Trekks and Travels: November 2011

Cascade Head and Neskowin Beach 4 November 2011

Squeezing in a last hike before the weather and a busy season put a halt to travel, I headed to the coast. Cascade Head is a short, easy hike on a Nature Conservancy Trail heading out to a beautiful meadow-covered headland with beautiful views. I had the trail pretty much to myself - only a few people about. The trail head is accessed off of Hwy 18 at the top of the crest. Easy to miss - something I have done every time I have taken this road. The Nature Conservancy Trail to Cascade Head trail is on the left just before reaching the end of the road (trail to Harts Cove). The hike is only a mile to the viewpoint, but I walked on a bit further. The day was threatening rain, so I didn't linger because the way back was steep and slippery. I added the walk along Neskowin Beach (RT 10 miles) for several miles before heading home. The clouds were fantastic!

mushrooms and wood sorrel

a short trip through the forest before reaching Cascade Head

looking east from the headland

a trail with a view

Lincoln City is on the other side of the hills

I stopped here for lunch

Neskowin Beach

Proposal Rock

Iron Mountain 21 October 2011

Iron Mountain may be one of my favorite hikes. Here it is again in the fall. Every corner turned was breathtakingly beautiful. It was a foggy day for the 6.6 mile loop, and I had the trail to myself, not a person in the parking lot when I arrived or when I left. As I hiked further from the car, the animal scents were increasingly noticeable along with scat on the trail and a lot of disturbed soil among the huckleberries. I didn't actually see any animals other than birds, however.

I have posted more photos than usual because it was hard to leave them out!

yellow is the color of Iron Mtn in the fall

the wagon road meadow on Tombstone nature trail

entering the forest on the trail to Cone Peak meadows

vine maples

the hillside opens up

Cone Peak is hidden by fog

huckleberries are red

the forest on the back side of Iron Mountain

the colors were so amazing

no view today!

on my way down it started to lighten up

heading down

this meadow was stunning

Matthieu Lakes 7 October 2011

The trail head to Matthieu Lakes is located off of McKenzie Hwy 242, a few miles from the Four in One Cone trail head. Sylvia and I hiked the easy 6 mile trip to South Matthieu Lake via the PCT and looped back along the lava field. If you kept going on the PCT past South Matthieu Lake, you would come to the meadow where I lunched on the Four in One Cone hike.

The hike is very scenic, only 800 ft alt gain, but you start at 5300 ft at the trail head. This hike, in October, had fresh snow on the ground from a storm the previous day. It was chilly and foggy and beautiful. Apparently the views are fantastic but not to be seen on this day as the trees were drenched in fog. Over South Matthieu Lake looms North Sister behind the fog. Another day, then!