Grassy Knobb

Grassy Knobb Wilderness Area on the South Coast not far from Port Orford. Pictured in October 2009.

It's a moderate hike up to the summit of Grassy Knobb. It's steady incline with no surprises. The view from the top is quite nice on a clear day, overlooking the Pacific.

Triangulation Peak area

These photos were actually taken a couple weeks ago after the first good Autumn rain. Oregon is temperate, the 45th parallel runs through the state capital to prove it, but, at least in the western half of the state, there are really only two seasons, the dry season and the rainy season.

When the first rain comes in the fall, it can be after two or three months without any significant rain. The grass is yellow and brittle. Sadly, the slugs never disappear completely, but at the height of the August heat, they look miserable.

Then something happens; the world shifts. The meteorologist says something about the jet stream and occluded fronts in movement. The anchorwoman is sad and makes a wry comment about the end of summer.

Away from the TV, in the world, you see it first off the coast. If you’re on the beach in Seaside or Coos Bay, looking out over the ocean, where in the dry season you would see crisp line demarking the eternal division between ocean and sky, you instead will see the new season building, coalescing and looming. At its most dramatic it looks like an immense wall of cloud, stratified in gray and white layers slowly churning, preparing for the onslaught, like puffed up Napoleonic soldiers sitting tall on their steeds decked out in shining breastplate and topped with delicate plumage, not moving but at attention, pristine and beautiful, just before the charge into the tempest of battle.

Likewise, the wall of cloud appears to hang over the ocean unmoving. It looks harmless so motionless and so far away while the sky above is blue and peaceful. But, if you are patient and you watch very carefully, you will see that the wall is in motion. Ever so gradually, it approaches the shore, too slow at first for anyone but the keenest to notice, but as it approaches, the momentum builds and soon it is unmistakable. The storm is heralded first by the advance guard of feral shifting winds harassing away the last calm of summer.

When the churning wall overcomes the shore, the season turns. Blue becomes gray. The rain begins—not the whimsical storms of other places that arrive violently and expend their energies quickly, but the persevering tireless rains of the Pacific Northwest.

Over the Coast Range, the seasonal change in the Willamette Valley is a little less dramatic. The wall of cloud has broken up after crossing the hills and above the valley it becomes a ceiling of gray, undefined and without pretense, but it is perfectly efficient at what it does best, veiling every last glimpse of blue. The summer sky will be only a memory for next six months.

Further east, in the Cascades, there is more drama. There, the clouds break like waves against the jagged uplands. Some clouds get trapped in the mountain valleys, others rise up angrily and fly swiftly over, dropping their rain to lighten their load and speed them on their way.

Triangulation peak is midway up the western slopes of the Cascade range in the Willamette National Forest. We went there hoping to hike in as far as Boca Cave. Unfortunately, we had to stop and turn around about a mile short of the trailhead because of snow. Our little Kia just isn't adequate for a snowed in logging road. But, at least, I was able to snap a few photos from the road.

Coyote Creek

Coyote Creek near Fern Ridge Reservoir and Veneta, Oregon. A short pleasant walk. It's a secluded and quiet trail with some wildlife around including osprey, blue heron and meskitos. We saw a huge heron but it flew off before I could bring my camera to bear.

An Osprey family.

This one's waiting for prey.

Hell Hole

Northeast of Oakridge, Oregon, the Forest Service has tried to keep Hell Hole a secret, but we found it. It was Fathers Day, Summer Solstice, 2009. It was raining. We had kids and a little dog with us, but we braved the mud and the cliffs and climbed down into it. The climb back out again was treacherous and exhausting, but we survived the ordeal.

Deer Butte

Pics from our hike on Deer Butte Trail on Saturday, June 20. Mt. Washington wilderness area.

Oregon June weather, the last day of Spring.

I don't know what did this, maybe a bear?

A close-up of the claw (or tooth?) marks. It was a little creepy up there, very high up in the Cascades--there was no sound at all, no cars, very few birds.

Sweet Creek Falls

Sweet Creek Falls are near Mapleton, Oregon. We went there a few weeks ago with our trusty Cairn Terrier. It is a nice pleasant walk. There are more little waterfalls along this trail than anywhere else I've been. It is an easy walk with many rewards for a little effort. Great for kids.

Sadly there was someone on the trail with an Akita off leash and uncontrolled. It went after our little Cairn, but he defended himself bravely and in the end, Sarah had to save him by picking him up, but the Akita wouldn't relent until it's lackadaisical owner finally saw fit to take her Akita by the collar and move on.

Our weekend trip to the Oregon Dunes south of Florence.

Fall Creek

Sarah's back after her month in Mindanao. We had Thursday afternoon off, so we drove up to Fall Creek Reservoir and took a short hike there, her first since coming back. It felt warm to me, but Sarah said it felt cold after being in Mindanao where it is extremely humid and hot.

Here is the reservoir:


Just below the dam there is a short trail that leads to Fall Creek. It's a short pleasant hike. Here are a few photos:




A wild Oregon Iris on the trail--

Garmin eTrex Vista GPS Handheld

This thing seemed so promising when we bought it.  It's loaded with great features.  It has an electronic compass that works, unlike many other GPS units, even when your standing still.  It has an atmospheric altimeter with the ability to track elevation change as you go and gives a sum elevation gain reading.  You can  load detailed map topographic maps.  And, of course, it tracks location, current speed, average speed, and total distance covered.

With all these features, it seemed like it ought to be perfect for tracking your overall workout on hikes, giving you not only the distance walked but also your speed and elevation gain.  Very cool, in theory.

As with so many gadgets these days, however, the practical reality turned out to be very different.  The thing sits in our glove compartment now collecting dust.  Every once in awhile I take it out, deluding myself that it will suddenly work better, but after 10 minutes or so of waiting for it to get a reading, I get disgusted and put it back.  Every time I it take out of the glove compartment, Sarah looks at me like she's thinking, "On no, not again!"

Here are a list of my top frustrations for those of you who might be considering a purchase (I added the Amazon link for form's sake alone, I'm clearly not trying to talk anyone into a purchase):

• Battery life is too short.  With basic non-rechargeables, you would be lucky to get one hike out of it, if you're in good shape and take long walks, not even that.  If you buy the high-end rechargeables you can get more out of it, but the cheaper rechargeables have a shorter charge than even your basic alkaline batteries.  Sure, you can get a reading and turn it off, but then you would be missing out on all those features that require continuous readings.
• It takes forever to get a reading.  Part of this is where we live.  In Western Oregon, hikes mean Douglas Fir trees, lots of them.  This severely interferes with the eTrex' ability to get a reading from the satellites.  Even with an open patch of sky above, I've stood there sometimes for 10 minutes and still couldn't get a reading.  I've even had trouble getting a reading with the thing sitting on the dashboard of our car while driving on a major highway, due to trees and mountains around.  And if your actually hiking in the near vicinity of trees or mountains or in a canyon, you might as well forget about it.
• Yes you can load maps but using them is an exercise in frustration.  The detailed maps you can buy from Garmin and load to the eTrex severely slow down its mapping function.  Besides which the little low-res screen doesn't show much detail anyway.
• The atmospheric altimeter is supposed to be more precise than a GPS based altimeter.  For the most part it is, but at times, I've gotten wild readings that basically negate its usefulness on a given hike.  I guess this must be due to changes in atmospheric pressure?
• The accompanying map software is not available for Mac, which means I had to use my work computer.

Overall, the Garmin eTrex Vista is a great concept, but in the real world, it is no more useful than the cheapest handheld GPS unit available.  It might work a little better if you take all your hikes in a place that is perfectly flat with no trees.

Quartzville Creek

These are from last weekend.  We were actually looking for the remains of Quartzville, but we were unsuccessful.  That was are second attempt at finding traces of the abandoned town.  The first time we were stymied by snow.  This time we just had lousy instructions and a shortage of good fortune.  These are pics from the area around Quartzville Creek and Green Peter Reservoir.

That's Rags (AKA, Strummer).  He's looking noble for such a scruffy dog.