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. :)

Snowy Saturday Night

Last Saturday morning we had some snow on the ground. The sun was shining. The mountain was out. And the forecast was calling for LOTS of snow. In fact, we had a blizzard warning and the plan was to frolic in the snow in town on Saturday night and hit the hill in the morning for first chair and fresh pow.

Saturday morning was bright and sunny. My car barely had a dusting.

Even with this amount of snow, Cooper wasn't sure what to do. We had to tell him how good he was to coax him into the yard for a pee.

Cooper testing the water. Get ready for a swim, little buddy!

Since I'm a new crock pot chef, I tried my hand at some chili. We ended up with Smaltzie Waltzie Meaty Crock Pot Chili. It was a HIT with the locals. ;)

Doot-Doot

The party eventually moved from inside and warm to outside and numb. It was like drinking beer in a refrigerator.

Chad, Nicole, Sme

Snow Tom post snow kayaking

Snow Abe post snowboard tows behind Tom's truck—with a lawn mower handle

Snow Karl post snow surfing

Jim & Sam snow snuzzlin'

After a night of funnin' around, we managed to get up at 6:30am and headed for Meadows by 7. Nice work, Team Jackass Snow Sports.

The Donomann residence after our first big snow dump

The main drag of Hood River, Oak Street, all lit up and pretty in the wee hours

Unfortunately, the better day to hit the slopes would have been Saturday, rather than Sunday morning. Poops. We made the best of the freezing rain and snowment and rolled home after our legs were wiped.

Highway 35 is a beautiful drive in the sun and in the snow :)

All tuckered out. Our tree is smilin'!

Christmas Eve Snowshoe Expedition

After putting in an eventless half-day at Summit, we were happy to get out the door into the snowed over streets of Hood River. We kicked off the quintessential white Christmas with good friends and Smaltzie's Crock Pot Chicken Stew for C-Eve dinner.

Since we got so much snow in town, the ladies decided to burn off the comfort food and cocktails with a snowshoe expedition around the Hood. We gathered the snowbooted troops and were off to enjoy the icicles, fresh icy air, knee-deep pow, falling snow, twinkling lights and beers in our pockets.

All the wonderment came to a screeching halt when we arrived on the corner of Old Man McCready's house—some SCUMBAG had littered a McDonald's bag that stuck out like a sore thumb against the pristine untouched fluffy stuff. I got mad and gave the litter the finger.

F. You. Litter.

After carousing around town, we headed home in hopes of an early-ish night—time to rest up for first chair at Meadows—Christmas Day shooshin'!

Gettin' jiggy wit it.

Steph, Andrea, Reggie, Vicki & Smaltz

Lewis River/Bird Mountain Trip

A few weeks back, we packed up the bikes, kayak, camping gear and dog for a weekend trip to the Lewis River, which is located in the wilderness SE of Mt. St. Helens, about an hour NW of Hood River. We got one of the last available campsites at the Lower Falls Campground—just after the last of the pre-weekend rain.

Woodsy ding.

Cooper & I took a little walk along the Lewis River Trail and then scrambled down to the water to see the Lower Falls. He's a strong hiker! :)

The Lower Falls roar while Cooper plays fetch with a stick longer than he.

We did some unfruitful fishing & took a few bike rides along the trail. Cooper rode in my backpack and was super-cute. Everyone said, "HEY! Look at that puppy!" Coop loves the attention and loved the free ride.

Chillin' in style by the fire. MMMmmmmmmMMM. Warmmmmmmm.

Cooper likes to stay toasty near the fire so he can monitor who is cooking what. He ignores his nuggets all day in hopes of a hot dog. No dice, doggie!

Pretty Cultus Lake is still sporting snow!

Sunday turned out to be as beautiful as Saturday and we took the scenic route (forest roads) back to Hood River. Along the way, we stopped at Hand Shake Lake (very cool) and enjoyed some tree-framed views of Mt. St. Helens. We got some on-foot miles in when we stopped at Cultus Creek Campground and hiked around Bird Mountain. The trail and lakes were beautiful. Cooper was like a maniac in the snow—zooming around at high speed and running in crazy circles. He loved it. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were FIERCE. That'll put some pep in your step. Kinda sucked cuz we didn't get to enjoy our lunch or sit at the lake. Although for me, a day in the woods is great all the same.

Tom & Gary in the snow.

Fishin' for St. Helens.

The views of Mt. St. Helens on the return portion of the loop were awesome. So were the huckleberry smoothies in Trout Lake! Good time. :)

True Summiteers

Gerry, Carley and I have a few things in common. One of these commonalities is that we all work for a small interactive agency in Hood River called Summit Projects. On April 28th, 2007, we became official Summiteers when we climbed to the top of Mount Saint Helens.

We rolled out of work on Friday afternoon with our gear packed and headed north into Washington. After an enjoyable 3-hour ride, we reached the Climbers Bivouac at 3700 feet, where we camped that night. Aaron, Gerry's husband was waiting for us. Nice guy that he is, he put our tent up before we arrived! We drank a few beers and hit the sack. Here's the crew prepping for the climb bright and early the next morning:


As soon as we hit the trail we were at the snow line. Aaron was toting his snowboard while Gerry, Carley and I rocked the snowshoes. We saw Gerry's big tongue a lot.


It was super misty/foggy when we started the climb, so we couldn't see the top of the mountain. A lot of people were carrying skis and hiking in their ski boots. We blew by them like rock stars in our snow shoes. :)


For some reason, I feel like I look like a Frenchman here. You can see the line of climbers going up the hill like ants in a pile of sugar. "We're going up there!!!???"


Below, Carley takes a load off. We really started to feel the elevation here. I think it was a combination of the altitude and the fact that the shroud of clouds would clear as you watched and you would see how high up you really were. yowza!


The route we took was a 5-mile hike from the Bivouac to the summit at 8,365 ft—a gain of 4,665 ft. It took us about 4.5 hours to reach the top. And here we are!


When we took these shots, Aaron had already floated off down the mountain on his snowboard. wheeee!

Off in the distance you can see the top of Mount Adams. The rolling clouds and mist shrouded our view into the crater. It's also extremely dangerous to get too close to the edge. Click here to see a view inside the crater on a clear day without snow.



Gerry's big tongue again.


Here's Carley looking French. We were on our way down at this point. The folks in the distance are still on their way up. There were even a few dogs summiting that day!



At this point, we decided to descend the mountain the most fun way possible—on our butts, slide-style. There were some well-worn butt-trails that really allowed you to pick up some speed. FUN!!!!!!

Once back at the site, we broke camp and got on our way back to Hood River. Carley and I stopped to pose for a photograph with our new big friend.


Mount Saint Helens, May 17, 1980


Mount Saint Helens, May 18, 1980


Mount Saint Helens, Today


I've read that in 100 years, Mount St. Helens will have built itself back up to it's 1980 pre-eruption elevation. Seems likely, since this baby is active. :)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, watch our MSH movie!

Mirror Lake

Our first winter in Oregon has FLOWN. I'm not sure where the time has gone. The snow, raging waterfalls, crisp air and clinging cloud fluff highlighted by peaks of morning sun that this winter has delivered can only be described with one word–epic.

But, I'd be lying if I said that the budding pussy willows, blue skies and t-shirt weather doesn't leave me longing for summer in all its glory. Thinking back to last June, when I first laid eyes on Oregon, I anxiously await the budding wildflowers, orchard blossoms and starry night skies.

A few weekends ago, we decided to get out for a nice, little snowshoe. I've been hitting up trails.com for the past 8 months, and it delivered once again. One of the top recommended snowshoe trails in Oregon is Mirror Lake–a 3-miler located right past Government Camp. We had a great time exploring the area surrounding the lake.


We climbed for an hour or so from the trailhead, sharing the trail with many people who were hiking their skis and snowboards into the backcountry. We stayed on the main trail for about the first mile and then veered off to play in some untracked snizow.


We climbed a bit and were rewarded with a nice view of Mount Hood.


We enjoyed some clam chowder near the top of Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain, while watching some skiiers and boarders rip it up on these backcountry slopes.


Tom admires the view of mirror lake with Government Camp, or "Govy", in the background. We slid down the hill to the lake and finished the loop. :) This will probably be one of our last snowshoeing adventures of this season!