Category Archives: Pacific Northwest Outdoors

STORMIN’ ON THE CENTRAL OREGON COAST

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cape perpetua
Wave churns into the Good Fortune Cove near Cook’s Chasm with the headland of Cape Perpetua rising beyond.

The Oregon Coast is a scenic wonderland long discovered by tourists.  Many tourists take in the long coastline in one long excursion up or down US 101.  While continually spectacular, that is like Americans “seeing” Europe in one or two weeks.  The history and geography of the coast is better taken in parts.  Clatsop County in the north is very different from Lincoln in the middle and Coos and Curry Counties in the south. This trip we travelled to the Central Oregon Coast – Lincoln County, basing ourselves in the county seat of Newport. 

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RAIN AND COVID? TIME TO BIRDWATCH AT RIDGEFIELD!

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Rain is an all too common factor in Pacific Northwest winters. Grey days can go on for weeks at a time. The rain does not fall in huge dumps, but tends to lightly fall for much of the day. Short grey wet days. Cabin fever. No mountains to climb, so what to do? Then add on top of it the COVID pandemic. Perfect time to go birdwatch at Ridgefield!

A rainy day at Rest Lake along the Auto Tour Route at the River “S” Unit at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.
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BARRETT SPUR REVEALING THE ICY SIDE OF MT HOOD

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Barrett Spur rises to the left of the 7,300 foot saddle with the north face of Mt Hood beyond.

Barrett Spur is one of my favorite places on Mount Hood. While some prefer Cooper Spur and others Cathedral Ridge, for me, it is the Spur.

The Spurt is a little bit difficult to reach both due to the altitude you gain and the route condition near the top.  But your jaw drops with the incredible views of the glaciers pouring down off the north side of the old volcano.

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HINDU SANCTUARY IN THE TUALATIN MOUNTAINS FOCUS ON DIFFERENT PATHS TO THE SAME GOAL

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Sunlight filters through the trees along the Shrine Path high among the Tualatin Mountains.

“BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME”

“Build it and he will come”.  So, intones the voice of Shoeless Jackson to the Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Costner in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. The quote often remembered wrongly as “Build it and they will come”. The film was a version of W.P. Kinsella’s novel Shoeless Jackson. In this case, we will choose the more popular interpretation which better describes this Hindu sanctuary high in the Tualatin Mountains just north of Portland. A retreat pointing towards a universal message of different paths leading to the same goal.

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THE WORLD GETS SMALLER WITH 360 CAMERAS AND DRONES

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Recent advances with the advent of 360 cameras, smartphones and drones with superb photographic and video capabilities are making it much easier to tell your story or create your epic film in more unique ways.

Enter into 360° Photography

I have been using a 360 camera for a little more than a year now.  The results are pretty cool even considering the optical disparities involved with a fisheye lens – or double fisheye lens in the case of a 360 picture.

Note: for the 360 photos, to take full advantage, click and drag your mouse to see the whole picture. This one shows two old squash players atop the magnificent Rotenfels high above the Nahe River in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany near Bad Kreuznach.

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DOUBLE TROUBLE ON CHINIDERE PEAK

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Panorama from atop Chinidere Mountain looking southeast to west.

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Wahtum Lake on the left, then Mt Hood; Indian Mountain is in the center; on the right is some of the fire burned areas of the upper Eagle Creek Canyon with Tanner Peak.

Native Beginnings – reaching out to Tomlike and Chinidere

Tomlike and Chinidere are two peaks on the agenda for today’s hike -. Tomlike was the son of Wasco Chief Chinidere in times long before now. Chinidere lies at the end of a small, steep spur trail going off the Pacific Crest Trail – PCT – while Tomlike is at the end of a long bootpath through some brush, atop some cliffs and up over scree boulders. This is probably the fifth time I have been up here wandering on these mountains and the day was superb.

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