Ikenick Sno Park 26 Feb 2016

The snow is melting! We had to take off/put on our snowshoes three times on the trail. The east side was devoid of snow under the big trees. Oh well, it was still pretty and we  had a nice view of the mountains. We took a side trip over to Sahalie Falls and caught the rainbow just before the sun was obscured by clouds for the rest of the day. We ate our lunch at the top of the falls. I really like the McKenzie, the colors are so pretty! Still some snow on the trail there, patchy. The parking lot is half covered in snow.

map 4.1 mi lollipop loop

Three Fingered Jack

Sisters

no snow

Sahalie Falls and rainbow

McKenzie River

lunch spot next to falls

Peavy Arboretum and Chip Ross Park 20 Feb 2016

Needed something close to home and since these parks were new to me, I headed to Corvallis after BSF. The Peavy trail is prettiest on the north trail, but the loop makes it nice. The trail is going to be busting out in woodland flowers soon. From the top of the hill there were some nice views of the surrounding area. Chip Ross park is basically a loop around and up over a hill. The top of the hill has a big open space surrounded by old oak trees. There are also views east and you can catch the Sisters and Jefferson. The trail was terribly muddy and slow going if you didn't want mud up your legs. I took the Dimple Hill spur for 40 min out and back and it was much much drier. Next time, I will plan to go to the top of the Hill. The hike to Dimple was 7.6 mi RT and there wasn't enough time this trip. If you go, skip the arboretum and hike to Dimple Hill. Wear boots if it  has been raining.
Peavy map  4.1 mi, 1000 ft gain for outer loop
Chip Ross Park map 3.0 mi 640 ft gain (with little spur towards Dimple Hill)

second growth forest on Peavy Section 36 trail

spring is coming

Indian Ghost pipe

There were a lot of these in one little area

at the top of the hill at Peavy

the north side old growth forest

Crone Miller Lake

road out

Chip Ross is mostly oak, including a lot of poison oak

more flowers

view from the top of the hill at Chip Ross

lots of fungi

Cape Perpetua 12 Feb 2016

January and February are usually great coast hiking months. The roads to the Cascades/mtns can be iffy and the valley can be socked in with clouds and rain but often the "coast is clear" and the low angled sun is very pretty. But not so true this year, at least on the days which have been available to me. Friday was supposed to be partly cloudy/sunny south of Lincoln City on the coast. I drove through rain the entire way, and it persisted even to Lincoln City. By the time I got to Depot Bay, the rain had stopped but it was still pretty foggy. The day continued to be foggy - it began to clear around 2:30 as I was considering heading home. Still, it was a lovely day, the fog making things moist and mysterious. No views, but I saw my first flowers of the season. The tide was in and the waves were powerful because of the stormy weather. Yachats/Cape Perpetua is a good place to view the surf.
The hike was 5.5 mi with 1360 ft gain from the Visitor's center up to the shelter, around the loop, back down and then under the highway to the Spouting Horn (lots of tide pools here when the tide is out), then north to Devil's Churn and back to the car.  For those of you who enjoy a latte after your hike, the pull out at Devil's Churn has a coffee stand :-)
map

Boiler Bay

Seal Rocks

Seal Rocks

Skunk Cabbage at Cape Perpetua

the view on top the bluff at Cape Perpetua

Salal

pearly everlasting

lawn daisies...I just like these

more cabbage

spouting horn

it was quite the show...I didn't get too close because some of those waves really came up high!

a view of the bluff  I had hiked up to...it played peek a boo a little

more fun crashing waves

walking over to Devil's churn

Devil's Churn - some folks down in the slot were getting drenched now and again

he posed for me at Neptune Beach

Driftwood Beach

Maxwell Butte snowshoe 5 Feb 2016

The roads were clear and the temps were supposed to be pretty warm, it  had snowed the day before and rain wasn't due till 4p...so off to Maxwell Butte for a 7 mil loop snowshoe on this most excellent snow pack year. (Note: tried to get a sno park pass in Detroit but all the shops were out of every kind of pass...wrote a crybaby note and left it on the dash hoping I would not get a ticket - I didn't.)
The hard part was that the new snow had filled in the previous tracks and though it was helpful to hike in the trail dip, there was still trail to break. The gain was 1340 ft which doesn't sound like a lot, but breaking the trail the entire way combined with wet snow made it difficult. I was huffing and puffing! I didn't see anyone on the trail until I was almost back to the car, but as I got closer to the parking lot, I saw new tracks. I didn't go back the way I had come because it would have been longer. I just kept going. After reaching the hut, it was basically downhill and trail blazing is much easier on the way down. Great day!  Nice and tired. :-)
7.0 mi, 1340 ft gain
map

starting out

Jefferson

Washington and the Three Sisters

Coffin Mtn has the flat top

this was a dicey spot - water under the snow on the trail