Canoodling--of sorts

We journeyed up north this weekend for a brief sojourn at the lake. We had two purposes in our trip (besides attempting to relax): 1) build a kegerator for Pat; and 2) take ceremonial possession of a canoe that Pat built for Joe.

The possession was ceremonial because we do not yet have a space to put said canoe--this coming weekend we should, but as of yesterday, not yet. This did not stop the gents from putting it in the water and testing it out though.

I think it is turned upside down for some final epoxy drying

Flip--it weighs about 65 pounds

The detailing on the oars--also weighing about 65 pounds (kidding, only slightly)

Walking to the lake

The matching outfits were unplanned

The inaugural voyage

In its full glory

Upon our return trip home, in which we enjoyed listening to a book that I put on a thumb drive (oh I love new stereo technology for low-end users!), we also spotted some of the fires that have been creating our smoky areas forecasts. There are currently two fires bordering us, which has made it difficult to see the mountains...I find the wildfires quite intriguing--from a distance.

This fire was quite a spectacle and we were not the only vehicle stopped on the side of the road to take it in. It is really rather spectacular in its own rights--started by lightening (unlike the other), the terrain is making it extremely difficult to contain. We saw the marshaling of the fire crew at the small airport in the area--helicopters were in abundance.

Mt. Hood from the south

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

I made this photo book 2 years ago and never printed it--but I got a note saying they're discontinuing this book and would I like to share it--so here it is. This whole social networking thing is outta control!

Different forecast

This is new:

I'm guessing our forecast is due to a fire north of us. Apparently there are quite a few fires this season--yet they are so prevalent the local news barely reports on them. Which makes me think "I get the news I need from the weather report."

A good use for a lawn

Taking in a concert from the warehouse lawn.

Fluvial Bliss

I have spent 3 of the last 4 days, and 2 of the last 2 weekends on (McKenzie and Metolius), or in (Deschutes) different rivers.

Not a huge fan of jumping into cold water, I discovered the bliss that is rafting and floating.

The McKenzie

When rafting, there is zero choice in getting wet--with tubing, I can soak my feet (and my backside becomes the cooling center of my little world). With temps 90+ this weekend, I cannot think of a better way to cool down then to float the river.

Not dreaming of a 'white' birthday

I am a 32 year-old kid now!

For my birthday celebrations this year we went off grid (and local). I've been out of town/country for my last two birthdays and it was really quite nice to be able to celebrate it with others--well mostly Joe.

We decided on backpacking/car camping/hiking in the Sisters Wilderness, which is quite literally in our new backyard. It was incredible.

Also a 32 year-old kid.

We had intended to take an alternate (read: less popular) route to the famed Green Lakes. However, we got snowed out! We started at a meadow trailhead, which only had a couple of other vehicles parked at it. It was rather a bit more chilly than we expected, but absolutely beautiful. We encountered only a few people along the way, a forest service person who chatted with us and asked to see our permit--she noted that the trail was covered in snow a bit further on, but was encouraging regarding our ability to locate it. The meadow was only about 5 miles in from the trail head and we still had about 5 more miles to cover to get up to the lakes--

South Sister from Park Meadow

We didn't linger at the meadow, which was gorgeous and full of frogs (or perhaps it was toads). Instead we started to look for a better way to cross over the creek to get to the trail on the other side. Even though it is now late July, it's really spring in this area, so the waters run high and there is still a substantial amount of snow on the ground. Joe found a precarious limb to leap from, I just gritted my teeth and walked through the skinniest, shallowest bit I could find, boots and all. So I sloshed through the next few hours.

Covering my ears in mosquito hell.

The next group of people we ran into was a group of young boys who had been trying to find Golden Lake--the one that the guidebook says "only experienced hikers with a compass and a good map should attempt." They had lost the trail and the turn off in the snow and had decided to trailblaze up the creek. Confident in our own skills at trail finding (heh heh, I know, right?), we carried on. And we found the snow. And we were misled by other footsteps and we found three more guys wandering in circles looking for the trail. They also gave up and headed back toward the meadow. We marked our steps (er, some of the time) and took up where they left off. After several missteps and false starts, Joe found the trail. He called to me, "it even has a sign," which thrilled me, because I had begun to seriously doubt that if we did find the trail again, that we wouldn't just keep losing it in different snow drifts.

I did not take a picture. The sign said "Golden Lake."
So, we found the hard to find spot...and lost the official trail. We decided to throw in the towel as well. Back to the meadow...but which way? We spent a few minutes in mild panic and then found our footsteps in the snow again. We probably tacked another 4 miles on in our effort (although I wager a guess that I walked a full mile more than our trails counted on due to always being moving so as to not be mosquito food--pacing during lunch, dinner and so on).

We forded the creek again, this time, sans shoes (I don't think my feet have ever been so cold)--I didn't even put my shoes back on, just wandered in my dripping wet, frozen socks on the sun warmed pine needles. We camped at the meadow, which was mosquito paradise and spent a quiet night munching on our packed in goodies and enjoying a birthday bourbon.

The next morning, we packed back out and went in pursuit of a campsite adjacent to the next days trail.

I'm stumping for Nalgene.

Wildflowers--mountain Lupine I think...

We picked a site about a mile down the road from our Friday trailhead and immediately across the road from our Sunday one. We reveled in cold water and beer from our cooler that we had squirreled away in the trunk early Friday morning. And we did a lot of this:

View from our site: the high point on the right = Sunday destination.

Almost accidentally trod on by me...

Ahhhh car camping...

Our Sunday morning dawned fairly early with the sun, Joe busied himself with breakfast--coffee and grilled cheese sandwiches--and I started to pack up. I went to get water from a creek close to our site and ran into some friends from Eugene--what are the chances of that?! They had been on the rim trail (which Joe kept calling Tamarind paste) the day before and warned us of snow--but promised that following the footsteps would not lead us astray. It was a pretty steep start, but then a gradual assent--it took us a bit to get to the first viewpoint, but what a reward:

Jefferson--almost floating in the sky

Joe views the peaks

Middle and North Sisters

South Sister

Broken Top

It was rather windy at the top...

The view from our wind-break, lunch location

flowers!

Bachelor and a married man

One of the many snow fields--much more fun going down

Looks like Entmoot to me.

All in all, it was a spectacular three days. I'm sore and I have more mosquito bites than I can count, but it's nice to have such a great playground to take a few days getting (literally) lost in.

Disaster play...

Really?

A geographical oddity

The zipper in the wild!

We took a much needed break from technology, work, and the city this weekend. I had a hard time keeping a straight face when I told my students I wouldn't be available by email from Friday-Tuesday--their final is on Wednesday. (They always look shocked and horrified, and I can't tell if it's because they can't imagine being out of cell service for that long, or if it's because they had plans to email me--I'm going with the former).

Taking full advantage of our newish, super gas-mileage vehicle, we took a whirlwind camping, walking...and generally being lost...tour of the east of our fine state.

I also took great joy in capturing the "wild car" (as seen in this series to the right) and making fun of us for our lack of subtlety, driving around in a red, sporty car.

Within the state, I'd never been further east than Bend, so this was a real treat for me. Joe made a plan, purchased foodstuffs and we were off on Saturday morning bright and early.

Our destination(s) were a mystery to me, which (for those who know my driving tendencies) made me much more willing to take things slowly, stop whenever, and soak (literally) it all up.

The scenery was spectacular. And we found ourselves quite alone pretty much all weekend. Exceptions included the cows, ground squirrels, antelopes and birds that made me glad that we weren't sharing the road with other vehicles as I weaved in and out of our lane to avoid disrupting the circle of life. I was mostly successful.

Our first view of the mountains was obscured by clouds, but we circumnavigated the Steens and acquired a thin veneer of dust (which only grew) on the gravel highway and dried-up lake.

Within the same extraordinary scenery we stopped at a tin shed on the side of the road--which some of the guide books know about and some don't. We enjoyed the diverted hot spring and took full advantage of having the pools to ourselves and soaking up the view.

Lately, our camping has mostly been backpacking with our lighter gear. So, car camping with our bigger tent was a revelation to me...it was so roomy! We stopped for the night along a river in Rome...really really. It sounds sexier than it was. In fact, it was incredible, but not terrible, to wait 45 minutes for gas at the only station within 100 miles (remember, we're not allowed to pump it ourselves here).

Stuffing his cheeks with breakfast...while waiting for gas.

This drive was amazing, the canyon incredible, and our destination, missing. Perhaps it was out of season. Try as we might (I'll admit, we = mostly Joe--the snakes and bugs were a huge deterrent for me, and yes, I'm sure the snakes were an asset to the bug situation, but still...), we could not find the crossing to the trail to the hidden hot springs. We drove for close to 4 hours on dirt and gravel without seeing another human. Cows, however, were in abundance.

Apparently our heads were in the way of the canyon...

Looks like the picture in the hiking book...hot springs deemed MIA

Preparing for the ascent out of the missing canyon (happy defeat?)

And really, best of all, was the cows. How can you feel defeated about a misplaced hot spring when there is mooing? I love cows. And the following photos--taken at different locations should assist in dispelling the myth that livestock only block roads in places like Mexico, India and Burkina Faso.

Joe brought not 1, but 4 books to assist us in taking advantage of the remotest part of the eastern region. As a result, our constant inability to find things and need to reconfigure our route led us to declare certain destinations in the southeast corner of the state geographical oddities.

We claimed our greatest successes in getting lost and relaxing, if not, in finding newer and different places to go that were about the same distance from everywhere. I suppose you could say that despite our best efforts at sticking to a plan and following the maps (the quality of the map is definitely under discussion in this case--I left the infographics one in the other vehicle....), we were constantly regrouping.

For perspective...it goes on for miles

The road to our planned campsite...30 some miles in...closed.

Caring not...at the closed road.

Do we have time to do this hike before sunset?

I don't think we have time...

The only disadvantage to being lost wanderers was the equivalent loss of daylight. We spent sunset on a gamble, arriving at--what the map showed as another dead end--another unplanned and beautiful camping spot.

Other unplanned stops included active (and famous) paleontological dig sites and wildflower meadows.

Disappointed at the lack of velociraptors.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a few days.