Central Oregon Trip

Sometimes in life you just decide to up and make a somewhat spontaneous road trip a part of your existence. I had been wanting to see the Painted Hills since last summer and had almost taken off to Bend three weekends ago to visit some friends, so when I realized I could create space in my schedule to enable me to do an epic Central Oregon road trip last weekend...well I didn't hesitate much. I got all of my grading done after my Africa meeting on Friday, let my online courses know that I'd be checking in over the weekend but only once a day, and then I spent Friday night printing out trails/maps/whatever I might need.

After a Reflexology class on Saturday morning, the dogs and I headed out over the pass to Central Oregon.

DAY 1:

The minute I was in different terrain my heart seriously soared. I absolutely love where I live in the valley but sometimes I just crave something new and different. This view above filled my heart and made me so in love with the state of Oregon and it's vast differences all over again.

The dogs and I stopped in Prineville to fill up with gas because all the online stuff cautioned about not having gas stations nor cell service within the John Day Fossil Bed area. Ironically that one topped off tank was more than enough for the traveling I did both days...and I also ended up with cell phone service way more than I expected.

Once we arrived to the Painted Hills, I again fell in love. I can understand why they don't allow people to camp there as I could have stayed for a week. There were a lot of people who showed up at the initial overlook but not many who stayed long nor who ventured on the rim trail. The trail itself was so beautiful...as you can see below.

The view looking back on the painted hills from the rim trail.

There were also some other little trails and informational spots that allowed you to get closer and learn more about what actually created the hills. So interesting and well worth it!

We left that area about 6:30pm and headed for a spot on the map that said that it had camping available off a Forest Service road. En route to the camp ground we had about 15 elk run across a meadow about a quarter mile ahead of us and we also had a lot of deer traveling around. It was so neat to see so much amazing wildlife in their natural habitat on this trip. Beyond the deer and elk, there were lots of little ground critters running around, tons of various birds, and we even had a river otter swim by us at one spot! We arrived to the camp site and discovered that a) before Memorial Day camping was going to be free at most places and b) we'd get the camp site to ourselves! I backed my SUV into a secluded spot and rearranged the bags in the car, put the seats down, and rolled out my sleeping mat, bag, and extra blanket & pillow. The beauty of car camping I discovered is that you can have extra luxuries such as pillows and heavy fuzzy blankets (although the dogs soon took over the blanket :)). As I was readying our sleep area, there was gentle snow falling and the entire scene was just really pretty amazing. The campsite had trail access, a basic bathroom, and the dogs were so excited to run around for quite a bit before bedtime. Once we were ready for bed, I crawled in and discovered that I actually had cell phone access here (literally in the absolute middle of no where) and was able to check in with Reg D and my brother.

This was our first solo car camping experience and we loved it.....I forsee many more outings like this in our future!

DAY 2: 

The next morning, the dogs woke up as the sun was rising....apparently they couldn't figure out what it was so they were on alert that it could be an intruder :) We were able to get some sleep during the night though and it was fun having the dogs sleeping alongside me. I seriously was so happy yet again about my Sorento and how well it's served me in various capacities over the last several years.

After getting up and changing, I rearranged the car/bags back to how they usually are...and the dogs and I headed off to Blue Basin. I actually wasn't intending to come to this extra part of the John Day Fossil Bed area but Reg D suggested it earlier on Day 1 and since he generally knows my interests, I figured I'd check it out. It was about a 40 minute drive to get there with the sun continuing to rise over the hill sides and just continuing to be in awe with the landscape. Blue Basin was definitely worth the trip and the 3.25 mile hike was so gorgeous. There are so many various colored rocks and it's so crazy to think of the history contained in this fossil region. (Apparently this area used to have its own version of a saber-toothed tiger even!) 

The above picture shows the Blue Basin (appears white or green) with additional "painted hills" in the background right side and just the amazing terrain as it continues beyond. SO beautiful!

This area also has Oregon's version of Arizona's Cathedral Rock. I had intended to try to see this and I'm so glad that Blue Basin was so amazing, because Cathedral Rock wasn't as impressive as the real thing :)

It was also on this day as the dogs were getting out of the car at Blue Basin that I noticed that Anna had punctured her upper right leg somehow. It wasn't gushing blood and she wasn't overly phased by it so we went on the hike anyway and I continued to check on it as the day progressed....

We stopped at Smith Rock (above) which is pretty popular these days in Oregon. I was trying to decide if we could hike part of it, but after checking out the upper trail from the parking lot (and the fact that the park itself was more packed than I'd ever seen it) I decided that this was a hike that should be done on a different day and probably sans dogs. It's definitely beautiful to look at though and I was glad that we'd stopped to check it out.......and glad to have driven through the back farm roads to get there :)

One of the other reasons I'd been contemplating a trip to Central Oregon was to see an old college friend of mine who I hadn't seen in several years. En route to Bend, I stopped for coffee and a scone, saline and gauze for Anna's wound, and then since I still had more time I drove up to Pilot Butte (in the above picture) to look at Bend with the mountains in the back ground. I'm like a broken record but.....SO gorgeous! :) 

My gal Erin is married to her middle school love and they have four hilarious kiddos. It was so great to eat lunch with all of them on their back patio, catch up with my gal, and have the dogs be loved on and entertained by the three boys. (I also owe it to Erin big time as she let me stop back by on Day 3 to finally shower for the first time in several days :))

From their house I drove to REI to buy myself a camping hammock (yea for dividends and member coupons!) and then I headed to the high mountain lakes region. The spot that I originally intended to camp at still had the road closed several miles in on the road...so I'll have to come back this summer to backpack a longer trail option there.

At that point I decided to head to the little lake about an hour away where we spread my Poppa's ashes in 2003. I've only been back once or twice so it was probably time for a visit anyway. My grandfather was one of the biggest influences in my life and I'd already spent a lot of time on this trip thinking about him, so it was very fitting to take the dogs to go hang out in this special place. We arrived right at dusk, again granting just enough time to let the dogs run around, get the car set up for the night, and hang out in the hammock with a beer for a bit. Once we crawled in for bed, I spent some time reading this night, but then we all 3 slept amazingly well.

DAY 3:

We again woke up with the sun and the dogs were excited to run around the campsite. (Two thumbs up that we had this campsite to ourselves as well!) This was the first day that I actually used my backpacking stove to make oatmeal for breakfast and some coffee. (I'm getting pretty excited about what this car camping means in terms of more luxuries...like real breakfasts, extra food stuffs, etc :)) I honestly really didn't want to leave this spot, so we spent about an hour and a half just enjoying being there, soaking up the views, enjoying the wildlife, and just generally appreciating the amazing weekend that we'd been having. 

About 8 we drove to a nearby trailhead to explore a suggestion made by my gal Erin. Ironically the lake she had suggested for me to head toward ended up being about a mile from Poppa's spot, and it made for a great morning hike up to it...and will probably make a great backpacking option. I wasn't really sure if the trail we were on was the right one, but eventually we did discover that it indeed led to the lake she had mentioned...and that the lake was as clear and spectacular as she had made it out to be. After snapping lots of pictures, we continued on for another mile just enjoying being on trail and finally finding some patches of snow :)

After coming back off trail, I stopped by Erin's for that shower and then we headed back toward Salem in order to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday :) I did stop in Sisters for coffee, lunch, and an attempt at what used to be the most amazing huckleberry milkshake stand (unfortunately it appears to be closed now).

The views on the drive back continued to be incredible......all the way til I made it back over the pass and returned to the rain of the valley :) The drive itself was really enjoyable though as I stumbled upon some old mixed CDs from old friends and loves, and it was highly entertaining to travel back down various memory lanes. 

Altogether an amazing trip...and a hard one to adjust to being back actually. Usually I'm not one to bemoan the end of vacation, but the first two mornings back in my own bed seemed dismal compared to the fun of waking up and staring straight out into a day of amazing views, trails, and new sights ahead. Already planning our return trip however...... :)

Ending November with Miles & Major Smiles!

Seriously, the end of this weekend has been A-Ma-Zing! 

Saturday's Training Run:

9 miler from Sellwood Park along the east side of the river, across Hawthorne Bridge, along the west side and through the waterfront development area, down Macadam, and across the Sellwood Bridge where these pictures were taken. It was hailing when I left lunch at my cousin's, but Amy and I had a chilly yet beautiful afternoon jog! Hoping to make a full 11-mile loop next weekend, but I felt good enough that I could have run the full half during this training run.

I spent the rest of yesterday evening getting the chickens settled for the cold weather, taking care of things around the house, reading through a few magazines for fun, and then finished my online grading.

This morning's Ugly Sweater 5k along the waterfront:

Seriously was a lot of fun albeit icy in spots and chilly. Brady and I kept the pace relaxed and the four of us pretty much jogged together for the whole thing. It was so good to see the other two in our group, catch up on their lives, and talk about other race options coming up. The volunteers they had cheering at the event were so fun, we all got new beanies, cocoa post-race, and beers/cider. For a $35 entrance, I really have to give it up to this event--so much fun and definitely got us ready for some holiday cheer! :)

Post-race I was supposed to meet up with one of my favorite gals for happy hour but her family and her weren't feeling well......and I'd heard there was good snow on the mountain yesterday....and the sun was shining.....so even though the weather report said C-O-L-D, I gobbled up some Thanksgiving leftovers, quickly showered from the run, and loaded the dogs and I up in our winter gear to head to one of our favorite mountain trails......

G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S! Absolutely amazing. The snow wasn't thick enough yet to need the snowshoes so eventually I just shoved them into my pack but the powder was so incredibly beautiful, the dogs and I were all smiles, and there were so many moments when I thought to myself "wow, this is my every day existence....it's pretty incredible all things considering....."

The beauty of arriving at the trailhead at 2pm on a Sunday? Afternoon sun peeking through...and not another soul on trail....just the way we like it :)

Look at the snow stuck to her muzzle! My new coat and pants were absolutely perfect...it was so cold that I even had multiple layers under both, two pairs of warm socks, my thickest winter gloves, and a beanie!

Roxi's attempt at her snow angel...she loves to roll around on her back in the snow :)

Pano of Lower Twin Lake. The sun was just about to set so we turned back here.

SO cold that my still damp hair froze also!

The sun set behind the trees on our way down trail.... the views were amazing and even the photos could never truly capture the beauty of it all...

Once we loaded back in, I drove over to another one of my favorite snowshoe spots to check out the depth there and to catch a few last moments of light on the mountain. 

SUCH an incredibly beautiful end to the long weekend...and truly made me realize how much these parts of my life bring such joy & happiness to who I am. THIS is the life I want and love to live.

And I even still got my homework done...and a homecooked meal in! :)

Hometown Beach Run

My father's predictions of the weather are rarely off, but this morning luckily the sun showed it's face much longer than predicted. While the dogs and I had already put in some decent mileage Thursday, I decided that we needed to embrace the good weather and also do some mileage along the beach shores. Horsefall beach is more of your "true" beach with long open, flat coastline perfect for running and while I was in high school, they'd truck us athletes out for training by having us run mileage down the shore. Back in those days, 17 minutes one way was killer and I was counting down the minutes til we could turn around and head back to the bus :)

Today however was gorgeous:

With barely any other souls on the beach (although we did come across a handful of ATVers), the dogs had a blast just running free and we ended up going farther than I originally intended.

We ran until mile 4.4 where there was a sign posted for "no motorized vehicles, dogs, or kites beyond this point" and some big antenna were located there. I'd stopped to look for whole sand dollars and shells a couple times en route to the turn around (and did lots of processing of thoughts regarding dating, life, etc at this point as well) but we averaged a 9:44 or 10 minute pace into the wind. I knew my watch was about dead (and I left the charger in Portland), so was just hopeful that I'd make it close to the beach access spot where we'd parked before it finally shut off. (It died a mile out from the end which was good enough in my book!)

With the wind pushing us on and the sun on our faces, our return pace was 8:34 min/miles. With the tide coming back in, several times we ended up running through gentle waves, especially when I got hit by a decent sized one when I turned to wave to a passing ATV rider! :) About mile 6ish and once I'd no longer been looking, I glanced down at my feet and there it was...my almost perfect sand dollar. I scooped it up and held it gently in my free hand as we made the final distance back in. The timing of noticing it was perfect to the thought that had just passed through my mind....and I couldn't help but think to myself...."There it is, there's my heart (and my sign)...and solid and full it is...." There's a tiny, tiny hole but it's more than good enough for my liking.

And now, it's joined the other shells and collected items that reside in my car where they continually remind me of that which matters...the little natural, simple elements of life....that frequently appear just when we stop striving and pushing to make it so. 

Feb's Oregon Outdoor Beauty Weekend

This particular weekend is one of those perfect Oregon outdoor advertisements. The opportunity to easily access so many outdoor options within hours of each other is one of Oregon's greatest marketing features.

16 mile Storey Burn & University Falls Loops:

Dogs exploring a random waterfall/creek run-off crossing the trail

Sunbeams through the woods on a beautiful section of trail

An open view of the forest & hills in the distance

Crossing under the highway overpass

A change in the terrain and creek run-off

Crossing the Tillamook River

The dogs & I at University Falls

Pictures of the maps to help guide me

The Storey Burn Loop was a trail outing I had been wanting to cover for a month or two and finally was able to arrange time to conquer toward the end of February. I felt good toward the end of the loop, so I decided to cover more mileage and tack on the University Falls Loop I had done before. I hadn't been able to sleep much the last few days prior to this so I felt like pushing myself to exertion would encourage my body to sleep (plus I also wanted to see if I would feasibly be able to make the 30 mile hike the next weekend). The Storey Burn Trail was absolutely gorgeous this time of year and University Falls was even more swollen than usual. Although not as picturesque as the Gorge, the Storey Burn trail would be a great one to take out of town visitors on.

After the hike, I decided to change clothes and since we were 35 minutes from the beach and my heart had been craving my home environment for weeks, I decided to drive the dogs and I over for sunset and a bit of a beach stroll. Sometimes I just crave an extra dose of spontaneity and its nice to indulge it as well. Luckily I was able to raise my body core back up (which tends to be a problem post work-out and leaves my extremities white and numb thanks to Raynaud's! :)), I looked up the closest beach access, found a tiny market deli where I could purchase some calories (chicken salad sandwich and a PBR!), and navigated the dogs and I onto the sand. My legs were still in tact to manage a bit of a stroll down the beach, so I scarfed down the sandwich and let the dogs roam as we strolled, before settling in on a log to take it the amazing views before me:

Seriously an amazingly fulfilling day!

Twin Lakes Snowshoe Loop

Not to be outdone by the day before, I decided to head up to the mountain on Sunday to get some snowshoe mileage in. I still hadn't slept well but after stretching out my calves, my legs felt good enough to get in another outing. We'd finally been having some good snow and the day was to be sunny as well. This trail is one I have done many times before but the other trail heads I tried were incredibly full and always make me nervous as to how many dogs I'm going to have to navigate Roxi by :)

The day was seriously beautiful, the dogs couldn't believe their good fortune at trail, sand, and snow all in one weekend, and the snow was set enough that I actually only put my snowshoes on once I hit the powder on the backside of upper Twin Lake (about 3-4 miles in).

Lower Twin Lake

Upper Twin Lake w Mt Hood peaking

Drenched from the snow melt crashing from the trees above trail and knee deep in snow in stretches of the back side :)

Seriously an amazing weekend full of Oregon outdoor beauty and adventure, happy outdoor smiles, and  finally sleeping like a baby on Sunday!

Early 2014 Tillamook Forest Outings

January's chilly and quick Rogers Camp Loop trail run/hiking loop:

This trail partially follows ATV routes and treks along a shooting range, so it's not the most peaceful but it was a good trail run option as I raced against the short window before the sun set. I also discovered University Falls...picture to post in a subsequent hike.

Gayle's Creek Trailhead:

Beautiful day trying out a new trail. LOTS of downhill to begin with to get down to the main Gayle's Creek trail (which meant lots of uphill back to the car). This was more of an exploratory hike to see what this newer stretch might be like, and to soothe my soul a bit in nature. (These are also highly used mountain biking trails.)

Attempt to cover more of Gayle's Creek in mid Feb:

My original intent this day had been to cover 8-10 miles snowshoeing but then I decided I didn't want to spend the gas money to get to Mt Hood...and then was surprised to discover so much left over snow still in Tillamook Forest. I took the Gayle's Creek Trail again and at the split off stayed on Gayle's Creek as it looked to be less slipperly than trying to accomplish part of the other loop trail option. The dogs and I continued on for mileage jumping over (and building stick bridges across) water over the trail like above, until I came across water on the trail that wasn't going to be easy to go around or through. Altogether it was still a great outing. Still hoping to get back to knock the rest of this trail off the Tillmook Forest check-list!