The Oregon Trail

Berry Picking

2008-08-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

Fuji Mountain Hike

2008-07-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

Bend Elks Game

2008-07-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

Honeymoon Part 3: Santorini

2008-06-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

Honeymoon Part 2: Crete

2008-06-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Honeymoon part 1: Athens

2008-06-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Our American Wedding

2008-06-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Our Cambodian Wedding

2008-06-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

Meissner Snow Park Snowshoe excursion

2008-01-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

Elevation: 5,350 feet in elevation, with a bit of a gain up to Meissner Shelter.
Rated: Easy to moderate.
Trail distance: 3¼ mile loop.

After a short hiatus from outdoor adventures, Keo and I decided to try a winter activity for a change. Both of us are not really fans of the cold or snow for that matter but we decided its about time we tried something new. So we headed down to our local REI store and picked up some snowshoes and snow pants. We already had trekking poles from our summer hikes and winter boots. We bought our snow park pass and a bagel and headed out into the blizzard. About 20 minutes outside of Bend on Cascade Highway there several snow parks including MT Bachelor ski resort. We decided to try the first park we saw. Meissner Snow Park was created by a Bend Native years ago who used to teach nordic skiing.

We chose to do the full Meissner snow loop. Half-way through there is a shelter that has a wood burning stove to warm up for a few minutes before heading back to the trail head. The trail is 3 1/4 miles long. It took us a couple of hours to do.

Most of the way we followed the trail except for one part. Somehow we missed a bend in the trail and ended up blazing our own trail. The snow was newly fallen powder whiteness, real deep, up to your waist snow if you sink all the way down. It was quite nerve-racking to me because I for one do not believe we could actually live through a night spent in the high cascade mountains in a snow storm, but Keo remained confident and calm. He led us back to the trail eventually. At one point I looked back behind us and we actually had people following our newly created trail. I was like "great now we are leading other people off the trail and to almost certain death". Can you tell I'm not a fan of getting stuck camping in the snow. Anyways we made it back to the trail and continued on.

Eventually after some up hill climbs we made it to the Meissner Shelter... A fabulous site indeed. We had made it! Woohoo! The shelter was good size for being out in the middle of the forest in the mountains. The wood-burning stove was going strong and the shelter was filled by Snowshoers and Nordic skiers. I was pretty impressed by what people had brought with them. One group popped a cork on a wine bottle and brought an entire picnic set up with glasses and everything. Other people were munching on their trail mix. After a short break we headed out into the blizzard again destination: trail head. With the wind and snow whipping our faces we made it back to the trail head and our car. Packed up and headed home. Good first snowshoe trip accomplished! Now homeward bound for some Chili and cornbread.

South Sister

2007-08-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

South Sister Trail. 12 miles total, just over 10 hours. totally difficult. 4900 feet elevation gain.
I have to say that this hike is the single most physically challenging thing we have EVER done in our lives. Writing this post the day after... I have never been in so much pain..all over body pain. Now for the hike summary.

10,360 feet

We woke up early.. 6:10 to be exact. had breakfast and set out on Cascade Lakes HWY to the Devil's Lake Trail Head. 2 hours later after breakfast, showers and the drive we arrived at the trail head. We had no idea what we were in for. Surprisingly this trail is extremely popular even though it is very difficult. 10 year olds were kicking our butts on the way up. The trail gave you no gradual entrance, it was uphill the first 1.5 miles, 1250 feet elevation gain through a pine forest. Once we were above the tree line it leveled off somewhat for about 1.8 miles. It was during this part we could see our destination, the summit up ahead.

The next section was just over 1 mile with 1600 feet elevation gain through rugged gray cinder to a glacial pool. This part was difficult. I apparently was ill-prepared and did not wear the appropriate socks. About half-way up the incline I began to feel a great deal of pain on my heel. We paused for a few minutes and I removed my hiking boots. On my left heel I had a disgusting quarter-sized already popped blister. It was so painful, we almost turned around. Keo handed me a piece of gauze and a poster sized bandage. Keo is so wonderful, he handed me his extremely padded socks that he was wearing. I refused at first because I felt bad but he insisted. I don't know what I would do with out him. I handed him my socks and we continued on.

Once we got to the glacial pond, our biggest challenge was apparent. The trail continued up a giant red cinder cone. The trail just barely grazing the cliffs edge.

It was at this point our bodies were at the point of exhaustion, but we continued on because the point was to get to the TOP. It was really very difficult and we are in descent shape. Of course there will always be those people on our hikes in the spandex running shorts sprinting down the trail and this expedition was no different. We must have looked beat because people on the way down kept telling us we were almost there. Finally we arrived at the top. 6 miles and 5.5 hours later. The top was windy and we immediately went from sweat to cold chills. We collapsed onto the first available lava rocks. We were beyond exhaustion at this point. After a rest and some power bars and Gatorade we explored the summit. The crater at the top was full of snow. We walked around the crater and got to see half the state. We headed back down, trekking poles in hand about 1.5 hours later. The trip down was just as treacherous and the wind had picked up. 6 miles later we arrived back at our car, only pausing to snap a shot in the meadow with South Sister behind us... a tremendous feat.

Beer Fest 07

2007-08-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Always a great time. Several small breweries from all over the Northwest gather together in Bend, Oregon's amphitheater to supply thousands of residents with great beer. Part of the proceeds goes towards charity. So why not chug some beer for charity? :) We purchased our plastic 2007 edition Beer mugs to taste our beer along with plenty of wooden tokens. We tasted some good beers and some not so good beers. There was one in particular that had been brewed with pomegranate. After all the tasting I still like Cascade Brewery's Blonde Bombshell, a good old stand by.

First Camping Trip By Ourselves

2007-08-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

Our very first camping trip. I was so excited to finally go camping, I waited all summer long. I finally convinced Keo it would be a good weekend to go. We packed the car Thursday night so that we could leave right after work Friday. We drove around to a few campgrounds outside Sisters, OR, but all sites were either reserved or taken. The campgrounds were also extremely crowded. Then just when we were questioning our spontaneous camping trip we came across Jack Creek Campground. A very secluded camping area next to a babbling creek. Jack Creek was only $10 a night too, perfect! We drove around the loop and chose our site... #9. The camping area only had a few campers too, so it was so quiet and peaceful.

Keo quickly put up our tent while I built our first fire and got dinner together. We had hot dogs the first night with baked beans cooked in the can and about 1,000 toasted marshmallows. We spent the first night sitting in our camp chairs staring at the stars keeping an eye out for shooting star. We fell fast asleep to the sounds of the creek. The next morning after a good nights sleep on our air mattress we built another fire and cooked a delicious breakfast. We had eggs, home fries, toast and BACON! we never have bacon at home!! After breakfast we took off exploring. We drove up to a trail head on top of a mountain and found the mother-load of firewood. No more scavenging for dead wood around campsite woods. The second night was basically a repeat of the first except we had cheese burgers instead of hot dogs. All in all I am looking forward to our next camping trip of the summer.

Broken Top Trail

2007-08-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

8 miles total. 5 hours.
We set out to hike Broken Top. We drove out on a dirt fire road. We started at a trail head to Green Lakes and had to blaze our own trail across a meadow to reach the Broken Top trail. But we made it. This trail brought us right up along side Broken Top, not actually to the summit. We were satisfied though. The nice part was that the trail was not very crowded either.

Doris Lake

2007-07-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

Doris Lake Hike 6 miles

Butterfly.... they were all over the place.

Doris Lake...We have reached our destination.

Keo relaxing

Pretty blue dragon fly

Taking a nap in the sun

The water was surprisingly warm.

Green Lakes via Fall Creek

2007-07-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Moderate. 8.4 miles round trip. 1100 feet elevation gain. 5 hours to complete.
.
A whole day spent in the Green Lakes wilderness. Plus side we found a trail to climb Broken Top! We were stopped by a ranger because we didn't have correct pass......hmmm. walked right by that sign. I guess we'll have to pay more attention next hike.

Some wild vegetation grasses.

Hop skip and a jump and Keo is across the river!

A mountain wild flower.

Waterfall in the woods.

Nice hat Keo! its hot!

Mossy waterfall.

Me in another sitting tree! I always find these weird bent trees!

Another waterfall

Trekking across a log bridge with my brand new trekking poles. that is a creek below me, the water looks so clear it looks like there isn't any water.

Chowing down on lunch. mmmm. Turkey and Cheese

On our way back to the car.....

Green lake with the mountains in the background.

My forest ranger hat. It kept the sun off my face.

Tam McArthur Rim

2007-07-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

July 7th, 2007, 9.4 miles round trip. 1200 feet elevation gain. 5 hours long.

The trail head at 1:45 in the afternoon. The temperature slowly approaching 100 degrees. We ended up hiking way past the end point. The trail kept going...and going...getting faint in some areas but still visible. We hiked until we got to Broken hand, a rock outcrop right next to broken top.

Keo on the edge of the cliff..... where the trail supposedly ended.

Our car is way down there by the edge of the lake. The lake was a beautiful blue-green from so far up.

Broken Top... were almost there! Getting closer.

Me on the edge, wow that is pretty far down!

My sitting tree. How this tree starting growing this weird shape is beyond me.

Finally at Broken Hand. At first we thought the trail continued around the side. And I wanted to try finding a route so we could get closer to Broken Top but it was too dangerous and definitely not worth it. You can see in this shot how faint the trail is. To get to this point we had to scale piles of rocks, luckly our trail finding skills got us back to the main trail.

pic of us in front of middle and north sister.

final pic of us in front of Broken Top. Thank God for auto timer on my camera... otherwise there wouldn't be a picture of the two of us together. As close as we can get to Broken Top until we climb it in August.

Tumalo Mountain

2007-07-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

July 4th, 2007. 3.6 mile round trip.

Keo on his way to the top

View of the Three Sisters

skyline pics of the hills

Crater Lake with Mom and Caral

2007-06-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

Caral, Mom Me and Keo at Crater Lake

Fishing at Lava Lake

2007-06-24T10:11:00.001-07:00

Cascade Lakes

2007-06-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a drive out on Cascade Lakes Hwy. This scenic drive goes through the cascade mountains and around beautiful mountain lakes.

Pic of Devil's Lake, the water was this amazing blue green color.

Baby frog that I found at Devil's Lake. There were hundreds of these guys.

A stream at Sparks Lake

Elk lake, this lake was so shallow you could probably walk across the whole thing

Keo and I infront of Mt. Bachelor and Spaks Lake marsh

View of Broken Top

Fort Rock

2007-05-21T22:02:00.001-07:00

Fort Rock, Ranch Safari, Crack-in-the-ground, Green Mountain

Fort Rock from the road. Fort Rock was formed thousands of years ago when a bubble of molten lava flowed to the surface. It popped out of the ground in the middle of a giant lake. As the lake receded Fort Rock was made visible. In one part of Fort Rock, in a cave, 6,000 year old sandals made out of bark by ancient native americans were found.

Blue desert flower found at hole-in -the-ground.

White Desert flower found at hole-in-the-ground.

Hole-in-the-ground!! the most interesting place on earth!...NOT!

This hole is 2 miles wide. It didn't look like it. But we hiked down into it and it was huge. The hole was created the same way as Fort Rock, A giant bubble of lava.

This path that we hiked down into the hole doesn't look steep but it was! I ended up falling smack on my butt. I guess I need to get some trekking poles...

To get to Derrick cave, we had to go on a ranch safari through some rancher's property. Some of these Steers looked like they wanted to ram our new Highlander. We drove about 6.5 miles into the trail head and there was a giant pine tree that someone had cut and let it fall across the road. We ended up not being able to get to the cave because we couldn't get around the tree.

A quick shortcut up a Green mountain allowed us to drive to crack in the ground. Green Mountain was so beautiful. Compared to the rest of the desert terrain around southeastern Oregon, Green Mountain was surprisingly lush...hence the title I guess. There was an old fire look out on top also.

Keo in our new Toyota Highlander on top of Green Mtn! WooHoo we can now go off road to the trail heads that our car could never make it to. I guarantee that there will be some good posts from now on because of our new SUV.

Crack in the ground rock formation.

Keo sitting on his crack in the crack! hehehe Crack in the ground is 2 miles long. It was created when four buttes in the area erupted with molten lava. The pressure from the four explosions created the crack a few miles away. We hiked up to the top of the crack and walked around. there was no way that anyone would be able to see that it was there unless you were flying overhead. The crack blended in with the desert sagebrush and boulders.

Winner of the strong woman competition! Me holding up some giant boulders.... Actually they were wedged in the crack.

Stay tuned for the Cowboy Dinner Tree restaurant! It was quite an experience!

Alder Springs

2007-05-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

5/12/07 Alder Springs Hike. Hike #31 in Sullivan's. 8 miles round trip. 1600 feet elevation gain.
We almost destroyed the camry by taking her off road to reach this one.

Below: Us trekking up hill at the start of the hike. In the 1990's a hermit bought the tumble weed strewn ranch that included part of this trail. Immediately after purchasing the area the hermit put up signs threatening people to keep their distance. Finally one hiker came across the hermit and found out really why he wanted people to stay away from his property. The hermit had turned the ranch into a meth lab. After the police raided the ranch and destroyed it, the area became known as the Crooked River National Grassland.

The day trip started in Bend with a looming rain storm blowing from the southwest. We packed our rain coats and cliff bars and headed to the north hoping the storm would pass. The sky was a rainy gray and it was sprinkling a bit. Keo, Josh, Greg and I....Kelly is taking the picture.

The sun finally broke through the clouds. Pic of a beautiful rock formation created by an ancient river.

Keo and I about halfway on the trail in front of a gorgeous rock outcrop.

The spot where Whycus Creek meets the rapids of the great Deschutes River.

A shot of local vegetation. They look soft but they were as sharp as a cactus.

Whycus Creek.

A spot on the trail that we passed some fellow trekkers. They were pointing up at these pillars of rock formed by wind and time.

Whycus Creek again.

An ancient cavern. Great bathroom cave.

Oooohhh! Skylight.

Pic of the gorge we hiked down into.

The group at the half way turn around point. mile marker 3.6. Keo, Me, Josh, Kelly and Greg

Picture of the second time we had to wade through this knee deep frigid slippery rock Whycus Creek. I almost didn't make it through the first time, and then I had to cross it a second time to get back. It was so cold that I was shaking when I reached the other bank. It didn't help that the rocks had a slimy green algae growing on their rounded water worn tops. The good thing was that no one fell in, otherwise the hike would have ended right there. Kelly, Keo and I holding our hiking shoes vicariously above the water.

Josh with some SERIOUS snot dripping from his nose! Just kidding it was pine sap that he found on a tree. The tree was leaking this sap down one of its sides. A whole colony of ants had taken over and were traveling up and down the path of the sap.

Salt Creek Falls

2007-04-29T22:43:00.000-07:00

4/29/07.Salt Creek Falls. Easy. 3.4 miles round trip. 400 feet elevation gain.
Beautiful waterfalls!

Keo next to the edge of the cliff looking out across the gorge.

The sun filtering through the pine trees. There was a calm lake nearby, named 'Too Much Bear Lake'. This is when we started talking about bears and how we should have brought my pepper mace... just in case...

Picture of Diamond Creek Falls. This waterfall is about halfway on the trail, it is out in the middle of the woods in a mossy green grotto.

Keo and I alone in the woods. It was so peaceful, the only sounds were of nature

Salt Creek Falls is 286 feet tall, it is the second largest in the state of Oregon.

The falls have cut a deep gorge in the High Cascades basalt lava flow.

Black Butte

2007-04-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

4/28/07 Black Butte. Hike #41 in Sullivan's. Difficult. 3.8 miles round trip. 1600 feet elevation gain.

Keo and I, so fresh and clean before the hike.

Us in front of the fire look out. This fire lookout is still used today by wild land firefighters all summer long. The fire fighters use the look out to spot wild fires miles away.

Cabin used for sleeping quarters for the wild land firefighter. Broken Top in the background.

Close up of Mt. Washington.

Painted Hills- John Day Fossil Beds

2007-03-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

03/18/07 Painted Hills. John Day Fossil Beds.

First glimpse of the painted hills! Aren't these colors trippy!

First hike on the Painted hills overlook trail

Carrol Rim Trail. Short hike with amazing views of the hills.

Keo 's butt walking up the trail. I love getting these action shots!

Me sitting peacefully at the top of the carrol rim trail. Look at the stripes of different cinder.

The different colors are each a different layer of cinder that spewed through the air thousands of years ago from volcanic eruptions on the Cascade mountain range.

A nice pic of Keo in front of the hills.

Pic of Keo and I at the top of the carrol rim trail. We were so high up you couldn't even see our car on the road below.

Another section of the painted hills.

These short hills were made up of this red cinder. It looked like powder from a distance, but up close it felt like cement.

View of the painted cove trail from the top. There was a pretty lake in the background.