Week May 14, 2018

Tuesday, May 15, Ivars.

Distance: 2.8 miles
Time:        1 hour
Load:         None
Elevation Gain:  400 feet (Conservative, and based on up and down contours of the climb)

Vertically compressed chart of hike showing elevation gain and pace.

Wednesday, May 16, Ivars.

Time:        1 Hour
Distance:  3.2 miles
Load:         None
Elevation Gain:  400 feet

Friday, May 18, Meadowdale Beach Park with Joan Tito

Distance:  2.5 miles
Load:         20-pound vest on ascent
Elevation Gain:  425 feet

Path of Meadowdale Beach Park hike

The Path of the hike was framed by green spring foilage.

Sunday, May 20, Tiger Three Trail

Two trees on a cool overcast day: one with a root ball exposed, the other bent by slope slippage.

Distance:  6 miles round trip
Time:        3 hours (2 mph average)
Load:         Light pack, no more than 9 pounds
Elevation Gain:  2,000 feet

Stats, year to date:

Distance:             96.7 miles
Elevation gain:   24,315 feet

Smith Rock

Smith Rock State Park near Redmond OR is an impressive setting that draws hikers and climbers.

Reflections from home -- Smith Rock State Park was the fitting end to a road trip that began April 30 in Woodinville WA, passed through Richland WA, McCall ID, Redmond and Portland OR, the Mount St. Helens national park, and finally back to Woodinville. With the national park not yet open, Smith Rock became the highlight of the trip. I will return here for the hiking trails and the stunning scenery, and for the purpose of learning how to deal with my discomfort on trails close to steep descents. The image below shows the extent of my ascent up Misery Trail before I lost my nerve and turned back to walk along the River.

Looking down from a 200-foot ascent above the river, I lost my nerve and followed the river instead.

My path down to the river, up the other side, and then along the river before returning to my car amounted to barely 2 miles. The total ascendancy was barely an easy 350 feet. I decided to come back and hike again when not encumbered with a swinging camera and a large backpack. I didn't feel a sense of balance. I want to try the trail again, more lightly accoutred and with trekking poles deployed for balance. And if I ever had any doubts, I'm certain I will never descend the Grand Canyon. This is a link to details about hikes in the park.

Other sights this day:

Stats for the day:

Distance hiked: 2 miles
Load: 18 pounds
Elevation Gain: 350 feet

Year to date:

Distance: 82.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 21,090 feet

Pilot Butte

The climb for Pilot Butte, Bend, OR, starts at 3,000 feet and climbs to 3,480 feet in one mile.

May 9, 2018 -- Pilot Butte is a 480-foot high cinder cone that erupted approximately 190,000 years ago, piling glowing cinders hundreds of feet deep over a period of a few months to perhaps two years. The location is now a park, flanked by a subdivision and a school playground.

The heavily-used trail includes benches for a rest during the climb.

My hiking companion, Tammi Hermann, rested and shot a photo of the valley below.

Under a bright sun, a cool breeze wafted over the butte from snow-capped mountains to the west.

Among the many Juniper trees on the trail to the top was this dead snag.

The red line shows our route to the top. The other line shows where vehicles ascend.

Stats for the day:

Distance: 2 miles

Elevation gain: 480 feet

Stats for the year:

Distance to date: 80.2 miles

Elevation gain to date: 17,590 feet

Deschutes River. Boyd Cave

Today Tammi and I hiked along the Deschutes River and then explored Boyd Cave, a lava cave near Bend, OR. We didn't track mileage or elevation gain, so stats to date remain the same. Photos follow.

This bridge over a quiet stretch of the Deschutes River leads to Benham Falls 

Benham Falls is anything but quiet.

Tammi Learned not to hang your glasses on your shirt when leaning over a raging torrent.

The river calmed down considerably after this passage.

I shot this photo because nature had already created it.

In the open land adjacent to China Hat Road there was this staircase . . .

The chill air rushing up from this void  can be felt before you reach the staircase.

A view from within Boyd Cave, a lava tunnel that stretches for a mile. (Click link.)

Tammi shot a photo of the staircase.

An attempt to begin showing the dimensions of the cave.

Me, with headlamp. (Photo by Tammi Hermann)

Stats for the year:

Distance to date: 78.2 miles
Elevation gain to date: 17,110 feet

Tumalo Falls, Bend OR

Sky view a the third waterfall, starting with Tumalo Falls, Bend OR

May 7, 2018 -- Map My Hike has been giving me  problems lately in terms of preserving and displaying results.In recent tries, the data just arrived slowly via  Internet. Today it seems to have been lost. Based on an altimeter app and the distance figures provided on my droid phone after competing the hike, I believe Tammi and I hiked at least two miles for a 300-foot-plus elevation gain. Not a strenuous hike, but we were needing a break and the scenery was impressive.

First the 100-foot waterfalls photographed many times, including the time in the photograph below.

The 200-foot Tumalo Falls

Downstream from the falls the water remains turbulent and swift.

The distance view above suggests the falls plummet; they actually shoot out.

The trail is pretty gentle, climbing through a pine forest with remnants of snow on the path in places and the roar of Tumalo Creek always present, even when it is out of sight in what is sometimes a steep and deep defile.

The pines, although short on greenery, diffuse and gentle the sunlight.

An abundance of ground water keeps the trail green.

Tammi perches over the second falls for a closer view.

Tammi next to the third falls.

Stats for the day:

Distance: 2 miles

Elevation gain: at least 300 feet

Stats for the year:

Distance to date: 78.2 miles

Elevation gain to date: 17,110 feet

Rapid River, Riggins ID

A narrow path, wide enough for a single pack horse, on the narrow defile for Rapid River

Riggins, ID -- The path that follows Rapid River provided the most interesting hike of this week: Bear hunters, a pack train, possibly gold, and some trees singed from tip to trunk from at least one lightning strike. My companion, Tammi, and I hiked for more than 5.5 miles and may have had an altitude gain of more than 1,000 feet, but we have to almost settle for the certainty of 300, although it seemed like a lot more. The fact that the path is like a roller coaster that rises and drops while it follows the river upstream is justification enough to claim another 100 feet for a total of 400 for the day.

Sometimes the path is bounded by an abrupt dropoff on one side and a steep wall on the other.

There were places where layers of rotten rock seemed eager to slip.

With a wall to her back, Tammi paused to view the white water rushing past.

White water streams through a narrow defile and under the first of three foot bridges.

At other points the river broadens out and there are banks and quiet pools.

In still water bordering one sandy bank there were specs of glitter. Is this gold?

Four horses -- one heavily laden -- and three riders. Hikers step off the trail to let them pass.

At the beginning of the hike there were two gentlemen dressed in camouflage who disclosed that they were hunting bear. The meat isn't necessarily prized, but with treatment, it's edible, they said. After encountering several hikers accoutered for different levels of outdoor adventure, we encountered a train of horses. The final of three riders had a rifle holster and a quiver of long arrows. They looked like they, too, were hunters, but we also imagined they might be prospectors. Do the flakes of gold get larger upriver?

The bark of this tree was heavy with soot. It had been struck by lightning, possible recently.

Not all of the path involved only narrow foot trails.

We also encountered balsamroot, something I hadn't seen since visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming,

Stats for the day:

Distance: 5.5 miles
Load: 20 pound backpack
Elevation gain: At least 300 feet; probably 500-600 feet; maybe 1,000 feet, based on claims that Map My Hike keeps track of all ascending parts of the hike. I'll settle for 400 feet.

Stats for the year:

Distance to date: 76.2 miles
Elevation gain to date: 16,810 feet