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.

Cooper Turns One!

On April 11, our little buddy turned 1 year old. I'd say he had a damn good birthday weekend. We kicked off the day with a long early-morning walk and stick-finding mission.

One happy buddy.

That afternoon, Vicki, Cooper and I hiked to Triple Falls. This is an amazingly beautiful hike that passes outstanding waterfalls and peeks down into Oneonta Gorge. The bridge just past Triple Falls is out—washed away during stormy weather last fall.

Cooper sits on the edge of Oneonta Creek, right where the washed out bridge used to be.

Cooper and Mom—a birthday squeeze and Triple Falls.

Coop had some trouble with this bridge. His little paws were falling through, so he tap-danced his way across.

Success! Cooper poses with Horsetail Falls back at the trailhead.

My mom sent Cooper a nice birthday card with some money in it. We got him a nice gift—a supposedly "tough" eel toy. Cooper started defuzzing it within 5 minutes and gnawed through the whole thing, removing squeakers, fuzz and all by the next day.

Cooper Claus works the eel.

Cooper's favorite part of his birthday weekend was some play time with his best buddy, Sam. As you can see, Cooper has no idea that he is 15 lbs and only wants to play with the big dogs.

Cooper gets his fangs out and barks at Sam, egging him on.

Sam gets his mean face out and tells Cooper how it is. Cooper zooms around at high speed, while Sam chases with big bounds and loud RUFFs.

It's a good thing Sam doesn't have a mean bone in his big furry body.

Happy Birthday, Puppy Fagioli!!!
(That's Puppy Fa zooool)

The Best View in Oregon

Since mid-September, I've been saying the same thing every weekend—"Welp! This is probably our last hurrah before the snow covers all the trails and closes the forest service roads!" This made perfect sense, since Tom and I got snowed on down on South Sister (near Bend) on September 28, 2007.

We were still waiting for the snow to arrive this year until mid-December. So, we decided to take advantage of a sunny warm weekend in October by exploring a place that we haven't spent much time so far—the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness.

This hike to Jefferson Park follows the Pacific Crest Trail and gains about 1500' of elevation. You can see Jeff peeking out of the trees. Coop sniffs around.

Most trail descriptions said the view from Jefferson Park Ridge was the best in Oregon and called the hike "possibly the most worthwhile hike in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness Area". Now there's motivation!

Cooper had a fun time running around. We weren't on the trail long when we started hitting patches of old snow.

As we reached timberline, we passed a few little frozen ponds. The terrain here was amazing and felt like the moon.

Cooper tries his luck on the little pond. Cool cairn!

The hike was challenging, but very worthwhile. We earned our lunch—peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—and then wore our tin foil as a sun visor.

My invention in use.

Bah-BAM!!!

The view from Jefferson Park Ridge is truly epic. From here, you can see Bays, Scout and Russell Lake at the foot of Mt. Jefferson. We decided that we need to backpack in here for a long weekend next summer. :)

After the hike in, Cooper was pooped and needed a little rest in the sun.

Cooper and Dad enjoying the quiet of our outstanding perch.

Red, red wine for dessert.

There's always time to play with a stick. It's a ding bat!!!

Dad and Cooper lookin' cute.

"You comin', mom?"

On our way out, we took a few minutes to climb a snowy hill so we could run down it. Cooper ran around like a bat out of hell. He gets extra crazy on snow, sand or gravel.

Rocket dog!

Up!

Cooper gets a lot of air.

Very awesome hike. We'll be back in 2009!