January 17, 2012

MLK day adventure

Got my first adventure in the snow yesterday with Jason and Sam. We did a loop south on the PCT from Frog Lake Snopark and then back towards Salmon River Meadows. We had to do a brutal off-trail slog up a clear cut at the end to make this a loop but it was worth it and the snow was great. Sam had a tough day, his booties fell off right away and he got lots of ice clumps but he was a trooper and hung in there. Treats and pampering today for him.

PCT - Salmon River Meadows loop at EveryTrail

Posted by Dave at 06:17 PM

November 20, 2011

Crack clinic

Thursday night Jean and I went see a presentation at the Mazamas center by climber Steph Davis titled "Earth to Sky" about her recent adventures climbing desert towers and base jumping off of them! We were both inspired, especially because we are planning an extended climbing trip for next summer. The next day we were lucky enough to take a two hour clinic from her. We got lots of good nitty gritty tips and more inspiration. Then Sunday became unexpectedly nice for November and we headed out to Broughton Bluff to put some of the ideas in to action. Jean and I both climbed Classic Crack and felt better than we had before and so lucky to spend a day in the sun.

Posted by Dave at 07:46 PM

September 12, 2011

Hiking the Wonderland trail

Scott and I hiked half of the Wonderland trail around Mt. Rainier in three days. We'd planned to go all the way around but Scott fractured his wrist after slipping on the trail near the end of the day and we hiked out to get him to a hospital. Luckily the bones remained lined up and he should heal up great. We loved both of our first visits to Mount Rainier National Park. We saw bear, including a cub, and mountain goats and vista after vista of gorgeous alpine terrain. A highlight for me was a swim in a calm clear lake that took me away from the bugs and to a very peaceful place; there was a perfect balance of water to air temperature. I hope to get back there for another visit. We had great help from NPS rangers, Morton emergency room staff and helpful passersby for hitchhiking back to our car. more photos

Posted by Dave at 10:43 AM

August 29, 2011

Hiking around Mt. Hood

Scott and I hiked the Timberline trail around Mt. Hood this weekend, partly in preparation for hiking around Mt. Rainier on the Wonderland trail in a couple weeks. I'm pretty bushed from the two-day hike so I hope I'll stand up to the five days of hiking the Wonderland. We almost got turned around on the north side by a fire but after running in to a crew of Hispanic firefighters we learned it was a small fire and lower in elevation than our trail took us. If it had been windy we probably would have turned back. We had gorgeous weather throughout and I managed to take some photographs on the way.

Posted by Dave at 09:26 AM

August 01, 2011

Coast weekend

Spent two nights at the coast over the weekend at a rental house in Rockaway beach. We were a short way from the beach on a hill with a great view of the water. Some foggy mornings clearing to beautiful sun it felt so good to get out of town. Got a bike ride and a hike/run in. I found an old road that Google showed but was grassy and unused, a great footpath through what used to be an old-growth forest. Some of the stumps must have been 15' in diameter!

Posted by Dave at 09:19 AM