Susie's birthday

The one downside to going camping is that we came back on Susie's birthday; meaning i didn't wake up early to make her breakfast in bed, like i usually do. Instead she was woken up by Ned who was crying for his breakfast, although he's not all that into having it in bed.



I got home while she was at work, so i cleaned up and prepared the gift - i was considering leaving it in the bag it was shipped in, but wisely chose to wrap it in a box with wrapping paper



... although that didn't mean that i took it out of the bag it shipped in ...



She had been eyeballing a new pair of mountain biking shorts a while back, so i decided that would make for a pretty good gift. Unfortunately when you purchase clothes online, there's no way to see if they fit correctly; so they have since been returned and the next size smaller is on it's way.

That night we went out to Johnny Carinos for dinner, then topped it off with going to bed at 9PM since we where both beat.

Lake Billy Chinook & Smith Rock

I was invited along with the Smiths for a couple days camping and boating at Lake Billy Chinook. At first it was mentioned that it would be like having another parent around to keep the hoods in line, but after careful consideration of this statement (about the blink of an eye) it was restated that it might be more like having three kids. Although this statement hurt me deeply, i wasn't about to miss out on a chance for camping and boating with a "little" fishing thrown in on the side.



For those of you who have never heard of Lake Billy Chinook, it's in central Oregon, a little north of Redmond. The lake is at the bottom of a large ravine and extends off in several arms. It's a great lake for water sports since it's fairly well protected from the wind. Along the walls of the ravine, you can see the incredible rock formations - i don't know enough geology to describe how they were formed, what kind of rock it is, etc, but it's incredible to look at.



There are a couple rivers that feed the lake (or are sourced from there, not sure which) - the Metolius is one of them. There are several smaller creeks/streams that end up in the lake, some creating cool waterfalls.



The small mouth bass population in the lake is out of control, so we did our best to bring it down a notch. I lost count of how many fish we caught, but i would cast & hook the fish and Abi would reel them in. I didn't get any shots of the fish, but they were a blast to catch. It was also fun to tool around the lake and watch other boaters and see what animals we could spot on the shore. If i recall, we saw quite a few wild horses, a couple deer, a couple otters, a mink/marten, a couple bald eagles and a goat that was on an impossibly steep cliff (not a wild goat, it had a collar on it).



In the way back home, we stopped off at Smith Rock since it was on the way. We didn't spend too much time there, but it's definitely a place we'll have to go back and check out.

Quick trip to Opal Creek

This has turned out to be quite a weekend ... Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Josh & Jess's house to go over to Yaquina Bay to do some crabbing. It was a busy day because the silvers are out in the ocean, but we had the bay pretty much to ourselves. We loaded pots and let them soak for a while, then started pulling them. Things started a little slow, i think because some of the bait was still frozen, but after a couple pots things picked up and we ended up with a great haul. I'm not positive on the counts, but i think we got 10 red rock crabs and 13 Dungeness. We headed back in, made the quick jaunt back to Corvallis, threw the crabs in water, then feasted like pigs.

Today we decided to work off some of the crab meat and Susie and i headed to a place we've heard of called Opal Creek. It's an old growth forest 40 or so miles east of Salem. The area has quite a few protected areas including a stand of Redwoods that are somewhere in the range of 500 to 1000 years old. We didn't quite have time to go back to see those, but we really enjoyed the short hike we were able to do and are planning to go back and camp out over night to allow for some more exploring.

This first shot is from the drive up to the trail head. The clouds were hanging pretty low and made for a cool shot.



Back in the day, Opal Creek was a mining area, first gold, that didn't last long, but they found nickel. There was also quite a bit of logging. Some of the equipment has been left behind and now serves as a marker 2.2 miles into the hike. It's interesting to see the rusted remains. This was part of a chain we saw.



The trail follows the Little North Santiam River and the water is amazingly clear. Right as we started the hike, there was a bridge over one the the many pools and even though we were quite a ways up and the pool was pretty deep, you could see the bottom. Unfortunately that picture didn't turn out, so we'll have to go back and take another. This was another bridge looking down on the river.



Of course i had to head down to the water and took this shot looking back up.



We're definitely going to have to head back and spend some more time here ...

Cruisin' to Alaska

I recently put my name on a list of interpreters who wouldn't mind interpreting on a cruise. I thought, Oh I'll try it and see what comes up. Well a page came through that had a cruise to Alaska during my break between Spring and Summer term. I was going to rule it out, but asked Mike what he thought. He gave me the go ahead since he was on call that week and off I went.

As happens often with me, I had a doosey of a time getting to the boat. I was suppose to fly out on Sunday at 7:30am. I got to the counter 35 min. before take off and the ticket lady said I couldn't go. I was rescheduled on the 9am flight. I arrived in Seattle and found that I was on stand by for the 12pm flight to Canada. I was hopeful, but a bit weary. My name was called and they said that we have one seat we think. After a walk through, there was NO seat for me. Now the panic set in a bit. I was suppose to be on the boat by 5pm and it was now 12pm. I had 5 hours to get myself to Canada. I looked for a shuttle (nope 5.5hours), I thought another flight (no I would arrive at the airport too late), renting a car? Yes. I rented a car, drove to BC, dropped off the car and had a taxi take me to the dock. All along, I've got the interpreter I'm training with on the phone saying the ship is leaving early, you need to get here. That wasn't helping. I arrive in BC and the taxi drops me off at the port to a lady saying, "Are you on this boat?" yes. "You better run." I don't know where to go. Lady pointing, that way. Ok, susie is off. This nice port man came running up beside me and said, "I'll take your bag, you run ahead to customs." What the heck? Customs. I just went through in the car. I ran to customs, very politely and hurriedly, showed my passport, smiled and gave my best I'm an ok person look. He waved me through. As I'm running down the corridor, all I hear are these women on walkie talkies giving a stage update: She just passed me wearing a green shirt. Next woman: Green shirt just passed me. Funny stuff. I thanked the port man and ran across the gang plank, they pulled the plank, and set sail. Crazy stuff. ButI made it.




These next 2 pics are from a short hike I did at the totem park. Cool stuff. It was a great day. I saw my first bald eagle here. In this park there was a total of 11or 15 totems with explanations



This is Russel Fiord the home of Hubbard Glacier. There are four major glaciers that meet up to form a giant massive sheet of ice but I can only remember Hubbard and Valerie glaciers. Anyway, this glacier was massive and fascinating. I could have stayed and looked at it all day. I wanted to go walk on it, but of course that didn't happen. It is a truely amazing sight. If you have the opportunity to see it, go.






This is Juneau Alaska. I went on this great hike to the peak of Mt. Roberts. It was great. It took me about 1hr 15 min. I saved $27 going by foot. Have a cup of chowder at the top and took the tram down for free. It was great. I also went to the Mendenhall Glacier. I walked to a point on the beach and just took in the view. It was fabulous! Again such a spectacular sight to see. The colors of blue in these glaciers are phenomenal. These pictures don't depict it well. The hues are crazy beautiful.

Rooster Rock

Today was the day to meet up with my old friend Rooster Rock. For those of you that don't know, it's a hike a couple miles outside of Sweet Home, OR on highway 20. The trail (in my interpretation) has 4 distinct sections:
1.) the Deception - this is the first 200 yards or so of the hike. You start out in a nice wooded area with the sound of a creek and cars whooshing by on the highway. The area is relatively flat and it makes for a great stroll - it lulls you into thinking the rest of the hike is going to be like this.
2.) the Wakeup-call - not sure how long this section is, but after you cross a dried-up creek bed, you get the wakeup call that the pleasantries are over and it's time to hike. I don't know the slope of this section, but it heads up at a pretty good slope and gets your heart pumping. There are a couple some-what level areas, but for the most part, from the creek bed to the second switchback, you're on an incline the entire time.
3.) the Grind - you think you should be reaching some sort of a level spot to catch your breath and give your legs a quick break you, but you're not. The grind is a steady incline, some areas are a little less steep than others, but i think there were just two areas that were level, and each was about 3 steps long. It's an infuriating section - you look up and all you see is a steady incline stretching a ways out in front of you. As you keep going, you reach a little bend and you think maybe around that bend will be a little level spot; but once you reach the bend, it just reveals another long uphill stretch. It's brutal.
4.) the Push - the grind finally intersects with a trail from Trout Creek and leads up to Rooster Rock. The pitch increases and you start thinking that maybe the last section wasn't so steep after all. It feels like it's about a 40 degree incline, but it's probably a lot less. You go through a couple sections where there is no tree cover and it becomes hot very quickly. As you keep going, there are a couple switchbacks and just about the time you're ready to stop and grab some oxygen, you make it over a rise and see Rooster Rock. There's a short trail to the peak, and from there you can see East almost to Bend.

Gravity is not my friend ... on the way up, it makes you pay every time you lift your foot. On the way down, it forces you to go faster than you want, making you slow down or lose control. My lungs don't do well with the up and my knees don't do well with the down. Good thing though is that i laced my boots a little differently and my feet did a lot better today. I still got some blisters, but nothing too serious. I might need to work on some kind of a heel wrap to see if i can find a way to protect them a little better.

Today was an awesome day to be up there; it was a little overcast when i started, but the sun came out about half way up. Since you're in the trees, it doesn't really affect you until you near the peak and on the peak. I ran into a father and son (son was around 14 i'd guess) but other than that the trail was empty.

Next up, although not sure when looks to be Iron Mountain ...

Mary's Peak

I hiked Mary's Peak today after getting my oil changed on the Tacoma. I need to figure out what elevation i started at, but i made it to the top (4,095') and back to the truck in just under 4 hours. According to a map at the top, i covered 10.4 miles, but i have a funny feeling it was a little longer than that since one of the sections i hiked wasn't on that map. Going up felt surprisingly good; my left knee did well as long as i supported it on any steep sections - mainly where i had to take a step over a log / root. I had my sleeping bag, a second set of shoes, water and a couple other misc items in my backpack. Why a backpack for a 10 mile hike? Let me tell you ... i'm training to climb Mt. Hood.
A brief trip down memory lane - back in the day, right after graduating from NNC, a couple of the dudes that i knew and lived with - Vegas Josh (Josh Williams) and Oldschool (Ryan Barton)- got into mountain climbing. Not wanting to be left out, i went out and bought a whole bunch of climbing gear and invited myself along. They've dragged me up Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams (actually i did pretty good on my own on Adams) and they've gone on to climb a couple other peaks. I had to go on hiatus for a couple knee surgeries and never really thought i'd climb again, but fast-forward to last week, and Vegas Josh called and asked if i wanted to climb Hood this year.
I'm a little hesitant about my knee, but have decided that i'll do some hikes to see if i'm in good enough shape, and if my knees will hold out on me. Today was hike #1 on this quest and i'm feeling pretty good, except for the hike down. Going up felt really good; i only stopped once (more on that later) and for the most part, my knees felt fine, my pack felt good and i had plenty of water to keep me hydrated. The one downer was my boots. I bought some really nice Montrails a couple years ago, and for the most part they fit well and seem to offer the ankle support i need. But either i walk funny, or because they have a stiff sole (so you can wear crampons) after about 2 miles i start getting blisters. Thankfully i was prepared for this and brought along a second set of hiking shoes and those did me right. Problem comes when we're on the mountain and i can't wear low-top hiking boots while i've got a full pack on me. I'm gonna have to try a couple different things and see if i can find a way to get them to work better.
Coming down was a whole different matter. My knees, and particularly my right knee ached like the Dickens. I'm not sure if i tweeked it at some point and didn't notice, or if i'm going to have to go have it worked on, but as long as i was on even ground or a bit of an incline, it was fine, the minute i was heading downhill, it really hurt. I'm going to have to see if wearing a brace makes any difference, or if i did just tweek it and a couple day's rest will take care of business. Another thing to check is if i use two walking sticks coming down instead of just one if i'm able to take enough weight off to make it easier. One good sign is that walking around the house doesn't hurt, so i'm hopeful that it isn't anything really serious.
Perhaps not my best move, but an interesting one - i got back home around 4:14, and by 5:30 i was on my bike with Susie at Chip Ross Park heading up the Lower Horse Trail. I didn't make it to the top, but was able to go about 4/5ths of the way before i petered out and turned around. It was good to see that i was able to get some decent recovery in a fairly short time. Obviously hiking and biking use different muscle groups, but my aerobic level is what i'm worried about. And, my knees didn't hurt while riding!

Alright, more on this subject later - i think we're going to hike Iron Mountain this weekend.