Catherine Creek 18 March 2016

Sunshine beckoned. I wanted to go somewhere where I would really be in the sun. The choices in March are the beach, eastern Oregon, and the eastern gorge. I hadn't been to the gorge in awhile and I knew the flowers were starting so I headed to a new spot, for me, Catherine Creek. It is a relatively new spot for hikers in general. I had seen online that there were many ways to approach the hike, but I did not have a firm map. So I struck out and followed the gps on my phone and a good footpath to the top of Tracy Hill. Unfortunately my phone didn't indicate where the trail I was on ended up so I turned around and headed down cross country on a very faint road. I figured that if I sort of followed the road (It was marked on my phone but was not very evident on land) I could get down again without running into some drop off. Eventually I did find a trail again and rejoined the trail I had walked up. I still had time so I hiked over to the trail that goes to the Indian Pits and rock walls, just below Rowland Wall. I think that there is a way to hike over to Coyote wall and and back to Catherine Creek. There were tons of cars parked at the trail head and I saw only a few people on the trail so obviously there are lots of trail choices.
More to explore next time!  Lots of small flowers were blooming. The balsamroot and lupines are not ready yet, but there were lots of grass widows and yellow lilies. The sun was a little weak because of high clouds, but it was still so nice to be outside rain-free!
about 7.1 mi 1600 ft gain (about) (gps stopped on tracking apps!)
map

Catherine Creek

Catherine Creek Arch

grass widows

lots of views of Mt Hood

Shooting star

wide open spaces

cattle pond on Tracy Hill

the basalt looks liquid

Columbia River

one lone Balsamroot

PNW Indian created rock walls

A rock-rimmed pit created by the PNW Indians

looking up at Rowland Wall

Pinnacles, Missouri 7 March 2016

We walked a little at the Pinnacles before going to Jeff City on a warm but cloudy day in MO. The rock fins reminded me of Angel's Rest in Oregon, but the rocks are limestone, not basalt. The creek rocks held tons of sea creature fossils!
map

do you see the little creature remains?

Clackamas River Trail from Fish Creek 11 Mar 2016

Rain was in the forecast - mostly starting around 1p, so I chose a new spot, not that far from home and hoped to beat the wet stuff. I did! I was just two minutes from the car when it started raining and it rained all the way home.
The trailhead sign said the trail was closed because of blow-down blocking the trail and dangerous landslide possibilities. I figured it wasn't windy and not raining so I would hike as far as I could go. It turned out that many people have used the trail this winter and created work-arounds for the blow-down so it wasn't a problem. Some parts of the trail had been washed out by landslides at some point but those areas were also repaired somewhat. The entire trail is along the side of the hill so you can see the problem. Everything wants to come down with wind and gravity. I made it to Pup Creek Falls and back in 4 hours. A few flowers were out - among them trilliums, spring beauties, oxalis, and some I don't know the names for. There was a bit of debris and wrecked trail near the falls, but it may have been this way for sometime. I climbed over some of it but stopped at a large tree that would have required a lot of effort. The spray from the falls was kicking up at that point and photography would have been difficult going further, so I stopped and retraced my steps to a safe spot to have lunch. Beautiful day!

map
7.7 miles and 1050 ft gain

Clackamas River

trillium

after the burned area the lush old growth forest begins

these rocks lined the trail and were covered with moss and ferns

Pup Creek Falls

a landslide area

sedums

spring beauty

violas

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