Columbia River Gorge, 2021

In our continued spring tour of Oregon our next stop after Sunset Bay was the Columbia River Gorge. The wildflowers are usually out early and reliably in the Gorge and this year did not disappoint. For this trip we stayed on the eastern end of the Gorge and camped out of Memaloose State Park. It served as a good base when higher elevation camps further out were still mostly under snow. From there, we were up Saturday morning and off to find a trail to hike. Our first planned stop had an already overflowing parking lot at 9 a.m. Further up the road we found space at the Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail and started up the hill. I still don’t know where the cherry orchard was, but we were successful in our search for flowers.

Western Waterleaf
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Fall in the High Cascades, 2020

Fall is the best time of year (and that's a statement, not a fact) and definitely the best time for hiking and camping in the high Cascades. The mosquitoes are gone, as are most of the crowds, and even though most areas are dominated by conifers there are still nice colors in the mountain ash and huckleberries to liven up the views. We stopped by Timpanogas Lake earlier in the year, and we were out…

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Out Of The Winds, 2020

We awoke to a glorious early sunrise as the sun climbed it's way over the continental divide. It hit the tent nearly 3 hours earlier than the day before. The benefits of being on a ridge instead of in a deep valley on a crisp fall morning. Morning sun on camp. Tent is middle frame. As soon as we arrived it seemed it was already time to leave. You can only carry so much food,…

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