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 ...
Backpacking
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 ...
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 ...
Snowshoe Backpacking at Maxwell Butte
One of the things I enjoy most about living in the Willamette Valley is the ability to be up in the mountains or down by the ocean all within an hour's drive. It keeps a good balance of snow and sand in one's life throughout the year. Upon returning from our week long Redwoods road trip to the coast, my partner and I headed out for another adventure with some friends to spend the night in a ...
Backpacking Carl Lake
For my last backpacking hurrah of the season, I headed up with some friends to Carl Lake in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness last month. September is such a golden, wonderful time to get up into the mountains. The days are perfectly sunny and warm, and the nights crisp and clear but not too cold. I am often so busy with harvesting, gleaning, gardening and preparing for winter that I have rarely ...
Backpacking Vulcan Lake
Nestled at the foot of a peak high in the mountains of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in Southern Oregon's coast range, lies a turquoise blue jewel of a lake, and one of the finest backpacking destinations I've had the pleasure of visiting. I discovered Vulcan Lake a few years ago while on a dayhike excursion from Quail Prairie Lookout Tower and decided it was definitely a place I needed to come ...
Backpacking Bullpup Lake
I couldn't even tell you how many hot summer days I spent swimming all day in mountain lakes on backpacking trips when I was growing up, and it is a soul satisfying experience to watch my children do the same thing. We spent the weekend backpacking with a group of friends to a little lake tucked in the forest up the Umpqua River drainage, and aquatic fun abounded. I always enjoy getting folks out ...
Backpacking Shi Shi Beach: A Tidepool Odyssey
Washington's Olympic Peninsula was a wonderful place to grow up, and although I now call the Willamette Valley of Oregon my home, I love heading north for trips to visit all of my favorite places with my children. On our trip in June we met up with my parents for a backpacking trip to Shi-Shi Beach out on the section of coastline that is part of the Olympic National Park. We used to do this hike ...
Backpacking the South Fork Hoh River, Mama Bear Style
I recall some chapter headings in Jean Craighead George's Book, My Side of the Mountain, to the effect of "In which I Capture and Tame a Falcon" and "In Which I Build my Shelter in a Tree." In keeping with that theme, the title of this chapter in my life's story would be something like "In Which I Take Three Children Backpacking By Myself in a Remote River Valley, Scare Off a Bear, Forge ...
April Backpacking in the Oregon Dunes
I can't recall an April backpacking trip that wasn't characterized by being wet, so when planning a spring break backpacking trip with my kids and friends, I prepared for rain. We brought tarps, we brought ridiculous amounts of spare socks and pants, we brought books and things to pass the hours sitting inside the tent, we picked a hike in the sand dunes figuring the water would seep down into the ...