2015.5.30-31. Another road trip for flowers

5/30, Saturday. A relaxed morning. I didn't do my homework well. Oregon Hiker's trail guide didn't give GPS for the TH, but the actual summit. Google route me via a different forest road. By the time we saw road blocked, I had no signal to read the direction (AT&T is not the best outside cities). After 2 failed tries (different slow forest roads) and 2 wasted hours, we managed to arrive at TH along the 3rd road around 1pm. Can barely see Three Sisters in the clouds. Lots of iris along the way. Horse Rock ridge is surrounded by timber cuts. The trail starts from short flat smooth, and goes up and down on rocky flowering slopes. Lots of monkey flowers on this seemingly dry bluff. Very colorful. Good timing.

Marys Peak is designated as a scenic botanic area for its rich varieties of flowers. We hit jackpot of wild purple irises. The top is now covered with chickweed and buttercups. Lupine is still budding. Along the rocky edge of the northern side of the cell tower is more colorful. Will need to come back in a month? A bit hazy today. Not sure if we saw Jefferson or not.

Camped at Beverly Beach State Park just before dark. Only one lousy spot in the A loop (A & B are closest to the beach). But no matter, we camped up at by the hiker/biker area, just above the tipis of A loop. Cooked a late dinner on the beach. Windy, chilly. Too cloudy to have proper sunset. The night is, however, surprisingly warm, and I wasn't cold in a synthetic thin bag. I tried my newly acquired fleece liner. Not a bad purchase. The campground is huge: 250+ sites crowded next to each other. For the size, the bathrooms are very clean. I certainly enjoyed the shower (pretty roomy: has bench and hooks, water is hot and not on a timer).

5/31, Sunday. Woke up at 6. Read a bit of my hike book, but fell asleep again. A late breakfast at the beach (~11am!). Drove along the coast, and stopped at most touristy scenic spots.

Devil's Punch Bowl is a big rock hole. Windy, but not enough to get the wave to shoot up.

I like the tourism office at Cape Foulweather, first land in PNW sighted by Captain Cook. There are binoculars to watch through the seemingly permanently sealed windows over the cliff. Great views. Almost lost my book there. Found this photo online, much better than mine.

Boiler Bay offers more walking (over the fence). Saw 3 guys fishing. Big cave, roaring water. Lots of seagulls.

Ate a big fat crab on the beach of Roads End. A big long beach. The name is more attractive than the scenery. Saw 3 kite boarders.

The main hike today is the nature conservancy at Cascade Head. My 3rd time here in 7 months. Still the protected Oregon silverspot butterfly eludes me. At least this time, I found some blue violet and plenty blooming Hairy-stemmed Checkermallow (Sidalcea hirtipes). Not sure if the catchfly we saw are the rare var. oraria. View is always unbeatable here.

2015.5.23-25 Loowit 360°

Memorial Day long weekend, 6 of us circled Mt. St. Helens along Loowit Trail. Total ~32.6 miles, 8000' gain and loss.

Day 1 (5/23 Saturday) 13.2 miles, 3900'. We met at Zach's house at 7:30am. Departed at 8:00am. Starting from June Lake in light rain (~10:30), hiked up to #216 and hang a left. Lots of boulder hopping. Thick fog, sometimes unable to see the next pole/cairn. Lunch at the junction with Monitor Ridge trail. Soon, we emerged from the trees, but not from the fog. At the junction with #240 (Sheep Canyon trail ~10 miles) we continued on Loowit (higher trail) to Crescent Ridge. Camped on the mossy high bank by Toutle River (too high that I didn't bother to go down for water). ~20 camped here tonight, all doing the same trail. Thanks to the fog, you don't see them until they walk by you, so a false sense of solitude. Did encounter one trail runner, who carried little water and nothing else. Never saw that person again.

Day 2 (5/24 Sunday) ~12.1 miles, 3100'. I had to change to water shoes to cross Toutle. The water isn't too cold. If you have long legs, you can hop over. There're short ropes on both side of the ravine. Quite steep. Camping is not allowed between Toutle River and Windy Pass. The cloud dissipated somewhat soon after we left Toutle. The view opened up. Meadows covered with strawberry flowers, soon gave way to barren land on the north side of the mountain (blast zone). Dwarf lupine and grass claimed some rocky land. Saw 2 goats next to Toutle Canyon. The rest of the day is pretty straightforward until we got to Windy Pass. Along the way, more creek crossings, two significant double tiered waterfalls, view of Mt. Adams, Spirit Lake.
Down the scree field on the other side to the Plains of Abraham, where we set up camp for the night on the southern end. No more soft ground. Lots of little rocks, too light to be used as anchors. Very windy this eve. We went back to our tents before it got dark: too cold sitting in the wind. Today, we meet hikers doing counter-clockwise. Saw only 2 day hikers.

Day 3 (5/25 Memorial Day) ~7.3 miles, 1000'. I went up the ridge next to my tent ~6:30, when St Helens was half lit by the rising sun. I was hoping to see Hood and Adams on the top, but too many clouds. I took this fun halo photo of myself. I gave up after 30 minute wait. Soon, cloud completely obscured everything. It's like the first day: no view for the rest of the day. No difficulty. A small waterfall. As we went back to the southern side, saw many huckleberry bushes and beargrass. Probably a good idea to do this hike in fall. Short stop at June Lake: see the photo I took with Mitul's 5 lb camera, you can barely see the waterfall right on the other side the lake, almost invisible from my camera. More day hikers today. We got back to our cars before 2:00pm. Stopped at Battleground for an early dinner at Millcreek Pub. Food is quite good. I had steamed clam. The rest of my group is also happy with their choices. Service is questionable. Our server didn't tell us about Happy Hour menu, and she didn't give me any coins of my change.

2015.5.16. Belcarra Regional Park

Sunday, cloudy. I dragged kids out for a short walk in Belcarra Regional Park 20 minutes from home. Since my parents didn't get up until 11am, our walk happened around lunch time, where the park picnic area was in full swing. There're probably more people here than in the city. The air is thick with BBQ smoke and noise. I suggested to walk to one of the picnic shelter and see if we can partake their food. This was vehemently vetoed by my nephew.

We hiked to Admiralty Point and back. About 2 Km one way. Quite flat, with exposed roots at places. Salmonberry, bleeding hearts. It smells of ocean, even though we are 1 hour inland. View of the inlet is nice, but nothing special. Did see some huge cargo ship. My nephew and I had different guess for whether it was leaving or coming. It's an okay trail to hike, if you are here. Another one to do is the Jug Island trail. However, no point of coming here just for the hike, like we did today.

2015.5.15. Grouse Grind

Friday, cloudy. Hiked up the famed Grouse Grind in North Vancouver. A short but steep trail: 2.9Km, gain 850m.

Parking is $8/day or $6 for 3 hours. A further lot for half the price, which I didn't know. A wolf was sleeping at the foothill north of the parking lot (yes, fenced). GG trailhead is east of the parking lot. 40 labels on trees for progress. Some places nice newly made wooden steps and handrails. Overall, an ugly trail. At the beginning of the trail, there is a stone timer (donated by Columbia), and serious hikers doing stretch. We slowly went upwards, soon passed by hundreds of people, many seem to have come straight from work wearing their access badge. There were two 1/4 markers. The 2nd one is quite discouraging. Two nice benches at the 1/2 marker. However lots of litter. At the top, a big sign forbids people from hiking down the same trail (some still do). At the entrance of the Skyride lodge on the top, another stone timer to read your "PASS". Inside, a big screen displays your name, time, and goal. Most of those complete in 50-60 minutes. In 5 minutes, I saw one less than 50, and two a little over an hour. We made it in 3:20! Probably the slowest record, if we were to register. The fastest ever for GG is about 25 minutes for man, and 30 minutes for woman. Quite impressive.

The top of the hill isn't pretty, but the view down is outstanding: the entire Fraser Valley and clear view of downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, the sound and boats floating on glisening water, and the dark Capilino Lake. A bit too cloudy today, so limited view of the higher mountains to the west. There's a cafe, few bathrooms, and a restaurant. We took the Skyride gondola down. $10/pp. Other services and membership can be found on this official page.

2015.5.14. Harrison Lake

5/14. Thursday, partly sunny. Drove to Harrison Hot Spring. Incorporated township south of Harrison Lake. Picturesque. Walked west along the shore to visit the hot spring source: now fence in cement. The small creek outside is still hot. Saw two tiny fish swimming in it.

Sasquatch Provincial Park is just east of the lake: Hicks Lake and Deer Lake. Nice picnic tables, look brand new. At Deer Lake, many campsites are next to the lake. Very pleasant. Lots of Canadian Geese, some babies.

On the drive back, we detoured to Cultus Lake Provincial Park. The lake is very big. Nice picnic tables, lots of little white flowers on the mowed lawn next to the lake.

2015.5.9-11. Shi Shi beach at Olympic National Park

5/9, Saturday. A leisure morning. Despite the usual wait, ferry is always a relaxing way to start a vacation.

After picking up a bear can, wilderness permit for 2 nights, at the ranger station in Port Angeles, we had lunch at Hurricane Ridge. Weather was perfect. View is even better. Not too many people at the picnic area (a short drive from the visitor center). Saw one deer.

Destination today is Shi Shi Beach. It is a long drive. Buy a $10 annual visitor permit at a grocery store in Neah Bay (the closest town, and the most NW town in continental US). Drive SW (almost all paved) to the trailhead. Unload the gears. Drive back to the first house, pay $10 to park in the yard, instead of parking at TH. We didn't start hiking until almost 5pm. Trail is only ~2 miles, in a much better shape in the Makah land. As soon as it hits national park boundary, it's no longer maintained. Very muddy. As we hiked down the steep slope to the beach, we could smell cooked fish. It turned out to be massive amount of Velella stranded on the beach, now rotting. It could be nauseating to some. The north end has beautiful rock formations almost mystical. A small beach north of the first sea stack. The beach is smooth and over a mile long. There're about 3 spots that have good amount of water coming down the hill, however all brownish. Look for buoys hanging in the trees. We camped all the way south to the last visible water source. Dead Velellas went as inland as to the creek bed. A few camping sites in the wood, well protected. Plenty of space on the beach. The drift logs are easy to set fire on. Too overcast for a good sunset.

5/10, Sunday. I was surprised to see stars at night. More cloudy in the morning. Walked to the Father and Son at Point of Arches. No mussels. Packed out and dropped off the bear can at the ranger station.

Drove to Lena Lakes TH. ~8 miles in on Hamma Hamma Rd. All paved. The 3 mile hike to Lower Lena Lake is easy and gentle grade. Met a lot of families with small children. 1 mile later is the national park boundary, where a sign for no fire nailed on a tree. Met one hiker coming down. He said "It's a push. No bugs, no people". He was right on all 3 accounts. The trail gets rough and steep at times. At mile 7, finally saw the much expected lake. Pretty, but it was too cloudy to get a better view of the mountains. Camped on the little peninsular. Tried fishing: no catch. Rained at night. No stars.

5/11 Monday. Light rain. Mist obscured the mountains, but added serenity to the area. If not for the rain, I would liked to hike up to Mt Lena. Carrying rain gear in PNW is always a good idea. Most of the hike down was in drizzle. Met only one elderly group having lunch at a boulder by Lower Lena Lake. Otherwise, uneventful.

Stopped by Nisqually NWR on the drive back around the sound. Walked the easy boardwalk. Big trees, lush. Saw some goldfinch (or yellow warbler?). Heard many more birds, despite of the highway noise and power trimmer.

2015.5.2-3 More Spring Flowers - another road trip in OR

The weather forecast this week is too good to let pass. I rented a car and headed south.

Saturday 5/2. First stop, I-5 exit 263, Willamette Mission State Park, not a flower destination. Lots of cars today: 5k and 10k run. Paved biking trail. The mission itself is gone. Some steel frames mark the location. There's also a plaque of the biggest cottonwood tree. Lots of space, large grassy ground, picnic tables under walnut or hazelnut trees. Probably it's better to come here in autumn to collect the nuts. Camping here is $5 per person. Not a bad overnight stop close to Portland. I hopped on Wheatland Ferry across Willamette River. 1 man operation, with high cables for electricity on a pulley. Free for pedestrian. $1 bike, $2 car. May fit 9 cars.

Just as I got onto I-5, I saw large fields of irises and tulips to the west. Around Salem, I-5 divider is covered with small blue flowers.

Arrived at Portland Vortex around 3:20pm (I-5 exit 40 or 43). But had to wait for the last tour around 4pm. $12.5/pp. It's interesting. Demos of optical illusion: things in NE are smaller than in SW. See the photo taken many years ago. The property is very small. Tour only. The guide uses us as instrument for the demos.

Today's goal is Table Rock, I-5 exit 33. I picked lower Table Rock, as it's a bit longer. I walked ~1 mile to the southern edge along the abandoned air strip - yes, it's that flat, and you don't have a sense that it's up. Mt Mcloughlin can be seen to the east. The view at the edge of the fertile farmland 800' below and winding Rogue River + Kelly Slough is fabulous. On the top The ground looks volcanic to me, rocky, only the runway is smooth. Mid-April is best for flowers. Still some left. Only saw one pool of water. Along the trail up, lots of camas, seablush, blue eyed mary, cluster lily, and mariposa lily. On the edges of Table Rock, saw big buckwheat.

Rogue Valley State Park and Rest Area (I-5 exit 46B) is a good overnight option close to Table Rocks. Not very cold.

Sunday 5/3. Gas in Grand Pass. I5 exit 71. Grave Creek covered bridge (1920) and the remnant of Grave Creek ranch (now a museum looked to me closed). East of I5, very close to exit 76.

Wolf Creek Inn (1883) has been restored to its former glory, and with many famous visitors under its belt (including Jack London in 1911!). At the moment, it's closed until 2016.

Continue from Wolf Creek Inn for about 30 minutes on a winding and narrow, but paved road, is the start of the 40 mile national recreation trail: Rogue River trail. There're boat/float tours and car shuttle services that enable a one way hike. It follows the north bank of the river as it winds its way toward the Pacific Ocean. The west trailhead is at Foster Bar, about 30 river miles inland from the coastal town of Gold Beach, Oregon. Two THs next to a big concrete bridge, impossible to miss. I saw one turkey, and only a couple possible tent sites along the drive. Close to the bridge, one spot has better potential. The north TH (before passing the bridge) also serves as a boat launch. 2 pit toilets. I, and most cars parked the farther end of the bridge. About 6-7 cars. 2 had a window smashed. I took this southern trail for 2 miles to Nainie falls - just a rapid. Lots of yellow irises along the way, among other flowers.

North Bank Deer Preserve east of I-5 (#135 Wilbur or #129 Winchester) 5.3) mile on North Bank Rd. I probably parked at the west entrance. It's pretty big and hard to miss with a BLM sign. There's a poster stand, nothing else. You walk up a grassy slope over many poison oaks, lots of small white flowers and others. As you walk higher, many oaks and eagles. The view of Umpqua River on the short hill is beautiful. Met a family of 3, otherwise, no people, even though I saw two trailers in the parking lot. Very quiet and pleasant. Sad, no deer either.

Willow Creek Preserve in west Eugene. Camas in full bloom, covering the entire field south of 18th Ave (almost nothing north of the street).

William L Finley NWR in Corvallis is quite big. Gravel access roads. Nice visitor center. Lots of ponds (birds hiding) and flowers on hills. Met a group staring at a swampy area. They saw a female rail, which escaped me entirely.

Last stop: sunset on Baskett Butte (or Bald Mountain) at Baskett Slough NWR. Lots of Mariposa Lily on the top. Very pleasant short (1 mile) walk up the grassy slope. View of the slough and farmland below. Sunset ~8:15pm. About a dozen people.

On the drive to Salem, saw some fields covered with white flowers. Full moon.

Rest area along I-5 in OR: exit 19, 45B, 63, 99, 143/4, 178, 206, 240, 281.