2018.4.30. Camassia Park

4/30, Monday. Took bus 35 to Camassia Park before going to work. It was exactly the same day last year when I visited this park. A delight in the morning, when no one else was in the park. Flowers are in full bloom. Of all the blue-purple, I found many Blue-eyed Mary and Jacob's Ladder, on top of Common Camas. Didn't see much yellow.

Bus is every ~15 minutes during rush hours, but much less frequent on my way back. I saw a bus left and had to wait for 40 minutes for the next one. There's a closer access from the back of the 400m running track of West Linn High School if you are taking the bus. Get off the bus at Webb St (on Willamette Dr), and walk west up the hill to the high school. There's an entrance before the main building. The trailhead is marked on Google Map, and through an opening of the fence.

2018.4.29. Devil's Peak Lookout

4/29, Sunday. Overcast with occasional light rain. Similar forecast as Saturday, so I was hoping to have the same brief sunshine. 7 of us + 2 dogs went to Devil's Peak Lookout east of Mt Hood. 3200' 7.6 mile/RT. Unfortunately, we couldn't see a thing from the lookout. From partly cloudy Portland, we arrived at the trailhead in light rain ~1 hour later. The rain turned to snow half way up. All day long, light rain and light snow was off and on, but too cloudy to see far. A pity. I was told you could even see Jefferson on a clear day, yes, of course Hood very close. By the time we returned to Portland, it was partly sunny!

The trail is somewhat steep in the first 1/4 mile. I was quickly outpaced by 4 ladies (2 younger and 2 older than me), whom I didn't see until at the Lookout. I heat up so quickly that I had to take off my rain jacket. Luckily I carried my umbrella. No much wind in the trees (in fact, not much wind on the top either). The slope eased later. After about a mile, you are in a rhododendron forest. Of course, too early for flowers. Then snow on ground, and soon, snow from the sky. I put my fleece back on, not my raincoat. I was happy to see snow after 3 days of 80°+ weather in Portland last week. I somehow missed the door at the lookout. I even lift the shutter to see if the windows open, because I could hear voice from inside. After 5 minutes sitting down, I gradually put all my clothes back on, including a down vest. There're 2 beds, and miscellaneous tools. 2 small bottles of weed! No fire lookout tools though. Not sure if it's stationed in the summer. Coming down is a breeze, boring.

Even though there was plenty of snow, the snow was soft enough, and I don't understand why all 6 of the others put on micro-spikes or yak-trax. I felt fine without, even though I had brought mine. A couple of slopes were steep where you traverse on snow, but I still don't see how the small spikes would help. Nothing icy. Hiking poles are useful, as they help my knee on steep trails as well as in the snow.

Another link from Oregon Hikers with TH GPS.

2018.4.28. Gathering of the Guilds - an art show

Fri-Sun at the Convention Center.

By far the largest gathering is the pottery guild. Woodwork and glasses added together is not half of pottery space. I didn't bother with beads, metal and hand weaver's booths. Didn't have time.

This Montero entry table is quite an eye catcher. The top is made of salvaged maple and green epoxy fill. The legs made of salvaged handrails from Kellogg Middle School. $825 at Splendid Tables. I don't like the lower shelf, especially the color.

I only arrived around 5pm on Saturday, stayed till it closed at 6pm for the day. I didn't expect to see so many booths and beautiful objects. I even bought a small cup, with crystal pattern inside, and smooth stone look outside. Quite a lot of shoppers. There're also demonstration throughout the day.

2018.4.28 Hoyt again

4/28, Saturday, cloudy and rain occasionally. Temperature has dropped to the normal 50s. Went to Hoyt again. It was celebrating its 90th birthday this weekend. I took the seasonal highlight tour. There was supposed to be a birthday cake and story time before the walk.

We started on Beech Trail, saw the fine hair on the spine of the leave, and the copper leaves of a copper beech. Next is Devil's Walking Stick with spiny trunk and branches. Then we were told that Dogwood "flower" is actually the bract holding the real flowers inside, in a cluster. These tiny flowers don't bloom at the same time. Their leaves have latex-like substance, and if you break, you'll see the stringy threads.

Then it's the Maple section. I didn't know that all trees that produce twin seeds with wings are classified as maple. Father David's Maple has oval leaf and green bark. Right now is maple flowering time. I took many photos.

The next section is magnolia. The trees are in various stages of dropping flowers. Magnolia is pollinated by special beetles. We returned to the visitor center via Winter Garden. Daphne is blooming with a sweet smell.

Never rained during the walk. Even had brief moments of sunshine.

2018.4.21-22 Trail Skills College + Hood Valley blossoms + McCall Point

My 4th participation at PCTA's Trail Skills College.

4/20, Friday, worked at home. Some traffic getting into and out of the city. I arrived at the mass hall in Cascade Lock's Marine Park at 6:50pm. Registered, in time for tonight's talk at 7pm(there's why I came Friday instead of Saturday morning), while chowing down a baked potato and a bowl of chili. Chris Donnermeyer of NFS talked about historical fires in the area and their cycles and significance in clearing up under-bushes and promote blueberry growth for native tribes. He has some very detailed maps, which is impossible to read on the screen.

After the talk, I ran into Claudio, who came with his group, already attended a day of class. They were camping at a state park nearby. I went to set up my newly acquired tent (a sub-$100 tent for car camping) under a loose cluster of 3 blossoming cherry trees on Thunder Island. All the semi secluded spots were taken. As I was just starting to assemble, a guy walked by claiming how pretty it was to camp here right now. He was so happy that he was humming. I'm also fairly content with my new tent overall, but didn't like the angle of the doors. At night, it rained, exactly as forecast. Not heavy but nonstop. Earplugs were not enough to block the noise of the trains going by on both sides of Columbia River.

4/21, Saturday. As soon as the rain stopped (~7am), I crawled out of the tent. Sun was already risen. The low angle light is lovely. Breakfast is pancake, egg and ham. I'm not eating meat any more, so choices are limited. For lunch, ham, turkey, cheese to make sandwich, with New Seasons' bread. Tomato, pickle, celery, carrot, no lettuce (recalled by stores). I made a very boring sandwich with just tomato and pickle, avoid all the cheap condiments. Packed a ziplock bag of an apple and celery.

After the group photo shot, we gathered in groups. My class has about 8 students. Sue is the instructor. We carpooled to the large PCT trailhead north of the river, where 4 mules and packer Jim (Sue's husband) was waiting for us by their trailer. The mules have very soft fur, especially Patsy. 3 girls and 1 boy, who's much bigger. They are all bigger than I thought. We practiced tying tools in buckets so they don't rattle (lots of duct tape and clothes), and center the weight to the inner side, and center. Need to weigh each bucket so they balance. Then we loaded gravel on the 3 girls with these special bags that open at the bottom. Loading took a lot of people at the same time. Need to load on both side at the same time, and the buckets were heavy to lift high enough to pour. Then, Jim riding Jackson, and led the 3 loaded mules up the trail to another crew/class that was redoing a turnpike on the muddy trail. Half of us walked behind (the mules were faster than me). After unloading the first batch (one mule at a time, but both sides simultaneously). We walked another ~1/2 mile to pick up some logs that were mistakenly dropped off yesterday. Tying the logs to the horse took a long time. Somehow there were 7 logs. I and another guy carried the 7th log down. Seems for logs this size, it's quicker to carry by human. The rest of the afternoon was filling gravel bags, and the mules made a few trips. I really liked this class, the mules and both Sue and Jim. They belong to Back Country Horsemen, a volunteer organization. I even contemplated attending this Equin Expo recommended by Sue. We finished around 4:30pm.

Back at Cascade Locks, I got a Play Wave pale ale, before the beer was officially served at 5pm. Took a photo of the birthday cake. In fact, there were two cakes with same design. One is about 1/4 size. Googled for trail closure in the neighborhood. Many trails in the Gorge are now closed due to last summer's Eagle Creek Fire, but didn't see any mention of Dry Creek Falls. So, after rehydrated, I went.

I walked from Thunder Island via Dry Creek Rd. It turns out I walked more on the road than on the trail.At the end of the gravel road (big-ish stones, seems newly laid), met an SUV. The wife walked out of the car, and walked to the cross-section where a couple of signs indicating no vehicle access. She asked me if the trail was open, then returned to the car, and they drove away. One of the signs were covered by a black bag. Don't know why you'd need these signs here, since there was a bar blocking the road. The trail itself feels like a logging road. There's a big building at the beginning of the trail. It follows Dry Creek until the trail junction. Yes, some burnt trees. Continue straight that's the waterfall, flowing nicely. The remaining sunlight made the fall prettier than last year. I was the only person during my entire time on the trail. Took only 15 minutes to come back to the road, and about 30 minutes walk back to Thunder Island.

I returned around 6:50pm, already past dinner time. There was still food left. I took a veggie burger with burnt bottom, and a big ladle of veggie stew. Had a PCT Porter, also sponsored by Crux. I didn't eat the cake. The small one was finished, and the big one was half gone by the time I returned. Talked to this lady with a ukulele. Stayed for the short talks by different agencies where we can volunteer for trail work. I left at the raffle drawing. Need to charge my phone in the car, because I forgot to bring a normal charger.

2/22, Sunday. Got up at 6am, still too late to catch sunrise when I got out of my tent. Again beautiful light.

Drove to Hood River Valley to see the fruit blossom. Perfect timing. The white flower sea will last at least another week. I couldn't believe that I never came this way in April to see the glory. Very pretty indeed. Maybe a nice place to live. First I drove to the Panorama Point park. Then just cruising around the neighborhood. The early morning light is very nice. May try sunrise next time. Sunset would be a wrong direction for Hood. Too bad that I didn't have time to linger before my class.

Today, my class is new trail construction. The site is at Steveson, at the request of the city to build a trail from the road down to the beach. Ryan from WTA talked about general site selection and trail design. He is a good teacher. We spent the rest of the day shoveling and carrying gravel, digging rocks and dirt, collecting trash, lopping blackberry. Had lunch by the lovely but small beach. Minor problem is no toilet here. I listened to 2 state park employees (also students of this class) talking about claiming per diem for their trip here. Oh, both stayed at the Best Western in town. It made me wonder: government employees who are supposed to know about trail works, are getting extra pay by catching up with their needed skills, while we, the regular citizens, volunteer 100%. Garb, the trip leader (another volunteer like Sue and Jim), is also very nice, who even reminded me to drink, and we were in full sun. Towards the end of the day, the trail was getting in shape nicely. As often with WTA trips, chocolates (Reese and Hershey) were passed around (I prefer my Theo). We stopped ~3:30.

Back at Thunder Island, returned my hard hat and gloves. No beer today. Packed up my tent, drove to Rowena Crest like last year. Hiked up McCall Point. Maybe a week or 2 too early for flowers, but still beautiful. Enough Balsamroot to make the photos shine. Even a few Painted Brush. Lupine was still budding. No much wind today. I planned to watch sunset, but the trail is shorter than I remembered. I reached the top around 6pm. Had a can of Amy's soup while thinking about whether to wait 2 hours for the sunset. Decided to head back.

Drove to Crown Point, barely made the sunset, before reaching Vista House. Hastily double parked. A colorful ending of a beautiful and productive weekend. (Note: the Historic Columbia River Hwy is open from the west - exit 22. The east access from Bridal Veil is still closed.)

The sunshine continued next week, reaching 84°F on Wednesday and Thursday (4/25-26). Maybe a record.

2018.4.15. Major Barbara at Portland Center Stage

4/15 7:30pm. I very much enjoyed Major Barbara by Bernard Shaw. Witty and sarcastic dialogues. One intermission, 4 acts (3 sets). They change the set, some actors change costumes without lowering the curtain. Efficient and well made stage set. Plot summary: an industrialist in the munition business unable to find a suitable successor returns to his estranged family. His daughter Barbara had become a major in Salvation Army, helping the poor, refusing to take the blood money from his father, while her superior happily accepts his check and honoring him. He visits her shelter, and the family visits the factory and the village the factory has built. A banner hangs in the factory: "Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done".

2018.4.15. Rare, Threatened and Unusual Conifers - a guided tour at Hoyt

4/15, Sunday, light rain all day. Went to another Hoyt's guided tour. Same as last October, Julian today lead a tour of rare conifers. I was on time this time, so caught up with the first half of the tour.

Cathaya Argyrophylla is one and only specie of its genius. Dawn Redwood was once thought distinct. Again, the only one of its genius. Its tiny leaves doesn't look like needles from afar. Taiwania Coffin Tree has very prickly needles. Umbrella Pine's long needles are not leaves, but stems. China Fir (a cypress) has rare proliferous seed cones, where the stem will continue to grow through. The Stinking Cedar (a yew) has a pleasant citrus smell.

The rest of the tour is the same as last October. Good to refresh my memory.

I caught a shuttle down to Vietnam Memorial and walked to downtown.

2018.4.14. Riparian Ecology at Lower Deschutes River + Mary's Hill Stonehenge

4/14, Saturday. Same as last year's trip in May for no particular reason, other than Ralph's scheduling availability. I was allowed to come (signed up 2 days in advance into the waitlist) because Friends might need more drivers from Gateway. However, since I wanted to visit a couple of other places after the walk, no one wants to ride with me. 8:15 rdv at Gateway, and 10am rdv at Deschutes River State Recreation area end of the road. This gave me enough time to stop by Memaloose Rest Area, to use the bathrooms and the winterized water fountain. Saw some hikers there. Light rain had stopped.

Total 11 including the guide and the sweep. Similar view, less flowers than last year. I found today's participants are not as knowledgable as last year's, and our sweep, a nice lady, isn't really interested in the plants. First, Ralph listed introduced some field guides in the back of his truck, and those in his pockets (including a bird book). We then saw some effort to curtail blackberry (spray). It's good to refresh my failing memory about Poison Hemlock, Sumacs, Wooly Mollen with its last year's flower stalk, Chevil, Henbit, Wormwood, Wild Rye and other bunch grasses. I didn't know that alders have cones, balsamroot has thousands of flower-let, tumbleweed is called Russian Thistle whose flower bracts are most prickly. Current condition: lupine is just budding, same with cluster lily. The most flowers now are barestem desert parsley, prairie stars, Longleaf Phlox on the middle trail. In about 2 weeks, it might be the best time to visit.


We also saw Orange Tip and Morning Cloak butterflies. Saw some male Autubon's Yellow-rumped Wabler, osprey. Lots of gulls on the river: they fly a bit upstream, and float down before the confluence, and loop again. Smelt run now?

We finished later than I thought, almost 3pm. So warm that I was sweating, a bit breezy, partly sunny. My rental car says 66°F.

Visited Maryhill Stonehenge, which is less than 20 minutes away on the WA side, east of Hwy-97. It sits on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River. A memorial with such a commanding view. I cannot believe that I never come here before. Large parking lot, no shade. Warm, a bit windy. You can see lots of wind turbines on the hills behind. A small memorial by the visitor center. Wilting iris and a busy gecko. 3 honey buckets.

Another reason to come here now is the solar (4pm) and night (8:30pm) shows by Goldendale Observatory. This is the temporary location until the upgrade of the observatory is finished, scheduled to reopen in summer of 2019. Today, about 7 adults and 5 kids. I really enjoyed this hour long presentation. First we looked through this portable telescope, with an Etalon Optic filter/lens. It's only picking up the alpha frequency of hydrogen. The sun looks red-orange, with a prominence at the right lower end right now. This one is also fit with a GPS tracking box, which continuously tuned to track where the sun is. Then we go into the visitor center, now curtain shut with rows of chairs and a screen behind a desk and computer. Much cooler inside. I learned a lot today, if I can remember all. When the presentation was finished, I tried to look at the telescope again, but it was clouded over. Getting a bit chilly too.

On the way back, I climbed over the Horsethief Butte, and looped back via the flat trail. Got a tick during the scramble. Balsamroot is blooming nicely here. Death Camas and Oregon grape were blooming. I could see ghostly Mt Hood in the clouds. My car was the only one in the small parking lot.

I drove up Dalles Mt Ranch hoping to see more balsamroot. But too early. The slopes here are covered with small Pungent Desert Parsley, so all creamy yellow. I didn't take any photo here. No sunset to speak of: clouds were too thick. Rain when I got back to Portland.

2018.4.8. Ethnobotany tour at Hoyt Arboretum

4/8, Sunday, drizzle. I arrived early today at Hoyt Arboretum for the guided walk at noon. Only 3 women showed up. We really enjoyed today's walk with volunteer guide Roland, so much so, that we ended around 1:45pm instead of just in one hour. Roland first gave each us a sheet of ethnobotany references (books and websites). He carried 3 books a numerous color printout of illustrations. Here's what I learned (of no particular order):

o) Smelt is very oily, so much so, the native tribe would use it like candle. First fresh food after winter.
o) Dock and Plantine, both very common, and often by the road, are anti-inflammatory. Spit on the leaf, use saliva to release the enzyme to treat sting/burn/wound.
o) Western Red Cedar has easily splittable wood, water proof. Red Cedar plants were made to roof, canoe, and drinking vessel. Bark is pliable, the inner bark can be so soft, that was used as diaper.
o) Ocean Spray has very tough twigs, used to make sticks and spears.

We tasted the yellow flower of Oregon Grape (bitter), white flower of maple (no taste), smelled the white flower of Indian Plum (like cat litter!), wild ginger smells good. Trillium and Wood Violets are popping up everywhere.

After waiting for the shuttle for 5 minutes, I walked down hill to town.

2018.4.8. Porland Japanese Garden

4/8, Sunday. Heavy rain in the morning postponed my trip for an hour. I arrived at the gate ~11am in light rain. Took the Washington Park Free Shuttle instead of walking from the MAX station. This runs every ~15 minutes, weekend only in April. Good thing about the rain is that very few people here, nor on the bus.

The rain made the ponds turbid. Instead of seeing the colorful fish in the water, now you see the reflection of the colorful umbrellas.

I should have come yesterday morning. I was deterred by the forecasted rain storm and high wind, but the rain and wind didn't come in mid afternoon. Now, most of the cherry blossoms were blown down. Magnolia were either budding or dying. I still enjoyed my short time here, thanks to the emptiness.