Pre-Work Steelhead Fishing

The Hood River Hookers took club fishing to a new level of dedication with pre-work steelhead fishing this past August. Tom and I enjoyed a stunning PINK and purple sunset before calling it an early night. The 5:00A.M. alarm buzz is a lot less painful that way.

Mount Adams sitting pretty in pink.

We met Neal at the Drano Lake boat launch in WA. It was dark and 5:30A.M. All the boats in the water dropped anchor along the channel for the best chances of hooking one of these slippery friends. The sun joined the party and gave us a bit of welcome warmth.


Neal recasts the bait—purple shrimp—under a bobber. Simon checks his work.

Tom trying his patience.

Skunked.

Me realizing that none of us are probably going to catch anything—it's time to go to home and get dressed for work.


Slightly discouraged after watching anglers around us land fish after fish, we celebrated with ice cold Rainiers when Neal pulled in this beauty on one of the morning's final casts. Dinner!

Party in the Night, Party in the Day, Party on the Bay

A clear weekend with summer sun and warmth is a blessing on the Oregon coast. Add in the company of some really fun Hood River peeps and it's good times aplenty.

Keg stands on the mini Heiny...

...are a lot more complicated (and entertaining) than you'd think.

About 14 of us partied and camped at Saddle Mountain, about 20 miles from Cannon Beach. Polish Horseshoes, wood runs by headlamp and a well-stoked campfire were some highlights.

We kicked off a morning of crabbing in Netard's Bay with some warm sun and ice cold Vitamin R.

Jim, Sam and Erin float by. "Ay! You lik-a da pizza pie-a?"

We took turns casting and retrieving the net. Andrea's ready to deal with some crustaceans.

Gary, Jim, Erin, Andrea and Abe enjoy some shade.

Blue and green.

We caught a bunch of crabs and had them steamed on site where we rented boats. This big daddy is coming back to camp. Mmmmmmm. Dinner.

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies

We spent some time exploring Short Sands, which is the beach at Oswald West State Park. Oswald was our top choice for camping, but as we found, the ENTIRE systems of coastal parks books up quick on summer weekends.

Surfers and sunbathers soak up the sun.

Andrea and I hiked the 2-mile trail out to the tip of Cape Falcon, which leads through a wonderful coastal forest—sweeping views, birds playing in the wind, shafts of sunlight beaming through the conifer branches and trickling creeks. At the end, we enjoyed a bottle of red on the grassy, treeless cape.

Bathing beauty.

Weird in the woods.

Camping, hiking, playing and partying is always better near the ocean. A great weekend out no matter how you slice it. :)

Hide and Peak

This past July, I had a fun visit with my Aussie-born, Ardmore-based friend, Sue Perry. We spent a few days kickin' around the gorge and spent one very amazing morning exploring Cooper Spur on the north face of majestic Mt. Hood.

Hood River was sunny and warm when we started our drive into the valley and up the 8-mile road that winds 6,000 feet to the Cloud Cap Inn and parking area for the Cooper Spur Trail. As we drove towards the mountain with clouds hovering around the top, it definitely crossed my mind that we might do a lot of work for no reward. I could imagine myself standing almost halfway to the top of Mt. Hood, telling Sue that "the mountain's RIGHT THERE! i swear it!" I kept my fingers crossed. ;)

Sue and 10-foot visibility. Poop.

The clouds were clinging about when we parked the car and it was about 15 degrees colder at this elevation. We climbed the trail up, up and up to the point where we should have had a jaw-dropping view of Hood, but instead, we could only see about 10-20 feet. Crapola.

After about 30 more minutes of hiking up, we decided to take a little break. Although we couldn't see anything, we could hear large rock slides. Creepy. As we sat there, the clouds rolled in and out, revealing and taking away our view. We willed this big poppa to show himself, even if for just a minute. It worked!

Sue and brilliant blue skies.

Me feeling pretty good for having patience as a virtue.

We used binoculars to get a closer look at the massive field of crevasses that dominate Eliot Glacier. The clouds dispersed long enough for us to catch a glimpse of the huge waterfall dropping down to the moraine below—this water is the source of the Hood River. :)

Thanks for comin' out, sir!

As we hiked back down toward Cloud Cap, the clouds hiding the valley opened up as well. We even got a peek at Mt. Adams. This is also a good place to get a view of all the deforestation in Mt. Hood Nat'l Forest. :(

Mt. Hood with some crazy clouds fuzzin' off the top.

PB&J and cherries enjoyed on a truck-size boulder.

The hillside around Cloud Cap Inn was covered in purple wildflowers.

Our last stop before dropping Sue off at the airport was Panorama Point. We couldn't see Hood, so we made our own mountains for the photo.

The moon, Sue's wild hair, Carley and Mt. Hood poking out of the clouds. :)

Driving down the gorge towards Portland at sunset is always beautiful. The sky looked like fire. Perfect end to a great long weekend.

I'm a (Beer) Poster Girl

Fall Walks: Today's Sunrise

Sunrise from Kate's front porch in Mosier.

Kate and I decided that we were going to start our mornings with Fall Walks for the rest of the non-rainy mornings in October and November. It's great to start the day with some fresh air and an incredible sunrise. This morning's was no slouch. :)

Quick Pic from Yesterday's Ride

Kate, Justin, Me, Tom, Gary, Jason & Neal post-ride, pre-beer.

The days are getting shorter and wetter. So, we're doing our best to squeeze in as much biking as possible. Yesterday, we had a great ride with a great group on the 15-mile Falls Creek Falls trail in Washington's Gifford Pinchot Nat'l Forest. AWESOME. We rode Post Canyon from the top of Two Chair on Saturday. PERFECT. Two days. Two shuttle rides. TOO spoiled. :)