Everything changes, constantly moving. Rivers continuously flow downstream, across landscapes, and through channels carved by their own persistent forces. Our lives are equally dynamic, as we follow our own course through time. When I started writing this blog over 10 years ago, it was from a very different place in the course of my life, and a very different landscape. I was raising young ...
Adventures
The High Divide
My parents have always been great adventurers. They backpacked all over the Olympic National Park in the 70's before I was born, and I always enjoy looking through the photo albums of all the places they explored. This is one of my favorite photos of them on the High Divide looking out at Mt. Olympus and the headwaters of the Hoh River. My Dad asked me to needlefelt the photo for my Mom's ...
Mount St. Helens: A Backpacking Adventure
For our family vacation this year, we decided to explore a little closer to home, and spend some time at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. It erupted just a few weeks before I was born, so this is a place I've had the opportunity to watch grow and change throughout my lifetime. It's a place of constant renewal, where you can keep going back again and again, seeing completely new things ...
Canoeing Clear Lake
This past Sunday, I was finally able to check "canoe around Clear Lake" off my bucket list. The headwaters of the McKenzie is known for crystal clear waters with views of the bottom of the lake in many places, and while still very amazing to take in from hiking around the shore, is reported to be nothing short of spectacular from watercraft. Having been without any sort of watercraft for the past ...
Spring on the Quinault River
There is a vitality in rivers that becomes more visible with the emergence of spring. The willows budding out on the banks, birds singing in the brush, and water rushing down from the snow melt all convey a sense of waking up from a state of rest. Right about this time of year, I'm feeling it too, as I start spending more time outdoors, digging in to preparations for a new growing season. Right ...
Clear Lake on a Cloudy Day
On the weekend after Thanksgiving, we decided to take a break from building the chicken coop and get out on a hike. I had been seeing everyone's amazing pictures for #Optoutside on Black Friday, and was feeling a little jealous while I was stuck inside working. I had always wanted to explore the trail around Clear Lake, the headwaters of the McKenzie River. Aside from admiring photography other ...
Girard Ridge Lookout Tower
There is no room with a view that can top a fire lookout tower. We have quite a few of them around Oregon available for rent through the Forest Service that I have enjoyed over the years, but I had never visited one in another state. When we started planning our trip down to Yosemite, we found one in California that seemed like a good stopping point for the drive back. I had never really explored ...
Backpacking Ostrander Lake
When visiting National Parks, I have found that spending some time in the backcountry is the way to go for many reasons. Having heard all kinds of things about Yosemite's crowds and campgrounds you need to reserve a year or more ahead, I planned our time in the park around backpacking. Even though I made the backcountry reservation several months ahead, things were already pretty filled up ...
Yosemite
One day I woke up and realized my kids had become teenagers before my very eyes, and we were long overdue for a family vacation. When I asked them where they wanted to go, they said "Yosemite", and since I hadn't been there in about 30 years, it seemed like I was long overdue for a trip there. We picked out a few other things we wanted to do between here and California, like visit a fire lookout ...
Blue Moon
Blue Moon: A second full moon that appears during a calendar month. We decided to take a little excursion Friday night and drove up to a viewpoint to observe July's blue moon over the Cascades. There had been quite a bit of discussion amongst friends as to what a blue moon means. As it turns out, blue moons are not actually blue, and it is suggested that the word "blue" was substituted for an ...