Ape Canyon and beyond 8 May 2015

I hiked this in the fall a couple years ago with a friend, and we went to Windy Pass.  This time I took the other trail available at the fork and headed towards Windy Ridge.  I had a turn around time, so I didn't make it all the way there (that would have meant a 20+ mile day) but I did hike to a point where I could see Windy Ridge, the canyon and the road.  All in all the hike was 14 miles with 2800 ft gain.  Flowers were in bloom but only in the forest.  No flowers yet on the Plains of Abraham, but the mountain snow was beautiful. I saw one garter snake, a few squirrels and some mountain bikers.
map

Trillium

Hooker's Fairy Bells

Candy flower or Siberian Miner's lettuce

Salmonberry

glacier lily

Lupine

coralroot?

opening shot of the lahar (mud flow)

Ape Canyon and Mt Adams

Mt St Helens

Mt Adams

Windy Ridge to left, Coldwater Peak, Mt Rainier, Goat Rocks and Mt Adams

looking east lunch spot

as it got later, the wind picked up

windy walk at Road's End in Lincoln City 2 May 2015

Keiko, Teresa and I braved the 20-30 mph wind at the beach and walked all the way to the rocks.  We found some jellies, concretions, birds, and mini sand sculptures.  Enjoy!

great day for kite boarding

Velella velella, a jelly relative.  Apparently they die off enmass every year

blowing sand

looking for rocks

sandpipers

rock/sand sculptures made of the sea jellies

with rocks

Mary's Peak via the East Ridge 1 May 2015

Hazy day, but sunny, warm, and very summer-like!  Lots of little flowers were blooming including violets, wood sorrel, salmonberry, red flowering current, spring beauty, trillium, Oregon fawn lily, anemone, Oregon grape and a few others whose names I don't know. Only a few small flowers in the meadows.
Hike was 8 miles with 2100 ft gain as we traveled up and down and all around.
map

old growth Douglass Fir forest with Oregon grape and salal understory

red flowering current

anenome

this one was in the meadow, small, short ??

picnic table on top of Mary's Peak

hazy view looking west

forest floor carpeted in wood sorrel

salmonberry

interesting how the branches remain inside the hollow log

Oregon Fawn Lily

Mt Hebo and beyond 25 Apr 2015

Beautiful day!  Certainly a gift from God on a day when it was supposed to be pretty iffy. It couldn't have been more beautiful - the light was fabulous and people who take photos know it is all about the light.
We left around 9:15 from West Salem for Hebo Lake where we parked. The trail starts off through a lush Sitka Spruce forest where everything is covered, dripping, draped in moss. If you stood still for any length of time, you would probably begin growing moss too!  As the hike climbed up the slope, the landscape changed from ferns to Oregon grape, from Sitka spruce to Fir trees which were part of a reforestation project - but the seeds are from CO and so they aren't as robust as the trees on other peaks in the coast range.  Apparently this entire trail is part of the Pioneer trail early settlers used (previously an Indian trail) to cross the coastal range.  It was easier to get through than the lower elevation rain forest.
The views from Hebo are nice but we saw that a nearby peak with a radio/cell tower on it was a bit higher and accessible so we hiked over to it.  Way better views.  We also explored South Point while we were over there.  These last two peaks required walking on Hwy 14 for a bit.  Great day!

Mt Hebo and beyond map

moss covered Sitka spruce

beautiful lush forest

straight fir

lily on the summit

from Mt Hebo - the ocean in the distance

Mt Hebo from the Radar Summit

heading out to the viewpoint on the Radar Summit

from the Radar Summit

from South Point

heading back the light was superb!

reflections in Hebo Lake

Herman Creek Backpack 18-19 April 2015

Ann and I hiked the 7.3 miles to Cedar Swamp campground where we set up camp.  After exploring further along the trail the next day, we decided that Noble Camp, just beyond the Herman Creek crossing, would have been the prettiest place to camp.  We also hiked up to Mud Lake to check it out.  Discovered some snow on the way there!  Weather was beautiful, sunny and warm.  Even the nighttime temps didn't get below 40.  We hiked 20 miles all together:  14.6 RT from Cedar Swamp/2800 ft gain and 2 + 4.4 miles from Cedar Swamp to Mud Lake (we hiked part of it in the evening too)/ 1200 ft gain.

Return Cedar Swamp to TH
Cedar Swamp to Mud Lake

the trail starts out in lush woods

the first beautiful waterfall

our camp at Cedar Swamp

snow on the way to Mud Lake

Mud Lake

wild rose

trilliums everywhere

fairy slipper with spider...they were very common too

Oregon Grape

intrepid backpackers