Hiking in Gifford Pinchot

 We wanted to go hiking this last weekend, so Matt perused the Curious Gorge book and found 3 up in the Washington state area. We ended up doing two based on drive time and degree of wetness required. The area is the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. According to the Forest Service website, it was named after 

"Gifford Pinchot, an active conservationist, was appointed first Chief of the Forest Service. He played a key role in developing the early principles of environmental awareness. Pinchot's philosophy is made clear in his farsighted statement that the forests should be managed for "..the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run." In honor of his leadership, the Columbia National Forest was renamed for Gifford Pinchot in 1949."

On the way out you'll pass a Forest Service Station where you get a climbing permit for Mount Adams. If you had quizzed us on the elevations of the peaks in our general vicinity we would not have had a perfect score. Both of us believed Mt. Hood to be taller than Mt. Adams. Maybe it's because Hood is pointy and Adams is fairly flat top. [...]

Weekends in Oregon

June 22-23

So, there is something about living in Oregon in the summer.  It kinda rocks.  Random weekends are worth mentioning.  At the beginning of the summer, we bought Curious Gorge, which may as well be a hiking bible for the National Scenic Area in which we currently reside.  On this particular weekend, we decided to try some lesser known hikes mentioned in the book on Saturday.  The early hike was Shellrock Mountain 1872 Wagon Road.  There is actually the oldest road in the gorge right off I-84, and no one really knows it’s there.  You have to park on the eastbound side of the interstate, just after exit 51 and hop the guardrail to find the trail.  About a half mile in, sure enough, there is the old wagon road, built circa 1872.  Switchback up the hill and you can walk along and sit on the old road.  Just below is the freeway, where everyone blowing by is oblivious to the old road.  Never saw another soul on the hike, but just watching the world, and river, go by while sitting on top of the old road. [...]

Prepping for summer: home, river, and booze news

First time ever we live in a house and not a condo- no shared walls, no neighbors with windows looking into yours, and we have a lawn!

The weather has been phenomenal the past 2 weeks. It was in the low 80's but it was a dry, hot 80's and the breeze was warm too. We both got a little sun despite wearing sunscreen. On the drive to work there is a distinct weather line just west of Multnomah Falls and when the Portland area is clouded in this is where you seemingly go through a portal to another world... one with a 500' ceiling of clouds. Meanwhile east of there is nice and sunny. We've experienced this from both directions. We're so happy to be living in a sunnier region!

On the move again

It's been a while since I've posted and I know I still need to finish out my Belize posts. 

Work and Moving news:

New work toys: GeoXT and a Rangefinder

I was laid off at the end of January and spent February and March collecting unemployment and looking for jobs in any way related to my field or bartending. I discovered two things- my career field is not really hiring and you can not get a job anywhere in this area without knowing someone... not even a bartending job! Mackay Sposito called me in March wanting to add me to a new project and I started April 1. I am now listed as an Engineering Tech in the Engineering Dept. The work is not quite surveying and not quite engineering or design. I am helping assess transmission line access roads for improvements, reconstruction, drainage, etc. At some point I will be assessing and mapping access road stream crossings. Washington state doesn't want anyone impeding fish migration. [...]

Naked Snowshoeing

Matt, Suz, and I went snowshoeing with Naked Winery on Feb. 9th. We met at the White River West Sno Park with a bunch of winery members. Just like the winery- all the members are fun-loving and easy-going too! This was our first event with the winery outside of tastings and wine pick-up parties. Matt and I went to REI and rented the gear. It was a lot of fun and my first time snowshoeing in years.

We trekked and along the way dug up previously buried bottles of wine. They were marked with fake red roses- easy to spot, right- but apparently someone not in our group thought they should collect them. We spent some time looking for two of the bottles after the roses went missing, but we found eventually! If only they'd known there was wine underneath! We maybe went 1/2 a mile to a mile the whole round trip, stopping every 10 minutes of walking to uncover another bottle. It was a blast and I wasn't the only one who wished they'd eaten a bigger breakfast.  [...]

First Anniversary

Pulled out the camera to play with it today and realized there are quite a few pictures from earlier this year that never got downloaded.

Our anniversary was way back in April- 9 months ago! We went to Hood River and stayed at a B&B. It was our first time exploring the area and it quickly turned into our favorite local getaway. I don't have my editing program on my laptop anymore, so they are unedited and uncropped.

The B&B

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Hood River to Mosier

We really enjoy Hood River. We went this weekend because we're members of Naked Winery there and they have a pick up party every 3 months. This was our second one. Also, it is our 40th month as a couple (woohoo!)- what better way to celebrate than enjoying the outdoors!? I've been looking forward to today since last weekend's outdoor fun. Thus, it was the longest 4-day week ever. 

Waited all week for this view! (click for a larger version)

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