Easy like Monday Morning

Cooper partied as hard as we did this weekend. He's napping in the sun with his mohawk feathers squirting out of his Flyer's jersey.

Cooper is all partied out.

Friday night was hockey party. Saturday was mountain biking, hockey, pre-Hood River Hops Fest party, Hood River Hops Fest and post-Hood River Hops Fest. Great times!!!

Pre-Hops Fest Hockey Party.

Sunday was snow hiking around the Cooper Spur area. We got a good foot up at 6,000'! THIS WAS YESTERDAY!!!

Gerry, Aaron, Cooper (small white thing with jacket by Tom's foot) & Tom.

Chinidere-Tomlike Mountain Loop

A few months back, I wrote a Trail Doggs article for Rediviva Magazine that outlined a loop that includes the summit of two mountains—Chinidere and Tomlike. This 9-mile loop is spectacular and will make you feel like a mountaineer. :)

The mountains were named for Chinidere—the last chief of the Wasco Indians and his son, Tomlike, who was the chief of the Hood River Indians.

This is a gelatin silver print of Tomlike. It was shot in The Dalles by Benjamin A. Gifford in 1900.

The hike begins at Wahtum Lake, within Mt. Hood National Forest. The area is true Pacific Northwest rain forest and is only accessible for a short window each year. The elevation and thick forest canopy can keep snowpack on the ground til mid-summer!

Beargrass on the lovely Pacific Crest Trail.

The hike begins at Wahtum Lake and follows the Pacific Crest Trail for a while before intersecting with the .5 mile climb to the top of Chinidere. The views from the top of Chinidere are absolutely stunning—extending from The Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson to the south and to Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier in the north. The biggest, baddest view is Mt. Hood, which dominates the landscape. From here, you can also admire Eagle Creek Canyon and many of the other peaks in the Gorge, including Mt. Defiance.

In true rainforest style, our view from Chinidere was socked in the day of the hike. Still very cool! Cooper likes it anyway, he said.

Late summer here means late wildflowers AND late mosquitos. It's pretty and itchy (they mossies here are HUNGRY).

Baby lupine.

After summitting Chindere, we trotted along the Herman Creek Trail to the junction with the ridgeline that climbs to the top of Tomlike. The ridgeline trail follows cairns and is super badass, if I do say so myself.

The Tomlike Ridge varies from exposed, flat sections to big boulder climbs to Tim Burtonesque, craggly forest. This is Cooper in the craggly spot.

Cooper near the top of Tomlike.

Me, Coop & Hood.

After enjoying lunch at the Tomlike Summit, we looped out on the Anthill Trail. By lunch, all the clouds had cleared out and the views were expansive.

Vicki Lee enjoys the view from the Anthill Trail portion of the hike.

Wahtum Lake from the Anthill Trail. MmmmMMMmm…foothills galore.

A little more Beargrass for your play-zure.

If you're interested, you have a solid four weeks left to do this hike before Old Man Winter returns. :)

Mt. Hood in the hizzy.

1st Anniversary Adventure

For our 1st anniversary, I wanted to go somewhere really special. Thinking back to all of the places we've visited since we arrived in Oregon almost 3 years ago, the place that stood out most to me was the Southern Oregon coast and California Redwoods.

And so it was. I booked our stay at the always amazing WildSpring Guest Habitat in Port Orford, OR. WildSpring makes an incredibly beautiful home base to explore this part of the Pacific NW.

After looking through my book of coastal hikes, Tom and I decided to take a day to head down to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in California. The hike we chose—Fern Canyon—began after a 4x4 drive down a forest road and splashing through a number of giant puddle fords. The trail tucked into the woods from the parking area next to Gold Bluffs Beach.

Tom on one of the many wood plank creek crossings in Fern Canyon.

The trail follows Home Creek up the canyon for about .5 mile. The canyon walls are covered bright green ferns that wave gently in the breeze to say hello.

Waving ferns.

Tom losin' his pant legs on the mini bench.

After leaving the box canyon, the trail loops through some amazingly tall trees—Redwoods, Sequoia, Coast Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock.

Loving the big trees from a log-walk perch.

Smaltzie in the woods.

Kissing the tree bear.

We found some flower petals shaped like hearts—the woods said, "Happy Anniversary, Dings!"

Love.

Tom inside a hollow giant.

The 7-mile loop ended on Gold Bluff Beach. We walked out to sit for a few minutes and rub our tired tootsies in the warm sand.

Mist clings to the coastal trees.

The day after our adventure to see big trees, we decided to stay local around Port Orford. We hopped in the car and drove a few miles north of town to Cape Blanco State Park and then followed the twisty road along the Sixes River til we arrived at the end of the road and a cool stream-side campground. We spent a little while enjoying the sun and water.

Big sitting/sunning rock.

Smoochin'.

We also spent some quality time at WildSpring. The grounds are beautiful, our cabin was perfect and we spent a lot of time soaking in the hot tub that overlooks the Pacific.

Buddha guards the hot tub. Great spot for some cold beverages. :)

The main guest house is also a great place to spend some time chillin'. There are lots of books, games, teas and places to snuzzle in. This is also where our delicious breakfast was served every morning. So good.

Main guest house at WildSpring.

On the 4th of July, we went downtown for dinner at The Crazy Norwegian. People call their fish and chips the best on the Oregon coast. It was excellent. :) Afterwards, we had a beer at a local dive bar, Pitches Tavern.

We watched the fireworks show from the yard of WildSpring. The following morning, we enjoyed our last breakfast at WildSpring and hit the road. Before leaving Port Orford, we went down on the beach at Battle Rock State Park (where they shot the fireworks from the night before). There were some guys playing in a golf tournament down the beach.



Rather than fight traffic on I-5 for hundreds of miles, we cut east near Eugene and enjoyed the drive home on forest roads through Willamette National Forest. We found a cool lake and campsite and stopped a few times for a beer and to enjoy the woods.

Tom & Teddy

This trip and the drive home were very nostalgic. We spent one night at WildSpring and a day exploring the Redwoods in 2006 on our first trip to the coast over our first Thanksgiving in Oregon. Driving home towards the south side of Mount Hood, we took the exit for Hwy 35/Hood River. We reminisced about taking that exit for the first time on our moving-cross-country trip. :)

Although the California wild fires doused our wedding view with smoke last year, Hood was out in full force for our 1st Anniversary. Thanks, sir. :)

We picked up our little buddy on the way through the valley at Pet Camp. He was happy to be home and completely exhausted.

Nap time.

Turning Thirty-Too

I spent my actual birthday this past Memorial Day with the fam at Lake Tessier, Quebec, but returned home to a "surprise" party that Tom had planned for me at Lost Lake. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday and it was nice to be home in Oregon. :)

Cooper wonders why we're passing all these perfectly good woodsy spots.

Tom had rented the group pavilion at Lost Lake and invited a bunch of HR friends. We arrived first to find about 3 feet of snow covering the path leading to the pavilion. Awesome. We spent about 45 minutes dragging coolers, grill, chairs and other stuff a couple hundred yards through the snow. The spot was really cool though, with a view of the lake and our own private shitter.

We found a dead hermit thrush in the pavilion.

Happy Birthday in the woods.

We tried to rent this same pavilion for a pre-wedding picnic last July, but it was still under 6 feet of snow! This is the 3rd time we've rented it and the 1st time we actually got to use it—with just SOME snow.

Erin, Vicki, Jim & Sam chillin'.

Vicki and I went for a walk and ended up disappearing for an hour on the Old Growth Trail. Lost Lake's original, American Indian name was "Heart of the Mountains". And it is.

Big trees.

Some bits of snow here and there.

We bbq'ed, threw some washers, had a little camp fire to warm us up in the shadow of the big trees and enjoyed a spectacular day out in Mt. Hood Nat'l Forest. My ding is good to me. :)

The Ransoms are good times.

Thanks to everyone for helping me celebrate the big Thirty-Too. Too good. :)

Pourvoirie du Lac Tessier!

Welcome to Lake Tessier—nearest town Clova, Quebec.

This past Memorial Day holiday, the Donovan-Garber clan took at expedition to the depths of the Quebecian bush for a week of fishing for hefty Northern Pike and Walleye.

The family drove all the way from Pennsylvania and picked me up at the Ottawa Airport in Uncle Joe's van—towing boats, gear, beer and even an 0n-board pisser. After two hours on the road, we arrived at our stop for the night—Maniwaki. Dad and I kicked off dinner Canadian-style with a couple Labatt's Blues. We stayed at the Central Motel—"Au centre de tout!", ("In the center of it all!). "In the center of many potholes" would be more like it.

The next morning, we continued north 2 hours on paved road, before a 6+ hour haul on a sandy dirt road—our destination, Lake Tessier. :)

Dad, Uncle Joe, Sophie and Gary—a first evening spin out on Tessie.

We arrived, checked into our awesome cabin and unloaded the boats and gear. We stoked the fire and snuzzled in with some Yuenglings for our first night.

Aunt Dee smiles and waves.

After breakfast the next morning with the sun shining, we got geared up and hit the fishin'. The air was crisp and fresh and it felt great to be alive.

My main view for the week.

Me, Mom (Sergio) and Dad cruising.

Teri, Sophie and Uncle Joe telling us that the fish aren't biting for them either.

We fished every day that wasn't pissing rain. We filled the cooler with beer and lunch and spent a lot of time pulling over for a wiz.

Me catching the view from a tree stand.

When we weren't out on the water, we spent some good times traipsing through the woods. We found a busted bus in the woods that smelled like death and had suffered some obvious vandalism.

Mom models the busted bus.

We followed an unmaintained trail down to a beautifully still and quiet lake. We found a little canoe in the woods and my dad tried to figure out how we were going to get our boat to this lake.

Mom checking out the pipe to see how much debris we have to break to get the boats through.

The boating-through-pipes experience. :)

I got the fun job of tying the rope to the trees above the pipe so we could pull ourselves through.

We fished the lakes on the other side of the pipe, without much luck. But, it was a fun adventure! Later in the week, we put all 3 boats through to try our luck. Spring hadn't sprung, so the water was cold and the fish were there in swarms, but not biting. We jigged and trolled and threw spinners with every type, size and color of lure, but in the end we only caught about 10 fish between all of us. Luckily, we caught enough Walleye to enjoy an amazing fish meal later in the week.

The cabin was really nice and had a lot of "stuffed animals" hanging around—coyote, bear, elk and more.

The cabin had hot/cold running water pumped right from the lake and generator-powered lights and electricity. Seriously deluxe. After we got it warmed up the first night, the wood fireplace kicked off some serious heat.

Aunt Dee and I got our art on.

I missed my fuzzy little buddies and my ding.

What's cuter than a box o' Cooper-style puppies on your birthday? Nothin'!

Dad with a baby Northern.

Even though, the weather and the fish refused to cooperate, it didn't stop us from fishin'. We were on the water for 4-6 hours most days. It was fun to spend time with my mom and dad. :)

Approaching the cabin from another session on Tessie.

Mom and me at the Welcome sign.

All-around a great trip. Fishing, fire, family, food, beers, cards, puppies, birthday cake, bush-whackin', scum baggin'—really a little of everything. Good times and a true adventure. :)