2013.6.22. Salmon Butte

6/22. Saturday. Cloudy, warm. Salmon Butte hike in the Mt. Hood area is quite rewarding, especially at this time of the year, and not too many people. ~10 miles, 2250' gain + some up and downs. Quite a few camp along Salmon River next to the trail head. Spring flowers at the bottom (not a lot), and gradually migrated to rhododendron. They get denser as you go hiker. Some still has pink flowers (maybe 1-2 weeks too late?). Gentle grade. The old road is a pleasant ~1 mile walk with tall grasses, looks just like a trail. I didn't notice the service road near the top either: just the trail. Most of the trail is soft, well maintained, easy grade.

The specialty of this hike is the wild rhododendron. Often under them, beargrass about to bloom. Most of the trail is shaded with little undergrowth (hard to find a toilet choice). Tall evergreen trees. There's a small open slope halfway up (about 2 hours from the trailhead) filled with Sea Blush. So it's all pink. Lovely.

View on the top: not quite 360° yet. St Helens and Adams to the north, Hood due east, Jefferson to the south. On Jefferson's eastern shoulder, with the aid of a binocular, I could pick up another peak (one of the Sisters). On a clear day, possible to see Rainier.

Direction: 17.3 miles east of Sandy on US Hwy 26. Turn right (south) at Salmon River road. The pavement ends in 5 miles at the bridge. Continue on graveled road for 0.7 miles till the end. Zigzag ranger station is a bit east of the Salmon River rd turn.

2013.6.16. Elk Rock garden

Small, quiet. Elk Rock Garden of the Bishop's Close is delightful private garden of a Scottish family (Kerr's) on a steep hill by Willamette River. The children gave the estate and an endowment for its maintenance to the Episcopal Bishop of Oregon on condition that the garden be open to visitors. Hence, the name. There's a wide variety of plants, which I need to come here again with a botanist.

The house was closed, so was the visitor center, on this Sunday afternoon. Door was open. The neighborhood seems quite affluent.

2013.6.16. Gay Pride Parade

Sunday. Cloudy. The parade was scheduled to start at 11am. I arrived a bit after noon. Saw all political groups, city government, 3 different churches, a Mormon group, a couple of group from other states. A lot of cheer. Not a lot of creativity, except these on this photo. The Gay Chorus sang all the way. Quite good. I shall check out their concert some day. Most people just wear some boring T-shirt. I got bored after an hour, and left.

2013.6.15. Mount St Helens

Saturday 6/15. Sunny with clouds. Johnston Ridge Observatory (~4300') -> Boundary Trail (#1) 2 miles -> left at junction with Truman Trail (4020') -> continue on Boundary Trail for 2.8 miles -> right at junction with Coldwater Trail (5040') -> continue towards Coldwater Peak trail (0.5 miles, abandonned in the middle due to snow). Good view of St. Helens' Lake, and the top of Mt Rainier. Lunch. On the way back, half way between the two junctions -> Harry's Ridge (1 mile) -> back to the observatory. Total ~11 miles. Ups and downs. Mostly exposed, no water source (except for snow). No significant elevation gain. See map.

The view along Boundary Trail (except for the first 2 miles) is fantastic: logs floating on large Spirit Lake, Mt Adams prominently to the east, Mt St Helens' crater and smaller volcanic mounds to the south, smaller mountains (Mt Margaret is still snowy) close by. Mt Hood at some higher grounds. There's a 3 legged metal installation (weather?) on top of Harry's Ridge.

Saw one bird nest, one snake (small, orange back), one elk far away. Avalanche lilies are blooming. Still have a few trillium left. Paintbrush and penstimon are quite good. Dwarf lupine is still coming. At ~1pm, when we were standing above St. Helens Lake, a thick cloud shaded the sun, causing double concentric rainbows. Fabulous.

Direction: I-5 exit #49 for Hwy 504. All the way to the end.

A side note: I was late for an outing with Friends of the Gorge, due to Trimet dropping the train service I was waiting for. In a failed attempt to reach the coordinator, I still went to the meeting place. Thanks to Linda who offered to take me along for this hike. What a pleasant change! Except for, as usual, some members (Ania and Meghan on this hike) talking too loud and incessantly. Very nice and fun people though. Both Dave and Robert know this area very well, so the rest of us came away with better appreciation of the force of nature (Spirit Lake is 200' higher). Dave, being the leader and also a forest guy, watched us not to step out of the trail (the whole area is a fragile rejuvenation zone). This is commendable. We could have made to Coldwater Peak trail, but it would mean off trail.

June: roses in Rose City

Portland's largest festival Rose Festival is coming to an end. On Friday June 7th, I went to see the 2nd fireworks (the first was on the Friday before Memorial weekend), advertised on the official website as 9:30pm-10:30pm. In reality, it was 9:55-10:01. A big disappointment. Not only it's short, it is not choreographed, no accompanying music (you can hear loud music from the city fair, which is going one for 2 weeks by the waterfront). I watched from Morrison Bridge, almost ideal: good view of the cityscape and the bridges, fireworks and reflection.

June 8th, the day of the grand floral parade. At 7:30 in the morning, the max trains were already full of people. I went for a hike instead of fighting the crowds in downtown. After the hike, I went to Naito Parkway next to the closed-off city fair to check out the flower-bedecked floats. Not just rose, but all varieties of fresh flowers. They were sitting between Yamhill and Alder st. Not many: just 2 blocks (~a dozen), but still nice that you can get this close. The cutest ones are from PGE and Reser's Foods.

6/9. Sunday. I visited the International Rose Test Garden in Forest Park. Peak of the bloom. Absolutely delightful despite of a large crowd on this sunny Sunday morning. Today, a bunch of "judges" were walking around taking notes. Free, and a short (uphill) walk from downtown, it's an absolute must for anyone visiting Portland in June.