Snow Shoeing at Trillium Lake, December 15th

Finally my first snow shoeing adventure. We went to Trillium Lake which in the summer is probably one of the most visited spots in the Mount Hood area. In the winter is the same thing. The lake gives you a great view of the mountain and is big enough for small boats and to spend the day. During winter all the roads are closed and reserved for cross country skiing and snow shoeing. The nice thing about that is that the trail is really wide and very difficult to miss. One of the most interesting things about this trip was learning that in winter you can get disoriented really easy. With everything being white and snow changing the shape of things, you can get off track in no time. We took the main route to the lake and circle it to get to the dock where we stopped for a little snack. Unluckily the day was not very clear but enough to take some nice pictures. After that we decided to circle the lake on our way back. That trail is not very well marked and at some point we ended walking snow/ice over water. That was our cue to turn back and slowly get out of there, not before taking those nice pictures at the end of the album.

Skiing at Mt Hood Meadows, December 8th

After many years, about 30 according to my calculations, I went skiing again. It’s true what they say that this sport is like riding a bike, once you learn it, you never forget. It only takes a little practice to get back on track. One thing is for certain, after this long time, I found that technology has changed. Skies are not how they used to be! Anyhow, since I had so much time without skiing, I decided to take a two hour refresher class. It ended up being really great and it did help me get back on track quickly. After that it was just skiing the rest of the afternoon. AS you will see in the pictures, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. It was perfect. You’ll also notice that most people are snow boarding. So yes, before the season ends, I will try that.

X-Country skiing at Tea Cup, December 1st

I think this is something I needed to try, at least once, so I did. I went with a couple of friends to Tea Cup up in Mt Hood to try X-Country skiing. The drive up was incredible because the day was not as overcast as the first time I drove there, so that gave us some really beautiful views. In my past winters in Chicago, it was easy to see trees covered in snow, although most of them where trees without leaves and just a few pine trees. Nothing very interesting. Looking at a mountain full of pine trees where the base color is still green but all are covered with snow is an amazing view. I think the pictures don’t honor those views really well. You can almost count every tree and every snow covered branch. In the pictures you’ll see what I mean. Going back to this adventure, we did a quick stop to rent gear and head to Tea Cup. Tea Cup is a X-country only trail. That means that not even dogs are allowed there. The trail is maintained by the Nordic Club, so they groom it and keep it perfect for X-country. After a little introduction it was off to the trails. I’m not going to use a bad word her, but trust me; this is the place I would use it. This was a workout!! After just a few minutes, I had to stop and take some layers off and change to lighter gloves. I really didn’t know what I was in for. Now I understand why they say that X-Country skiing is the perfect sport because you use muscles you don’t even know you have, because it’s true!!. We did a couple of runs on the trails while the more seasoned skiers were just flying by. It was a very interesting day and X-Country skiing is something I will do at least a couple more times to see if I can pass the technique learning process and actually enjoy the sport.

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

Ghost Camp, October 20th

This trip was supposed to be more interesting than it was due to the rain and just bad luck I guess. Weather forecast was not very promising although it said it was going to stop raining and clear by mid morning. As you can probably imagine, we met under the cold rain and it didn’t seems it was going to stop. Still, being adventurous as we are, we decided to take off and leave it to chance. After driving for about two hours, we found, almost by surprise an interesting waterfall. Although it wasn’t very tall, it was carrying a lot of water (rain maybe?). We took a short break to check it out and those are the only pictures from this trip. Then we continued to what we thought was the trail head. This is not me just making the story, we really thought it was. At this point, we putted all of our rain gear on started the ascend. The trail was not special at all (sorry Anna) because we never found Ghost Camp which is supposed to be really interesting with some old, abandoned mining equipment. The only thing that we had during the whole hike was the copious rain and the “Creek”. The Creek was interesting to see. With all the rain and water coming down the mountain, it was carrying a lot of water to the point that it looked more like a river with some very decent falls. The trail also became almost a river so on our way down we didn’t have a choice but to get wet. This four hour trip actually helped us test our rain gear and see how good or bad it is. It also made us thank for having car heaters!

Hike to Ghost Camp October 2007

Hike to Blue Lake, October 14th

This hike was decided at last minute. A friend of mine had told me about it but since I wasn’t sure how late I was getting back from Opal Lake, I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it. Besides that, this is a trail I already know. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Actually this trail is one of the most beautiful trails I’ve done so far. This hike was to Blue Lake, when you see the photos you’ll see why the name. This is the same place I went on my first backpacking trip in early spring. As a contrast to the first time, colors where more vibrant. The yellows and reds and the contrast with the water is simply amazing. The trail was a bit harder than the first time though. Since it already started raining, the lakes are filling up and the ground just can’t absorb the extra water, so it was a walk in the mud. As you might imagine, Lakes, Water and Mud made a perfect combination for Shia. She and the other four dogs had a blast on Sunday.

Hike to Blue Lake October, 2007

Phantom Bridge and Opal Lake

I should start by saying that finally I think I’m up to speed with this thing. Before I could start writing posts and putting up pictures, I had to put the pictures in order and that took a longer than what I expected. Maybe later I will tell stories of past trips I’ve made but for now I will just concentrate on current trips. I will start with a coupe of trips from last weekend for two reasons. One because I took some really nice pictures that I haven’t share so far and two because the hike I did this past weekend is going to be more story and less pictures (I will tell you about that later).
Last Saturday we went to Phantom Bridge and Opal Lake. I was a bit hesitant for that trip since half of it was 4x4 roads and half actual hiking. Despite the fact that the 4x4 part of the trip was not my bread and butter, I decided to go. The name Phantom Bridge sounded really interesting. This route is in the Detroit Lake area South of Portland. After the drive there we got into the dirt road. These roads are mainly service roads. The trip ended up being really interesting with winding road up the mountains not suited for the faint of heart. We got to the first interesting point just by pure accident. At the end of one of the roads, we decided to climb to the top of the ridge. The views from up there where incredible, having Mt Jefferson right in front of us. As you’ll see in the pictures, there was nothing taller around us. After spending some time there, we went on the right route and found what we were looking for. After a short hike, we found the bridge. The bridge is a rock with a huge hole in the middle. The angle prevented me from taking a good picture but still it was an amazing site. The bridge itself is wide enough to walk over it (I didn’t do it) and the hole is big enough for a big truck (if there was a road under it). We did spend some time there as well and then drove all the way around down to the trail head to Opal Lake. The walk to the lake was a bit longer but very nice. The Lake itself was as amazing as any other lake in the area. I just can’t get tired of the reflections you get from these lakes. Going out we had our last treat of the day. The sunset colors illuminated Mt Jefferson just enough so we could stop and take some pictures there.
Click on the image below to go to the album

Hike to Phantom Bridge and Opal Lake

Finally here

Finally I decided to share this thing. I think this will be much easier for me to share stories and pictures of my hikes and camping trips. I might share other stories as well as recommendations