Getting dirty in Atlanta, November 23rd

Ok, this is not an actual outdoor thing, or is it? As I do every year now, I went to Atlanta to visit a friend for Thanksgiving. One of those days we took a couple of dirt bikes and an ATV out to some trails. For what you ask? Well, just to do boy’s stuff, run those things on muddy trails and get dirty, what else. There are no pictures of the trails or the jumps or speeding thru mud, but trust me, it was a lot of fun. We went a second day to a dirt bike trail which was also a lot of fun. That was a first time for me on a dirt bike on a trail jumping. Really interesting.

Snow Shoe Trail Tour, November 18th

This was an interesting outing. Although not much of an outdoor activity, we did a tour of several snow shoe trails and tried some snow shoes. This was very cool, especially for us, first timers. Our first stop was at a rental store which was closed. Still we saw that they have many options and cheap prices. After that, we did a tour thru several winter trails including Mirror Lake, Trillium Lake, Snow Bunny, Barlow Pass and Tea Cup. It was snowing quite a bit so the road was a bit slippery, that gave us the chance to demo something else, putting chains on! The tour ended in Government Camp with a snow shoe try out and a nice meal and hot drinks. It was a fun day.

Hamilton Mountain, November 11th

Hamilton Mountain is located on the north side of the Columbia River Gorge. This side is quite similar to the south side (the Oregon side) although vegetation is a bit different and hills seem steeper. Part of the differences is due to more sun exposure on the north side, and actually that’s why it’s better to hike on the north side in this season, unless you want to be really cold. The trail starts with a descent hike that passes a couple of falls, one of which is carved in to the rock (not easy to picture). The trail meets an intersection where you can take the longer back road or the shorter, more difficult trail on the front. Taking the back route, takes you away from the river and into the mountain. Is a dark, very covered trail without interesting views. This trail would be great for downhill biking! After a long walk, the trail turns back and heads back in the direction of the river and meets a ridge where you can either continue to other trails, or take the ridge to Hamilton. This ridge was very windy, but the views were worth it. The peak in Hamilton is not very interesting. It only offers a partial view of the Gorge and descent views of the mountains in the back including Table Mountain (You’ll see in the pictures the reason for the name). I took the front trail on my way down. This route offered much better views of the river, dams and steep cliffs on the back. Pictures don’t show very well the size of these rock formations, but trust me, they are huge. The peak of Hamilton is on the top of the rock formations. We took a side trail on a ridge that was quite impressive. It gave us a nice view of Beacon Rock and Hamilton or our back.

Mazama Trail, November 3rd

Another fantastic hike! And again, a change in plans at the very last minute! Originally I was planning on going to Eagle Creek which happens to be one of the most popular hikes in the Columbia Gorge. In that hike you can find a waterfall that looks like a cup pouring water. I’ve seen some pictures of it and it seems to be incredible. Anyhow, plans changed for a couple of reasons, One because I didn’t know very well the group that was going there and second because a friend called me to do a more interesting hike. I was very lucky to change as I learned that same day that Eagle Creek was closed. It seems a rock, the size of a truck was about to fall on the trail! At the end I met with a couple of friends (we were only 4 on this trip) and we went to the Mazama Trail on Mount Hood. The Mazama Trail has its name from a hiking/conservationist group that maintains that trail. This trail takes you up Mount Hood on the North side until it meet with a trail that goes around the whole mountain (ask me if I have that hike on my list). From the beginning of the hike we started walking on fresh snow. I’ve got to tell you that late snow from winter and new snow from the fall are two complete different things. This hike was accompanied all the time with the beautiful views of Mount Hood. Taking pictures was not an easy task, having the sun right in front of us made it a challenge. As you’ll see in the pictures, we crossed a couple of semi-frozen creeks and a small lake/pond also frozen. A very strange thing was to encounter a section of the trail, covered by trees, without any snow. The pictures are in the order I took them, so you’ll see what I mean with strange. The other views we got, looking north, included Mount Adams (the closest volcano on the Washington side), Mount Raineer further west (to the left) and Mount St Helens all the way to the back and west (You can recognize St Helens by it’s flat top, that’s the remain after the 1980 eruption). This trail had one curious note. You’ll see one picture with what seem to be footprints. Being round, big and close together, I though they were bear tracks. Two of my friends agreed with me on that assumption, the third was more inclined on thinking that it was just a biped animal looking for a tree…Last note (for me), it’s better to use waterproof boots on snow!

Camping at Elk Lake, October 27th

This trip was, as usual, a last minute plan. Knowing that the weather would be spectacular over the weekend, I was looking into possible places I could go camping. I did try to get a group together for it without much luck. By Friday everything was telling me I was going by myself. That afternoon Kristin emailed me telling me she was heading that night to Elk Lake on a two night stay. After thinking a bit and packing at high speed, I decided to wait until Saturday morning to leave. That ended being a good decision. Elk Lake is a place you can drive to, it also has “unimproved” campsites. This means there are some facilities but not all of them. It also means the road is not that accessible. On my way there, after about 20 miles of dirt road, I started to think I was in the wrong route. At that point I found a lake with no name that I was able to identify in the Topo map. Unluckily I didn’t take any photos there. Part was, well, because I was kind of lost. Anyway, after finding my bearings, I drove for about 15 minutes and finally got to Elk Lake and the camp site. The lake is beautiful, but I doubt that camping there in the summer would be a god idea. Being able to drive there, it must get pretty crowded. After a short rest, I set up my tent and then we decided to go on a day hike to Battle Ax Mountain. The trail is an arduous uphill climb to the top with view that open up as you climb. Probably the best part is the last three steps when you reach the top and a 360 panoramic view opens up. With a clear day like we had, we could clearly se Jefferson, Adams, Hood and St Helens. It was also very interesting to see another mountain where I was and say “I’ve been to that peak before”. It puts everything in a different perspective, and yes, it’s cool. After resting for a bit and eating, we started our descent on the other side of the mountain. On this side, the most amazing thing was to walk thru an area that probably remains in shadows most of the time. That area was covered with snow and all the small lakes where partially frozen. It looked almost magical. I will leave the pictures to talk for themselves. The rest of the trail was very nice and we ended back at camp with a nice dinner. That night was a bit cold but with no wind. We did think about doing another hike on Sunday but since we all woke up late, we didn’t. After a nice brunch that included eggs and toast, we tore down the camp and headed out back to civilization.

Camping at Elk Lake