Rainbow Canyon… 12/25/20 Approach…Parked off Hwy 190 then went cross-country to the head of the canyon (Santa Rosa Wash). At the head of the canyon there’s a 20’ drop that is easily down-climbed (DCL). Rap 1…90’ We anchored off big…
Old Dad Mountain… Old Dad Mountain is inside the Mojave National Preserve on the west side or the Preserve. After checking out other summits we settled on Old Dad Mtn because the wind wasn’t as bad as other areas of…
Kings Elk Loop… First time clockwise. Coming down off Elk wasn’t as bad as we thought. Wet and cold start soon transitioned into icy and cold, then a winter wonderland up top. Saw lots of people, including the Viking on…
Angora Grand Tour… I haven’t been up to Angora for a while so it was good to get back. Not much has changed other than all the logging on the surrounding hills. We tagged Angora Pinnacle, circumnavigated Little Angora, tagged…
Badlands (north)… First time in the Badlands. Fun place to wander and explore nooks and crannies. We started at the Tumulus trailhead and headed out on the Tumulus Trail for a few miles. We then went off-trail to explore the…
Dome Rock… Another trip into the fire ravaged forest. Snow, blue sky, and blackened trees…quite the contrast. We hit snow at about 2000’, and put our snowshoes on at about 3200’, near the springs. Once we got to the base…
Onion Peak… Always a good Fall / Winter hike in the Oregon coast range. With 13-miles of timber company road and a mile of thrashy, rarely use route to the summit of Onion peak, this is definitely a pay-to-play day…
Whitman trail to Hall Ridge… Always a good workout. Not much mileage but a good short huff. We were curious to see the fire damage up around the Tumble Lake basin. For the past few years this trail has been…
Crescent Mountain… Nice hike in the old Cascades. We hit the true summit then did a bit of cross country to tag the north summit. Seems this trail is most popular with the mountain bike crowd. Think we saw 15…
Tualatin River Kayak… Last after work paddle before turning the clocks back…and for 2020. Nice Fall colors this evening. Heading up Fanno Creek for a bit… Very large Beaver chew…
Stahlman Water System… Two weeks after letting us back into our cabins, a team of Stahlman cabin owners got together to rebuild the water system. The water source (spring) was still there but the cistern was gone and needed to…
Stahlman Point loop… Stahlman Point post fire. Curiosity got the best of us and we just had to check out the trail up to Stahlman Point. We decided to do our loop clockwise, starting from our cabin. First stop was…
First weekend after we were able to get back to our cabin… While so thankful that we have a cabin to come back to, we’re so sorry for all those that lost so much from the Santiam Wildfires… Even though…
Waldo Lake Kayak Camp… An annual event now…weather dependent of course. This was one of those weekends. After work drive to Shadow Bay boat ramp, a beautiful full moon (almost full) paddle to camp…and a fantastic morning on the shore…
Bacon Peak… Been on my list for a while. It’s one of those peaks that doesn’t get climbed much, mainly due to the remote nature and the navigation challenges. I’d attempted Bacon back in 2013 but was chased back by…
Tomyhoi Peak / Yellow Aster Butte… Headed up north for vacation, near the Canadian border. Hiked into camp and set up camp. That afternoon we hiked up to Yellow Aster Butte for some awesome views. Mountain Goats just below the…
Broken Top Circumnavigation… Mostly cross country…using the trail from the Todd Lake trailhead we headed straight uphill till we got to our planned camp spot, well above others near the Broken Top crater. After setting up camp we climbed towards…
Mount Yoran… Diamond Peak / Mount Yoran weekend. Yesterday Diamond, today Yoran. Same as yesterday, lots of bugs till above tree line (most of the way). It’s been 13-years since last time up this rock. I forgot about the cross-over…
Diamond Peak… This weekend we tagged both Diamond Peak and Mount Yoran. Diamond Peak on Saturday. Lots of Mosquitoes! Once we got above tree-line they backed off. We were surprised how few people we saw the whole day. We scrambled…
Three Sisters, Chambers Lakes area… Decided to hike around the Chambers Lakes area for the day, camping the night before at about 7,000’. Started early so we could see the sun rise, and cast the early morning light on all…