it was not going to the same place I was going so at some point, I had to correct and start navigating off-trail thru the woods. The group was doing very well although some started to show signs of being uncomfortable which irritated me a little bit. I can understand as a lot of people don’t feel comfortable not knowing where they are going or how long will it take to get there. As we were navigating thru the woods, we had to cross several small creeks that were not completely covered with snow. That was the first sign that we didn’t have enough snow on the ground yet. About two hours after we started, we finally found the road that you take if you were to start from Snow Bunny. This was obviously a relief to all as, among other things, I knew the trail very well from that point on. We made a quick stop for lunch under the trees that was cut short as it started to snow a bit. Then came the marching part. One of the key things about the Yellow Jacket trail is that it doesn’t have a lot of elevation gain but it does have a lot of ups and downs making it relentless. For a couple of hours we just marched on until we reached a traverse section that then descends steeply to the creek below. In normal snow level, the creek is completely covered to the point that you can’t identify where it is. This time though, it was clear to us where it was. While looking for a good crossing, I felt into a big hole almost to my shoulders which wasn’t that bad until someone else fell besides me and sink just as much. I was able to get good footing and get out and then had to get the other hiker out. Clearly that was not the best place to try to cross. We hiked upstream a little bit and found a bent tree spanning across the creek. As you’ll see in the pictures, it was an interesting way to cross. From there, we had to just keep a good pace as it was getting dark fast. Finally we made it to the parking lot just in time to get in our cars before it started snowing really hard.

You can check the pictures here

Hamilton Mountain, Nov 27th

2011-01-17T13:41:00.000-08:00

When you drive on Hwy84, you see some prominent points on the other side of the river. From those, Table Mountain and Beacon Rock are probably the easiest to recognize. The mountain that sits right behind Beacon Rock is Hamilton Mountain. In this area there are more than a handful of trails but the one that offers the best views if obviously the one that climbs to the summit of Hamilton. This is not only because you get the views from the top but also because the trail is fully exposed with ample views of the Columbia River Gorge. As with many of my hikes, this was planned knowing that weather up in the mountains was not going to be very favorable for snowshoeing and that the Gorge was going to be drier. I was also expecting to find ice, with the wonderful scenery that goes with it. So we started on a very cold and cloudy day. You’ll notice in the pictures that we made a quick stop along the road to take pictures of the gorge fully immersed in the clouds. Soon after, we were on the trail and it didn’t take too long to realize we needed traction devices to stop ourselves from just sliding off the trail. Soon after, we got to the section of the trail that goes under the power lines and were welcomed by a completely frozen mountainside. I think there’s no better description for a frozen forest than this. Every single branch of every tree was completely covered in a layer of ice. The views towards the Gorge were also impressive as we were already above a layer of clouds. We continued up enjoying the fast moving clouds bellow us and soon reached Hardy Falls and took the detour to visit the Pool of Winds. Then came the uphill. Since we wanted the views, we took the hard route up the follows the open ridge line all the way to the summit. As we were gaining elevation, we started to change from ice to snow to the point that the trail to the false summit or what is also referred as to Little Hamilton, was almost impossible to see. To keep us safe, we decided against taking that route as we would have not known if we were walking on solid ground. Once we got a bit higher, we were able to look back and see the ridgeline to the false summit and got glad we didn’t take that route. Not only the ridge was completely covered in snow/ice but there was a bit of drift on one side. It was still a magnificent sight.

Snow drift on the false summit

From there, there was a short jaunt to the summit which I must say; it’s probably one of the most disappointing summits you can get to. As I said before, the views are great but usually you expect a bare summit with 360 views. Hamilton is not bare so the summit is actually on the side giving you a 120view, the rest is left to your imagination. From there we had two options, go back the way we came, or take the easier route that goes around the back of the mountain. We opted for the second choice which took us thru the ridge that connected the summit with the mountain behind. To do that, we had to go thru deep snow for quite a while which was no easy task but then we got to the saddle that offered ample views of Table Mountain. We connected that to the trail that comes back down from behind and hiked all the way down to the car just as the little light we had was fading out at the end of the day.

You can check the pictures here

Wahkeena Falls, Nov 25th

2011-01-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

I’m so far behind with this that I’m even thinking of skipping some of the hikes I need to report! I guess I’m hiking too much and don’t have a lot of time to write. I guess that could be seen as a good thing. My original idea for Thanksgiving was to go backpacking somewhere but weather wasn’t looking good so I had to cancel. Looking at the calendar in the group I saw that Brian wanted to do the classic hike from Multnomah Falls to Wahkeena so I decided to join. I usually like this hike counter clockwise as I like how the creek just disappears in front of you when you get close to a waterfall. Brian though about doing it in reverse so we could get the section of the trail that goes next to the road out of the way first and then enjoy the upper section. With that in mind, we parked at the Wahkeena trail head and took the connector trail to Multnomah. This first portion gave us a quick glimpse of what would be ahead, ice and icicles! It felt a bit strange when we got to Multnomah that there weren’t many cars. Then we noticed that the restaurant and lodge were closed, the store was closed and even the little coffee shop outside was close. We found a couple of trail runners coming down that told us the gate on the trail was also closed which was a bit of a bummer. Although there was no indication of it, we assumed it was because of the holidays and the ice on the trail. In a map in Multnomah, we saw there was another trail further down the road that would connect to the main trail so we went out trying to find it (walking on the historic highway). Well,, we didn’t find that trail so we turned back and as we passed Multnomah, we went to check the map again and saw the little letters on the bottom that said “Map not to scale”… I guess we deserved that. After all that process, we hiked back to the Wahkeena trailhead and started from there. As expected, the scenery was beautiful with frozen waterfalls and icicles. The hike was much shorter than our original plan but still we made it to the Wahkeena springs and had the mountain to ourselves. On the way back though, we had another eerie moment when we got in the cars and started driving back to town. As we were driving, we noticed there weren’t many cars on the highway, in fact, there were none. Then we saw, a couple of miles down the road that they were shutting the highway down due to a weather system coming in. I guess we got lucky and were able to get back home safely. Lesson learned, look for small letters at the bottom of maps!

You can check the pictures here

Mineral Jane, Nov 20th

2011-01-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

Although the snowshoe I did on November 13th to Twin Lakes from Barlow Pass was the official first snowshoe of the season, I would say this one was a real snowshoe. After a couple of days of heavy snowfall up in the mountains followed by a cloudy but dry day it was only logical that we would find good conditions. I picked the Mineral Jane trail knowing that few people go that route which gave us a better chance to break trail. We started from the Barlow Pass Sno-Park and immediately thought we wouldn’t have enough snow. The trail starts on a forest road that, later in the season, you can barely make. This time, being so early, it only had a couple of inches of snow. All that changed as soon as we veered off on the trail towards Barlow Butte. At first we started traversing on 6 to 8 inches of fresh powder that quickly went down to almost nothing at the junction between Barlow Butte and Barlow Road (Could they come up with different names?). For the first time ever, and I have done this trail more than a couple of times, we were able to see the sign and he board. From that point, the lowest in the entire trail, we stared climbing again on the Mineral Jane trail to the fork with Barlow Ridge. By then, we were in deep fluffy snow and spectacular winter scenery. We took a short break at the fork with the Barlow Ridge trail and took some group photos before continuing on the mineral Jane trail. Shortly after the fork, we found the second fork but decided to explore further on the road. That lead us nowhere interesting, so we turned around and took the side trail that had pristine new snow for us to break. After a short lunch stop, we continued on the side of the creek looking for a good spot to cross. We found several logs that looked promising so some of us crossed on them while the rest of the group, counting on the low waters, just crossed the creek. From that point, everything got even better. We got deeper snow, more untouched trails and even some bushwhacking. We crossed the creek at least a couple more times. As time was going by, we had to decide whether we wanted to continue to white river and loop around (which was my original plan) or head for the highway and hike back to the parking lot. We all went for the second option which was not the most appealing but the one that would get us back quicker to the cars. While doing that, it occurred to me that it would have been a lot better to organize this as a car shuttle leaving half of the cars at Barlow Pass and the other half at White River, oh well, maybe next time.

You can check the pictures here

Jones Creek to King’s Junior, Nov 14th

2010-12-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

Also known as the Lester Creek Trail, this trail is actually a section of the Wilson River trail in the Tillamook Forest. What makes it appealing though is that this is the only section of the 30+ miles of the Wilson River trail that doesn’t run next to the river or highway 6 as it has to go around some private property. Since it was only three of us, we decided to start from the Jones Creek trail head rather than Diamond Mill. Not only it added a bit of distance to our hike but also, it was easier and faster to reach. The first part of the hike, going towards Diamond Mill was a nice walk thru dense, fern covered, coastal forest. Along the trail we could hear the North Fork of the Wilson River until we got close to it and spotted a small waterfall. We found a side trail to a view point right across the river with a clear view. There was a way to get closer but with the wet terrain and mud, it would have ended with us falling in the river. Around the corner from that point is the famous (or so they say) hanging bridge over the Wilson River. In season it’s easy to spot Salmon as they swim against the current. After the bridge, we started climbing thru more dense forests and very limited views due to the weather. We found a spot that probably has some impressive views of the Lester Creek Valley but, as you’ll notice in the pictures, we only saw clouds. As this spot was not good for a rest stop, we continued up on the muddy trail until we got to the next opening. From there we could barely see a huge rock formation which I believe is the Lester Pinnacles. My original intention was to just make it up to that point and then turn back, but since it was so anti-climatic, we decided to continue on for a while. In the map I had, there was a short trail connecting the Wilson River trail and the King’s Mountain Trail that went over King’s Junior Mountain starting from one of the ridges. We started looking for the trail as we went over the ridge and were not able to see it on the first pass. Noticing that we were already heading down on the other side and that we had missed the junction, we turned around and headed back. This time, we did notice a very faint path going steeply up the ridge. We took the turn and started heading up. This section was not long but it was definitely steep, so much that at the top we found a sign naming the trail the Coronary Ridge. Obviously we didn’t get the views although I bet they are fantastic which is why I will have to try this again. After a short lunch we turned around and hiked back the same way.

You can check the pictures here

Twin Lakes from Barlow Pass, Nov 13th

2010-12-20T15:20:00.000-08:00

First snowshoe of the season so I guess winter is here. This was kind of last minute hike that I decided to join and ended up leading it. This event was originally posted by Susan but since she was feeling a bit sick, I took over. The original plan was actually to do the lakes look from Frog Lake but I was a bit distracted while driving so we ended up in Barlow Pass which gave us access to the same trail but from the north end. The first part of the trail was an up and down roller coaster ride thru the dense forest without a lot of views. Part of it was because we didn’t have the best of weather. In fact, my camera was in my backpack at the time. The snow wasn’t great either as temperature was still a bit high so snow was melting fast so it was more of a slushy mix than anything. We got to the fork that heads to the lakes and continued to them doing the whole loop around Upper Twin Lake and then continued to Lower Twin Lake. We thought about doing the entire loop reaching the second fork with the PCT to head back up to Barlow but with the weather and lack of scenery, we decided to head back the way we went. As you’ll see in the few pictures I was able to take, there’s already a winter feeling despite the fall colors around the lake. It was still inspiring

You can check the pictures here

Cripple Creek and Serene Lake Loop, Nov 6th

2010-12-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

With all the crazy weather around here, I started looking for something further south to go explore and found this very nice loop in the Roaring River Wilderness. This hike combines several trails to form a double loop that climbs up via Cripple Creek, then goes around Serene Lake and the trails to the Rock Lakes and then comes back down on a different trail to the starting point. What all that means is that this trail offers a wide variety of scenery and features. The drive there was kind of tricky as this trail is not at the end of a road with a well marked parking spot, in fact, as we were driving we spotted a trail sign between the trees which made us stop, get out of the car and go check it out. So after getting ready for our 11 mile journey, we started meandering thru the forest and passing by a couple of open meadows with shallow lakes. A bit after that, we came to the much bigger Cripple Creek Lake which gave us the first fall color display of the hike. After circling one side of this lake, we continued up to a bigger meadow where a second faint trail joined our trail and then seemed to disappear. The meadow was an interesting sight with lone trees and islands of shrubs on a yellow grass field. From the guide, I knew we had to just continue straight, thru the bushes to find a campsite which is on the Serene Loop Trail. Not only we found the campsite but also the tree eating the trail sign!

Hungry tree

At that point, we had the option to go clockwise or counter clockwise. We opted for the clockwise as that would give us better views along the way. We hiked up thru a dense forest for a while until we reached a clearing and a fork. There was no indication of which way we needed to go so we kept straight as that went out into the clear. That was not the trail, but it was the viewpoint that offers the best view of Serene Lake down bellow. Even with a cloudy weather, the view was fantastic. We then traced back to the fork and took the other route which started descending on the back side of the ridge towards the North end of Serene Lake. Once there, we explored a couple of campsites and then continued North to the end of the lake where a small creek comes off. Then we started climbing again on the other ridge and passed thru several almost flooded areas and small pools that eventually took us to a four way fork where you can veer off to any of the Rock Lakes. We decided there to go check at least one of these so we headed off trail towards Middle Rock Lake which, in my opinion, was a lot more scenic than Serene. Once there, we took a break and explored around for a while before heading back to the main trail.

View of Middle Rock Lake and the pyramidal rock

The trail then continues up until it ends at the other entry point for this loop at Frazier Camp. That spot was a bit disappointing not only for the rutted trails and roads but also because the next couple of miles were on an old service road. At some point the road becomes a trail again and we you least expect it, you start getting a familiar scenery as you approach the Cache Meadow on that faint trail we saw on the way up. We did some fooling around in the area (that you can see in the rest of the pictures) and then continued down on a different uneventful trail back to the car.

You can check the pictures here

Tom, Dick and Harry and beyond, Oct 31st

2010-12-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

Tom, Dick and Harry is a hike I’ve done a couple of times both in the winter and in the summer. On a clear day, this hike is fantastic as it offers one of the best views you can get of Mt Hood as it towers up right in front of you. This hike also passes via Mirror Lake which, also on clear days, reflects the mountain on its waters. To spice this hike a little bit, I studied the map and noticed an old trail behind the ridge of Tom, Dick and Harry with two lakes. IN the map they show up as Slide Lake so I wasn’t sure which one was it. My idea was to hike the ridge, find these lakes and then head back out. With three other brave souls, we started our hike early in the morning and at a very brisk pace. We got to Mirror Lake almost in record time and were surprised to see that the weatherman had been a bit wrong predicting the weather. Originally it seemed it was going to be cloudy and maybe even rainy, but once in the lake, we were welcomed to patches of blue sky and sun. Since James had not seen the lake before, instead of taking the quick route that meets the trail to the summit, we did the loop around the lake and then continued up. As I remembered from past trips, the hike up is just that. A trail that circles the mountain with several nice views of the valley and the highway down bellow until it switches back on the ridge and continues to the summit.

View of Mt Hood and Mirror Lake from the summit

After a quick lunch, we continued, traveling east on the rocky ridge of Tom, Dick and Harry. This portion of the trail was all new to me so I was pretty amazed with the views of the mountain, the rock walls and the ridge itself. While traversing the ridge, I noticed a small valley down bellow with several frozen lakelets that I didn’t know about. According to the map, a creek starts from there but the lakes are just tiny blue dots. We continued on the ridge until we got to the top of one of the Ski Bowl ski lifts. In a map nearby I learned that those lakes and the basin it’s known as the five lake basin which made wonder if there was a way to hike thru there on our way back. We continued for a short while on the back side of the ridge and at some point decided to veer off and start navigating towards the lakes. At some point we discussed turning back as we were not having any luck in finding the lakes and we were descending quite a bit. Just when we were about to do that, I noticed an opening in behind some trees and there it was, Slide Lake. This was probably one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve seen as the lake was not completely frozen but had a snow cover. That gave the lake a flat grey color that was just amazing.

Slide Lake

From there, we started circling the lake looking for an easier way up back to the ridge. Coincidentally, that travel route was roughly in the same direction to the second lake so we almost stumped on it. This time though, we were not able to get close to it so we continued our way up to the ridge. After a while we finally made it back to the top of the lift and, as we were hiking back started looking at the Five Lake Basin with the same idea I had earlier in the day. We studied the map a little and decided to go off trail again towards the lakes and the cut to the west to head back towards Mirror Lake. All that sounded really good in paper so we just started heading down. That’s where the hard part of the day started. First we had to go down on a very steep, snow covered, rocky slope that eventually got us to the lake basin. On that slope we managed to sink in almost every single posthole there was, so it was not easy going. Finally at the basin we walked thru these lakes admiring the beauty of the area.

One of the lakes in the Five Lake Basin

We then continued descending thinking we were going to find an easy path towards Mirror Lake, wishful thinking. At some point we found ourselves looking down on a very steep drop off so we had to turn back and retrace part of our steps moving farther west which in turn made us go to another abrupt edge with a big drop off. By then it was already getting a bit late and the sun was quickly moving down. To make it worse, there were some menacing grey clouds moving in the area as well. So our best bet was to just bushwhack down towards the highway thinking that our worst case scenario was a long walk on the road. So after figuring out a good direction, we opted for the one that offered better chances for us to grab to something, which meant going down slopes covered in Rhododendrons. I have to say that we got to love those trees. They are flexible yet very strong and don’t snap back at you that bad. Still, a machete would have been a good thing to have for a change. We finally made it to the lower forest and taller trees which made moving much easier and quicker. By then it was almost dark so we shoot a straight line towards the creek that runs alongside highway 26 and followed that back to the car. We finally got out of our adventure with enough light to get in the car and just minutes before the rain started. That’s what I call an awesome day!

You can check the pictures here

Siouxon Creek, Oct 30th

2010-12-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

With a rainy day on the forecast, I started looking for a good forested hike and decided to visit the Siouxon Creek up in Washington. I already knew the area a bit as I hiked a portion of this trail when I did the Huffman Peak hike a while back, but back then, it was already dark and we were on our way out from a very long day. This trail, instead of doing the hard climb to either ridge on the side of the creek, just follows it for pretty much as long as you want to follow it. Wanting to do a somewhat easy hike, we started from the middle trailhead that quickly descend thru the forest and gets to the creek. This part of the hike was thru a very dense and dark forest full of ferns and the smell of wet wood. Being a gloomy day, it gave this area that eerie look that was very nice. Once we got to the creek, we started following it upstream and getting only small glimpses of it. As we meandered thru the forest, we got some nice views of the creek and some of the waterfalls but not that turquoise color you usually get on sunny days. That was compensated by the immense variety of mushrooms on the trail though. My initial plan was to head up and find a bridge to cross the creek and then continue towards Wildcat Falls to stop for lunch but we never found that bridge. After exploring possible routes to take and finding that any would have required fording the creek, we decided to turn back, stop in one of the campsites for lunch and then head back to the cars.

You can check the pictures here

Owl Point and Perry Lake, Oct 17th

2010-11-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

Having done a lot of the hikes in the books, I’ve started to research some not so common places by looking at maps and other sources. This hike is one of those forgotten trails which are only maintained by the few hikers that usually go there. I wanted to head there for two reasons, to check out the unusually view of Mt Hood from the north side and see one of the smallest named lakes in Oregon. Also, this hike offered a chance to do some route finding and bushwhacking. So we started from the Vista Ridge Trail Head and just before we got to the trail sign, I found the very faint route to Owl Point. The first part of the hike just meanders thru the forest without a lot of views but you know they are right there as light filters thru the trees. At about a mile from the trailhead, we found our first view point which gave us a view of the rocky edge at Katsup Point. My original plan was to explore that and also the Red Hill or our way to Owl Point so we took off the trail for a while following what looked like a foot path which didn’t go where we needed it to. So after circling around for a while, we got back to the main trail and shortly after found a trail sign for Owl Point. Not only the sign was unexpected but also that it was put here recently. We followed that path to a meadow with open views of the north side of Mt Hood, the Hood River Valley and Laurence Lake in the distance. We stopped there for a while to have lunch and enjoy the views before continuing on our way to Perry Lake. After getting back to the main trail, about half a mile further, we found Alki Point, another opening but this one looking north. From here, the views extend all the way to Mt Adams, Mt Rainier and St Helens. From that point on, there aren’t many views although the trail goes by the remnants of some old fire lookout stations. To get to Perry Lake from there, we followed an old 4WD road down until we spotted water to the side. As you’ll see in the pictures, Perry Lake looks more like a pond than a lake. I guess it has a name because it doesn’t dry up in the summer. On the way back I asked the group if they wanted to try to find Katsup Point but once we got there and started bushwhacking they changed their minds so we headed back to the cars. In the end, I left a couple of things unexplored so I guess I will have to do it again

You can check the pictures here

Thomas Lake to Blue Lake, Oct 16th

2010-11-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

This is probably the best known route in the Indian Heaven Wilderness and a route I’ve done many times, not only as a day hike but also while backpacking in the area. Still, it had been a while since I’ve done it so I took the chance of co-leading the hike with Duane who’s training to be an assistant organizer in my group. The hike was as beautiful as I remembered it although it felt shorter. As we started from the trailhead, we quickly got to Thomas Lake and then passed thru several other lakes with beautiful scenery. We took the hike slow and easy with plenty of rest stops to enjoy the fall colors and the weather. Once we got to Blue Lake, half of the group wanted to do a little bit more while the rest stayed back. So I took them on a bushwhack climb following the ridge behind the lake. As we were gaining elevation, the view of the lake became better. We also got some nice views of other lakes in the area and Mt Adams peaking over the ridge. We did climb as far as we could but at some point, getting closer to the top, the ridge got pretty steep so we had to turn around.

Mt Margaret, Sep 25th

2010-11-11T11:19:00.000-08:00

Mt Margaret has been in my radar for some time but I never thought about going there on a day hike. On one side, this area has a lot to explore making it better for a backpacking trip. The problem is usually getting permits as this fragile area is highly restricted. The other thing is that it could be a long day for just a hike. Mt Margaret is located on the north eastern side of Mt St Helens which is basically the blast zone of the volcano. The scenery is a bit eerie as all this area has been slowly recovering from the 1980 devastating eruption. You certainly find some vegetation and beautiful colors that are all contrasted by the thousands of downed trees. As you’ll see in the pictures, it almost seems that a gigantic comb passed thru the area leveling everything. So with nothing else to do on sunny day in September, I decided last minute to get my gear and head out there to check at least a section of Mt Margaret. I started hiking from the Norway Pass Trailhead, a pretty isolated area that gives you a quick hint at the scenery you’ll see the rest of the day. The first portion climbs on the boundary trail towards Independence Pass where several trails meet and you get the best view of the volcano. As you get there, the views open up in front of you with Spirit Lake at the foothills of Mt St Helens. I can safely say that this view is reason enough to hike this trail. You get views of new growth on the hills, the lake with its shore completely covered with dead trees from the blast and the immensity of the crater above.

View from Independence Pass

From the pass, the trail continues gaining elevation as it circles around the eastern side of the lake. As you do that, the other volcanic peaks start to show up behind the ridges. On the other side of the ridge, what is known as Mt Margaret Backcountry also starts to appear. This is a deep basin with several lakes and incredible scenery. From different points along the ridge, you can get some views of Shovel Lake down below and the rocky ridges that circle the area. The only common scenery is the pattern that all the downed trees create. It was incredible to see areas that were devastated and how they have recovered to beautiful postcard scenery. Along the ridge, I got a nice view of a small valley along a creek that flows to Spirit Lake that’s a perfect example of this

Postcard scenery

Shortly after that view, I got to the fork with the Whittier Ridge Trail. From pictures and reports I’ve seen, this is the hardest part of the Mt Margaret Backcountry loop. The trail follows the rocky ridge which has been blown or eroded. I decided to take a quick jaunt to check it out. I guess I didn’t do the whole thing or didn’t reach the hard section although I can say that the trail is not for the faint of heart. It does follow a very narrow line on the side of the ridge with a very steep drop off to one side. After a while and seeing that time was running by, I turned around and got back to the Boundary Trail. From there I continued for a while until I found the side trail to the top of Mt Margaret. I got there just at the time I had set up to start hiking back but with that scenery, I had to sit and enjoy it for a while. The views from up there included Spirit Lake, a clear view of the Crater, St Helens Lake and the volcanic peaks. Then it was the hike back. Being a bit late, I had to hike a bit faster to get back to the car before dark. Oh what a day!

West – East Zigzag Lookouts, Sep 11th

2010-11-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

Besides getting the views of Mount Hood right from its base, there are numerous ridges and smaller peaks around that offer first row views of our magnificent mountain. One of those is Zigzag Mountain. Located in Zigzag (I don’t know if the town named the ridge or the ridge named the town), this ridge offers some of the best views of the South West side of the mountain. There are several trails that can go to either of these lookouts and one that connects them together giving the possibility of doing a loop hike. We started from one of the access points to Burnt Lake which is a steady uphill hike thru a dense forest without any views until you get to the ridgeline. Once there, the scenery just becomes fantastic as you get an incredible view of Mt hood. Down bellow, between the tress you can easily make Burnt Lake which is also a nice hike and even better spot to camp. From the junction we continued south until we got to our first stop, the East Zigzag lookout. It’s a rocky top with open views of the valley that extends to Mt Adams, Mt Rainier and St Helens. On the other side of the lookout, we started descending a bit and took a detour to Cast Lake. This lake is relatively close to Burnt Lake but not as visited. It does have some nice camping spots but people usually prefer Burnt as it offers a clear view of Mt Hood. Cast on the hand, is very secluded so you only see the trees around you. After a nice lunch, we headed back to the Zigzag Mountain trail on our way to the West lookout. After a bit of ups and downs and some meadows, we finally got to it. Although this lookout doesn’t have a clear view of Mt Hood, it does offer a good view of the towns of Zigzag, Rhododendron, Boring and the Hwy26 corridor. We also found the remnants of the old fire lookout that once stood here. Exploring around, we circled the ridge and found another good spot where we took our last pictures of Mt Hood before heading back down to the car.

Waldo Lake camping trip, Aug 29th

2010-10-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

After taking a bit of time off from hiking, I was in need of some outdoor time. Also, since I did not spend a lot of time with Shia, it was time to something she could enjoy as well. Instead of planning something myself, I saw that Laurie had planned for that weekend a camping trip to Waldo Lake. She was actually going to be there for 5 days into the weekend so I decided to crash in Friday night and stay until Sunday. The other reason to go was to do a large mountain bike loop around the lake. Waldo Lake, located in the central cascades in Oregon, shares a lot of similarities with Crater Lake. It’s the second deepest lake after Crater and as Crater, doesn’t have a lot of organic material in it. That makes its waters extremely clear which can take a rich blue color on clear days. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of that, as it rained most of the time I was there. On Saturday, after a rich breakfast under the tarp, Heye, Kim and I took our bikes with the intention of doing the whole loop. We started from our campground in Shadow Bay going north. The first part of the ride was thru dense forest with no views of the lake until you reach the north shore where there’s another campground. Kim decided to turn around at that point as she was a bit tired and it was raining. Heye and I decided to continue I bit further. The trail on the north side of the lake was completely different as it goes next to the lake and traverses an area that was burned many years ago. The views of the lake were pretty impressive despite the fact that it was raining and there was a lot of fog. We continued a bit further until we got to the northwest corner of the lake. At that point, it was pretty much the same distance continuing with the loop or turning around to go back, so we decided then to just continue and do the complete 22 mile loop. The rest of the trail turned to be much harder than the first section as it went thru multiple ups and downs, tight turns, rocks and roots and scree slopes. All that mixed with the non-stopping rain made it a good challenge that took most of the day to complete. That night, back at camp, we had to take “measures” to wake up free of pain on Sunday. Fortunately Sunday was a bit drier than Saturday so I went with Laurie and Shia on a short canoe ride. After that, I took Shia out for a short walk to the shore so she could jump in the water and play for a while as I enjoyed the little bit of sun we got.

The Enchantments, Aug 10th to Aug 14th

2010-10-21T16:34:00.000-07:00

If you have seen my posts, you might remember I posted a five day trip to the Enchantments last year. Well, this is roughly the same trip again with a different group of friends and some more exploration. When I started planning this trip, I was saying to myself that after it, I would put the Enchantments on hold and maybe go back in two or three years. The first day in there, I came to realize that it will be impossible for me not to try to get permits again for next year. This place is still, by far, the most beautiful place I know. Yes, I have yet to explore a lot, but until then, the Enchantments is still on top of my list. So with that introduction, let me share a bit about this trip.

August 10th, the first day

After the long drive the night before, a good dinner and picking our permits early in the morning, we headed up to the Colchuck Lake trailhead. With a lot of energy we started our hike up thru the dense forest as it climbs gradually towards the ridge. The first part of the trail is very similar to a lot of other trails, but after crossing the second bridge, things start to change as Colchuck Peak and the Dragon Tail become visible. From there, it was a relentless hike up thru numerous switchbacks as we were quickly gaining elevation. Weather was not looking very nice so we did only one stop to rest and get the views towards the valley where Stuart Lake is. Soon after that, we got to Colchuck Lake and the first of many incredible views. We hiked around the lake until we found a nice campsite and, as we were setting up camp, the weather cleared up a bit.

View of Colchuck Lake from our campsite

Having plenty of daylight, we started thinking about possible side trips we could do. One idea was to go explore Stuart Lake which we dismissed as we would have had to hike back up to Colchuck to return to camp. Looking at the map and around us, we saw the possibility of climbing a peak on the west side of the lake. From the map, we saw that it would be an interesting boulder field almost all the way up so we geared up and headed that way. Jocelyn, being a climber led the way thru the rock field and around the ridge to a point where it seemed we would be able to reach the intended peak. The climb was great and the views getting better and better as we gained elevation. Once we got there, we explored a bit enjoyed an amazing view of Colchuck Lake from above as well as the Dragon Tail. While we were up the weather kept changing with fast moving clouds and periods of sun, that gave some nice picture opportunities

Colchuck from the peak

After a little while, we started our climb down but instead of using the same route we took up, we went around and came back down on the back of the peak. That made us go thru some dense and steep terrain until we got to the boulder field and the trail back to camp just in time for dinner and a beautiful sunset.

View of Dragon Tail just before the sun went down

August 11th, the climb up Aasgard Pass

On Wednesday, we woke up to a bright sunny day with high level clouds. After a quick breakfast and packing our gear, we were ready to tackle Aasgard Pass. The hike around the lake and up the pass was beautiful and exhausting as expected. As we were climbing, it was hard not to turn back every second to enjoy the scenery.

Another View of Colchuck from Aasgard Pass

Once we reached the Pass, we were received by the welcoming committee. I’m not sure if it was the same lonely goat that received us last year but this one was really showing off the scenery and checking us out. The Basin looked a bit different as it was darkened by the moving black clouds. Weather was looking very menacing but fortunately we didn’t have any rain.

Welcoming goat

Isolation Lake and very menacing clouds

My original plan was to try to get the same camping spot we used last year as it was protected by trees and had some good views. Unfortunately, we could see in the distance that a group going ahead of us, had already grabbed that spot. As we were hiking thru the basin, we made a stop next to one of the small lakes that had a wide flat area perfect for camping. We left some of our gear there and split to go look for a better place. As we did, a goat and its kid started to look very interested in us or our gear so Jocelyn stayed behind to shoo them away. AS we continued thru the lakelets, we found a second camping spot that had better views and not as close to the water as the other one. So we decided to take the second option

The first campsite pick

Goats interested in us or our gear

That afternoon, after setting up camp and having lunch, we didn’t have any plans, so each one of us had our own free time. I took my camera, some water and food and decided to scramble up towards the ridge on the northern side of the basin. I was not able to find any names for this ridge other than Enchantments Peaks. As I was gaining elevation, the views of the basin were getting not only better but more expansive. At a point high up, I was able to see pretty much the whole extent of the Enchantments including Snow Lake. The following pictures is a short show of the views I got

Enchantment Lakelets

The Peaks, I climbed all the way to the peak on the upper left corner of the picture

Full panorama of the Enchantments, from left to right you can see Prusik Peak, Inspiration, Surprise, and Leprechaun Lakes, McClellan Peak, the Enchantments lakelets and Little Annapurna to the right.

The Enchantment peaks

On my way down from the peaks, I followed the ridge towards Aasgard. By then, the sun was already going down and the basin was starting to get dark so I got some nice dusk views before I got back to camp for dinner

The lakelets at dusk

Perfection Lake with a tent set up on the right side (that the first campsite we found)

August 12th, Exploring around Little Annapurna

Thursday was the peak day of our trip, not only we had planned a good exploration day and then move down to Inspiration Lake, but also we had a feast for the night. August 12th was the peak of the Perseid Meteor shower so with a clear day, we were definitely looking forward to seeing some shooting stars.

Early morning from our campsite

Right after breakfast, we packed most of our gear and took off on our day expedition. The first destination was Little Annapurna so we figured our way and started climbing. The views from up there were as fantastic as I remembered they were and both Brian and Mark were like little kids exploring all the different viewpoints you can stand on. We did see a family of Marmots enjoys the sun as we were there but being skittish as they are, it was difficult to get a good photo. Differently from last year’s journey, were we just went down the same way we went up, we checked our maps and decided to continue on the ridge towards Dragon Tail. That implied descending a bit to a saddle and then climbing up again to a peak on the other side. There we found some more interesting rock formation that looked almost like put there by giant hands. Jocelyn tried to get on top, but after seeing the steep drop off on the other side of the rocks; she decided to stay on the safe side. From that same point, we got a very nice view of Isolation Lake and the top of Aasgard pass

Jocelyn enjoying the view of Isolation Lake and Aasgard pass

From there, we started our descend and quickly found that it was going to be a bit trickier than expected. For starters, the hill was steeper and then you had some rocks and a lake down bellow. Obviously falling would not end up well. We did a bit of traversing which put us on a snow field from where we glissaded down as we could until we got to a small ridgeline between Isolation Lake and the other Lakelets. Back at camp, we had a late lunch and got ready to hike down to our next camping spot between Surprise and Inspiration Lakes. As we were walking out, Jocelyn turned around to check we were not leaving anything behind and by weird chance, as she was walking on a flat surface, she twisted her ankle. I was standing next to her so almost heard when it happened. Being a very experienced hiker, she took her boot off and quickly put her foot in the cold water to prevent swelling. She wasn’t feeling too bad but resting a bit was going to be better than forcing her to move. So Brian, Mark and I took off to look for the next campsite which luckily was not going to be too far away and then two of us would come back for her and her gear. All that took most of the afternoon but finally we were roughly in the same spot where I camped the previous year. We had a late dinner with wonderful color displays just in preparation for the meteor shower.

Sunset from our campsite, a good way to end the day

That night, once it got dark, all four of us took are sleeping pads and lay on the rocks looking up. We stayed there for more than a couple of hours as countless shooting stars crossed the sky.

August 13th, hiking down to Snow Lake

Friday morning was another splendid day. Unfortunately, Jocelyn’s foot was not doing so great. After estimating how long it would take for us to hike down to Snow Lake, Mark, Brian and I decided to go for a short exploratory hike to Prusik Pass while Jocelyn stayed at camp resting a bit. The three of us hiked down to Inspiration Lake and soon took the trail up to Prusik Pass.

View from the trail junction to Prusik Pass

Once at the pass, we had a complete view of Shield Lake which might be a route worth exploring next time and Prusik Peak. We took a small detour to the ridgeline which gave us a view of Lake Viviane. We also noticed a rock climber on the face of Prusik Peak going up. It was far for a good picture, but it was interesting to see someone all the way up in a wall. On our way down back to camp, we made a quick stop at a little pond with no name to take a last look up close to Prusik Peak and the climber. Back at camp, we picked our gear and started our long hike down to Snow Lake. The going was slow, especially while crossing streams or climbing down from boulders as Jocelyn was being careful not to put too much pressure on her bad ankle. Still, the hike down was fantastic as we went around Inspiration and Leprechaun Lakes and then followed the creek down to Lake Viviane. In that section of the hike, we found a lot of day hikers coming up from the Snow Lake trailhead which was unexpected.

Our lunch spot on our hike down to Snow Lake

From Lake Viviane the trail changes completely as it follows the creek down to Snow Lake. This section of the trail not only gets steeper as it goes thru numerous switchbacks, but also gets back pretty quickly into deep forested areas. On more than a couple of places, we were able to get close to the creek and see the numerous waterfalls in the area. After a while, we finally reached Snow Lake and started looking for a campsite. AS it happened last year, pretty much every campsite was already taken, most by people going just for the weekend and entering from the Sow Lake trailhead.

Finally at Snow Lake

We continued around upper Snow Lake to the dam without any luck. At that point, our option was to find something around lower Snow Lake or, worst case, hike down to Nada Lake which would have taken us another couple of hours. Fortunately we did find a pretty secluded campsite on the north side of lower Snow Lake. Being a hot day and considering how tired we were, just after setting up camp, I jumped in to the lake not realizing it was much colder than what I thought. It still felt very refreshing after a long day.

Lower Snow Lake from our campsite

August 14th, last day

Morning view from our last campsite

Once again, we woke to a fantastic day with clear blue skies. Being the last day, the only plan was to pack and hike all the way to the car. I did remember from my previous time that this part of the hike was grueling. It wasn’t because it was long or steep but, as you climb down and the day gets hotter, your feet start to burn. By the time you make it to the river, it almost feels like you’ve been walking for a week on hot coals. In any case, the first part of the hike was pleasant, and we were very surprised when, after passing a bend, saw a big gush of water firing out of the mountain. At first we thought it was a waterfall that somehow had bored a hole in the rocks but after, realizing the pressure and how far it was going, that it had to be something different. At a point, we found a side trail that allowed us to get closer to the source where we found a drain pipe, probably from Snow Lake and a valve house. The pipe was fully open so the amount of water coming was nothing short of impressive.

Lots of water and lots of pressure

The trail then took us around Nada Lake which rarely gets any visitors despite the fact of being a very nice lake. Maybe this is due to the fact that Nada is the last (or first) lake from the Snow Lake Trailhead. It also might be because right after this lake, the trail changes one more time into a more arid and open area as it gets out of the deep forest and starts winding down the slope of Snow Creek all the way to the river. The first portion is not that bad with lots of vegetation and countless switchbacks as the trail gets closer to the creek a few times. Roughly half way down and half the distance, all this forest is left behind. The view in front is a huge canyon with some views of Leavenworth far in the distance. With some patience and the desire to get out of the heat, we got down early in the afternoon. We went to the car were we dropped our gear and then headed back to the Icicle river to jump in for a refreshing bath before heading back to town for well deserved meal and the long drive home.

Back at the Icicle river

What more can I say about this fantastic trip and great companions.

Sunrise and Jumbo Peaks, Aug 7th

2010-10-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

There’s a section of forest between Mt Adams and Mt St Helens known as the Dark Divide. This roadless area is a bit of a strange thing. Numerous trails cross thru it but the majority have been taking by bikers and others have been left to disappear under the forest. One long trail in the area follows a ridge line north to South known as the Juniper Ridge. Along this trail, there are numerous smaller peaks and entry points offering diverse hiking opportunities. While studying the area, I found two interesting peaks, Sunrise and Jumbo. These two peaks are relatively close to each other so I decided to do a long hike and cover both in one day. The scenery in this area is magnificent and the views outstanding (or so they say). Thanks to the weather, we only enjoyed the scenery; the low clouds cover prevented us from seeing the vast forest of the Dark Divide. We started the hike from the Sunrise Peak trailhead which just goes up in a straight line until it reaches, at about a mile in, a view point. From there we turned at the first fork towards Sunrise which we reached shortly after. As you’ll see in the pictures, there used to be a lookout up there but now, the only remains are the tie points and a handrail. Despite the low clouds, we still got a pretty nice view of the forest below us. After a short break, we continued our hike down towards the Juniper Ridge Trail and then followed the side of the canyon towards Jumbo Peak. Along the way, we got impressive views of the McCoy Creek Valley and a massive rock wall on the other side. Half way to Jumbo, we got to a Saddle that opened the views to the East. On clear days, Mt Adams is in the center of that view, but we had to use our imagination that day. As we continued towards the second saddle, we were surprised to find some Mountain Goats on the trail. In that same area, we saw a foot path towards a peak right behind us. Not knowing that it was not Jumbo Peak, we decided to go up and explore just to realize we were not where we wanted to be. Still, on top of this peak with no name, we found fantastic views of the McCoy valley to one side and the Dark Meadow to the other. As you’ll see in the pictures, the cliffs from this outcrop were just incredible and certainly not for the faint of heart. We then climbed down and continue until we reached Jumbo Peak which is a massive rock formation. To the top of it, there’s no actual trail so we first walk around it to the other end where we got a good view of the Juniper Ridge trail as it goes south towards Dark Meadow. While heading back, we found a foot path and took it to the top of Jumbo. This route required a bit of scrambling but nothing major until we reached the top of the bare peak. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a lot of views as the clouds descended on us blocking pretty much everything. As we were heading down, on the North side of the peak, we found a big patch of delicious wild strawberries. Most of the time the rewards for a hike is the views, but sometimes dessert is not a bad second.

Mt Adams climb, Jul 31st

2010-09-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

Can a mountain be so different from one year to another? I guess it can. This is the second time I do Mt Adams and it was completely different than last year. On one side, we did not get any views from the top and on the other, we had a lot more snow so glissading down was a lot of fun, even more than last year. This time, I took a group but we were joined by another group so we had a lot of people for this trip. I also knew that my good friend Sean was going to be there with his group. The other change we made this year was that, instead of heading there Friday night, we went early on Saturday. So, after picking up permits and having a quick breakfast on the way, we got to the trailhead mid morning. By the time we were all ready to go it was almost noon so we decided to hike at our own pace so we could stake some camping spots up in lunch counter. Soon after we started, we were surprised to find snow at lower elevations. That changed the hike a bit as there were several sections that required a much steeper climb. Once on the ridge, we followed it up towards the glacier. From there on, it was only snow until we got to Lunch counter. Pete had already gotten there and staked several spots so as the rest of the group got there; we started filling our space in the mountain. That evening, after dinner we went a bit off to enjoy the sunset and the magnificent view of Mt St Helens. On Sunday, we woke up early and started getting ready for the climb. After having breakfast and packing everything, we got to the base of the glacier, got our crampons on and started climbing. For about half the morning, the weather was looking great with nice blue skies but as we were approaching the false summit the blue sky started to change. A heavy haze started lifting blocking almost all views around the mountain to the point that not even the valleys bellow were visible. That actually made it good for some interesting pictures where all the climbers look like ants following in a straight line in the distance. Early in the afternoon, we made it to the summit. Up there we spent about an hour taking pictures, resting and enjoying the limited scenery. Then came the fun part of getting down. With so much snow, we actually started glissading from the very summit until we got level with Piker’s Peak. We hiked that portion and then it was a single slide from there all the way down to our campsite. What had took us about 3 hours to climb up, took us about 15 minutes to get back down. Last year, when I did this trip, that’s where the fun ended, but this year, we grabbed our gear, and continued glissading most of the way down. It was certainly a great weekend with good company.

Cooper Spur, Jul 18th

2010-08-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

100 years and 1 day after the historic first climb to Cooper Spur, I decided to take a group up there. The idea was not to celebrate the 100 years though, that happened by chance. The idea behind this trip was to train for the Adams Climb planned for the end of July. I was hoping to get most of the group that had already signed up for Adams but instead, I got a mix with some other folks that were not doing Adams. This hike, which I have done at least three times in the past, it’s a grueling climb from the Cloud Cap Inn in Mt Hood to the base of the Elliot Glacier at 9000 feet. The first part of the hike goes thru some switchbacks in the forest but quickly comes out of it and for the rest of the day; you are out in the open. This can be good and bad at the same time. As you’ll see in the pictures, the good thing is that you get amazing views that just get better and better as you gain elevation. The bad thing is that you have either the full sun on your back, cocking your brains or, on cold and windy days, the wind. Also, when you come out of the forested area, the hike is over a barely noticeable trail that goes over scree and mountain ash. This makes the hike a bit harder as every step up you take, you slide down a bit. With all that, we marched on at a steady pace towards our goal. In several places, we took the standard route doing switchbacks thru the snow but on some others we took the harder/shorter route following the ridge. The view where outstanding as we got up to the low section of Cooper Spur. At that point, we decided to stop for lunch and enjoy the views and then some of us continued a bit higher to the point where you need to put crampons on to continue. The wind was blowing hard so we didn’t stay there for long. On our way back, we stopped at the famous rock with the inscription done 100 years ago before heading down. Once we got back to the ridge line, we saw a group of people heading down over the snow field. That seems to be more fun that hiking down the scree so we traversed a bit to the east and glissaded most of the way down. After all that fun, we, the ones that were signed up for Adams, knew e were ready for that challenge.

Table Mountain, Jul 10th

2010-08-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

The grueling hike to table mountain is one of those that, after you’ve done it, you really think about it before attempting it again. To get to the summit, there are several routes, the short and hard, the long and hard and the approach via Aldrich Butte (also hard). For this hike, I was just following the directions of Zach, a new hike leader in the group. He decided to take the Aldrich route via a connector trail that shortens the approach a little bit. We started on a gorgeous sunny day thru the forested area that leads to the Trail of Two Chiefs and soon departed on the PCT towards Table Mountain. This first section, been all under the canopy, doesn’t offer a lot of views until you get to the ridge. Once there, you are welcomed with a nice panoramic view of the Columbia River and Mt Hood peeking between the trees. After a short brake, we continued up the hill to the ridgeline and found the spot where Kate Huether had an unfortunate accident and fell, a clear reminder that you have to respect the outdoors always. Soon after that, we came to the rock field, a section of the trail where it’s better to put your trekking poles away and use your hands and feet to scramble up the rocks. The jaunt doesn’t stop there though. AS you pass the rock section, the trail continues up steeply until it reaches a saddle with the top of Table Mountain to the right and wonderful vistas that include Mt Hood, Mt Adams, Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens. We followed the ridge to the top of Table and unexpectedly were welcomed by an incredible flower bed. That plus the views of the Gorge from the edge were just fantastic. For the return, we hiked back up the ridge line to the back of Table Mountain to do the north trail which is almost as steep as the south trail but offering a different panorama of the area. Just before heading down though, we decided to stop for lunch at that end, enjoy the views and the sun. Yes, my knees were hurting a bit the following day!

Quartz Creek, Jul 3rd

2010-08-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

While researching some trails, I found a bit of information on Quartz Creek which caught my attention. This creek, located in the Dark Divide, seemed to be exceptionally beautiful but seldom visited. I found conflicting information about the state of the trail so I didn’t know what to expect. Most reports did say that the trail was unmaintained but I also read that it was a backpacking possibility. Not wanting to experiment that particular weekend, I decided to take a small group on an exploratory hike up the creek to find out. Getting to the trailhead went smoothly and easy as this trail starts from the upper Lewis River. As soon as we found the trailhead, we were surprised to see it was well marked and clear. The first part of the hike was like hiking on any other trail although we crossed a couple of bridges that haven’t seen a bit of care. Things started to change as we got closer to the first obstacle. We knew that we needed to cross Straight Creek that has on bridge, but just before that, we found the first blow down. It wasn’t that bad but a sign that things would change after that. We took a small detour to an overlook of the Quartz Creek before continuing on to the creek. Straight Creek was unexpectedly beautiful. The river bed was a yellowish rock which made the whole section look golden. At that time we didn’t want to get our feet wet so we hiked upstream and found a log pile that made it easy to cross although we had to pay the price for that afterwards. The short section we hiked upstream on one side of the creak was a heavy bushwhack on the other side to get back on the trail. Once there, we started ascending and found the first campsite. From there, all things changed. What seemed to be a well maintained trail changed to a seldom visited place. First we started finding some blowdown trees that as we went on, became larger and more frequent. We even got to a section where we found to old growth trees, one on top of the other, crossing the trail. Once we climbed over those two trees and found the trail on the other side, we came face to face with three more crossed old growth trees. Some later sections were even more challenging as the trail became invisible for more than a couple hundred yards. At some point we got to the second creek which was one of my intended turn around points. This creek, the Snagtooth Creek, is much smaller than Straight Creek and, although there’s no bridge, it’s much easier to cross jumping from rock to rock. Being in the shade and cool, we decided to stop there for lunch before continuing. From Snagtooth Creek, we continued up until we found a fork. At that point, the trail can continue up to the boundary trail o veer to the right down to Quartz Creek and then to the Quartz Ridge trail on the other side. We decided to continue towards the creek where we found a third campsite. We stayed there for a while before heading back out the same way we came in. On the way back, the only change was that we actually crossed Straight Creek instead of walking on logs. Damn that water was cold.

Ape Canyon, Jun 26th

2010-08-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

Ape Canyon, located on the south side of Mt St Helens is one of the clear signs of the destruction caused by the volcano when it erupted in 1980. The hike is nothing but impressive as you get the full view of Mt St Helens and the mudflow. Soon after starting we got our first glimpse at the vast section of rocks and dirt and the first peek at the mountain. The trail followed the forested ridge climbing fast but always with clear views of the mountain up to a view point that opens up the whole scenery. Not only the mountain is impressive but you can see the muddy river in the middle and the vast destruction of the mudflow. From that view point, the trail cuts to the east side of the ridge, giving you a complete different view. On that side, there’s no destruction but the green valleys of the Dark Divide. Soon after that scenery, we got to the Lowitt trail (the trail that goes around Mt St Helens). With plenty of time, we decided to continue on towards the Plains of Abraham, a huge plateau on the south-east side of the mountain. That place was from another world. As we got in, the only thing we could see was a vast flat area covered with rocks and dirt, nothing more. WE crossed the plains until we got to the fork with the Windy Ridge trail where we stopped for a short rest. While some took the time to take a nap, I went up the side hill to take some higher elevation photos. I was surprised by the views I got. Not only was I able to take in all the plains, but also look to the other side, towards the Dark Divide and even South to Mt Hood.

Saddle Mountain, Jun 20th

2010-07-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

They say third time is the charm… well not this time. Jessica, A fellow hiker wanted to do this hike as one of her qualifying hikes to become an assistant organizer in the group. She picked Saddle Mountain as it’s not that far but offers some great views. Saddle is a big rock formation close to the coast. From the top, on clear days, you can see all the way to the ocean and sometimes even the snow peaks of the cascades. Well, this is the third time I’ve been up there but still haven’t seen those views. In fact, we had a very misty day so the only views we had were of things right in front of our noses. Still it was great to be out so here are the few pictures I managed to take under the rain.

Mt Hood summit, Jun 12th

2010-07-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, the summit of Mt Hood! I guess this is one of the many dreams of anybody that hikes in the Pacific Northwest. Having done a lot of high elevation and steep hikes, it was time for me to try this. A friend from work, who is an avid climber that has done Hood at least 7 times, invited me to join him on a weekend with spectacular weather. We noticed that the avalanche forecast was not looking very good but with a warm sunny day, it was worth the try. Instead of what most people do, start climbing at around 1AM to be at the summit by dawn, we started from Timberline at 7:30AM. The first part was the same hike I did when I attempted the Hogsback a while back. We basically followed the snowcat tracks towards the top of Palmer lift. On that uphill, both Michael and I set on a slow steady pace trying to save as much energy as possible for the final push. On the way up we did a couple of stops to eat and recharge before continuing. The views were just amazing with a clear blue sky, so much that I had to remove the polarizer filter on my camera in fear that all my skies would turn out black. As we were climbing and after passing the top of Palmer lift, we met with the last group coming down from the summit. From that moment on, the mountain was ours alone. We continued the hike up thru some wind until we reached the same elevation of Illumination Saddle. At that point, the slope itself covers you from the wind so the day turned into a warm almost mid-summer day. The climb didn’t get any easier as the first goal was getting closer and closer. Early in the afternoon we got to the Hogsback, a ridgeline right after crater rock where you have to gear up for the final push. At that point we took a long rest and then got our crampons on and switched our trekking pokes for the ice ax. As you’ll see in the pictures, from that moment on, there are no pictures until the summit as Michael asked me to put the camera away so I could concentrate in the task at hand. The climb was not difficult but needed a lot of effort and concentration. Each step involved kicking hard to make a hole and secure a step before moving the other foot while the ice ax was buried deep into the ice. It was a very rhythmical dance that you could easily put music to. After about half an hour, we got to the top and to an incredible wow experience. Not only we had a magnificent 360 view but also we got lucky with the weather. We had about 70 degrees and no wind which is extremely rare up there. After enjoying the summit for a while, Michael told me that we were going to use ropes for the way down. With a hot day as we were having, the top layer of snow was getting soft very fats so getting a secure footing was getting difficult. Once with a made up harness and a rope, I started first while Michael was belaying me. Once I got to the end of the rope, it was time for him to descent to where I was. I took my chances and kept the camera out so I could shoot some pictures while he as descending. As I was doing that, I realized how steep the wall was. Certainly a fall from there would have not been fun. After a couple of cycles, we got to a softer slope so we decided we didn’t need the rope anymore. From that point, we continued down doing a very similar rhythm as the one we did on the way up. At some point I turned to take a couple of pictures and then, upon restarting my dance, I accidentally hit the camera with the ice ax. The camera survived (which is proved by the rest of the pictures) but I broke the wide angle converter. It was very frustrating as I saw it hit the snow and slowly start to roll down the mountain. It never stopped until it got next to a small crevice next to fumaroles. In the picture set you’ll see one with a black dot in the middle… yes, that’s the lens.
After that, we took another break at the Hogsback while we were hearing chunks of ice breaking up in the rocks nearby. That was a clear signal that we needed to start descending. As we did, the day got hotter and hotter, something completely unexpected and for something I was not prepared. Halfway down I started feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous so I had to take a couple of stops to cool down a bit. At around 5PM we got out of the mountain, tired but with a sense of accomplishment that you can’t take away. I guess I have even more respect now for Mt Hood than what I had before.

Hells Canyon trek, Jun 10

2010-07-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Hells Canyon is one of those trips that you have to do at least once. This remote place, all the way to the Eastern border of the state of Oregon, offers some of the finest canyon views that can rival those of the Grand Canyon. Although not as big, Hells Canyon is taller and deeper. The other difference is that weather plays a big role here. Being high desert, the winters are really cold and rough and the summers extremely hot. That makes late spring or early fall the perfect time to hike in the area when days are not too hot and nights not to cold either. The only problem is that those conditions are perfect for thunderstorms. With that in mind, Echo, a friend of mine planned this trip starting on Memorial Day and continuing for a full week. The idea was to do the Bench Trail from the Freeze out Saddle in the south all the way North to Dug Bar and then return on the Snake River trail. In numbers, all this meant 74 miles, 7 days and 13500’ of combined elevation gain/loss… yes, big numbers!. So on Saturday, Echo, A.J. and Chris picked me up for the long drive to Joseph. That took the whole day and we got to Joseph under the cover of clouds and light rain which wasn’t very promising. After a nice dinner, we went to bed early with the idea of an early start on Sunday. Not only we needed to drive about one hour to the trailhead but we also had about 10 or 11 miles to cover. On Sunday we woke up to clear, crisp blue sky and perfect weather so we couldn’t help stopping again in Wallowa Lake to take some pictures.

Early Sunday morning at Wallowa Lake

After that we had a big breakfast and got on the road to Imnaha and then the trailhead to start our trek. The first portion was a relatively simple hike up thru numerous switchbacks to the Freeze out Saddle. Upon reaching the Saddle, we were welcomed with a vast view of the Canyon ahead although we could not see the river. The trail continued on the other side going down to a fork that connects the Bench trail and the Snake River Trail. At that point we made the decision to stay on the Bench Trail and leave the brutal climb for last rather than have 3 or 4 days of steady climb towards the end of our journey. Looking at the map, we thought that the rest of the hike for the day, after that fork was going to be an easy walk. We were very wrong. The trail was not difficult, it was just muddy so it was hard just to keep balanced and avoid slipping. The other thing is that, although you can see roughly were you are going, the trail snakes around the mountains as it follows the contour of the canyon. Distances are not what they seem in there. After more than a couple of hours hiking and a light drizzle, we came to the conclusion that there was no way for us to reach the first intended point. So we decided to stop at the first place we found, a roughly flat area with water nearby to spend the first night. Reading the map we figured we were about two miles behind, with an early start we thought we could get back on track. The weather did not change much that night thru the following morning. We had lots of cloud cover with some passing showers. Not only that got some of our gear wet but made the already muddy trail even muddier.

First campsite

The following day, after a good breakfast and packing our gear, we continued on and reached Hat Creek, our intended first night camp, in a couple of hours. Weather was not changing one bit but we were determined to get back on track. With a long day still ahead of us, we continued and soon afterwards came to the real first impressive view of the Canyon. As soon as we went around the northern side of Hat Creek, the trail turned back West opening up in front of us. Unfortunately clouds were moving in fast so the views were a bit obscured. As we continued, we crossed several creeks, saw fascinating little waterfalls, saw passing showers and hiked and hiked and hiked. It seemed it lasted forever. To give you an idea, these pictures were all the same day

First view of the Canyon

One of the many waterfalls, maybe on Sluice Creek

Right after a passing shower

Later in the afternoon we finally got a glimpse of Winsor Place, our target for the day. The bad news was that we still needed to go around a small mountain and then climb down to the valley to get to it. We still had a long way to go. The good news was that the weather actually gave us a small break. As we were going around the mountain to start climbing down, we got some magnificent views of the ridge across the Snake River all the way to Idaho.

Finally some good views

As with all other cases, the rest of the trail was longer (or that’s how it seemed) than what we expected. The other thing we were not expecting was a creek crossing right before reaching our campsite for the night. Temperance Creek was running a bit higher than usual due to all the rain. Since it was already dark and our shoes were already wet, there was no point in taking the off so we just crossed and went to set up camp. Dinner that night went fast and quiet as we were all exhausted from the long hike.
The third day started with some drizzle but not enough to prevent us from starting a fire. Not only we wanted to warm up a bit but we needed to dry our shoes a bit before continuing. As we were having breakfast, we talked about the rest of trip and decided that, given what we had done so far, it made more sense to cut it short and try to do less distance per day. Looking at the map, Echo and I figured that we could take the Temperance Creek trail all the way down to the Snake River cutting about 20 miles of the trip. We also figured that we could re-arrange the intended campsites to do about 6 or 7 miles per day and come out still in 7 days total. Once we made the decision, it was time to pack and head down to the Snake River. The first part of this trail was ok and by that, I mean the first half hour on it. After that, we started descending deeply into the canyon following a very narrow trail bordering the creek all the time. Once again we were surprised when we got to a point where we needed to cross the creek. The first couple of times we actually took our shoes off to keep them dry, but then, realizing we would have to do that plenty of times, we just decided to keep going and get our shoes wet again.

One of the many creek crossings were the creek was actually running on the trail

The other thing that we knew we were going to find was poison ivy. The whole trail was covered with it so it took us a bit longer to navigate thru that trying not to touch them. Perhaps the rushing water of the creek help a bit as none of us actually got any. After a while of this jungle trekking, we finally made it to the river we our sense of solitude was broken for a while. Right at the base of the Temperance Creek rail, there is a house used by the forest service whenever they work on the trails. That house is part of a big farm so there were a couple of barns around. That didn’t bother us much and we continued to the river where we set up camp for the night. As we were resting, A.J. got his fishing pole out and caught a couple of trout that made for a nice appetizer. The following morning I was woken up by some animal noises on the other side of the river. I got out of my tent to be surprised by a unique spectacle. A river otter had caught a big salmon and while it was trying to eat it, a raccoon was trying to steal it. Nature at its best. That morning, as if we were not used to it already, it was raining. By then we started asking ourselves if we were really in the desert because it certainly didn’t feel like it. Once the rain stopped, we started hiking to our next stop following the river south. Just as we were starting, another nature spectacle, a bold eagle passed soaring right above our heads. Seeing an animal like that in the wilderness is a complete different experience. The first part of the hike on day 4 was uneventful as we had to cross a huge meadow under the rain. Later that afternoon, we got deeper into the canyon with tighter walls on both sides. For a while it did stop raining and we had a bit of a view of the canyon ahead of us but then the rain came back pretty hard. Unable to stop, we continued until we got to Hat Creek where we looked for a place to set up camp. We found an old horse camp under some trees which worked fine that night.

Hiking up the Canyon towards Hat Creek

By the fifth day, weather was taking a serious toll on the group. Once again it was raining so we had to wait for a while to pack our gear. That day we were not too worried as we knew it was only 5 miles to Saddle Creek so starting a bit later was not much of an issue. When it finally stopped raining, we started on the trail and finally we got a descent break in the weather. That day we actually had a bit of sun which elevated the temperature quite a bit but also made the day kind of muggy. The trail continued on its ups and downs and around following the river upstream. It was very weird that, although most of the trail was almost hard to find under the bushes, we had a section that looked almost like a sidewalk. I guess we all needed that to lift our spirits a bit for the rest of the trip.

On the way to Saddle Creek

Being a rather short hike, we got to Saddle Creek early in the afternoon. Since it was still a dry day, we took our time setting up camp and letting our gear dry a bit but looking at my barometer, I knew our luck would not last that long. We noticed some dark clouds coming in from the South so later that afternoon, our trip companion was back. Rain continued on and off all night long and well into the morning forcing us to stay in our tents until later in the morning. By the time we were able to have breakfast and pack our gear, it was almost noon. By then, the decision to hike all the way out was made. In the modified plan, the idea was to get back to the fork with the Bench trail and spend the last night there before heading out. With all the rain and wet gear, all of us had the same things in our minds: food, shower and bed. After checking that we were not leaving anything behind, we started our brutal climb towards the saddle. Not long after we started, we found what was probably the biggest obstacle of the trip. We need to cross Saddle Creek which in normal conditions would have not been any different than the other creeks, but with all the rain, it looked almost impassable.

Crossing Saddle Creek

Then the rain stopped for a while as we hiked up and up. For a moment we thought we might actually have a really good hike day and strangely enough, the first part of the hike did not feel as hard as it was. Once we got to the fork with the bench trail, we took a longer break to refuel and eat. It was final decision time; we needed either to gather our strength and continue 4 miles with a lot of up and down or stay the night and live thru one more day of misery under the rain. Out it was. Perhaps it was a test but as soon as we started climbing towards the saddle, a big, black cloud started looming on top of us. Just a couple of minutes after that, rain. If that wasn’t enough, this time wind started blowing really hard and we even had some hail. You’ll see in the pictures that after we ate, there are no more pictures until we are coming down on the other side of the saddle. Luckily our minds were set on the goal, get out. The problem was that once we got to the Saddle, despite the fact we were climbing rather fast, we were all freezing cold. The weather cleared at that moment (maybe we passed the test) so we were able to change into dry clothes before heading down to the parking lot. We thought we would not have more inconveniences but discover that, with all the rain, the Imnaha river was about to overflow forcing all the ranchers to move their cows to the mountain side. Now this might not seem like a big deal but hiking thru a lot of cows with their calves can be dangerous.

Cows on the trail

But then, we finally got out after 6 days. We did have some extra rewards on the way to Joseph that night that you’ll see in the pictures. First it was the sunset after the storm, then seeing the Imnaha about to overflow and then a deer with its newborn.
Although the rest of the story is not part of the backpack itself is worth telling. After an hour of driving, we got to Joseph and got to the hotel before heading out to dinner. The guy at the hotel recommended a place good for burgers and beer which happened to be the party place of the town and that night, being a Friday, it was party time. Wow, what an experience. Most of the town was in the bar singing karaoke. Obviously being the outsiders everyone was giving us the look but not in a bad way. Actually we had several people come by our table to talk to us. It was definitely a very welcoming place and a good end to our trip.
The following day, as we were leaving town and remembering all the bad weather we had, we looked back at a crisp blue sky. Maybe it was a test.

Storey Burn Loop, May 23rd

2010-07-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Storey Burn loop is one of those beautiful but mostly uneventful hikes you can do. Located in the heart of the Tillamook forest, this loop is actually the combination of a couple of trails. It starts from the Gales Creek trail head (which is the hike I wanted to do) but it veers off after a mile or so. Then, the trail takes you a very dense and beautiful fern forest as it navigates thru one side of the ridge. Views are not plentiful and the only real disappointing thing about it is the noise. As we were hiking, the sound of gunshots went with us most of the way. Fortunately those shots were not close to be dangerous, but they were not far enough for us to not notice that it must have been a group of…people, just shooting, you know the type. The other weird thing about this trail is that, at some point it crosses under the highway, but to get back and complete the loop, you have to find your way, cross the highway and then find the next trail that follows the creek back to the parking lot. It was still a great hike with a very nice group of friends

Painted Hills Camping, May 14th

2010-06-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

This place is just incredible. Painted Hills is located in the middle of the state and is basically that, hills that are painted… No, they are not purposely painted by humans. This area was, millions of years ago, an internal ocean, as water drained and minerals deposits layered, they formed what we can see today. The whole area is rich with fossils and the whole strata clearly visible on the hills side is a paleontologist dream. The history of the place is very interesting as, not only you have to take into account the mineral deposits from the ancient ocean, but there’s also a lot of traces from minerals that where carried by wind from volcanoes far away. Pretty interesting stuff that goes beyond my understanding. The trip was planned for just a long weekend but after touring around a bit, we came to the conclusion that, to fully take in this place, you have to spend a lot more time. One reason is that Painted Hills is just one of the many sections of the area. Although the most beautiful (I think), there are many other units and things to explore. The other reason is that this is no small place. Just to get from our campsite to the Painted Hills unit we had to drive about 50 miles. Other units required roughly the same amount of driving but in different directions. In any case, or length, this trip was fantastic so let me tell you a bit about it. I took off early on Friday to avoid traffic and have time to enjoy Central Oregon as this was my first time heading that way. The first part of the way was a well known scenery as we drove thru the Gorge to Hood River and The Dalles. From there, we passed the Deschutes river (where I went bikepacking) and then headed south. Shortly after taking this route and driving on the high desert, we found a little abandoned church in private land. It was in the middle of nowhere.

Abandoned church on the road

The drive also took us thru wind farms, something I had seen only in pictures before. Really interesting. Then we got to Fossil, a little town that marks kind of the entrance to the John Day Fossil beds where Painted Hills is. From there it took us about half an hour to get to the campground and drop our stuff. Knowing that the weather didn’t have the intention to play nicely over the weekend, we decided to make a run to the Painted Hills viewpoint (an hour away) to take pictures at sunset (that was going to be the only opportunity for that). So I drove like crazy, or that’s what people said, to make it on time. Big surprise, as you approach the area, the first thing you see are this hills that are completely arid and red. On the other side of some farm land, the hills had red stripes in combination with some black marks. All that was just the beginning though. Once we got to the viewpoint, the whole Painted Hills basin came in to view. Truly amazing scenery that I will let a picture explain.

The Painted Hills Basin

We stayed there for a while waiting for a sunset that was no big thing before heading back to the campground. That night, during dinner, Laurie started a discussion trying to arrange plans with the multiple options available. I had already researched a couple of mountain bike trails and discovered that I could link two of them for a long 35 miles loop. Originally I had plenty of takers on the idea but only Michelle was up to waking up early to tackle the long ride. So on Saturday, we woke up early as planned, had breakfast and headed out back to the painted hills. We did this second drive there at a much slower pace to enjoy the scenery which included views of the canyon as we drove to the ridge, some bare sections of the mountain with mineral deposits that gave them distinctive colors and some interesting farmland. Then we got to the parking lot, got our bikes and without hesitation, started our long ride. The first portion of the ride was going up the Burnt Ranch road which crossed the area of an old farmer ranch that was burned to the ground by Indians (yes, cowboy movie style). The land is still private and there are some farms that still carry the same name. It was quite interesting the scenery as it included some old buildings, new machinery, old signage, green fields and bare rocky cliffs. The road continued to the end of the ranch where it changes names to the name of the next ranch. Once we got on the Cherry Ranch road, we found a not so inviting sign but decided to keep going. Not only the area was desolated, but the ride was interesting to say the least. The road curves and goes up and down hills as it crossed several hills, canyons and slopes. In the pictures you’ll notice that, although the scenery looks similar, each turn and portion of the road looks completely different from the previous one making you think you are riding miles and miles.

One of the many turns on Cherry Ranch

We rode on this road for a while passing near the John Day river again and then veer off. As time was passing by and we were just getting farther away, we made a stop for lunch at one of the few spots with some shade before heading back. We retraced our way back to Burnt Ranch and then took the side road around a butte towards the River to complete the second part of the ride. What we were not counting on was a steep incline right after the fork. Although that was a hard one, the payoff was spectacular. After a turn, the road was all downhill curving towards the Priest Hole, a small boat lunch in the John Day River. On this section, not only we had the views of the river, we also had another section of painted hills across that were equally impressive. We made a quick stop at the Priest Hole and almost jumped in the river to refresh before riding back to the car. Obviously all that beauty had to come at a price which we had to pay just minutes before getting to the parking lot. As we were riding the last mile, a truck with cattle drove by us without stopping. Yes, we were submerged in dirt and the beautiful smell of cows for a while. For the rest of the day, we first drove to Mitchell, a little town nearby before heading back to a fabulous potluck back at camp.
For Sunday, Laurie had arranged a guided hike thru the painted hills. After breaking up camp and driving back to the Painted Hills Unit for the third time, we divided the hike and the group in two so we could do both loops. We took off from the park entrance hiking on the road towards the trailhead. On this section, one thing that was noted was the little yellow flowers that appear just for a couple of days. AS this play is very dry, all plants will grow only where there’s water. Since most of the hills are just mineral deposits, the water runs off on little creeks disappearing almost instantly. If you are lucky to be there when the flowers bloom, you’ll notice all the lines in the hills painted yellow adding to the beauty of this place.

Little yellow flowers on the hills

On our group, we did the Carrol Rim hike first which took us to the top of a mountain on the side of the basin that overlooks the entire Painted Hills units. It was a nice short hike with wonderful views at the end. The second part was by for more interesting as it included a behind the scenes loop in an area you can only go with guides. On this second loop we got to actually walk on the hills and get a real close look at the terrain and all the little things that grow there. I guess we were just lucky not only because we saw the little yellow flowers in bloom but also because we were in time for the Bitterroots and Hedgehog Cactus flowers. Those, in contrast with the arid setting were fantastic. In the rest of the pictures you’ll plenty of views of this amazing and unique place.

Cold Creek to Larch Mountain, May 2nd.

2010-06-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

How could I rate this hike? On one side, the trail goes thru beautiful forested areas while paralleling Cold Creek. On the other hand, it goes thru some logging and clear cut areas which are not very nice. You get a descent exercise out of it, but you get to a complete uneventful and even ugly summit. I guess you can call it good when you get a nice group of people and get a chance to do some bushwhacking. This trail is located just to the Southwest of Silver Star. According to the guides it offers wonderful vistas as it climbs to the summit. Well, it depends. Thing is that there are two maps for this hike. One is an older version (which I had) that has a section of the trail that was closed to let the forest recover. The new version, although current, has a big section walking thru recent clear cuts. There are even posted signs indicating that the trail is closed. I learned after the hike that there’s a plan to re-route the trail a third time so it doesn’t go thru the clear cut. Either way, the first part of the hike was a bit disorienting. Although we started from the intended trailhead, it seemed to me that we were n0ot going in the intended direction. That became apparent when we got to the road shortly after starting the hike. According to the map I had, it should have taken us much longer for that section. Once I got my bearing right, we continued on a forested area that meets the creek and follows it upstream. My initial thought was that we were going to be much closer to it though. At a couple of places, we crossed the creek and suddenly the trail turned up and we came to the clear cut. The In this area, the trail disappears but at least the markers are still there so it’s not hard to find your way back to the trail. The strange thing is that, once we got back to the forest, it was a complete different scenery. The trail was rocky, and the vegetation was scarce. We found some snow on the way up but plowed thru it until we got to the disappointing summit. As you’ll see in the pictures, there’s an antenna station and no views. The only reward you get for getting there is that you got there! For our return, we took pretty much the same route back but I did notice a fork that was almost invisible on the way up. We decided to take this route to verify if it was the trail I had in my map. The first portion was ok as it seemed that bikers have been using the trail. After a mile or so, we got back to the road (the same road we crossed o the way up) but further down. Looking closely, we noticed the trail continuing on the other side. That section was another story. The trail has not received any maintenance or foot traffic so we had to bushwhack all the way. At first it was kind of doable but the farther we went, the harder it got up to a point that we found the creek but there was no bridge. Luckily for us, there was a downed tree close by that served us as a bridge to cross and continue to the parking lot. In the end, I had some tired faced in the group so to finish in a good note; I took them to my secret location for the best banana milk shakes ever.

Bikepacking the Lower Deschutes, Apr 23rd

2010-05-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Bikepacking is something I’ve wanted to do for some time now. Basically the idea is to combine backpacking with mountain biking. It’s not just putting your pack and getting on your bike (although some people did it that way) but strapping the gear to the bike and then heading out. The advantage of this is that you can cover more distance and/or enjoy the trip in a complete different manner. I got the first idea when I saw some people doing just that up in Lopez Island on one of my trips to Orcas. But then, while doing some research for this trip, I learned that there are a lot of people that do it, enough to actually give it the bikepacking name. Just to give you an idea, the only thing I had in my back was my small hydration pack, the rest of the gear was on the bike. It looked something like this

My fully loaded bike

This particular trip spawned from a discussion with Gordon. We both thought that doing the Deschutes this time of year would be perfect. Not only we would be ahead of the rafters that navigate and camp on this river but also we would get the best weather. Earlier in the season you run the risk of really cold nights and maybe some showers and later in the season of extremely hot days, this is the high desert in the end. The only thing that was keeping us from doing this trip was that it’s a long, arduous and unprotected trail (the trail follows an old rail bed), not very friendly if you want to walk the whole thing. So the idea of biking it came along and here we are.
We decided to start Later on Friday so after a nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant we found in The Dalles, we drove to the campground and got our gear ready. We didn’t know that we needed to ride back to the entrance to get on the rail bed so we started riding south from the parking lot on the river trail. Obviously we found this trail to be hike friendly but not bike friendly as we ended up doing a bit of bike-bushwhacking on the way. So as soon as we found a side trail that would take us to the actual rail bed, we took it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a rideable trail so we had to carry our bikes and gear up the hill. It wasn’t that bad, but it certainly got our hearts pumping. This side trail got us to a rock formation with a little arch on the side of the river but it also gave us a nice glimpse at the canyon ahead of us. By this time, not only we were far enough from civilization and noise, we were alone in the trail.

View of the Canyon ahead

Now on the rail bed, we continued south and, as you’ll see in the pictures, the trail doesn’t change much although the scenery is always changing as you go thru meadows and rock walls following the river Canyon. Along the trail you also find a lot of little pieces of history about this place which makes the whole trip a lot more interesting. The first thing we found was a rail car that might be over 100 years old. It was quite incredible to see that it is in pretty good shape despite being in the same place for so long. I guess things in the past were well constructed. It was also interesting to see some wildlife using the car as shade or shelter. I was able to take a good picture of a little lizard that was sun bathing around but the little wild rabbit under the car was to shy for that.

The first rail car

We continued the ride passing by a second rail car that wasn’t in as good of a shape as the first one and some old farming equipment. Soon after that, we got to Fall Canyon, the campsite next to the river that we had picked up as our overnight resting place. Since we still had a bit of light after setting up our tents, we took a short trip further south to check out the Harris Homestead. This is quite a sight as the homestead was build over 100 years ago and it’s still partially standing. In it, you can still see signs of how life was back then. An old stove with a pan is still there as well as the remaining springs of an old mattress. Most of the walls are covered with old newspaper dated back to the 1890’s and some fabric, probably from old curtains is still visible. It almost felt like they left on vacation and never came back.

The old Harris Homestead

Our plan for the second day was to ride as far as we could, potentially to Mack’s Canyon at the end of the trail. After a nice breakfast, we took of riding south and passed the Homestead one more time. Right after it, there’s an old ranch, probably part of the same property. Although it looks much newer than the Homestead, it clearly dates back more than a couple of decades. Not too far from it, we got to the old water tank, another time mark in the trail. Most people that come visit this trail turn around here. After passing the tank, despite the fact that we hadn’t seen anybody else on the trail, we felt the trail to be even more desolated. As we continued, we passed numerous rock walls and meadows and more than a couple of times we had to stop to admire and take pictures of the wildflowers. I could try to put some of that in words but this time I’ll let the pictures do the talking

Obviously trails come to an end at some point. In our case, we got to a place where there was an old trestle but not anymore. Continuing on the trail would have required carrying the bike down a ravine and then up on the other side which looked like quite the workout. Without knowing what we would find after that, we opted for the easier choice of stopping there for lunch before heading back.
Once back at the old Water Tank, we took a detour on a very faint old road up Harris Canyon. We were on the look for another old homestead in the area that burned down not long ago. I couldn’t say we found it but I couldn’t say the opposite either. We did find some old roof panels and some rusted metal but that was it. At some point the grass got high enough that riding became hard so we left our bikes and continued on foot. To get a better view, we hiked up to the ridge overlooking Mays Canyon and Harris Canyon but did not see anything. Well, We got an incredible view of the river and surrounding canyons, but nothing of the old Mays Homestead.

Overlooking Harris and Mays Canyons

Sunday was the day to ride out. With a full day ahead of us and only about 10 miles to the trailhead, we were open to side trips. One that we had thought about was the Rattlesnake Grade. This is an old road that climbs steadily for almost 2 miles to the top of the ridge, roughly 1600’ above the river. So we rode past the second rail car to an old Trestle that is barely visible on the way in; explored around it for a while and then started riding up the grade which is just across from the Trestle. A bit further Gordon and David decided to stop and maybe explore on foot as their legs were not up for the challenge. Mark and I, on the other hand, got or gear of the bikes and continued up. I will not say the ride was easy, it was not, but the rewards were worth it. AS the road climbs and snakes we got several views of the river bellow us. At some point you get high enough that you see over the ridge on the other side of the river and Mt Hood starts to peek in the distance. That little view fueled me to continue all the way up until the road meets a closed gate. We left our bikes there and continued on foot to the end of the ridge which offer the view of the canyon bellow us, Mt Hood in the distance, the wind farms towards the Northeast and Mt Adams, further away.

View from the ridge

Yes, the ride down the grade was a lot of fun! 2 miles with 1600’ of elevation gain go by pretty fast. On our way back, we stopped one more time by the old rail car for a light bite and then we headed out. Certainly it was a change in scenery for me as most of my hikes have been in deep forests full of tall trees but considering the majority of Oregon is high desert, it was just a matter of time until I started exploring these areas. I also learned about a new outdoor sport which is very likely I will try again.

Archer and Hidden Falls Loop, Apr 17th

2010-05-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

Another epic adventure. This is an area I discovered by accident while researching for another hike. Back then, when I found it, I did a small loop and was able to find Hidden Falls, but on that occasion, we only saw archer falls from the top of the rim. This time, I wanted to go to the base of the waterfall not only because the fall itself is incredibly beautiful but also to check out the two gigantic basalt formations in front of it. So, as I did last time, we started from the lower Valley (sometimes referred as Happy Valley for a hippie community that lived here some years ago) but instead of crossing the creek and scrambling up to the Eastern Ridge on Archer Mountain, I decided to take the group forward following the creek to the waterfall. I wasn’t sure I was going to find a way to get to the ridge from that point, but it was worth exploring. The hike on the creek turned to be very interesting, not only because well, hiking next to a creek is always beautiful as you see multiple tiny waterfalls and ponds but also because, on this particular case, the water disappeared in some sections and reappeared in others. After a while finding our way thru the bushes, we finally came out on the upper valley. From there, we continued hiking on scree and talus towards the fall which we finally reached. At that point it didn’t seem there was a way to go around and climb to the ridge but Pete, trying to explore a bit more, decided to climb around the waterfall and get in the cave behind it. I followed and as I was climbing, I noticed that, following the top of the talus, it was possible to reach a forested area and from there bushwhack our way up to the ridge. This section was not very easy as every step made something move, but once we got to the forested area, at least we had trees to hang on to. Being a bit tired already, we made a quick lunch break and then headed up on a very faint, old logging road I had found the previous trip. From that point on, the trip was pretty much the same as the other time so I knew where I was. We continued up until we reached Hidden Falls which, with less water than the first time I went, allowed me to go lower and much closer to the base for some nice pictures. As you’ll see in the pictures, we had a small accident at that spot as Pete dislodged a rock that fell on my while Michelle was trying to stop it. It wasn’t much but Michelle got a bruised finger. After that, we followed the road for a bit and then veered off on a faint foot path that eventually met with the ridge trail that comes out at the top of the rock wall where the cross is. The group got a bit skeptical at that point as we were a bit high and it didn’t seem that we were going to get back down in time. What they didn’t know is that the trail descends very quickly. In the end, we all made it with some scratches and bruises, but we got to see a waterfall most people don’t even know about.

Trail of Two Chiefs, Apr 11th

2010-05-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

This trail, also known as the Greenleaf Falls trail, is located in the Washington side just south of Table Mountain. For those in the area, Table Mountain is in the list of hardest hikes in the Columbia Gorge as it is both long and steep. This mountain, which looks like it was cut from a much larger mountain, is the result of a massive collapse that formed what is known as Bridge of the Gods. The Trail of Two Chiefs is a little known trail that circles the valley right at the foothill of Table Mountain offering great views of both, the mountain and the river behind it. The hike itself, although easy as it follows an old ATV road, requires a bit of navigation as several other trails, including the PCT cross it at some point. The hike starts with a soft climb through a dense forest until you get to Carpenter Lake. If the name tells you that there will be water to see, you might be setting yourself for disappointment. Carpenter Lake happens to be a very shallow, frog infested, swampy meadow. There’s no water to see but you can definitely hear the frogs. From there on, the trail opens up a bit and soon you start following the talus slope of Table Mountain. If you are looking for it, about half way up, looking through the trees, you might see two tall rock formations up in the ridge. These are the Two Chiefs, Sacaquawea and Papoose. Shortly after that, you come out of the forest to an open area with an incredible view of the mountain on top of you and an open vista of the Columbia River. Being a sunny, warm day, this seemed like the perfect stop for lunch. About half a mile ahead, the trail ends at Greenleaf Falls, a very chaotic creek that has washed out part of the mountain. You could continue on but that would require getting your feet wet, so we decided to stop here, take a bunch of pictures and return the same way we came. Perfect short hike for a Sunday.

Clear Lake Butte and Little Crater Lake, Apr 10th

2010-05-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

You might remember I tried this same route back in February on a very cloudy day. That time, we were notable to do the intended route for several reasons. With much better weather and having a bit more information (and longer days), it was time to try this one more time. This time the snow, near the parking lot, was very consolidated almost to the point that we didn’t need the snowshoes. That worried my hikers as they thought we would be just hiking on a thin layer of snow. I have to admit I was a bit worried as well as I didn’t know what was ahead for us. Luckily, once we got to the point where we needed to get off trail, the snow was much better so we got our gear on and headed up the mountain. Contrary to last time, I kept the group on a straight line up to the top so we got to the Fire lookout tower without many incidents. As you can see from the pictures, the views were much better than back in February. From the tower it was easy to see Timothy Lake, Mt Hood and Clear Lake. Unfortunately someone was occupying the lookout tower so we were not able to go all the way to the upper platform for the best views. It was also very windy, so being up there was not easy.

Clear Lake Butte Fire Lookout Tower

We took shelter inside the wood storage which ended up being a perfect spot for lunch. After that, it was a straight line to Little Crater Lake. Although this route was all downhill, with warmer weather the snow got stickier so the hike ended up being quite tiring. Eventually we got to the road that goes around Clear Lake Butte and found the fork to Little Crater a few yards away. That portion was a flat road so it actually served us to rest our legs for a while. The Lake, as expected was very small, but what’s incredible about it is that it seems to be carved out of the rocks. Looking at it, you can see kind of a round platform around and then a big hole in the middle. There was a sunken tree in it that was barely visible but you could make that the lake in fact is very deep. The other interesting thing about this lake is that, since it’s so deep, it rarely freezes.

Little Crater Lake

After enjoying that scenery, we had the hike back to the car. The only issue with that was we were still about half way thru our hike! Looking at the map, one option was to climb back up and come down on the other side of the butte on a shorter route, or do a longer route around. Since we were pretty tired but didn’t want to spend too much time getting back, we opted for a half way up and around combination. That decision didn’t make the hike back any easier. As we were traversing the slopes of the Butte, we were sinking to our knees every other step so half way thru we veered off to get back on the road a bit earlier than planned. Eventually we got there but were very tired so we took a short break before doing the last 3 miles to the car.

Barlow Ridge, Apr 4th

2010-04-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

If you have read my posts, you’ll probably notice this is not the first time I’m writing about Barlow Ridge. I guess this has become one of my favorite places to go snowshoeing as it offers a bit of everything. From the parking lot, you get a nice downhill to begin with before you get deeper into the forest, but just as you think you’re not going to get a lot of views, you get to the Mineral Jane and eventually to the Barlow Ridge road. From this point, the trail is a steady uphill with multiple views of the white river basin and Mt Hood on clear days. From this road, you can return at any time, but what I’ve found to be more interesting is to go all the way until it forks with the lower branch going to Teacup Lake while the other, less visited road, continues up. Somewhere along this road, you can veer off for some backcountry traveling and here is where you can find peace, solitude and deep snow. On this trip I retraced pretty much what I did last time so eventually we got back to the same viewpoint above the trees. Now that I’m getting my bearings right in this area (this time I did the hike without even looking at the map), I know that the peak in front of the viewpoint is Barlow Butte. Maybe next year I will be able to do the loop as I want to do it which basically includes getting to this viewpoint to then traverse to the rock formation south of the butte and continue to the Butte. From there, instead of going down to the road, I imagine you can do a straight line back to the parking lot. We’ll see how it goes next year.

Mt Mitchell, Mar 27th

2010-04-27T16:20:00.000-07:00

They say third time is the charm and this hike certainly proved that. Mt Mitchell is one of those little gems that are not that far out, not to long of a hike and not much elevation gain but with huge rewards. In the past, I’ve done this hike only to get to a summit completely immersed in clouds. On those cases, it was still rewarding as the top of the mountain is a flat rock bed with numerous rock formations around that are quite interesting. This time, it was quite the reward to get up there and actually get the views I had only seen in pictures before. As you’ll see in the pictures, the trail goes thru some dense forest with just a handful of viewpoints that offer hints of what you’ll find further up. About half way in, the whole forest opens up but, despite the fact that you can see all around you, you don’t get many expansive views. It’s until you are in the last section, just a couple hundred feet from the summit, that you get a good view north that includes Mt St Helens and the Swift Reservoir but that’s just half of it. Once you reach the summit, Mt Mitchell offers 360 views that also include Mt Adams and Mt Hood in the distance. Having those views with the rock formation I had seen before was truly a different experience. BTW, you’ll notice in the last couple of pictures we are in a cave. Yes, since this hike is not that long, some of us finished with a bit of room for more hiking so we decided to continue a bit further to the Ape Caves for a couple of extra miles.

Salmon River, Mar 21st

2010-04-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

After a lovely hike on Saturday, I decided to take a group to an easy, close to town hike. For that, the Lower Salmon River seemed like a good choice. This trail follows the Salmon River on a gentle uphill that eventually departs the river basin to some outstanding viewpoints. I recall doing this hike several times with Shia a couple of years ago and it was always very nice. What I wasn’t counting on though, was how wrong the weather man was going to be. Sunday was supposed to be just a cloudy day but instead, we got rain almost for the entire hike. As soon as we got out of the cars at trailhead, it was a race to put on rain gear and head into the forest. The trail itself was very muddy but incredibly green with moss and ferns. Unfortunately, with all the rain, I wasn’t able to take many pictures on the way up and we were able to stay at the first view point for just a couple of minutes. Since it didn’t make a lot of sense to continue on those conditions (people were getting a bit cold) we decided to stop under the trees for lunch before heading down. Just when we did that, rain stopped for a while so I was able to take some pictures. Coming back down was a lot faster than going up in part because, well, you’re coming down but also because everyone was tired of the rain already. It ended up being a nice hike nonetheless and the dogs had a lot of fun.

Huckleberry Mountain, Mar 20th

2010-04-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

It’s funny how things happen sometimes. AS you have probably noticed in my stories, I try to do something new every time. This time was no difference, so I did my normal research, looked at the weather, searched for maps, directions, printed my topo and went on my way thinking I was going to discover a new place. As I we were driving to the parking lot where the trailhead is, I started having a déjà-vu moment. I thought, well, maybe there’s another hike I did around here. But that feeling grew stronger as we started on a trail that quickly climbs to the ridge of the mountain. By then, it was clear to me that I had done this trail before but I was still baffled because it was not in my list. Everything cleared up when one of the hikers, Sean, told me he was with me that first time (I was not leading) and that he recalled that we were not able to go all the way to the ridgeline due to snow. He also recalled that the leader had called this hike Boulder Ridge which is the name of the trail that leads to Huckleberry Mountain. The good thing is that this time around, we were able to get to the top and see what we missed the first time. The hike was very well worth it and since we got there in record time (much faster than what I had expected) we took a long lunch before heading back down.

Huffman Peak loop, Mar 14th

2010-04-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

Every now and then you embark on a hike that you know it’s going to be an interesting adventure and then you get surprised by it when you realize you underestimated it. Luckily the small group I had for this hike was up to the challenge and, although it took a long day, made it in good spirits to the end. While planning this trip, I knew it was a long hike and I knew we had to cross the Siouxon Creek a couple of times. This was not supposed to be a major obstacle as this river doesn’t carry a lot of water. What I wasn’t expecting was to find a lot of snow at higher elevations. The other thing I was hoping for, was to have two cars so we could do a short car shuttle between two possible entry points and shave 3 miles from this hike (without the car shuttle, the loop is about 15 miles). When we met, early on Sunday morning, it seemed for a while that it was not going to happen until Adam showed up. By then it was 5 of us so we had two cars and three miles less to hike. Getting to the trail was fairly easy although we started noticing a bit of snow on the road which wasn’t a very good sign. After leaving the cars in the respective parking lots, we headed on a short and nice trail down to the Siouxon River where we found our first challenge of the day. Upon seeing the river we took our shoes off and without hesitation crossed the creek. You’ll notice in the pictures that we were wearing sweaters and jackets and gloves… it was cold, just imagine how cold the water was. After that exhilarating wakeup call and getting dry and dressed again, we continued our route to the peak. The trail, from that point on, was a steady, relentless hill offering very limited views of nearby, snow dusted mountains and ridges. Despite the not so good weather, it almost felt like walking inside a cake towards the frosting. As we were gaining elevation, we started getting into deep some deep snow. This was completely unexpected as I thought we would only find a couple of inches at the highest point of the hike. The surprise was to find about a foot or more of fresh powder in most of the upper section. At some point we started wishing we had snowshoes with us. With all the snow, the trail became a bit obscure but Jocelyn who kept in front most of the time did an excellent job at finding it. At some point we came to an open slope that gave us the views we were looking for. We had, for a very short time, A wonderful, first row view of Mt St Helens. Shortly after that, we veered up for the last portion of the trail and found the unmarked summit of Huffman Peak. We were still in deep snow and not well equipped to make a stop for lunch right there so after regrouping, we started hiking down or a very steep ridge. As soon as we got out of the snow and found a sheltered area, we made a quick stop for lunch to then continue our trip down. As we were hiking, we started hearing a big waterfall nearby which I didn’t know we were going to see. At some point the mountain just opened in front of us giving us an incredible view of the Wildcat falls from the top. I wasn’t aware that this waterfall was a couple hundred feet tall so it was quite the surprise. The trail circled around a couple of times and eventually brought us to the base of the waterfall before heading back to the lower valley of the Siouxon Creek. As we were losing light, we crossed a small tributary to the Siouxon Creek and continued on what we thought would be a trail to a bridge that we never found. After about a mile of detour and realizing it was getting late and dark, we back tracked and crossed the river one more time knowing that a short bushwhack up would put us back on the main trail. Once there, it was only about three more miles to one of the cars. When we got there I realized that it had been a very good idea to have two cars as we came out of the forest in the dark.

Eagle Creek – Tanner Butte backpacking loop, Mar 5th

2010-04-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pure luck I guess. I got a free day of as the company was moving to the new building and weather was just perfect to get out there for the first backpack trip of the season. Not wanting to go too far from town, we decided to stick to a closer yet very interesting loop in the Columbia Gorge. The Eagle – Tanner loop basically combines two trials in a big loop that that can be done in either direction both offering great places to spend the night and views. Having read some reports, I though the better way to do it was anti clockwise. Originally the plan was to start early in the morning although the first day was not going to be too long, but since Mark needed to finish some stuff at work, we actually headed out there at noon. After leaving the car at Eagle Creek, we started our adventure by crossing the bridge and getting on the Columbia scenic trail, also known as trail 400, which travels next to the river without gaining a lot of elevation. Incredibly and unexpectedly, we got some really good vies of the Cascade locks from this trail.

Cascade locks from trail 400

After a short walk we came to an old forest road which was the original access road to the Tanner Butte trail. This road has been closed for some time making this trail a bit more difficult to get to although you’re just hiking on a road. Then we got to the Tanner Butte trailhead. That felt like the real beginning of the hike although by that time we were already about 3 miles from the car. Either way, after reading all the warnings which seemed kind of funny as you can’t drive there anymore; we started hiking up around some small, beautiful waterfalls. AS we were ascending, we got a couple of nice views of Table Mountain across the Columbia River. From that point on, the trail became a magical passage through dense second growth forests with almost no views. That obviously didn’t matter much as the forest itself was incredible.

Hiking through the forest

Near the end of the day we finally reached the side trail to Dublin Lake, our destination for the day and campsite for the night. As expected, we had to descend a couple hundred feet to get to the lake which is immersed in the forest and has no views. Still, it’s a great stopping point with one of the nicest campsites I’ve found. Not only we had a huge fire pit, but we had a sofa! Given, it was made up of rocks, but after a full day of walking, it was great to sit and rest in front of the fire while having dinner before going to bed.

Campsite with a sofa

On Saturday morning, before breakfast, I went for a short walk around the lake to take some pictures. Being so deep in the forest and with a foggy morning, it was hard to get descent shots but it was easy to take in the serenity and peaceful setting of it. After a nice breakfast and packing up, we headed back up to the main trail to continue climbing to the highest point of our trip, Tanner Butte. On our way we made several stops to enjoy the different shapes and views within the forest. As the hours passed, the weather was getting better and warmer to a point, when we reached a meadow before the final ascend to the Butte, when we had crystal clear blue skies. In that area, we found remnants of rabbits and other small animals as well as the cause for those… Cougars! We didn’t see any, but the tracks were fresh. From there, we continued up looking for any sign or mark indicating the route to Tanner Butte. According to the maps, the Butte is not on the trail, so to get to it, you have to scramble. At some point Brian found the market although it wasn’t on a tree, it had fallen and was lying on the ground. I have to say that this may be the most descriptive sign I’ve seen in the woods.

Pretty clear what’s up ahead isn’t it?

So we left our packs tucked away and scrambled our way up. Although not too long, the scramble is a bit difficult, but the rewards are very well worth it. As you start to get above the tree line, distant snow peak start appearing in the horizon. At some point, from the slope, you have a clear view that includes Mt Adams, Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier. Going a bit further, you finally reach the summit which opens views to the South with Mt Hood right in front of you. At this point, all I can say is Wow! The views were so amazing and the day so nice that we spent nearly an hour at the summit. Putting words to it would be difficult so I’ll let a couple of pictures tell the story

At the summit

Our cairn and snow people

Mt St Helens

After that, the trip was mostly downhill. First we needed to get back down to the trail where we stopped for lunch and then continue on the ridge to the connector trail. The sign was not difficult to find but after getting on the connector trail, which starts descending abruptly to the Eagle Creek drainage, we found that staying on the trail was no easy task. On one side it was over grown and on the other, we had snow on the ground so we ended up losing the trail. Doing some navigation we were able to get back to it just to lose it again a couple of times until we were below the snow level. Roughly by the end of the day, with almost no light left, we finally reached Eagle Creek which we had to cross as our campsite for the night as well as the rest of the trail, was on the other side.

Crossing Eagle Creek

The final day of our adventure was hiking down the Eagle Creek trail back to the parking lot. This trail is probably, next to Multnomah Falls, the most visited in the Gorge so we were not expecting a lot of solitude. What we were expected though was a lot of really beautiful waterfalls. From those, there was one in particular that Mark and Brian suggested I checked. This fall is not on the trail so you have to scramble a bit to the side to see it. But once there, I can say it’s just amazing. I was not able to take a picture of the whole thing, but just seeing half of it was impressive. Here’s some eye candy.

Then, more waterfalls, more green scenery, more beautiful forest. Could there be a better way to start the backpacking season?

My coimputer is almost fixed!

2010-04-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed that I haven't posted anything for quite some time. No, I haven't forgot and yes, I've been doing a lot of hiking as usual. What happened is that my computer broke and I've been trying a lot of different things and it seems that finally I got to the root of the problem. My mother board was fried. So that is changed and now I'm in the long process of reloading all my software and then will have to process a ton of new pictures. Some of the later trips (with less pictures) I've been able to upload to picasa but there's one trip prior to those with over 300 pictures that I'm still working at. Once that is up, I will post it.