Tag Archives: 360 camera

CATHEDRAL RIDGE – RELIGION FOUND HIGH ON MT HOOD 7/29/2019

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Up Cathedral Ridge to the summit of Mt Hood. Sandy Glacier on the right.

Original Timberline Trail was to cross to ridge on right – Yocum – from here.

In the beginning

I had been up to the base of Cathedral Ridge once before, but that was many years ago. With my new little toy – a 360-degree camera – it was time to go up for another view of Hood.

I lived on the west side of Portland for many years.  A definite advantage of living on the east side is the commute time to the mountain is so much shorter.  In no time we were at the big parking lot at the Tip Top trailhead with maybe about nine other vehicles.

This is the easiest access to some of the best parts of Mt Hood and it can get crowded.  It was only 8:30 in the morning when we got started, so we did not run across very many people before reaching McNeil Shelter. The rest of the day was different as we passed almost 200 people. Maybe at half of those folks backpacking the Timberline Trail.

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COOPER SPUR, A CLIMB INTO THE CLOUDS – 8/19/2019

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The main climb is lies ahead of the Hiroshima Rock.

The Idea forms

We met an aspiring couple on top of Cathedral Ridge training for longer distance events. They mentioned for their money the views from Cooper Spur were the best on Mt Hood they had seen.  I have been past the Cooper Spur shelter several times as well as playing in the crevasses of Eliot Glacier, but have never gone up on the top of the Spur so, with a friend in tow, off we went. Thankful it was his car taking the beating on the washboarded road up and not mine.

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MOUNT MARGARET – ON THE BOUNDARY OF MT ST HELENS

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Written after a hike to Mount Margaret on the Boundary Trail in 2019 from a series of hikes up into the Cascades. It was a very good summer in there were no complications from forest fires which seem to mar things in August and early September in recent years.

Lakes mount margaret boundary trail
Lakes and the Backcountry near Mount Margaret from the Boundary Trail.

BOUNDARY TRAIL

Save the best for last? Mount Margaret lies along the Boundary Trail, the 53
mile trail running from Johnstone Observatory in the Mt St Helens Volcanic National
Monument to Mt Adams. The trail was built in 1910 to service fire
lookouts on the border between the forest reserves of the Cowlitz – to the
north – and the Lewis – to the south.

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BAD KREUZNACH – REMEMBER AND RETURN TO THE NAHETAL

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2018 panorama over Bad Kreuznach from the Kauzenburg.

The Nahe Canyon leading to Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg is on the right.

Bad Kreuznach – Bad “K” or just “BK” to most former Americans living here – was and is a wonderful town to be introduced into culture beyond America.  Who says you can’t go back?  I lived and worked here for three years back in the 1980’s, a time of strong US dollars and a last fling of Cold War uncertainty. 

Today’s blog is a simple chance to amble down through the mists of my time and a chance to update photographic memories of a part of Germany flying under the radar of the Viking longboat cruisers.

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LIONS VISION CLINIC IN ALBANIA

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ashraf 3 last clinic
Last morning of Lions Vision clinics at Ashraf 3, Albania.

Lionism is truly a worldwide phenomenon.  My wife and I joined a 36-member Lions In Sight team – composed of 13 doctors and 23 others from all over the US and Canada – that worked at various vision clinics Albania seeing over 7,000 patients during the first week of November 2018.

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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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BILLY GOAT GRUFF ON TOP OF THE SILVER STAR – 6/10/2019

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Looking from the south peak of Silver Star Mountain

Silver Star, Mt St Helens, Rainier Adams and Hood with the ridge running from Silver Star to Old Baldy.

The Silver Star

Silver Star is very visible from east Portland in the southern Washington Cascades. People rave about the views over the flower gardens along Ed’s Trail coming in on the north side. The approach road there is the crux of the hike. Your car makes it, or it does not. There are decent displays coming up on the Grouse Vista Trail – an old jeep road, like Ed’s. You don’t have that awful washed out road to deal with either.

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DOUBLE TROUBLE ON CHINIDERE PEAK

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Panorama from atop Chinidere Mountain looking southeast to west.

Your subtitle here

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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GEMS ON THE HEART OF THE BOUNDARY TRAIL

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View north from to Mt Rainier from the top of Badger Peak – site of a former fire lookout.

Mosquito Flats to the Boundary Trail

Because I have wanted to hike in this area of the Boundary Trail for years now. The whole 53 miles of the Boundary Trail cover a lot of interesting country. Now, I like to cherry pick trails with a light daypack, so I picked what looked to be the most interesting section between Badger Peak and Craggy Peak, the gems of the Boundary. A long drive up the Lewis River highway from I-5 at Woodland and around the east side of Mt St Helens started things off (doesn’t Forest Highway 25 seem to be getting worse every year?). I was on the trail a little after 9am.

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WHAT IS ABOVE PARADISE? Truth or …? 9-7-2019

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Clouds gather around the upper reaches of Mt Hood. From top of Paradise Park looking to the southwest side of Mt Hood. Prominent rock on the left is the Queen’s Throne.

Clouds on this day, I am afraid. But does Paradise wait on the other side?

BEGINNINGS

My hope was to hike from Timberline Lodge through to Paradise Park and go above, off trail to explore the old airplane crash on top of Mississippi Head. From the Head, I would ascend higher to get above the head of Zigzag Canyon. Next, over to the ski lifts above Timberline to descend back to the car. This hike would be the last of several I did this summer around different sections of the mountain – McNeil Point, Cooper Spur and Cathedral Ridge.

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