Adventures

It seems like forever since Katie and I have been camping together, but it was just last month. We decided to hitch up our travel trailer and head to Shellrock Creek Campground on Friday after work. Our friend John had the day off and was already there when we arrived. Shellrock Creek Campground is located near the mouth of Shellrock Creek, which flows into the Oak Grove fork of the Clackamas River. It's about 33 miles SE of Estacada off FR 58 (near Timothy Lake). It's a primitive campground with only 8 sites and no running water.

It's been awhile since my last climb, but mother nature cooperated on Sunday, providing ideal conditions for climbing Mount Hood via the South route. My climbing partner wasn't able to join me, so I went up solo on this trip. October is often a poor month to climb Hood due to rockfall, but this year's combination of leftover snow and a couple early season snow storms yielded great conditions on Sunday. There have been several freeze-thaw cycles the past week to consolidate the new snow.

It had been awhile since Katie and I have had a chance to go on a hike together. We were fortunate enough to get a break in the weather on Saturday and took the opportunity to hike to Ramona Falls near Zigzag, Oregon. The trailhead is about 6 miles Northeast of the town of Zigzag off Lolo Pass Rd. (North of Hwy 26). The approximately 6.9 mile loop trail gains about 1,110 feet in elevation, so it is a moderate hike. The first 1.25 miles of the trail follows the Sand River Trail # 770 to a junction.

With my new job as an electrician apprentice, I had to shorten my annual deer hunting trip. Normally I go up Thursday night after work and set up camp, but this year my friends had take over. Luckily they all had Friday off and went up that morning to secure our spot. John, Tyler, and I all had buck tags this year for the White River Unit # 141B. We like to hunt an area in the vicinity of Badger Lake (roughly 12 miles West of the town of Wamic, Oregon). It's mostly forested with noble fir, douglas fir, and pine trees with interspersed clearcuts that are slowly growing in.

I drove back up to our deer hunting spot on Friday night to do some more scouting and check the game camera we set up last weekend. I came up alone and was able to get the spot where we had our base camp last year. My two friends and I have buck tags for the White River unit again and like to hunt an area in the vicinity of Badger Lake (roughly 12 miles West of the town of Wamic, Oregon). It's mostly forested with noble fir, douglas fir, and pine trees with interspersed clearcuts slowly filling in.

After cleaning up our new-to-us 2007 Fleetwood Pioneer 18CK travel trailer over Labor Day weekend, we decided to take it for a test run to Rock Creek Reservoir near Wamic, Oregon. Rock Creek Reservoir is approximately 100 acres when full (only in the spring) and is stocked annually with rainbow trout. The reservoir also supports a healthy population of bass up to 5 lbs. each. Rock Creek Reservoir is located in Tygh Valley within the Mount Hood National Forest. It's about 6 miles WSW of the small town of Wamic.

2011 marked my second year running the Hood to Coast Relay, dubbed "The MOTHER of All Relays". The Hood to Coast is a 200 mile multi-day relay consisting of 1,250 twelve-member teams which begins at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon and finishes at Seaside on the Oregon Coast. Each team normally has two vans of six runners. 2011 was the 30th anniversary of the Hood to Coast Relay, and it is the largest running relay in the world. Each team member typically runs three legs varying in length from about 4 to 8 miles for a total of 36 legs per team.

Katie and I left our home in Portland, Oregon around 6 AM and drove North to Johnston Ridge Observatory in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument (North side of Mount St. Helens). Our plan was to hike the Boundary trail #1 to the Coldwater Peak trail #1E to the summit of Coldwater Peak (5,727'). This 5.9 mile (each-way) hike offers excellent views of Mount St. Helens, the pumice plain, and the surrounding blast zone from its eruption on May 18, 1980. Over 30 years later, the landscape is still very barren compared to before the eruption.

After hiking to Ice Lake and spending Saturday night, Matt and I woke up at 3 AM Sunday to climb the Matterhorn and Sacajawea Peak. The Matterhorn is the second tallest peak in the Wallowa Mountains at 9,826 feet. Sacajawea Peak is the tallest at 9,838 feet. The West face of the Matterhorn (not the side we climbed) rises steeply about 3,200 feet above Hurricane Creek. The easiest route (and our chosen route) starts from Ice Lake.

Instead of climbing Mount Shuksan in Northern Washington, Matt and I went backpacking in the Eagle Cap Wilderness to Ice Lake. Ice Lake is located in the North Central part of the Wallowa Mountains in Eastern Oregon. It is a productive 46 acre Brook Trout lake sitting at approximately 7,849 feet in elevation with a depth over 190 feet (deepest lake in the Wallowas).

On our way home from camping at Cultus Lake Sunday, we hit Fall River for an hour or two of fly fishing near the fish hatchery. Fall River has been a favorite of mine since my first trip there about a decade ago. It is a fly fishing-only stream that flows about eleven miles into the Deschutes River. Fall River is spring fed (bubbles right out of the ground near the guard station) and as a result is very clear. You can often spot trout hiding near fallen trees. It is stocked with legal-sized trout and has healthy populations of rainbow, brown, and brook trout.

Katie and I headed to Central Oregon on Thursday for a long weekend of adventures. We packed up our gear and pulled our tent trailer to Cultus Lake about 46 miles outside of Bend off the Cascade Lakes Highway. We arrived shortly before dark to what appeared to be a full campground. Luckily we were stopped by a gentleman who had an extra site he wasn't going to use. It ended up being a nice site with plenty of room for both our truck and trailer. We sure lucked out.

After hiking to the top of Tumalo Mountain this morning, Katie and I headed across the road (Cascade Lakes Highway) to Mount Bachelor Ski Area. Mount Bachelor is a stratovolcano atop a shield volcano that is 9,065 feet in elevation. We wanted to climb to the summit and decided to shorten the route by riding the Pine Marten Express chairlift up to 7,775 feet elevation. From this point, we only had to climb about 0.9 miles and 1,300 vertical feet to the summit.

After our long, but spectacular hike of South Sister on Friday, Katie and I decided to take it easy on Saturday with a couple shorter hikes. For our morning hike, we climbed Tumalo Mountain. The trailhead starts at Dutchman Flat SnoPark across from the Mount Bachelor Ski Area off Cascade Lakes Highway. The approximately 1.9 mile (3.8 miles round-trip) Tumalo Mountain trail # 38 climbs over 1,400 feet to the summit. The views of Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters from the top are amazing.