Adventures

After a couple days of rain in the mountains, the snow level came back down and a few inches of fresh snow fell around Mt Hood. I wasn't sure if there would be enough snow to snowmobile, but my friend John and I decided to chance it and head up to Bennett Pass on Saturday. The SnoPark at Bennett Pass is about 9 miles East of Government Camp, Oregon across from Mount Hood Meadows ski resort off Hwy 35. It is often the only SnoPark around Mt Hood with enough snow to snowmobile this early in the season.

We finally received our first real snow storm with snow down to pass levels around Mt Hood. Work slowed down, so I took Monday off to enjoy the snow. My friend Ryan and I decided to go snowmobiling out of Bennett Pass. This would be my first real trip testing my new Polaris Switchback Assault. It would also be the first ride on the new to me 2008 Polaris 700 Dragon RMK which Ryan would be riding. Bennett Pass SnoPark is about 9 miles East of Government Camp, Oregon across from Mount Hood Meadows ski resort off Hwy 35.

My friend John and I decided we were due for a camping trip and took advantage of the nice weather this weekend. We planned to camp on Barlow Creek near Barlow Crossing Campground after first going on a short hike to Green Lake (not to be confused with Green Lakes in Central Oregon). Green Lake is located in the Mt Hood National Forest to the East and just below Frog Lake Buttes. Green Lake is near Catalpa Lake, but about half the size.

With record rainfall in Portland for the month of September, I have been eagerly awaiting a temperature drop and the mountain snow that would follow. I got my wish this week with the first snow of the season falling in the higher elevations (above 5,000'). I am still off work for another week or two (due to knee surgery), so I loaded up my new Polaris 800 Switchback Assault snowmobile on Thursday and headed up to the mountain. Timberline Lodge was reporting 18" of snow on the ground at about 6,000' elevation.

Katie, our baby son Julian, and I went huckleberry picking near Hideaway Lake on Saturday. We had planned to pick huckleberries right near the lake, but it was way too crowded with weekend campers. Hideaway Lake is on the way to Timothy Lake (from Estacada) off forest service road 57. Take the paved forest road 58 to the left before 57 turns to gravel. At the fork, take the gravel road 5830 to Hideaway Lake. Due to the crowds, we decided to continue further along the road.

My friend Cari has been wanting an introduction to alpine climbing, so we decided to head up to Mt Hood for a day of training. My original plan was to take her to Elliot Glacier on the NE side of Mt Hood, but the road to Cloud Cap Inn is still closed due to falling tree hazards. Instead, we drove up to Timberline Lodge and hiked up above the Palmer ski lift to where the slope is steeper.

My parents and sister flew up from Reno for the weekend to meet our baby son Julian. My Step Mom, Katie, and Sister had a baby shower to attend on Saturday, so my friend John took my Dad and I out catch-and-release sturgeon fishing on the Willamette River for the day. We launched his North River boat at Meldrum Bar in Gladstone and headed downstream in search of a deep pocket with enough flow to anchor and fish.

I had been planning to climb Mt Hood the weekend of June 1st, but was instead blessed with a new baby boy! I quickly canceled my plans and as it turns out the weather wasn't that great anyway. I made the same plans the following weekend for a solo climb of Mt Hood's South route Pearly Gates variation. The weather forecast was looking perfect for Friday night into Saturday morning. My plan was to drive up to Timberline Lodge Friday night after work, sleep for a few hours in my car, then start climbing around 1:30 AM on Sunday morning.

We spent Memorial Day weekend camping in our travel trailer at Rock Creek Reservoir near Wamic, Oregon. Katie and I were both fortunate enough to get Friday off, so we made it an extra long weekend and left Portland Thursday after work. Rock Creek Reservoir is a small, 100 acre lake (when full in the spring) located in Tygh Valley within the Mt Hood National Forest. The lake is about 6 miles WSW of the town of Wamic and is stocked several times each Spring with rainbow trout.

I have always found Mt Jefferson (Oregon's second tallest peak) to be one of the best looking of the cascade volcanoes when it is snow covered. This weekend I decided to take an exploratory trip up the SW Ridge climbing route. My goal was not to summit, but possibly get as high as the "Red Saddle" a couple hundred feet below the summit pinnacle. The weather was forecast to be warm with winds around 45 mph. I hate wind, but decided to go anyway. It has been a while since I last climbed and I have been eager to get out again.

My dad, Steve, drove up from Reno, NV to visit for the weekend. I had been trying to get him to come up for a snowmobile trip for the past few weeks, but weather and timing didn't line up until this weekend. Unfortunately the warmer than usual temperatures and less-than-average snow pack limited our snowmobiling options. I didn't want to drive all the way to Central Oregon, so we decided to try out Mt Saint Helens. From other reports it sounded like there was still enough snow to snowmobile out of Marble Mountain Sno-Park on the South side of Mount Saint Helens.

Spring is here and Katie and I decided to go on our first non-snow hike of the year on Sunday. We had driven by the Dog Mountain trailhead the weekend before en route to Mt Adams and thought it might be a fun hike to try. The trailhead is just East of mile post 53 on Hwy 14. It's about 55 miles East of Vancouver, Washington across the Columbia River from Mt Defiance. The trail is marked as 3.8 miles one-way, but is probably closer to 3 miles. It's a fairly steep trail, gaining over 2,800 feet to the summit. There are a couple different route options to keep things interesting.

I am stubborn, as most would attest to, and not willing to give up on winter yet. I took my friend Ryan snowmobiling today for his first time even though Spring is here. I knew we would probably find plenty of bare road, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to go out one last time from Skyline Sno-Park in the Mt Hood National Forest. We had fresh snow the day before and overnight, so I was hopeful to find at least a few miles of riding.

Katie and I pulled the snowmobiles over to Mt Adams on Saturday for an exploratory trip. I wanted to see how much snow was around and maybe get up onto the A.G. Aiken Lava Bed on the South side of Mt Adams near the boundary of the Yakima Indian Reservation. The A.G. Aiken Lava Bed is just over one mile East of the popular South climb trailhead at Cold Springs campground. The weather forecast was not stellar, with high winds and snow showers predicted, but we hoped to at least find some fresh snow to ride on.

After vacationing in Mexico last week, I was eager to get back in the snow. The weather was forecasted to be beautiful with temperatures in Portland hitting the upper 70's Saturday. My friend John and I planed to snowmobile around Mount Saint Helens and the Plains of Abraham. Mount Saint Helens (50 miles NE of Portland, Oregon), an active stratovolcano, is famous for its eruption on May 18, 1980. Now only 8,363 feet tall, the mountain previously stood at 9,677 feet tall. The Plains of Abraham on the East side of Mount St. Helens is a popular destination for snowmobilers.