Sunday…all about Nancy and David Hill, Deb and Cheryl’s parents….and my first trip up Silver Star Mountain. By the looks at all the flowers, the timing was just right. After a night of rain, the vegetation was holding a lot…

Another day in the trenches helping out on Olson and Hugh’s project. Climbed the new line on the upper pinnacle, The Cigar, and the 3-pitch classic on the lower pinnacle….also did the first route we put up a few years…

After a good night’s sleep at the Broken Arrow campground, we drove to the Mount Thielsen trailhead. The sun was already up…and so were the mosquitoes. We had to keep a quick pace just so we didn’t get hammered by…

From Portland, drove to the Mount Bailey trailhead Saturday morning for a nice hike to the summit. A bit buggy but was a nice day for a hike. This was our warm-up for tomorrow’s Mount Thielsen climb. On the hike…

I took the day off Thursday to explore the upper Hokpkins Creek drainage. I recently read a report of a first descent of Hopkins. I was curious about why they started so low when there appears to be more drops…

The forecast called for sunny and warm with a slight chance of sprinkles in the Cascades… I haven’t been to Schreiner Peak for a long time, so that was my objective. This time I would use the Dickey Creek trail…

Looking at LIDAR and the USGS TOPO, this drainage looked like it had a short narrows section…and a few possible short drops, so what the hell…let’s drop it! Doing anything in these parts are sure to be scenic…and that it…

Another run up Rooster Rock after work. Another long sit in traffic, but the sunset on Rooster is so worth it. Deb following up pitch one, a 9-bolt 5.6 pitch to the midway anchor… Looking east through a swarm of…

Nine weeks later we are back to do a full descent of Triangulation Creek….including the two-tier Triangulation Falls and the multi-tire Bobsled Falls… The flow was a bit low but gave us a good chance to figure out Bobsled Falls.…

Deb and I managed to get away for an overnight out under the stars. I’ve always wanted to camp at this little secluded lake….and the timing worked perfect. With this lake not visible from most accessible places, it doesn’t see…

Made a quick run up Rooster Rock after work. 1.5-hours to drive there, 30-minutes to get both Deb and I to the top….still worth it though. Had some great wildlife sightings…including an Osprey catching a fish, then being pursued by…

Three Corner Creek…. A beautiful drainage with three awesome falls to rap. The first fall we decided to take the trib falls as the main falls looked as though it would have handed us a pounding. The other two falls…

Went back to do a full descent of Prindle Creek. 4-weeks prior a team of us did a scout from the top. At that time there was too much water to rap the falls. This trip the flow was perfect.…

Deb and I did a 6-day backpack into the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park May 9/14. Very cool place. We didn’t see any other people for the first three days, then only several others the rest of the time.…

Four weeks later we came back to rap Purdy Falls. Good thing we got here before the water completely stopped flowing. As you’ll see from the map, we dropped from the road above…thrashed down the ridge, rapped a dry gully…

Another high mileage Sunday, training for our backpack, coming up in Canyonlands. This time we did an 18-mile loop in and around Silver Falls State Park. First time I have hiked at SFSP…Wow, those falls are incredible. I think the…

Did a Pringle Creek scout today despite the creek’s high flow. A bit too much water in the creek today to rap the falls but got a good look at all of them for next time… We came in on…

Getting ready for a 6-day/night backpack in Canyonlands in a few weeks, Deb and I decided we need to get some mileage in… The weather has been pretty sucky lately and this Sunday didn’t look much different. We decided to…

Deb and I took another trip out to Indian Ridge, behind Smith Rock, to climb Squaw Rock. Always a fun trip. Took the new Crosstrek and had a fun time on the road in. Fun ride… Smith Rock’s backcountry, Sherwood…

Keith has been trying to get us up on Triangulation Creek in the coastal range for a while now. Well Saturday looked like a good day for it. We were stopped by snow about a mile in front of the…