Hiking – Page 10 – Occidentalist

Waterfalls of the Umpqua, 2018

Post author:Occidental
Post published: 2018-09-11
Post category:Hiking River Uncategorized
Post comments:1 Comment

Who knew the North Umpqua had so many waterfalls? I sure didn’t. But following our recent tour, I’m impressed.

I’ve certainly traveled the North Umpqua before, but I’ve actually not spent the time I would have liked to actually. I certainly knew it was a place of great beauty, but other than a day of fishing a small stretch I really hadn’t had the time to dig in. This past weekend was the first attempt to remedy that.

After stumbling across a web brochure I was surprised at the number of waterfalls either on or running into the North Umpqua. Add in a great campground and we had a weekend.

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Wandering the Trout Creek Mountains, 2018

Post author:Occidental
Post published: 2018-06-16
Post category:Hiking Truck Camping
Post comments:5 Comments

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

Post author:Occidental
Post published: 2018-03-29
Post category:Hiking Uncategorized
Post comments:0 Comments

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,

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

and even a stop at 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.

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