NW Adventures, Maps & GPS Tracks

Vivian Lake from Salt Creek Falls… Sunday was the better weather day, so we decided to hike up to Vivian Lake from the Salt Creek Falls trailhead. The parking lot was slush and, of course, raining… Salt Creek Falls was…

Paulina East Lake Loop… We thought we’d head to Paulina before the seasonal closing of the gate. We started our hike at the Cinder Hill Trailhead, and decided to go counter clockwise. After a bit over 4 miles we went…

Maiden Peak… It was nice to do a hike that hasn’t been affected by wild fires. The hike, to the summit and back, is all on trail. The trail appears to be a very popular trail, although I only saw…

Mount David Douglas… From several high points in the area, Mount David Douglas looked interesting, so I found a good spot to park, for a cross-country route to the east summit (6255’) and then the west summit (6035’). Not much…

Fuji Mountain… Fuji Mountain from the upper trailhead. After exploring Mount David Douglas, I drove up to the Mt Fuji upper trailhead and did the short jaunt up to the summit. This summit offers incredible views of the surrounding area,…

Dead Mountain… This hike is in our backyard, although the trailhead is down in the town of Oakridge, just 8 miles away. The trail has become a popular mountain bike trail, where many bikers hire a shuttle to take them…

Whychus Rock (Squaw Rock)… It’s been a few years since we’ve been up here. Always an enjoyable mini adventure. One can see this pinnacle from as far north as just coming up from Warm Springs, and as far south as…

Central and SE Oregon Road Trip… This was a father son road trip, covering 1,120 miles, eight nights, through central and SE Oregon. To make it a bit more adventurous, we took the van. We started the trip in Oakridge,…

Waldo Mountain Lookout… Deb’s sister, Cheryl Hill, mentioned that she needed to get to the Waldo Mountain lookout for a lookout project she is working on. Unfortunately, the standard Waldo Mountain trailhead is still closed due to the current fire…

Mount McLaughlin… Last time at the summit of this peak was Oct 2007, good to be back. Living in Oakridge, we are a little closer to the trailhead, although still a 2.5 hour drive each way. Good day for a…

Temple Peaks… Another wonderful trip into the Wind River Range, Wyoming. This time we planned to summit Temple Peak (12.972’) and East Temple Peak (12,590’). We took the Midnight Raven because driving to and from Wyoming is half the adventure…but…

Mount Beachie/Battle Ax Loop… Always a good one, when we are in the area. Had a nice weekend at our cabin in Detroit. While there we drove up to Elk Lake and did the Beachie Battle Ax Loop hike, which…

Sawtooth Mountain Loop… Deb picked this one, and what a great pick! Even though the mosquitos were in full force and the smoke was thick, this was a fun scramble peak. The 360 deg far-away views were hidden by the…

Thimble Creek Canyoneer… It has been over a year since canyoneering a wet drainage, so we were a bit rusty. It was a perfect day for it though. I first did the upper and lower section back in Sept of…

Mount Ray… Did a fun loop, mostly cross-country, up to Mount Ray, at the south end of Waldo Lake. Some fun scrambling and lots of mosquitos. Mount Ray has an impressive 360-degree view, including the cascade volcanos from Mount Hood…

Buckhead Mountain… Since moving up to High Prairie, we’ve seen this high point with a few rock outcroppings on it, from the west side of our home. So, Sunday we set off to explore it. We started from the Alpine…

Mount June via Hardesty Mountain… This looked like a nice ridge hike on the map, and today it turned out to be a really nice hike in a new area for me. I started from the Upper Hardesty Trailhead. From…

Hardesty Mountain… Used the Eula Ridge trail to Hardesty Mountain summit. Nice multi-use trail. Looks like it gets a lot of Mtn bike usage. It was Friday, so didn’t see anyone on the trail. Good huff to the top. Took…

Dome Rock… Last time up this trail was just a couple months after the 2020 fires. A lot of growth has happened since, unfortunately a lot of that growth is the Snow Brush (ceanothus), which with grow right over the…

Table Rock… Been a while since we’ve been in the Table Rock Wilderness. Today we planned to hit Table Rock and the Pechuck Lookout, but the deep snow got in the way of that. We ended up only having the…