PDX Day Hiker

Trail closure - Lower Macley Trail

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:07:00 PST

Lower Macley Trail, in Forest Park, is closed due to flooding and downed trees. Lower Macley trail connects Lower Mackley park to the larger Forest Park. The trail meets up with Wildwood at the stone house.

Lower Macleay Trail is shut down between Lower Macleay Park and the Stone House at the Wildwood Trail Junction, said Mark Ross, a spokesman for Portland Parks and Recreation.

Not only did trees fall across the trail, he said, but flooding washed out entire sections of the path. It's likely the trail will be closed for at least two weeks.

All of Wildwood Trail is open, he said.

This was as of January, 20, 2011. Watch Forest Park Conservancy's Facebook page for updates.

New Forest Park Map

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:43:00 PDT

The current issue of Portland Monthly has a wonderful map of Forest Park. I'm definately going to use it to plan some hikes and bike rides for the All Trails Challenge.

The ATC is a challenge to hike all the trails in Forest Park by October of 2011. The event is a fundraiser for The Forest Park Conservancy. Join the event or sponsor my team.

My ATC mileage is now 25.96/80.97

On a related note: I said I was going to start blogging again to track my ATC progress. Unfortunately I let my self get behind, and then I injured my hand. Typing is difficult for me so I haven't gotten back to it.

New parking and admission rates

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Wed, 18 May 2011 19:20:00 PDT

WTA has the low-down on new parking and admission rates throughout Washington and Oregon.

Notably, the National Forests have some new rules.

All USFS trailheads in Washington and Oregon with developed (toilet, picnic table) charge a user fee - this includes most trailheads in the Cascades and Olympics. A list of sites is here.

National Forest Recreation Day Pass: $5. Allows you to park at trailheads. You can purchase several day passes ahead of time and write the dates on them as you use them. The pass is available at National Forest offices and visitor centers, via private vendors or online. Note that WTA and some other vendors listed do not carry day passes.
Northwest Forest Pass: $30. An annual pass honored at all Forest Service day-use or entrance fee sites in Washington and Oregon. The pass is available at National Forest offices and visitor centers and via private vendors or online. Passes may also be purchased at the WTA office or via our online link.
Interagency Annual Pass: $80. This pass provides entrance to all Forest Service, national park and other federal site charging fees for one year. Purchase at a National Forest office or online - details are here.
Interagency Senior Pass: $10. This is the best deal around. This is a lifetime pass that is honored nationwide at any federal site charging entrance fees. Check out the details here.
Mount St. Helens National Monument: Mount St. Helens, managed by the USFS, charges on a per-person fee basis. Entry to the Coldwater or Johnson Ridge sites are $8 per person for those 16 and older (free for kids). They will honor Interagency Annual and Senior passes for named pass-holders, and a Northwest Forest Pass will gain entry for one person.

Wildwood - Arboritum walk

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:50:00 PDT

Date: 4/10/11
Distance: 4ish miles
Time: 2.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Weather: Chilly and overcast and drizzling
Maps: Hoyt Arboretum map is online here.
My Route:
Starting at mile 0 of the Wildwood trail, follow Wildwood just over 3 miles to Burnside Rd.
Turn around, returning on Wildwood,
Right turn on White Pine and meander back to the parking area via White Pine, Hemlock and Wildwood trails.
Notes:
I wouldn't really recommend this exact route. It was more of a guideline, than an actual route. We took some detours, wrong turns and a side trip to the restroom along the way. Our mission was to complete the southernmost section of the Wildwood trail to kick off the All Trails Challenge. Everything after that was extra.

It's early April and was a chilly drizzly day, which made for muddy trails and not too many people.

The trails in Hoyt Arboretum and confusingly signed. That doesn't much matter on a leisurely stroll in the the park, since it's pretty hard to get too lost. But we were on a mission to walk the full length of the Wildwood within the arboretum/Washington Park and so we had to do some back tracking to make sure we were on the correct trail.

Spring is springing in Hoyt Arboretum! Birds were singing, flowers (daffodils, trillium, azaleas) and trees (cherry, plum, magnolia) were blooming. And dog poop bags were everywhere. What is going on with the dog poop bags lately? Why do so many people leave them on the side of the trail? I just don't understand the logic of someone who is conscientious enough to pick up their dog's poo and then just leaves the bag sitting on the ground. It was shocking how many bags we saw.

Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map
View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map
Restrooms and water available at Visitor's center in the Arboretum.
What I said about these trails before: Hoyt Arboretum Hikes, Forest Park Hikes
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Hoyt Arboretum
Guidebooks:
Hoyt Arboretum 4-mile self-guided hike

This is part of my All Trails Challenge, a challenge to hike all the trails in Forest Park by October of 2011. The event is a fundraiser for The Forest Park Conservancy. Join the event or sponsor my team.
My ATC milage is now 3.06/80.97

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Forest Park Conservancy's All Trail Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:34:00 PST

I'm participating in The All Trails Challenge, a benefit for Forest Park Conservancy.

Forest Park Conservancy is a great organization dedicated to maintaining trails and habitat in Forest Park. The challenge is to hike (or bike or run) ALL the trails in the park - all 80 miles!

The all-new ATC2011 is a seven-month-long trail-a-thon: participants (“All Trails Challengers”) may register online at alltrailschallenge.org beginning March 3, 2011 and then begin recruiting friends, family and colleagues to sponsor their participation. Challengers share links to a personal, customized fundraising page with friends and family, who then make a sponsorship donation online! It's that easy.

Each Challenger will be given access to the tools they need to complete the Challenge and raise funds for the preservation and protection of Forest Park, including a personal fundraising web page for soliciting online donations, access to online navigation resources, discounts on books, maps, and trails resources, and coupons from area outfitters. Challengers can form teams with co-workers, spouses and friends, or walk all 80 miles solo. The Conservancy’s business partners and other supporters will provide valuable incentives for high-performing fundraisers.

I'll be re-opening the blog to document my team's and my progress as we check off the trails through the coming year.

Registration is still open and will be for several months. I encourage all of PDX's hikers to support this great cause through participation or sponsoring participants. I feel weird asking for donations, but you all know what a great cause this is. Here is my team's fund raising page.

Blog update

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:03:00 PDT

I have pretty much abandoned PDX Day Hiker.

I'd rather enjoy the outdoors without creating an additional chore to do at then end of each trip.

So long.

Frangrance Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:55:00 PDT

Date: May 16, 2010
Distance: about 5 miles
Elevation Gain: about 1000 ft
Time: 2.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate
Weather: Cloudy and Overcast
Map
My Route: We followed the well marked signs from the trail head to the lake, around the lake and back with a detour to the view point.
Notes:
A nice quiet walk, not far from Bellingham. The trail is very well maintained and sufficiently signed to not cause any confusion.

The trail goes up up up, making it less easy than I had expected. There are a number of benches along the way to stop and rest.

Despite being on the coast, the viewpoint offers the only view of the water. In other areas, the forest hides the bay.

Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map
Water and restrooms available in campground and day use areas of the park.
What I said about these trails before: Larrabee State Park Hikes
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Fragrance Lake Trail on WTA's site
Washington State Parks

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Blog update

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:24:00 PDT

I haven't been updating the past couple months.
I've found that blogging my hikes feels more like a chore, and less like fun. So I haven't been doing it.

One (or more) of these things is going to happen:

PDX Dayhiker will be deleted.
PDX Dayhiker will continue with abbreviated and/or sporadic posts.
I may open PDX Dayhiker up to additional contributors, particularly people I know in real life and trust to stick to my format. (let me know if there are volunteers)

Trail Closures

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:24:00 PDT

Have you ever driven all the way to a trail head, (or most of the way) only to find out it's closed?

That's happened to me more than I'd like to admit! This coming weekend would have been another case had I not been on the Washington DNR website looking for a map.

I've started to compile a list of sites to check for trail closures. I'll continue to add to this list.

Washington:
Washington Department of Natural Resources Trail Closures (includes state forests)
Washington State Parks
Mount St Helens/Gifford Pinchot National Forest Roads
Mount St Helens/Gifford Pinchot National Forest Trails

Washington/Oregon
Columbia River Gorge Trails

Oregon
Mount Hood National Forest Roads
Mount Hood national Forest Trails (Trails are listed by ranger district, links in upper right of the page)
Oregon State Park Closures
Tillamook State Forest Road Closures

If you have any more information or links, please leave them in the comments.

Springwater Corridor, SE Portland, Bike Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:19:00 PST

Date: March 7, 2009
Distance: 17 miles
Elevation Gain: none
Time: 1:50
Difficulty: Easy
Weather: Cool and overcast
Maps: Springwater Corridor Map
My Route: Started at the trail entrance on SE Ivon and 4th, followed the path until it detours through a Sellwood neighborhood, following the bike signs (Left on Spokane, Right on 7th, Left on Umatilla, Right on 19), then continued east on the Springwater trail to Luther St.
Turned around and returned as we'd come
Notes:
We got a late start on the day and wanted to find something to do outdoors in just a few hours. My bike has been gathering dust all winter, so a bike ride was overdue. We set out with no particular destination in mind, just a plan to ride for an hour or until we got too cold then turn back. Staring at the mile 0 trail head riding at a leisurely pace, we ended up turning around at Luther St, which is just a bit past the 8 mile marker.

The Springwater Corridor Trail is a flat paved trail running from the southeast waterfront all the way to Boring. Despite being in town, the trail has some nice views as it parallels the Willamette and near Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, and even has a rural feel in some areas as it continues along Johnson Creek. There are several small parks along they way. It it used mostly by bikers, but you also see plenty of walkers, joggers and dogs. The whole trail is wheelchair accessible.

Bikes and hikes around the Springwater Corridor are easy to customise to any distance.

Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map
There are not restrooms or water immediately at the trail head, but there are some at the waterfront park nearby.
What I said about these trails before: Springwater Corridor Trips
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Springwater Coriddor Parks & Rec
40-mile Loop
TrailLink
Guidebooks:
Mountain Biking Oregon
Walking Portland
Rails-to-Trails Washington & Oregon (Great Rail-Trails Series.)
Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Angel's Rest

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:43:00 PST

Date: Feb 7, 2010
Distance: 4.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 1,400 ft
Time: 2.5 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Weather: partly cloudy in the 50s, warm for February
Maps: This is the standard map they have posted at the trail head. Note, it is not to scale.
My Route: Angel's Rest Trail (#415)

Notes:

The main parking area was full when we arrived at 2:30 and I got one of a few open spots in the overflow lot. I guess we weren't the only one's with the bright idea to go hiking on Superbowl Sunday. The trail seemed even more crowded than usual.

The rocks get interesting toward Angel's Rest

Wow, Angel's Rest is more of a workout than I'd remembered. I guess that's my fault for not doing any hikes with elevation gain in a few months. Interestingly, I could feel a significant difference in my right and left calves and ankles, I think from snowboarding recently. Also, my knees feel much better than I would have expected, I think that's also from building up some muscle snowboarding. We took plenty of breaks on the walk up and were all shedding layers by the time we got to Coopey falls. I drank nearly a full liter of water on the way up.

Blue sky!

The view from the top was great today! The partly cloudy sky gave some interest and contrast and reflected in the river below. We spent a good quarter hour or more at the top, taking photos and admiring the views. We made it back to the parking lot around 5:10, just before sundown and in time to catch some color in the sky on the drive home.

Clouds in the Columbia

The trail is mostly dirt with some areas of rock, especially toward the end. Being Febrary, it was mostly muddy with a few mucky spots and a few slick spots. To get up to the peak of the hill is a short scramble over some boulders, which were thankfully not slick. This route is pretty strait forward and easy to follow. Just keep going up hill for 2.3 miles. There are overgrown spur trails here and there but it's always obvious which way to go. There is only one intersection. Right near the top, the gorge trail comes in from the right, but you have to be looking for it to see it. Once you get to the summit take some time to wander around, being careful, there are some tricky steps out along the edge. You can't really get lost at the top, just don't walk off any cliffs.

Flirting with Sunset

Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map
There are no water or restrooms at the trail head.
What I said about these trails before: Angel's Rest hikes
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Portland Hiker
Local Hikes
NW Hiker
Forest Service
Guidebooks:
60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Portland
Best Short Hikes in Northwest Oregon
Portland Hikes: The Best Day-Hikes Within 100 Miles of Portland
100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington, 3rd Edition

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Bird watching at Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:55:00 PST

Date: February 6, 2009
Distance: 3.2 miles
Elevation Gain: flat
Time: 1:30
Difficulty: Easy
Weather: cool and cloudy
Maps:

I couldn't find any official maps of the trail, probably because it's so new. This is a photo of the sign at the trail head.

My Route: The portion of the trail shown in red on the map is currently closed for the winter.
I walked the length of the trail shown in yellow, then turned left onto the dike trail and walked to the Columbia River Overlook before returning as I came.

Notes:
After an errand in east Vancouver and an urge to get outside I took an impromptu walk in Stiegerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge. It's such a nice peaceful place to spend an afternoon.

I enjoy bird watching, but I have a lot to learn when it comes to identifying birds. This time I didn't have binoculars and a guidebook with me, so I'm not certain of everything I saw. Along the dike trail I spotted a nest with two bald eagles! Additionally another very large juvenile bald eagle (I couldn't identify it, but some other bird watchers told me what it was, it was so big I might have even guessed it to be a golden eagle) perched in a tree along the dike trail. Also had a cool moment with an unidentified bird (perhaps a hawk of some kind) swooping over the lake and the grassland very near me.

Bald eagle at nest.

The trail is wide and flat and easy to walk on, allowing you to scan the sky and trees for birds without too much worry about tripping and it's wheelchair accessible. The art installations are not yet installed.

No dogs, bikes, running or jogging are allowed on this trail out of respect for the wildlife who live here.

Wildlife sitings: 3 bald eagles, some kind of beautiful thrush or dove, lots of ducks and geese and other birds I couldn't identify.

Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map Restrooms at the trail head.
What I said about these trails before: Walks in Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Columbia River Gorge Stewards
Columbia River Images

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Trillium Lake Snowshoe

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:42:00 PST

Date: 1/10/10
Distance: 5 miles
Elevation Gain: 200 ft
Time: 3.5 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Weather: Perfect! Cold but not freezing. Still. Partly cloudy. It would have made a terrible day snowboarding but awesome for snowshoes.
Maps: Government Camp area map, does not include the loop trail
My Route:

Starting at the sno-park parking lot.
Walked down the Trillium Access Road (2656), Connecting with Trillium Lake Road
Follow the loop clockwise, staying on what feels like the "main road"
Shortly after crossing the dam (2 miles from the trail head), find a small trail to the right, also labeled Trillium Loop Trail (761) strangely, this trail is not on most maps, including the map at the trail head and the USGS Topo map. It is in the book 60 Hikes within 60 Miles
Follow this small trail hugging the lake- clockwise.
At the day use area (noted by the outhouse) turn left
Follow road through campground areas back to the main Trillium Loop.
Turn left at Trillium Loop and return to Trillium Access Road.

A nice alternate route would have been to walk from the parking lot to the dam, then circle the whole lake and then return to the parking area. This would total 6 miles.
Notes:
This trip wasn't planned out well, at all! But it turned out just great despite lack of planning or maps. We'd intended to snowshoe at Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain a few miles west. But there wasn't a lot of snow at the trail head so we kept driving and ended up at Trillium Sno-Park.

Mt. Hood stands above the ice-covered Trillium Lake.

Most of this route is on snow-covered roads, groomed for cross country skiing and snowshoeing. These roads are wide and well maintained and crowded. There is a pretty steep hill toward the beginning, on Trillium Access Road, but the remainder of the hike is flat.

Wide open spaces on Trillium Lake Road

The scenery was much prettier on the narrow Trillium Loop Trail. This ungroomed footpath circles the lake and passes through meadows and wetlands (snow covered). We had a bit of a mishap trying to follow that trail. We took a right at an unmarked intersection, turns out, that is just a spur trail to a view point. With the snow covering the route we walked too far and had to backtrack. The Trillium Loop Trail is 2 miles long and connects to the road on either side of the dam. We didn't take the whole route, instead choosing to give in to our tired hips and exit through the campground.

Clouds and snow mirror each other as sun shines on Trillium Lake

Snowshoeing is a lot of fun and very easy. They say, "if you can walk, you can snowshoe". I agree. But I do have to admit I did fall down one time! I hadn't tightened the binding tightly around my toes and managed to trip myself. We all had a good laugh. Also, the walking gate of snowshoeing is slightly different than regular walking. You have to keep your feet farther apart and lift your feet farther off the ground. This becomes automatic after a few minutes, but it does work some different muscles. While normally 5 flat miles is easy for me, I found my body tired after this trip. One of our group had a lot of hip pain after about 3 miles. For the first snowshoe trip of the season, it might be beneficial to start with something shorter.

We rented snowshoes at a rental shop in sandy for $15. The rentals included poles as well. I'd brought my own poles and found them to be nearly more trouble than they're worth. I tend to trip over poles, especially on narrow trails.

In all we had a really fun day. I want to come back and see the lake again without the layer of ice!
Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map
Sno-park parking permit required. No water or bathrooms at the trail head.
$3 donation is recommended at the trail-head to support snow grooming.
What I said about these trails before: Trillium Lake Hikes, Mt Hood Hikes, Snowshoe Hikes
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Trillium Lake Sno-park
Trillium Lake Day use area
Government Camp snow suggestions
Guidebooks:
60 Hikes within 60 Miles
Afoot & Afield Portland/Vancouver
Snowshoe Routes: Oregon

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Best of 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:55:00 PST

PDX Day Hiker's top 5 hiking related things of 2009

5. Best no-planning required destination: Forest Park. Portland has it all, doesn't it? Near the top of my favorite things about Portland list is Forest Park. Grab the Forest Park map set and go. Perfect choice for a last minute or after work hike. In 2009, as park of hike-a-thon I found I needed a quick destination for hiking. Forest Park provided.

4. Inspiration: Classic Hikes of the World. Inspired many a day-dream and likely some big trips in coming years.

3. New way to see the trails: Mountain Biking. 2009 was the year I finally really tried mountain biking. And I love it, maybe even more than hiking. Look for more biking in 2010.

2. Event: WTA's hike-a-thon. I hiked 40 miles in August-despite never finding time for anything longer than 8 miles-and raised a bit of money for Washington Trails Association.

1. Hike: Silverstar mountain, south loop. Seriously one of my favorite hikes ever. I'm still gushing about it and can't wait to go back.

Hoyt Arboretum short hike

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:21:00 PST

Date: 12/27/09
Distance: 2.5 miles
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Weather: Cold and overcast
Maps: Hoyt Arboretum map is online here.
My Route:
Starting at intersection of Wildwood trail and Fairview Blvd, East on Wildwood trail,
Followed Wildwood just past the archery range (to mile 1 marker),
Returned as we came.
Notes:
This wasn't so much a hike as a mission to find the map I lost hiking in the arboretum the day before. The map was never found.

We walked fairly slowly, watching the brush rather than the trail underfoot. This proved to me how flat and unobstructed the arboretum trails are, we never tripped or stumbled. There were some areas of shallow mud, but nothing bad at all.
Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map
Restrooms and water available at Visitor's center in the Arboretum.
What I said about these trails before: Hoyt Arboretum Hikes, Forest Park Hikes
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Hoyt Arboretum
Guidebooks:
Hoyt Arboretum 4-mile self-guided hike

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Hoyt Arboretum to Pittock Mansion

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:20:00 PST

Date: 12/26/09
Distance: 5.25 miles
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Weather: Cold and clear
Maps: Hoyt Arboretum map is online here. It doesn't show the full route to Pittock.
I highly recommend The Forest Park Map Set for the best map of this area. The Friends of Forest Park Area Map is available online, it's not the best, but a start.
My Route:
Starting at Mile 0 of the Wildwood trail.
I followed Wildwood through the arboretum to Pittock mansion, which is a little past the 3.75 marker.
Wandered around the mansion grounds, then returned on Wildwood to the arboretum.
Turned right on Creek Trail just before marker 2.75.
At intersection with a street, a subtle left onto Redwood trail
Continued strait on Fir trail to the visitor center.
Through the parking lot to the Holly trail and down to the parking area.
Notes: A nice but cold day in the park. Leave it to me to forget my hat! It was cold enough out that the few spots that looked muddy were actually frozen over.

Following Wildwood turned out to be a bit tricky right at the start, where the trails are not labeled, but they all intersect enough to eventually figure it out. I recommend stopping at the visitor center and picking up a map before beginning. I had brought along my full Forest Park map from the set, and I dropped it somewhere! I'm majorly bummed about that, and will likely buy a whole new set just to get that one map. When I realized it was gone, I at first thought I'd retrace my whole route on Wildwood to find it, but it was getting too late so I didn't. I ended up mapless and manage to find my way just fine using the park maps at major intersections of the trails. Of course, I'm sure it helped that I'm a regular in the arboretum.

The mostly flat route through the arboretum is just lovely. I love trees, so the I have a great time trying to identify them and using the labels to correct myself. The route does get steep leaving Hoyt and up a hill to Pittock mansion. The mansion was very crowded, probably everyone admiring the wonderful views on the clear day. I could see Rainer, St Helens, Adams and Hood!
Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map
Restrooms and water available at Visitor's center in the Arboretum.
What I said about these trails before: Pittock Mansion Hikes, Hoyt Arboretum Hikes, Forest Park Hikes
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Hoyt Arboretum
Guidebooks:
Forest Park Map Set
Hoyt Arboretum 4-mile self-guided hike

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Winter access to Clark County Parks

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:25:00 PST

Due to budget constraints, several parks and trails in Clark County, Washington will be closed to auto traffic and have limited facilities from January 1 to March 1. These include a few parks that have been reviewed here on PDX Day Hiker including Lacamas Lake, Hantwick Trail Head and Moulton Falls State Park.

From the City of Vancouver website

What does it mean to limit access to a regional park?
From Dec. 1 to March 1 (except for 2010), the gates will be locked, preventing cars from entering the main parking lots. However, pedestrians and bicyclists can still enter. No maintenance work will be performed, including mowing the grass and removing garbage. Playgrounds, and possibly picnic shelters, may be fenced to protect park users and reduce potential liability.
The following parks will have limited access each winter:

Lewisville Regional Park
Lucia Falls Regional Park
Moulton Falls Regional Park
Hantwick Road Trailhead parking lot (between Lucia and Moulton Falls parks)
Haapa Boat Launch
Daybreak Regional Park and Boat Launch
Vancouver Lake Regional Park
Frenchman's Bar Regional Park
Frenchman's Bar Trail parking lot (between Vancouver Lake and Frenchman's Bar parks)
Lacamas Lake Regional Park
Captain William Clark Regional Park at Cottonwood Beach

In 2010, the seasonal access restrictions will begin on Jan. 1, not Dec. 1.

More info:
City of Vancouver website
The Columbian

via World Hiker

Changes to Cape Horn Trail

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:40:00 PST

According to WTA, the forest service is in planning stages for improvements and changes to the Cape Horn trail in the gorge.

Recognizing the need to address demand for recreation and conserve the area’s natural resources, the Forest Service has embarked on a planning process to assess the environmental impacts of formalizing the trail and adding additional facilities, including parking, picnic sites, viewpoints, an ADA accessible segment, and two highway underpasses to allow safer access to the lower trail section.

The environmental assessment released earlier this month would not adopt the bootleg route, but rather re-route sections that would move the trail away from some of the cliff edge and out from behind the waterfall, and would close part of the trail for half the year. These changes are intended to increase hiker safety and minimize disturbance to sensitive flora and fauna.

I'm particularly happy to see that it will be safer to cross 14, although I can't imagine what kind of construction nightmare it will be to build tunnels there. Wouldn't it be easier to just paint some warning stripes on the road or something to warn drivers of hikers?

The changes will shut down the trail for up to half a year, so if you've been meaning to check out the awesome views, you might want to get on that!

What I said about these trails before: Cape Horn Trail
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Friends of the Columbia River Gorge
Portland Hikers
Washington Trails Association

Classic Hikes of the World

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:02:00 PDT

I checked out Classic Hikes of the World: 23 Breathtaking Treks from the library 3 months ago. So far I've renewed it 5 times and I will continue to renew it until they make me give it back! And then, I will drop $25 to get my own copy and it will live on my nightstand as there is no better way to end a tough day than to read one of these entries and fall asleep wondering about the airfare to Peru. I love this book.

Love the photos. Love the level of detail (enough to get you daydreaming about the plausibility and logistics, but not so much you don't want to bother to read it for leisure). Love the variety. Love that I could read a different hike each night.

I'm so incredibly inspired to travel, to backpack, to spend every last dollar and vacation hour I have working though these trips.

There are a few tips laid out in this book that I have made my goals.

Short term: Grand Canyon. I was so excited I tried to make the Grand Canyon my 2009 vacation. I had plans to spend my 30'th birthday climbing from the Colorado River to the South Rim. Unfortunately, reservations are required 4 months out. So... Fall 2010= Grand Canyon.
Longer term: Kilimanjaro. I will do a guided climb of Kilimanjaro. I don't know when, as it's not going to be cheap, but I will and it's my #1 travel priority. All travel and vacation between now and Kili will be of the lower-budget sort. Kili before anything else requiring a trans-continental flight. I'm thinking I should be able to save enough by 2012.
In my lifetime: The West Coast Trail, Fitz Roy Grand Tour, Torres del Pain Circuit, The Royal Trek, Kalalau Trail, Routburn Track, Kungsleden (and more).

Lacamas Park

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:00:00 PDT

Date: October 11, 2009
Distance: 3 miles or so
Elevation Gain: 200 ft
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Weather: cold and sunny.
Maps: Park Map
My Route: No real route or plan, we just explored the park
Notes:
I am dog-sitting for a dog who isn't in great shape (my friends recently adopted him from a shelter and he's just getting into a healthy lifestyle and getting up to a healthy weight) so tried to find a hike that wouldn't be too much for him. I chose Lacamas Park because it offered a flat-ish walk in the woods that we could make longer or shorter depending on how the dog seemed to be doing.

Lacamas Park is beautiful! Despite being a city park in the middle of town, it really feels like a forest, no traffic noise or vistas overlooking the paper mill. Currently the water level in round lake is pretty low.

The trails are all well maintained and all around enjoyable with pretty scenery, especially near the lake and creek. There are some rolling hills, not much for elevation gain, but enough to feel like exercise.

My favorite thing about Lacamas Park is that its small. That may sound strange, but it's a nice feeling to know you can explore whatever trail looks like fun and know you'll not accidentally stray too far or get lost. I've been mountain biking in this park regularly through the summer, and so I feel I know my way around. We walked roughly the reverse of the route I normally bike, so it was it was a fresh perspective.

Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map Bathrooms and water at the trail head.
What I said about these trails before: Lacamas Lake Park
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Clark County Parks and Recreation
Portland Hikers
Camas City Parks
Guidebooks:
100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon (100 Hikes)
Afoot & Afield Portland/Vancouver: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

Lucky me

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:16:00 PDT

Last night I found a whole box of clif bars in my mail box!

Apparently I won them participating in WTA's hike-a-thon back in August. I'm not sure exactly why I got them, I didn't win any of the catagories, perhaps just for participation.

Check out the winner's page at WTA for the inspiring stats! My 40 little miles feel like nothing!

Saddle mountain - 1/2 mile view point

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:06:00 PDT

Date: September 12, 2000
Distance: 1 mile
Elevation Gain: 220 ft
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
Weather: mild
Maps: There is a good map on NW Hiker
My Route: After .3 miles on the trail, turn right at spur trail leading to viewpoint area. Return as you came
Notes:
This wasn't a well planned hike. We thought it would be a nice time to get out of the car and stretch our legs on a drive out to the coast. I didn't remember that the road to saddle mountain from the highway is 7 miles. 7 SLOW miles. The view is great, but I don't think it was worth the detour to just go to the viewpoint. Saddle mountain deserves a full hike.

Saddle Mountain

The views are wonderful here. That 7 miles from the highway puts you deep in the forest, looking around from the viewpoint, there is nothing but trees! Beautiful.

The Coast Range from Saddle Mountain's 1/2 mile viewpoint

The trail is steep and easy to follow. On the spur trail to the view there are some trickier parts, nearly a scramble.

The coast range is great for moss-lovers like me. Rocks with so much moss they look like muppets!

The parking area was nearly full, and all the campsites we hiked past were occupied.
Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map Water and restrooms at the trail head
What I said about these trails before: Saddle Mountain Hikes
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Saddle Mountain State Park
NW Hiker
Portland Hikers
Trails NW
SummitPost
Guidebooks
60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Portland, 3rd: including the Coast, Mount Hood, St. Helens, and the Santiam River (60 Hikes - Menasha Ridge)
Portland Hikes: The Best Day-Hikes Within 100 Miles of Portland
Afoot & Afield Portland/Vancouver: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide
Hiking the Oregon Coast: Day Hikes Along the Oregon Coast and Coastal Mountains
Hiking Oregon, (1st or 2nd edition)
100 Classic Hikes in Oregon: Oregon Coast, Columbia Gorge, Cascades, Eastern Oregon, Wallowas

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.

A note about difficulty

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:11:00 PDT

I have been having a tough time deciding on difficulty ratings for some of my trips.

When that happens I have been looking to other sources to see how they rate the trails. I'm beginning to think that using someone else's ratings isn't in the spirit of this blog. I have developed my own rating system:

Easy - I don't feel like I'm even exercising. I could walk here for hours without effort. Most flat trails will end up with an easy rating unless they are very long.
Moderate - Feels like a good work out. My heart rate is high for a significant portion of the trip and at the end of the day I feel tired and healthy. Most hikes will be in this category.
Difficult - A grueling work out. Feels like a trip to the gym with cardio and weights. I'll be sore tomorrow and will want a rest day before doing anything strenuous again.
Very Difficult - This rating will be reserved to the butt-kicking hikes that make you wonder why you're bothering to do this.

These ratings are highly subjective. I know this. They will be influenced by any number of factors including: weather, how much stuff I'm carrying, my fitness level (hopefully ever increasing), and my tiredness on any given day. These are all important factors to consider and I try to mention them in posts where they are relevant.

I always give as many details about a trip as possible to explain the experience of it. I think these subjective ratings, in conjunction with the other stats about each trip will give a well rounded idea of what to expect.

Hike-a-Thon Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:24:00 PDT

Today is the last day of August and the last day of Hike-a-Thon.

I'd set out with a goal of hiking 40 miles and raising $200 for Washington Trails Association.

I did meet my mileage goal, I just barely made it! For the month, I hiked 40.1 miles. The last 8.1 miles were yesterday and until late that night I had no idea what the mileage on that trip had been. I was prepared to get up early this morning and hike another mile in a park if I had to.

Unfortunately, I did not meet my fundraising goal. I've only raised $90. I know one of my friends was challenging me by not donating until after I made my mileage goal, so I think I'll have at least one more donation. The hike-a-thon paper work isn't due for another week, so it's not too late to make a donation. I am not good at fundraising. I hate asking my friends and family to make donations, so I don't really bother. In a way, I wonder if I shouldn't sign up for things like this because I'm not really contributing much. But really, my effort has yielded $90, which is better than nothing, right? And a few of my friends might be more aware of WTA, which is the first step toward wanting to help out in the future.

In all, the hike-a-thon experience has been fun. It was a great way to challenge myself to go hiking even more often than I normally do. In order to make my goal I had to find ways to fit hiking into less typical situations, such as stopping for a short hike at Lewis and Clark State Park while driving home from the Puget Sound area and finding a place to walk on a business trip to central California. I had to find a way to hike on weekdays, so I explored Forest Park much more than I ever had in the past and found a couple routes that I plan to keep as part of my regular routine as long as there is enough daylight.

When I started the hike-a-thon I knew of WTA because I frequent their website to learn about trails that I want to hike. I knew they did lots of trail maintenance work, but hadn't ever put time aside to volunteer. This month I finally volunteered. The work party with WTA was by far my favorite outing of the month. It reinforced to me why this fundraiser is important. I feel very happy to have contributed my "sweat equity" to the cause of safe trails, even if I wasn't able to contribute much money. As I said in my post about the work party, volunteering was a very fulfilling activity.

I really feel like I accomplished something today! And I'm sure I'll have sore muscles to show for it tomorrow. I learned about how trails are built on steep terrain and how to use various trail-building tools. I had fun and met cool people form all over the northwest. I caught some impressive views of the mountain. And I gained a healthy new respect for the work that goes into every trail I hike on. Most importantly, we made the trail safer for other hikers.

I highly recommend volunteering for trail work and plan to sign up for more in the future. Check out WTA's volunteer page for sign ups.

Hike-a-Thon Stats:

40.1 miles
18.7 miles hiked in the after-work hours
11 hikes
9 other H-a-T hiking blogs discovered and added to my feed reader
8.1 miles - longest hike
4 days in a row hiking
3 states
2 bird-watching expeditions
1 volunteer work party with WTA

Here is a list of other hike-a-thon bloggers that I'm aware of. If you know of more, feel free to leave a comment.

Amanda from Seattle
Damien
Blue Needle
Crzydazy's Hiking Blog
Holly
Ellensburg Alpine Runner
Lost in the Mind of a Tiffany
Angella's Hike-a-Thon 2009
Feasts on Scraps

Toutle Trail

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:23:00 PDT

Date: August 30, 2009
Distance: 8.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 1000 ft
Time: 4 hours
Difficulty: Difficult
Weather: Warm and sunny
Maps: Kalama Horse Camp Area
My Route:

Starting at the intersection of Road 8122 and trail 238, East on Toutle Trail 238
At junction with 237, veer right then left to stay on 238
After crossing road 8100 at Red Rock Trail Head, Turn left at Kalama Ski Trail 231, the sign intersection is torn down and difficult to understand.
At another unmarked intersection veer to the right, follow the blue diamonds and brightly colored flags on the trees to not lose the Kalama Ski Trail
Cross a rocky area, again looking for flags to mark the route, and cross two more roads
At an unmarked intersection 1/4 mile after crossing a road, turn left
The trail spits out in a big parking area,
Follow parking area down to road 8100, turn right
Turn left onto road 8122 (not marked) to return to parking.

Notes:
We had originally planned to hike at Sheep Canyon, six miles from where we ended up. But a wash out on Road 8100 changed our plans. As luck would have it, we were standing around looking at guidebooks for some idea of where to go in the area when a couple on horseback came up the trail. Turns out we were in the Kalama Horse Camp area. The couple showed us a map (linked to above), and we forged a plan: 238 - 231 loop and scrawled it in the back of a book.

It made for a strange day. We didn't have any destination to be striving towards, no viewpoint or waterfall. Just the goal of finding our way on our route and back to the car without adequate maps. There was considerable effort and discussion about were we should go and if we were on the right track. The poor signage along the trail was sometimes helpful, sometimes not.Ok, So we think we're on 238 and just came from Road 8100. How do we find 231? Why are the arrows only in 2 directions at a 4-way stop? We turned left.

In all we hiked about 8.1 miles. I was later able to put my trails.com subscription to use and find the details of our route in A FalconGuide to Mount St. Helens: A Guide to Exploring the Great Outdoors (Exploring Series). In that book, I verified that we'd hiked 3.7 miles on Toutle Trail (238) and 4.1 miles on Kalama Ski Trail (231). We estimate that we hiked about .3 miles on the road as well for a total of 8.1

Toutle Trail is narrow but easy to follow and walk on. We started in the forest, following the Kalama River up to McBride Lake then to Red Rock Pass. After Red Rock Pass, the trail travels through an ancient lava bed with views of the mountain. This was my favorite part of the route and the best view we had.

Mount Saint Helens and ancient volcanic rocks. I bet it's a cool site when these flowers are blooming.

Kalama Ski Trail is not maintained as a hiking trail. It's not even on most of the Mount Saint Helens Maps. It's primary purpose is a cross-country ski trail and in the summer it's used by hikers and equestrians based at Kalama Horse Camp. As a result, the trail was in some areas hard to follow and cluttered with rocks and sticks. The trail passed through a scrubby forests and across and old lahar. Across the lahar, the trail is hard to find, we had to watch for brightly colored flags in the trees to say on course.

Fallen Trees on the Kalama Ski Trail make a nice seat around lunch time

At 8 miles and about 1000 feet elevation gain, this should have felt like a moderate hike, but it really kicked my butt! I'm even tempted to call it difficult rather than moderate. Maybe that was due to the stress of always feeling a little bit lost and knowing we didn't have anything other than our hand-drawn map. Or maybe the sun was getting to me. In any case, it was tough and I was dying for a big meal and a nap when I finally got back home. The next day my feet and knees are telling me they're unhappy. While the hike was pleasant and we had fun, I don't expect to ever come back and hike this route again.

We found lots of huckleberries in the first few miles of the hike. After returning to the car we all put on sandals and dipped our hot feet in the Kalama River then picked huckleberries. Fun.

Wildlife sitings: 1 frog, 1 chipmunk
Injuries: One of my friends was stung by a bee.

Trail Head:

View PDX Day Hiker in a larger map Northwest Forest Pass is required for parking
We started from about 1/3 mile up Road 8022 from Road 8100. Road 8100 is washed out just beyond this.

What I said about these trails before: Other hikes on Mt St Helens, Other Hikes in the Kalama Horse Camp area
Other resources for this and other nearby hikes:
Kalama Horse Camp
Guidebooks:
A FalconGuide to Mount St. Helens: A Guide to Exploring the Great Outdoors (Exploring Series)
Gifford Pinchot National Forest (Free e-book) - Does not include Kalama Ski Trail

This hike was part of Hike-A-Thon 2009, a fundraiser for Washington Trails Association. All my hike-a-thon posts are here. My fundraising page is here.

Have you been on this or a nearby trail? Please share your experience.