We met up in Beautiful Black Butte Ranch this summer. The MacDermotts ended up with Covid so they stayed at our house while we all stayed in BBR. While it wasn’t what we had planned and it was very disappointing it made us happy to know they enjoyed some quiet family time of R&R, days in the pool and some lake days. Charlotte and Anna especially loved looking after Holly. They thought they were her dog trainers.
We look forward to the next time we can all be together. Grateful for family! ❤️
We decided to go out for dinner but instead of trying to fight the hordes of tourists at restaurants we packed up food for a picnic and went down to an area of the deschutes called the big eddy. It was nice and quiet.
The lighting was really nice this evening. And of course Noah wanted to get pictures of him mid-air jumping :)
We just returned from a 4 night 5 day raft trip on the wild and scenic Grand Ronde river in north eastern Oregon. Spectacular trip along with two other families - the Lovejoy family and the Kerr family. 16 people in total.
Day 1 (Friday)
Drove from Bend to Minam put in on the Wallowa river. Launched late afternoon. Weather was nice at the put in - mid 60’s but cooled down quickly as the sun dropped below the canyon walls. Water was cold and by the time we found a camp spot for the night everyone was chilled.
Day 2 (Saturday)
Rising to frost laden tents and a cold night made coffee taste even better And when the sun finally rose over the hills across the river we started to feel excited about the day ahead. We would continue on the wallowa today to and beyond the confluence with the Grand Ronde entering the wild and scenic segment.
We found a great site on a bend in the river to pitch camp while we waited for the Kerr family to catch up (they put in Saturday morning)
When you are in the middle of the forest kids come up with interesting projects such as seeing how many hammocks they can stack.
When you are on these trips you have to pack everything out including ashes from the fire and human waste. The toilet is referred to the Groover. One of the projects at every campsite is finding a good spot for the unit. Away from camp, with privacy, but a 5 star site we had here with a view of the river through the trees.
Day 3 (Sunday)
As expected on the trip the weather was warming up each day and today it was expected to go over 80. Here we are loading the boats in the morning.
Some more photos as we floated down river. This trip was great with lots of moving water but nothing over mild class 3. Lots of rolling Disneyland style rapids to make it fun.
After checking a few different sites out we settled on a great site that could fit us all comfortably with both shade and sun. We decided to actually do a layover day here to reduce the stress of packing up and moving every day.
On the trip each family took a dinner and breakfast to cook for the group. Sunday dinner was put on by the Donaldson Crew. We had margaritas for the adults, a taco bar for dinner and fresh Dutch oven brownie for desert.
Day 4 - Monday
With the river moving quickly and going further the previous day we decided to make Monday a layover day and stay at the same campsite. Here is a walk around the campsite.
We were on for breakfast and did a big feed of oatmeal in the Dutch oven. Following a hearty breakfast we did I hike up high above camp in the morning.
In the afternoon with the weather getting hot we carried out some baptisms! These were planned and glad for that warm air over the cool river water. I had Mark baptize me. While I have been ‘sprinkled’ as a baby before I have never been submerged and I wanted to do this as a lead for my kids as well. Noah went second and then Abbie! We were so happy. Mark then baptized Jasper and then Byron decided to do it on the spot so a very special afternoon for everyone.
Day 5 - Tuesday
A great float out on our last day on the river.
3 Finger Jack is one of the cascade volcanoes. It’s not as high as some of the other volcanoes but has a challenging technical ascent. I went with a group of men from church.
The hike started off wet and cloudy at the car but cleared after a few hours as we ascended up onto the south ridge.
The ridge got steeper and more narrow as we got closer to the summit. There were two critical sections where we roped up the first was called ‘the crawl’ - a 150 ft traverse with over 1000 ft drop below you. Here we set up a fixed line as protection. The second part was the final climb to the summit block which was a fun 5.0, 50 ft climb. ‘The crawl’ was much more nerve racking and scary.
Sunset on the way down.
Overall a great and very challenging day with a great group of men.
I took Kelly away to the Columbia Gorge for the weekend to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. We stayed at a guest hour in White Salmon Washington which is just across the River from Hood River Oregon.
The weather was amazing, with no wind and warm fall sunshine.
We stopped at Cor Cellars on the way in to do some wine tasting.
From here we drive 20 minutes further to check in at our place. A spectacular place with the best views over the river.
Saturday was filled with tour of the hood river valley. Take note of the fresh baked chocolate turnover and huckleberry milkshake we shared at The Apple Valley store. Yum.
We enjoyed the quiet and the views. We even had a family of wild turkeys come by our place.
On Sunday we stopped at the amazing White Salmon bakery for breakfast and a loaf of bread to take home for the kids. We also did a drive north up to Mt Adams before heading back south home.
I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a solo multi-day backpack all summer. The stars aligned and I finally had a window at the first part of September. I chose to pack in an area of Oregon I’ve never been. The Wallowa mountains/ Eagle Cap Wilderness area in the northeaster part of the state.
Here was the planned route highlighted in yellow
Here are the overall approximate hiking stats post trip:
Day 0 - Drive to the trailhead
It took approximately 6 hours to drive from our house to the trailhead. East Eagle trailhead. I have never been past John Day Oregon so new driving area as well. The segment between Prairie City and Baker City was amazingly beautiful. I got to East Eagle Trailhead a little before 6 pm. I cooked some dinner, heated some tea and and slept by the car.
Day 1 - Trailhead > Hidden Lake
First day and few couple miles on the trail are always tough, especially with a loaded pack (approx 45 lbs). Plus the Northwest was going through a heatwave. On the drive up the day before, my car hit a high temp of 107. It would surely be in the mid 90's by the high point today. My goal was to get to hidden lake and set up camp to chill out through the heat of the day. It took me about 4.5 hours to cover the 8.6 miles and 2500 ft of gain. I arrived just before noon at Hidden Lake. The day was already sweltering and a dip in the lake did wonders to cool off.
Day 2 - Hidden Lake > Eagle Cap summit > Lakes Basin
I woke up to some great reflections on the lake and the moon above the ridge.
The first part of the hike was 1.6 miles and a little under 1000 ft back to the main eagle creek trail. From here it was a sweltering 2,460 ft of elevation gain over 4 miles to Horton Pass at 8,500 ft elevation. I had something to eat and dropped my pack at the pass just taking a water bottle for the 3 mile round trip to the summit of Eagle Cap at 9,572 ft (highest peak in the range). Amazing views of where I had been and where I would be heading the next day into Glacier basin.
Day 3 - Lakes Basin > glacier lake
Day 3 rose glorious and a little cooler. An amazing sunrise greeted me. I was excited to get on the trail. The Lakes basin is such a pretty area but also very popular due to northerly trailhead with quick relatively easy backpacking access to the area.
Once I reached the junction to glacier pass, the people thinned out a little for a steep hike to glacier pass. Weather was cool and the hike to the pass went well. Glacier pass brought my favorite overall view of the entire trip looking down on the picturesque Glacier lake with its islands and surrounding peaks. Thankfully their were some other hikers there that were willing to take my photo with this view in the background. The hike down to glacier lake was quick and I stopped at the lake to get water and eat lunch.
Day 3 continued - Glacier Lake > Hawkins Pass and beyond
The hike from glacier lake to Frazier lake (the next low-point in terms of altitude) was pretty but its always bothersome to lose altitude when you know you have to go back up again. At this point I wasn't sure where I would make camp for the night - I had originally planned Little Frazier lake but decided to keep going up and over Hawkins pass to get a little further today. The hike up to Hawkins pass from Frazier lake was grueling (steepest section of the trip with a gain of 1,273 ft. over 1.8 miles), but at least the weather was cool.
The weather was clearly changing. By the time I reach Hawkins pass (8,400 ft elevation) the wind was crazy - I could hardly hear myself speak (see video) and the wind wanted to blow me off the steep downhill on the other side. This view was my second favorite of the hike. It felt like I was looking into a valley in the Scottish highlands - huge and vast. I dropped down into this valley and hiked approx. 2.5 miles down the trail to a spot where I made camp along the South fork of the Imnaha river.
The weather continued to blow like made and deteriorate in terms of temps and conditions. The temps dropped and I started getting some light hail/snow (big difference from 2 days prior) so I had to stay cooped up in my tent for cooking until time for sleep.
Day 4 - hike out via crater lake
It got really cold overnight. Frost on my flip flops and frozen water in my bottle along with frost on my tent fly were proof of that, but the sun was up and the nasty weather from the night was now gone. Once on the trail I started to warm up and the day looked to be off to a great start. At some point during the first 2.5 miles to the junction with the crater lake trail, I decided that today I would hike all the way out vs spending another night at Crater lake. I was starting to miss Kelly and the kids.
I had read about a great overnight backpack on an area on the west side of Mt. Hood (highest Mt in Oregon) called Yocum Ridge. It was an 18 mile up and back hike that takes you up high almost to the tree line.
We invited our friends the Swansons to come with us and we decided to make a go at it!
It was a long hike up that ended up being longer than planned due to getting off on the wrong trail briefly which added a couple miles perhaps to the first day. We reached the lower meadow camp spots as the sun was getting close to going down. Everyone was tired so we found a good spot to camp for the night.
After a filling dinner we were greeted with a mostly full moon as we got ready to sleep. As can sometimes be the case in the mountains it went from clear to cloudy with rain overnight and we awoke to thick fog and wetness everywhere - classic pacific north west conditions for the walk down. However by the time we were back down near the trailhead the weather had almost totally cleared up - big difference in a few hours and several thousand feet of altitude change.
Previous years:
Hunter, Noah and I hiked Middle Sister today. We did the renfrew glacier route. Middle sister is 10,056 ft in elevation. The route we did gains a little under 5500 ft of elevation and we hiked about 18 miles. It took us a little under 6 hours to summit and a little over 4 to come down Car to car it was about 11 hours. Very long and tiring day but great experience for the boys. Route finding, snow climbing and rock near the top.
To get an early start we camped at the trailhead the night prior.
The hike up went through some amazing countryside before getting on the snow
Summit!
A few additional photos from the trip down.
This is our third summer going to Black Butte and it’s now an annual tradition to go and celebrate the start of summer.
We did a day outing to Sahalie & Koosah falls with a great riverside hike in between the two.
We did a fun early summer Sunday family hike with the Lovejoy's to the Paulina lake hot springs.
