Hiking

Wandering the Trout Creek Mountains, 2018

Every once in a while plans change.  This time around we’ll blame it on the weather.  We were all set to head to the lake and then the weather forecast came along saying snow.  Well, yeah, it’s possible to fish in the snow, but I know when to cut my losses.  And just like that we were off to the southeast corner of Oregon.

A trip to begin exploring the Trout Creek Mountains has been on the list for quite a while, but it takes a while to get there, and time is the typical limiting factor.  But we had a tree day weekend on our side, so off we went.  The first night we made it as far as Steens Mountain and enjoyed a good camp surrounded by yipping coyotes.  Then we were off to the Trout Creeks.

It’s tough to find a lot of information on the Trout Creek mountains.  It’s actually a bit of a challenge to even find an accurate map showing which roads are open and passable.  But we managed to improvise and get around.  This was after all and exploratory mission.

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Hager Mountain Lookout, 2018

It’s been quiet around this site for a while but not because there has been nothing going on.  Since the last post there’s been a trip to the north Oregon coast,

 

Wreck of the Peter Iredale

 

a ski trip to north central Washington to glide through the trees,

 

Skiing the Methow

 

and even a stop at Gettysburg.

 

High Water Mark, Gettysburg

 

But now that spring is coming back around its time to get back outside in earnest.

Hager Mountain Lookout is a popular spot.  I’ve been wanting to spend a few nights in a lookout for many years, but reserving far enough in advance before all the days are booked is always a challenge.  6 months and two weeks back we got lucky and there was an opening.  We grabbed it.  In February I was thinking there would be no snow and spring time conditions.  Then March came and with it, finally, winter.  The week prior to heading out snow was in the forecast again.  But by the time we were headed to the trailhead the storm had passed, dumping a bit of snow along the way, leaving us with a nice blue sky day to head to the top of the mountain.

 

Hager Mountain. We are going there?

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Along the White Rim Trail, 2017, Part 3

We had a good night at Candlestick camp and before we were up we were passed by the only other person going our direction (besides a lone bicycle) the entire trip.  Before long we were out of camp and back on the trail.  We didn’t have too far to go for day three, but there was a hike on the list that would take a bit of time.

 

As you make your way upriver along the Green there begin to be bottoms that seem to be big flat bars along the river.  They may have had extensive cottonwood galleries at one time but now the tamarisk has mostly taken over.  There are still some nice cottonwoods to be found too.  We passed Valentine Bottom, Unknown Bottom, Queen Anne Bottom, Beaver Bottom and Potato Bottom.  Somewhere in there the White Rim started getting closer and closer to the level of the river.  In hindsight it should have been obvious that we were seeing the last of it, but we didn’t really realize it until it was gone.  I would have said goodbye.

The White Rim approaches the level of the river

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