jloomis's blog

My Sister Jessica flew into town Friday morning. After a late arrival and lunch at the Olive Garden we took off to the mountain for a night of skiing and boarding at Mt Hood Skibowl. It was a beautiful evening about 25 degrees with clear skies, but unfortunately windy. The snow was perfect. It was fast, but not icy. Area map.

My brother-in-law Scott and I went backpacking near Mt. Hood this weekend. We woke up early Saturday morning and were on the road shortly after 6 AM headed to Frog Lake SnoPark. Once we parked and had our gear sleds (Paris Expedition Sled) unloaded from my truck, we strapped our snowshoes on and headed to the Pacific Crest Trail toward Twin Lakes. Our destination was supposed to be Birds Butte, a little over 2 miles uphill overlooking Twin Lakes. Two hours later we had managed to pull our gear sleds about two miles uphill along the trail.

My buddy John and I ventured to Hideaway Lake in the upper Clackamas River area (outside Estacada, Oregon) on Friday. I was able to get the afternoon off, so we were on the road shortly after 11 AM. We were hoping to hit some snow, but not too much to where travel would be impossible. As luck would have it we got our wish. Area map.

Sturgeon fishing opened back up on the Willamette River, so I headed out on my Klamath boat with my buddy Tyler before sunrise. We put in at Meldrum Bar which was a zoo. It was worth it through. We had lots of action and between two boats and 4 guys we landed three keepers by early afternoon. The bite was hot for awhile on smelt, but then died by about 10 AM. The picture below is the 39" keeper I landed.

This year's annual deer trip was a success! My buddy John bagged a trophy 4x5 mule/black-tail hybrid buck just a short walk from camp. The single shot to the lungs from his .30-06 knocked the buck down where he quickly and humanely died. Tyler and I each missed a long shot at another nice buck, but at least we got to try. It would have been a real pain to drag him out anyway.