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. [...]

Eugene and the Dirty Dash

Zirk, named after a car part

June 29-30

Mom popped down for her first visit to Hood River this weekend.  She made it in on Friday and brought the new pooch, Zirk.  Zirk is a rescue, and your general American mutt.  Mainly he is healer, cattle dog, among a bunch of other things.  He is black, furry, and a general wuss.  He got along great with Thomas!  Go figure.  We didn’t really show Mom downtown Hood River, but grilled out that night.  Pulled out some salmon and introduced mom to grilled corn.  Fresh corn with olive oil, salt and pepper, wrapped in foil, and 20 minutes on the grill.  You will never go back to boiled corn.  Mom was nice enough to bring some fresh lettuce from her garden for salads.  She had it all set up for us to keep our own fresh lettuce in a shallow bin to pick right off the plant for salads.  Unfortunately, in the coming weeks, Lucy had other ideas.  Lucy ravaged our new lettuce bin like Godzilla over Tokyo.  It was good while it lasted, though.  Thanks, Mom! [...]

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. [...]

OWSA

On a whim I joined the Oregon Women's Sailing Association. I heard about it from a coworker whose significant other is a member. Both of them sail quite a bit. My first meeting was in May and these women are a mix of personalities and sailing experience. Another woman who I met and was at her first meeting was engaged to a fellow who sails. Her role aboard is drink maker and sun bather. But he wants to get a larger boat and take it on the ocean, so being the smart woman she is, she decided it would greatly behoove her to learn to sail in case anything should go down on the high seas. No matter what their role or reason to be there, the woman were intelligent, strong, and quite hilarious. The biggest factor for me was that it did not feel like being trapped in a floating room suffering from terminal levels of estrogen. A former UAA classmate (we didn't have any of the same classes, but we were in the same group of friends), Emily, had apparently taken a small group of these women and worked with them on storytelling skills. I think there was 4 including Emily who went up and told a story about themselves, generally focused on sailing or somehow linking up to it. It was amazingly well done.Their stories were intriguing and genuine and all the body animations typical of women story telling (my mom and sister are excellent case studies in talking with your hands and your whole body, respectively) added to the tale instead of distracting from it. I was rolling in the floor. I laugh regularly, but it is usually more of a chuckle. This is full on belly laughing with a big smile. The meeting was fun and relaxed and informative. Food was provided by a group of volunteers who cooked up tacos. Another neat surprise was that its BYOB. Bring beer, wine, etc to share with the other ladies sitting at your table. So far, this meeting was the only one I have been able to attend due to work. I am in the field every other week Mon- Wed. and don't always get back in time. [...]