January 2014 Archive

25
Jan
2014
jloomis

Pechuck Lookout and Rooster Rock Hike - Table Rock Wilderness, Oregon

Picture of Pechuck Fire Lookout

Katie and I dropped off our mini adventurer at Grandma's on Saturday morning before heading over to the Table Rock Wilderness. Our plan was to hike to Pechuck Fire Lookout from the Rooster Rock trailhead (end of Rooster Rock Road by Molalla River). It is about a 5 mile round-trip hike plus another 2 miles for a short side trip to Rooster Rock which we planned on.

18
Jan
2014
jloomis

Snowmobiling near Lookout Mountain, Oregon

Picture of snowmobiling near High Prairie/Lookout Mtn, Oregon

We are back into a dry weather pattern in the Pacific Northwest, but there is still some snow in the higher elevations of the Mt Hood National Forest. My friends John and Jordan joined me on Saturday for a snowmobile trip near High Prairie and Lookout Mountain East of Mt Hood. When the snow pack is down lower (around 3,000') one can snowmobile from Little John SnoPark (near intersection of Hwy 35 and NF-44). Unfortunately that is not the case right now.

12
Jan
2014
jloomis

Mt Hood Snowmobiling - Finally some snow, but will it last?

Picture of snowmobiling near Mt Hood, Oregon

Mother Nature finally decided to dump some snow on Mt Hood. Original forecasts called for 1-2 feet of snow at as low as 2,500' elevation. In actuality, the snow never really made it that low. It was a decent storm above 4,000' elevation and great above 5,000' (great for the ski resorts). About 16" of snow fell just above the 4,000' level.

05
Jan
2014
jloomis

Mini Adventurer's First Winter Camping Trip - Hideaway Lake, OR

Picture of winter camping at Hideaway Lake, Oregon

There is still no real mountain snow, so we drove to Hideaway Lake on Saturday which is at about 4,100' elevation. We planned to take our 7 month old Mini Adventurer, Julian, on his first camping trip (in the winter no less!).

01
Jan
2014
jloomis

New Years Bald Mountain Hike - Lolo Pass, Oregon

Picture of Mt Hood from Bald Mountain

Unfortunately, winter still hasn't arrived in the lower elevations around Mt Hood. On the positive side, the lack of snow and sunny weather allowed Katie, our Mini Adventurer, and I to go on a short hike on New Year's day. We decided to check out Bald Mountain. It is the site of a previous fire lookout tower (long gone) and has a commanding view of Mt Hood's West side.