Donaldson Crew Adventures

Today I wanted to take the boys up on a mountain hike for some views without a lot of steep uphill mileage.  I selected Triangulation peak.  While it was about 1:45 drive from bend to the trailhead, it looked to be a hike with some great views of the massive Mt. Jefferson Volcano and a fun hidden cave.  The hike was about 4.5 miles round trip with only some minor elevation gain to get to the summer with the amazing views you see in the photos.   Also some great wildflowers along the trail  

We also hunted and found  Boca cave as well that allows for a very unique shot of Mt. Jeff framed in the cave entrance.  The cave has been used for centuries by Indian hunting parties to get out of bad weather.  

First family camp trip for Abbie and PJ.  We went with some neighbor friends of ours (the Gillettes) to Rock Creek campground on Crane Prairie Reservoir in the Cascade Mountains.  Just one night but a fun time even though it was a bit of a cold night.  Here are a few pictures around camp.

On Saturday afternoon we did a hike to Lucky Lake.  Preston gave it a good go but I ended up carrying him most of the way:)

A couple of panoramic shots from down at the lake below our camp site

I was down in the Medford Oregon area this week for work and on our drive back I got this great shot of Mt Thielsen (9182 ft) from the highway.  It is part of the Cascade range of volcanoes.  

First time back to the slopes in a couple years.  I decided to try skiing again.  I haven't skied in over 15 years.  Hunter and Noah did half day lessons which gave Pat and I a few hours on the slopes, and then we took the boys up from the lesson area to the bunny slope.  

Noah really picked up skiing quick once he had a couple runs down on the bunny slope.

With the nice fall weather continuing to hold we decided to take Lulu up to one of our favorite ares - the Brecon highlands just north of Cardiff.  Perhaps not high for US-West coast standards they are quite high for this area.  Here are some photos from our day out.  We visited Brecon Market town, Brecon Cathedral, Tre-tower castle (where Lulu was able to try mulberries off the tree) and a drive up over the highlands before returning home.

With good weather this weekend, I thought it might be good to let Hunter and Noah attempt their first real mountain summit.  Noah came down with a sore throat and flu symptoms during the night Saturday, so it was just Hunter and me.  My target peak was Pen-y-fan in the Brecon Beacon area of South Wales.  At 2907 ft it is the highest peak in south wales and the highest in southern Britain south of Snowdonia.  Of course we were up Snowdonia in North Wales last summer, but as we gained the summit by train except for the last 100 ft, it doesn't really count:).  

Hiking was great.  Sunny, breezy, turning quite gusty at the summit.  Hunters first mountain summit!  Note the sheep in the pictures beside Hunter.  This was an uber friendly .... and smart sheep that has figured out that people will feed it on the summit of Pen-Y-Fan.  If you made eye contact with this friendly creature it would head your way.  

Just returned from a work trip back to our headquarters in Bend Oregon.  A couple of my colleagues from the UK were with me this time.  We were there over a weekend so took advantage of the nice summer weather and events in central Oregon.  Link if you cannot see the video below

I am back in Bend for a week so went for a quick morning hike today up Tumalo Mountain.   Perfect weather and excellent views of Mt Bachelor on the way up, and then from the top South Sister, Middle Sister and Broken top.  (North Sister is hidden from view behind broken top)