The Starvation Ridge - Mt. Defiance Loop
Todays hike was more about seeing if we could still do it than about having fun! The Starvation Ridge Mt. Defiance Loop with a small loop around the Summit is one of the hardest hikes in the Gorge. 13.1 miles & about 5550' of EG. The rain held off and we were treated to snow flurries on the Summit! We all made it but we didn't break any speed records ☺
2021/05/31: Chiyoko & I spent Memorial Day hiking in one of our favorite spots. Wahtum Lake and Chinidere Mt. The views never disappoint!
2021/05/30: A Memorial Day weekend hike into Burnt Lake. We expected more crowds for such a popular trail on a Holliday weekend but we crossed paths with only 3 people on the way up and about 20 on the way out. We had planned to continue on the Zigzag Mt but there was still too much snow on the switchbacks out of the basin for comfort! © Chiyoko Meacham
2021/05/23: We decided to escape the rain with a dash to Smith Rock. The place was teaming with people when we arrived at 10:00 but since most people don't go further than the viewpoint let alone hike it was much quieter out on the trails. Yp the Misery Trail, down the Monkey Face, around the back on the Summit trail then back on the Burma road for about 7.8 miles and 1800' of EG.
2021/05/16: A hike with Don up & over Cook Hill clearing the trail of logs and blowdown along the way.
John Day Fossil Beds Day III - V
2021/04/28: Moro was incorporated in 1899 and has a population of around 300 today. It boasts a large Hotel (a reminder of busier times) a couple of stores, a café and a long ago closed cinema!
John Day Fossil Beds Day III - IV
2021/04/28: The community of Grass Valley was established in 1876 today somewhere around 100 live in the town. Probably the most famous Building in town is the long abandoned Methodist Church build in the late 1800's. Services stopped in 1946 or '47. The old no longer used high school dominates the skyline on a hill behind the main street.
John Day Fossil Beds Day III - III
2021/04/28: Originally the settlement of Cross Hollow the name was changed to Shaniko after an early settler August Scherneckau who opened a post office of that name in 1900. Thanks to the railway and along with the production of wool the early 1900's were boom times for the town. But when a faster rail line was built from Portland to Bend via the Deschutes River trade began to drop off until the town was almost abandoned by the 1980's. The town is dominated by the large hotel which operates seasonally as a B&B and the town has taken on a touristy feel.
John Day Fossil Beds Day III - II
2021/04/28: Second stop on Day 3, Antelope. Founded in 1901 with a population of about 50 - 100 people today. Antelope’s claim to fame was being taken over by the Rajneeshes in 1984. They moved into a local Ranch which they renamed “Rajneeshpuram” and took over the local town government with their numbers. The town was renamed “Rajneesh Oregon”. In 1985 a bunch of criminal activity came to light including a poisoning plot. Their leader the Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh fled the country and the commune collapsed. In November 1985 the original residents of the town voted to rename the town Antelope. For information on the colorful history of Antelope check out the Netflix documentary “Wild Wild Country”
John Day Fossil Beds, Day III-I
2021/04/28: Day III of of John Day Fossil Beds trip began with a stop at the Clarno unit about 60 miles North of Mitchell. Probably the least visited of the three main units but definitely worth a stop! From here we began our trip home stopping in the small towns along the way.
John Day Fossil Beds Day II-IV
We spent 2 nights at the Thomson Creek Air B&B as out base of operations. A lovely quiet cattle ranch up 5 miles of gravel road from highway 26 just before you get to Mitchell.
John Day Fossil Beds - Day II-III
2021/04/27: We returned to the Painted Hills for our Second evening in Mitchell. This time I also took my OM1 film camera which had not been working the previous evening. The light was more subdued on this visit with a thin layer of high clouds.
An Indian Point, Deadwood Loop.
2021/05/09: Our first hike back up to Indian Point since the Gorge Fire. From Indian Point we continued on to Deadwood camp then took the connector up to Nick Eaton Reach for our return. About 3600' of EG and 10.5 miles.
John Day Fossil Beds - Day II - II
2021/04/27: Located on highway 26 38 miles East of Mitchell Dayville was named for the John Day River. in the 1870's Dayville was along the route of The Dalles Military Wagon Raod that connected The Dalles on the Columbia River with gold mines near Canyon City. Dayville was incorporated in 1913.and today has a population of about 150 people.
John Day Fossil Beds - Day II - I
2021/04/27: Day 2 of our John Day Fossil Beds trip began with a drive out to the Sheep Rock Unit near Dayville and about 35 miles east of Mitchell. Our first stop was at the Blue Basin arriving just after 8:00am. We first hiked the 3.5 mile overlook trail and then the trail to the center of the basin. we crossed paths with only 3 people as we were leaving. From here we drove north a little ways to Cathedral Rock and the Foree site before returning to the Cant Ranch and the Sheep Rock Overlook.
2021/05/02 An exploratory loop around Archer Mt. with Chiyoko & Don.
John Day Fossil Beds - Day I - V
2021/04/26: The last stop on Day I of our trip. We Arrived at the the Painted Hills Unit around 4:30pm so the sun was getting lower in the sky which is good for the color on the hills. The partly cloudy skies where good for photos when the Sun was out but we had to wait between passing clouds to take photos!
2021/04/26: Mitchell remains my favorite small town in Oregon as it has been since I first passed through over 30 years ago. There is something about it's decrepit charm! You can still camp in the city park, there is a working street corner pay telephone and now there is even a Brew Pub with good food & beer! What more could you want!
John Day Fossil Beds - Day I-III
2021/04/26: Watch out in Fossil! The third stop on our trip, Fossil. The post office was established in 1876 by Thomas Benton Hoover, he named the town Fossil after finding some fossil remains on his ranch. The town was incorporated in 1891 and today has a population of around 50 people.
John Day Fossil Beds - Day I-II
2021/04/26: The second stop on our trip. Mayville (originally called Clyde) also dates from the late 1800s. It's main source of income was offering services to stage coaches and haulers travelling through. It's residents built a large Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) hall (still standing), hotel & numerous other buildings but as travel became faster and easier people could travel through Mayville without the need to stop and the town slowly declined to the unincorporated community of the few houses it is today.
John Day Fossil Beds - Day 1-I
2021/04/26: First stop on our trip, Condon. Also a few photos taken on our way there. Condon dates from the mid 1880's, its located about 40 miles South of the Columbia River. Today it has a population of around 700 people involved mostly in the local ranching and farming community.
2021/04/18: Our favorite Spring Flower hike around The Dalles Mt. Ranch. A loop that's just shy of 10 miles.
Beware the Ents of the Lewis River.
The Lewis River, Lower falls to Curly Creek. Some new hiking ground for us this week, a 10 mile one way stretch along the Lewis River. Big trees and lots of green!
An Easter Sunday hike around Nestucca Spit (AKA Bob Straub State Park) We battled a biting cold wind for most of the hike but it was nice to get out to the coast for the first time this year.
2021/04/01: Chiyoko & I made a quick after work dash into Portland to see the Flowering Akebono Cherries along Waterfront park!
The Devils Gap & Horsethief Butte
We finally ticked the Devils Gap off our list yesterday, a semi hidden old indian route up through the cliffs East of the Crawford Oaks to the hills above. We first hiked East below the cliffs to the Gap. Along the way we walked by the old stone walls built by Homesteader Dane Peter Jensen & his crew of Indian women who operated a dairy in the area and also the tread of the old 1880 Dalles - Walla Walla military road. The Devils Gap then leads up through the cliffs onto the lower bench and hills above. For our second loop we then crossed the road & hiked the table land between the road and the River from Crawford Oaks around Horsethief Butte & back.
2021/03/21: Early in the 1900s a logging railroad was built along the Klickitat River Canyon north of Klickitat. In 1950 the railroad was turned into a private haul road then in 1994 the road was abandoned. More recently the Columbia Land Trust has been removing the road completely but the route is still "hikeable"!
2021/03/14: Chiyoko was nursing a sore knee on Sunday so no hiking this week. instead we went for a drive around the Eastern Gorge and stopped at some of those places we normally drive by on the way to somewhere else! Including the old railroad town of Wishram and a spot close to Wishram where we found some Columbia Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia columbiana) growing.
2021/03/07: We hiked a new area this week, Elven miles poking around the Soda Springs Wildlife Management Area just North of Klickitat. There are no defined trails but using old roads & tracks along with some cross county travel several loop options are possible. About a 2 hour drive from home but worth it to see somewhere new!
Tilly Jane to the Cloudcap Inn
2021/02/28: We set out today to hike up the Tilly Jane Trail and on to the cloudcap shelter but a long Saturday left me bushed so we headed to the Cloudcap Inn instead and saved ourselves an additional 800' of climbing! Tones of snow, the guard station and Cookhouse were almost buried! As luck would have it there were some Crag Rats at the Inn and they let us have a quick look around.
2021/02/24: A quick after work stop at Jonsrud view point now that the days are getting longer again.
2021/02/21 We again headed East to avoid yet another rainy Sunday. One day we will get a Sunny Sunday gain! We returned to the Crawford Ranch & made the lower 7.5 loop. The wind was brutal one we got away from the river but we did dodge the rain!
2021/02/16 Shrove Tuesday took us by surprise this year as it was so early! It was a tough choice between the Bacon & Maple Syrup or the classic Lemon & Sugar so we ate both!
Not your average valentines day!
2021/02/14: After an exceptionally mild winter and just when we thought we would skate though to Spring the February Apocalypse hit! It began on Thursday afternoon with a touch of freezing rain and freezing overnight temps. Friday morning we woke up to about 4" of snow and more fell during the day. Chiyoko had to take the snow of the greenhouses in the morning and again in the afternoon. Saturday morning we woke up to another 6 to 7 inches of snow and spent the first 4 hours of the morning cleaning off the houses again. Sunday morning we woke up to a 1/4" of ice and another 2-3" of snow so again the morning was spent cleaning off the greenhouses. Monday morning was the final encore with half an inch of ice over everything but luckily it had not built up on the greenhouses so were were spared having to scrape the ice off again!
2021/02/27: Another Sunday with a weather forecast that wasn't going to be great anywhere. in the end we took our chances at Coyote Wall. Hiking a 10 mile loop up the base of the wall then down Atwood road to the Labyrinth junction & back. We were subjected to lots of howling winds, sometimes horizontal sleet & sometimes sun breaks.
Portlandia XI - Not the 2021 Light Festival!
2020/02/05: The February 2020 Portland Light Festival was the last "big crowd" event that Chiyoko & I went to! This year there was supposed to be a "non festival" of socially distant displays. Probably a good thing but is was a far cry from last year. Fingers crossed for 2022!
A Big Sunday Loop - 2021/01/31
Stop I - We drove East about 80 miles along the Columbia Gorge to Biggs Junction then South to the little town of Wasco for a walk around..
A butt slide back to Government Camp.
2021/01/24: A forecast of rain or snow for Sunday left us without any clear ideas of where to go. We settled on just going to Government Camp and decided to hike the Glade Tail up to Timberline Lodge. We stopped about half a mile before the lodge though as we didn't want to play chicken with all the skiers! To make a loop out of it we came back down the Alpine trail with a bit of the Westleg Rd thrown in! © Chiyoko Meacham
2021/01/17 While at Cottonwood Canyon we also celebrated Akitomo's Birthday!
Cottonwood Canyon, Goose Neck Loop.
2021/01/17: Our first go at the Gooseneck loop hike around Cottonwood Canyon.
2021/01/14: I took my new Olympus OMD 10iv out for a spin in Oregon city after work to see how it handles night shots and try out it's "live composite" mode.
2021/01/14: Sunrise from work this time with a 1977 Konica Hexanon 35-70 lens attached to the Olympus OMD.
2021/01/11: A fine sunrise to start off the week, taken from work at 7:37am.
2020/01/09 Virtual Happy Birthday Greetings to Dad!
2021/01/10: We went to check out the Recently reopened Franklin Ridge today as part of a 10 mile loop from the Larch Mt Gate. We saw only two other groups all day, two trail runners and 5 SARS folks out on a training hike. Franklin certainly feels more like a ridge hike since the fire but views will have to wait for another day since it was cold wet and foggy today!
Guy's Instagram top nine for 2020.
2021/01/03: We tried to resist but couldn't! Eagle Creek was reopened a few days ago for the first time since the September 2017 fire. We knew it would be busy so we pulled into the dark and rainy trailhead at 6:50am. We waited until just after 7:00 when there was enough light to hike and the rain had also mostly stopped! We were prepared to have to wade Sorenson & WyEast Creeks but WyEast at the 5 mile mark was a bit too much for us. Over 2' deep and running fast. We decided to turn around and save tunnel falls for another day.
2021/01/01: The new years day weather wasn't forecast to be up to much with heavy rain by early afternoon so we started off 2021 with a quick morning hike around the recently reopened Multnomah & Wahkeena falls loop.