Over the past month I have noticed a increased number of blogs from Pacific Crest Trail through hikers. My son hiked the PCT in 2005 and you can read about my observations as a father in an earlier set of blogs. A link to one of these is: http://oregonhiker.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/pct-may-28-2005/.

 These hikers have a grand goal in mind and along the way they are going to face a lot of challenges. I would encourage you to read their blogs and comment back to them with words of encouragement. I know that during the first month on the trail my son came very close to quitting, but he did ultimately triumph.

Distance: 7 miles

Elevation gain: 500 feet (900-1400 ft), with several gains and losses.

Difficulty: gravel logging road with manageable gains and losses.

 

It has been some time since I hiked the Davies Road Loop, a nice 7 mile hike. To get to the trailhead you go North of Corvallis on either HW 99 or Highland Drive to Lewisburg Road. Take Lewisburg Rd west until you come to the Y at Sulphur Springs Road. Take Sulpher Springs Road up to the Lewisburg Saddle. You will see a parking area on the right and there are likely to be cars parked there.

 

The Davies Road Loop starts to the right.

 

 

Most of the trail is in thick forests, ranging from young forest to a section of Old Growth Forest.

 

 

From the trailhead you can either take the upper or the lower road. If you take the lower road you will come to the Old Growth Trail on the left. This is a short side trail that takes you through a beautiful section of Old Growth Fir. This section of trail is steeper and is a dirt trail so it can be slippery during wet conditions.

 

 

You do get a few vista views like this one through a recent clear cut. Notice the new trees in protective netting. These nets are designed to protect the trees from the deer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Depending on the time of year you are going to be treated to various native plants. This is a picture of a flowering dogwood tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a variety of game in the area. You are likely to see squirrels and deer. There are also cougars, bobcats and bear in the area, but is unlikely that you will get the opportunity to see them.

 

Bird life is abundant. If you listen as you are hiking you could hear the very distinctive sound of Grouse.

 

Since this trail is on a well maintained gravel road it is an excellent place to ride a mountain bike.

 

As you are hiking you will want to watch out for bicyclists, runners and possibly equestrians. Many people walk their dogs in this area and for the most part the dogs are very friendly, although at times a bit excited to see you.

 

I was recently contacted by another blogger about using one of my receipts. If you are looking for some great trail receipts you should check out her site. The URL is: http://backpackerrecipes.wordpress.com/.

 

I will add the link to my sidebar if you want to find it later.

For those that love to get out and enjoy those great trails I ran into a fun way to spend your vacation this summer. The American Hiking Society that is an organization that promotes and protects foot trails and the hiking experience has a summer volunteer vacations program. They have summer trail stewardship projects from throughout America.

 

The projects range in intensity and in general involve trail maintenance; in some of the most beautiful places. Lodging varies from cabins to primitive camping. Besides the trail work there should be plenty of opportunities to take advantage of some of the most spectacular outdoor settings.

 

The cost is quite reasonable considering what you get.

 

For information on the specifics of the Volunteer Vacation opportunities go to the American Hiking Society Web site at www.AmericanHiking.org and click on the Volunteer Vacation link on the right side.

Thought that I should provide an update on the hiking conditions in the Corvallis area. I continue to walk pretty much everyday, rain or shine or snow.

 

Two common hikes that people take are the Uproute trail in McDonald Forest and the Baldhill hikes.

 

I decided to head up the Uproute trail just after the snow prior to Christmas. At lower levels the roads and trails were snow free and in good condition. As I got up to around 500 feet elevation I hit some snow. Up at about 900 feet the trail was fully snow covered. The snow was a bit treacherous. The areas where I was on unpacked snow it was fine, the problem was the partially packed areas where the surface was frozen. For anyone that is not too balanced I would suggest you turn around at that point.

 

Bald Hill was a good choice, even during the heavy rain. You can easily find a nice walk. The paved portions were of course fine, so one option is to start at any of the entry points and walk on the paved path and do an out and back. Most of the unpaved trails have mostly all weather surfaces. In those areas you need to be prepared to puddles and some mud. Be careful on downhill sections as the footing can be slippery.

 

The bottom line is that there is no reason not to get out. If your New Year’s resolution was to loose weight, have at it.

 

Today a friend and I took a very nice walk from downtown out to Willamette Park and back. We took a different route that including walking through an interesting part of south Corvallis.

 

Starting downtown we walked down 2^nd street, past the skate board park and over the Mary’s River.

 

 

From there we went down HW 99 to the light at Crystal Lake Drive. Rather then turning down towards the Crystal Lake Sports Park we stayed on Crystal Lake Drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This  took us past a very old cemetery. We didn’t take the time to explore it, I would be that there are some interesting people buried there.

 

South Corvallis has an interesting history and was once the site of a large lumber mill. Portions of the area along Crystal Lake are actually in the county and there is an interesting variety of rural homes, apartments and little subdivisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crystal Lake Drive T’s into Park Avenue, I wonder if this is the same one as the one in Monopoly, I bet not. Turning left we soon arrived at the entrance to Willamette Park. There was a bathroom, but it was closed for the season, fortunately there was a Porta Potty further on.

 

Our next stop was along the Willamette River which was very low for this time of year. It is hard to believe that in the past River Boats used this section of river as a major commerce lane.

 

 

 

 

Rather then head back the way we came we stayed on the paved pathway along the river. This took us past the Frisbee Golf course. It was such a beautiful day it was too bad I didn’t bring my disc’s.

 

 

 

 

The paved pathway took us back to Crystal Lake Sports complex.

 

 

 

From there we took a right on Crystal Lake Drive and were soon back to Highway 99.

 

If you are in the mood for something to eat or drink there are a number of fun places to eat in downtown Corvallis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started out early for a walk along the Portland River Front. The fog was still hanging over the river and the sun was beginning to rise. I like the early morning in the city, most people are still recovering from the night before. The homeless are still snug in their bags.

 

I discovered a nice extension to the River Walk that I discussed in an earlier blog. It started behind the Albin Mills Building and is part of the Willamette Greenway Trail. This section of trail is on wood and some concrete walkways and runs right along the river. It is behind a Condo complex so you get a reprieve from the auto traffic.

 

On the south end the trail goes under the Steel Bridge and from there you are in the main part of the river walk.

 

This particular morning was very nice and as time went by the city began to awake. Soon the river front was a place of action with runners and walkers. Families with strollers sauntered along. From the east side of the river the view back to the city was something with the sunlight reflecting off of the windows.

 

Along the way there were people fishing, although it was not clear whether they were catching.

 

Once back home a cup of coffee completed a spectacular morning.

I decided to take a walk through Avery Park in Corvallis today. The day was cool with a bit of mist in the air. As I walked the leaves rustled and the smells of fall were in the air. This really is a treasure, with many hiking possibilities.

 

 

 

I took 45 minutes to do the entire loop around the park, but many other options are available, some entirely on pavement.

 

 

 

I started my hike at the Lions Kitchen, but you can start anywhere around the park. My path went in the counterclockwise direction with portions of the path are on sidewalks and streets, some of it is on graveled paths and some is on dirt.

 

 

 

 

There is a set of restrooms in the nearby Lion’s shelter.

 

 

 

A favorite with the kids is the old train. Climbing is encouraged, so this can be a fun stop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My next stop was at a display giving the history of area, there are various panels that talk about the early pioneers and the Native American from the area. This is under cover, so it can be a good escape if it starts to rain.

 

 

 

  

Across the street from the display is the rose garden. In the spring and summer when the roses are blooming one can spend an entire afternoon wandering through the aisles of flowers. The smells can be addictive.

 

 

 From the rose garden I continued past the bridge that goes over the Mary’s River. The pathway is near the river, and you do get periodic views of the river. During the summer there are several spots where you can get down to the river. Do take care with small children as this is a moving river. The trail for me was covered with leaves, but this is a popular running and cross country trail so the path is flattened down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another interesting spot is the horseshoe pits. It was very quite when I was there, during the summer the clanging of horseshoes can be heard throughout the park.

 

 

 

 

The community gardens is a place where people can growth vegetables, in the growing season it is fun to spend time seeing the various techniques that people use to grow their crops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here it was a quick walk back to my car. What a nice way to spend an hour.

The scout motto, Be Prepared, has importance to anyone planning a trip into the wilderness. The higher you get the more unpredictable the weather can be and the further from civilization you are the more severe the consequences of poor decisions can be. During the transition seasons, for us in Oregon means Fall and Spring conditions change rapidly.

 

I am going to use a trip this fall into the Cascade Mountains as an example. Before making any trip into a Wilderness Area there are some important steps you should take. Anytime of year in forests there is the potential for forest fires, and it is even more the case later in the summer and fall. As I was planning our trip I took note of potential routes out of the wilderness in the event a fire was to start and block our planned route.

 

During final week of planning I checked the long range weather forecast for the area that we were going into. I could see that there was a potential for a weather front to move through the area, but the timing was not clear.

 

The last step is to let people know what you itinerary is and to sign in at the trail head.

 

On the first day of our hike the weather was spectacular, there was not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was perfect. As we set our camp that afternoon I decided that I was only going to put up my mosquito netting and not the full tarp.

 

 

As the day went on we began to see clouds pilling onto the mountains to the west, the moisture level was climbing and the temperature was beginning drop. As a precaution I decided to put up my tarp, although I didn’t fully tie it down thinking that I was really just protecting myself from heavy dew.

 

During the night a significant weather shift occur and in the morning it was completely socked in. It wasn’t really raining yet, in Oregon heavy dew just seems to fall from the sky, anything that was exposed was quickly getting wet.

 

My first mistake was not to tie down the tarp. In this case I didn’t pay much of a price, but if it had actually started raining and if the wind had come up I would have likely been very wet.

 

We did carry full rain gear, jacket, pants and hat. After packing up our wet gear we headed out. As the morning progressed it did start to rain, never very hard, but plenty to get things wet. My second mistake was not to put my pack cover on. Fortunately I have waterproof bags on anything that I must keep dry, but the pack cover would have kept things dryer.

  

 

Our afternoon was spent with a campfire getting things dry. We were lucky to have this luxury. Another area that needs improvement for me is my footwear. I like Smartwool socks and will continue to use them. The downside is that once they absorb water it takes a long time to dry them. I am going to add a pair of high tech socks that will dry quickly to my cloths; they will be a part of my normal rotation so one of the pairs of Smartwool will stay at home.

 

By late it the afternoon the weather was changing again, so by morning we were back to Bluebird weather.

 

 

 

It could have been a lot worse; we really never had any real discomfort. The key is to stay dry.

 

 

 

 

For anyone looking for a great place to explore in Portland give Hoyt Arboretum a try. I took a hike in October to see the fall colors and it was spectacular. I took advantage of the public transportation system to get me to the park.

 

From the Max Station I walked up past the Vietnam Memorial and on up the Wildwood Trail. Since I was interested in the fall colors I decided to head over Larch Collection to see if they were in color. To get there I took the Holly Trail past the Visitors Center then down the Fir Trail. Along the way I saw many maples and other trees that were in their fall spectacular. Unfortunately the Larch weren’t, but it didn’t matter.

 

I headed down the Creek Trail. It was very pleasant and quickly I began to sink into the surroundings. It was hard to believe that I was actually in a large city. I returned via the Redwood Trail.

 

When I got back to the Visitors Center I decided that I had not been out long enough so I headed over to the Oak Collection, then over to see the Magnolias.

 

The trails are a bit confusing and some of the signs have been vandalized, so it is worth getting a map at the Visitors Center.