JkbWorld

Elephant Rock at Valley of Fire State Park

Elephant Rock at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada

Waves at Fort Stevens

Paula and I made a day trip to Astoria, Oregon to celebrate the week off from work (me) and school (Paula).  We visited Fort Stevens State Park, Fort Clatsop National Park, the Maritime Museum and got to learn about the history of the area, which was pretty interesting.  The waves, wind and rain were out in force, but we took a few photos. (more…)

Mount Hood and Burnt Lake from East Zigzag

Let me introduce you to one of my new favorite hikes in Oregon, the Burnt Lake Trail to East ZigZag Mountain. It all started on a nice Sunday (8/2/2011), when I needed to give Paula some space to study, so I looked at my new Green Trails map and Sullivan’s 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon book and found a nice trail called Burnt Lake.  It was rated moderate and had some options to extend into a longer hike, so I was game.

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Mt. Hood from Tumala Mountain Trail

Since it was such a nice day today (Sunday), we decided to go for a hike up to Squaw Mountain, which was recently renamed to Tumala Mountain.  (You’ll find I use them interchangably through this blog post, because I don’t know (care?) what is the official or not name for anything at this moment)  Anyway, it was rumored to be a nice, moderate trail with a decent view of Mt. Hood at the top, with the ruins of an old fire lookout tower at the summit.  So we loaded up and headed out to the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness looking for adventure.

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Paula Taking a Shortcut along the Memaloose Lake Trail

Over the long weekend, Paula and I drove out beyond Estacada to hike up to Memaloose Lake and from there, hike up to the top of South Fork Mountain.  The weather was a little cooler and cloudier Sunday morning, but the weather report had the clouds breaking up by late morning, so we were hopeful!

The forest at the Memaloose Lake Trailhead

We pulled off the main road and drove an old forest road for about 12 miles until the pavement ended, and took the gravel road for another 2 miles arriving at the trailhead.  We ventured out into the forest and saw a mighty fine stand of big old trees welcoming us. (more…)