Gorgeous coastal weather in the PacNW and an ice cream adventure.

Quick overnight trip out to the coast with the family on a Friday. Fawn and I took Atreyu and the tent and set it up at some free spots near the Tillamook Forest Center. We headed out early in the morning and went out to Sauvies Island, Fawn had an interview (GODD LUCK!!) so Atreyu and I strolled out on one of the many gorgeous wildlife areas for a bit. We watched the day begin to get warm, saw an eagle, a blue heron and a bunch of fish and even heard a couple of otters playing in the water.

As soon as Fawn was done the team headed out for our little trip. Even though we were out super early in the day it was still a super nice Friday so we decided to set up camp first. We got out and all set up by noon, and collected wood and built a fire and cooked our lunch. We had a nice picnic lunch with a couple of brats from the butcher and mac salad. Pretty yummy!!

After lunch we jumped back into the van for a lovely afternoon at the coast. We made the mandatory stop at the Tillamook factory for Ice Cream cones. I had a two berry flavors waffle cone, Fawn had Huckleberry pie cone and Atreyu had a double chocolate kiddie cone, and of course he wore a fair bit on his face.  The factory is building a new visitor center, so there is no tour right now, but they weren't going to go through the summer without dolling out the scoops and the cheese samples so they have a temporary space set up, still nice.

Fawn in her natural habitat.

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A few miles north of Tillamook is the town of Girabaldi Oregon. There you can find the Barview Jetty Park. They have a campground and beach access. Super pretty campground and location was ideal of course but spendy, and it looked like they would nickel and dime you to death, pay showers and all. We couldn't have asked for better weather it was sunny and warm out on the coast. Our team strolled and scrambled out over the boulders to the end of the jetty and then back down onto the beach for a while. This trip was about a year anniversary of the first time we took Luna to the beach and she has come so far. Last year at this time we couldn't have let her anywhere near other dogs, or people or anything that moved very quickly. This time she and I jogged a half mile up the sand and I let her run back to Fawn completely on her own, without one worry. So proud of that dog.

We stopped at "Fishermans Korner Restaurant" for dinner. They advertise "The best Fish & Chips in Tillamook county" I do have to say if thats true, I feel kinda bad for Tillamook county. The food was ok, but nothing too crazy awesome. Not like it's something to blog about... I've eaten a lot of fish & chips at the coast and my personal belief is: there is better out there...  Atreyu had a little bit of a tough time sitting still, he was so tired...just.. couldn't.. sit stilllllllllll....AND....... he fell asleep on the drive back to camp. I snuggled him into his bag so Fawn and I could enjoy a quiet evening with some fudge cookies, hot tea and reading by the fire in camp chairs and the hammock.

Early to bed, early to rise. I was reminded why some people talk about "camping weather". Got up in the morning and didn't even bother with a fire, just hot water on the stove for coffee, and some granola cereal for breakfast. It was just plain warm and comfortable. Atreyu had baseball practice so we booked it back to town, stopped for bagels and a coffee refill on the way (way harder than I ever would have thought).

We did have a fairly seriously loss on this trip. Our Coleman 4 person tent had a pole splinter. I managed to hold it together with some masking tape for the overnight. We got this tent for free and have been using almost every time we went car camping since. I would just replace the pole but the truth is its got a couple little tiny holes and the fly isn't as reliable as it once was so probably best to just replace the whole tent. It is open and spacious. We are looking for suggestions that are affordable and sturdy with at least 55sq feet floor so we can take it out with plenty of room to stretch out inside or snuggle in if its raining or anything. I do need to replace this soon as the Rainier trip is coming up in like 2 weeks and we could easily spend the few nights in the smaller tent, since Luna isn't coming with us but its more comfy with room to change clothes and stuff.

The perfect spot, amazing night, and a great walk.

     Totally on a roll!! Another adventure in the books. Headed out from Portland to my go-to area and hit up a short overnight backpack trip. Atreyu and I took our two buddies Asheville (my buddy) and Cheeri-O (his boy) and walked the first couple miles of the Salmon River Trail.

     Our plan was to get on the trail by like 11 am.... uhm nope. Met up at their house at 9 and they are almost ready, take the big boy seat out of the van and load the packs into Ashevilles car. Had to stop back at my house since I left all of the perishables for the whole crew in the fridge. OOOPS. No worries. Back to the road. Jamming some Grateful Dead on the way. We stopped at a spot for quick lunch while we let the biggest rain of the day pass.

     The trailhead.... at 1...... Salmon River trail. So Ashland needs to work in the morning and were not going that far in since we have the boys but we're keeping track of the time. We walk a bit and take a nice long break at a neat little rocky outcrop on the river. Some snacks and get the packs off. About 45 minutes later we pack back up and do the rest of the walk. We talked to a couple older women on the trail that were blown away by Atreyu (4 yrs) and Cherri-O (6yrs) carrying their own packs, they give us the skinny on a nice camp spot they saw on the way. It was perfect, our goal was Rolling rifle camp, but we didn't make that one. The spot we found was just too good. The clearing was plenty big enough for the boys to run around, there was a spot to hang the hammock and a tent for the other guys. The spot is well loved and well cared for (YAY for rule #1). There is good river access, a bench made from an old log and a work table out of a stump. Perfect spot. We straighten up the fire-pit, set camp and collect wood. Fire gets going pretty easy and this evening is looking NICE. Dinner is cooked on the MSR stove with my new cook pot, a GSI 1 liter. The pot is great. I love it. Small and light enough to carry in but big enough to meet most of my needs on the trial.
The cook pot holds exactly the perfect amount of water for making 4 bowls of ramen noodles with chicken and veggies in it. What I do is crunch up the noodles in the pack and pour pre-cooked chicken and par cooked broccoli and carrots into my bowl and the fill with hot hot and cover with a lid for a couple minutes. As soon as the noodles are soft dinner is ready. As a treat for the boys I packed in a couple of graham crackers and chocolate frosting cookies (thanks for the reciepe mom) and a few marshmallows. As a treat for the dads an couple of "Left-Hand Milk Stout." Yum.

     Get the boys ready for bed. Atreyu and I slept in the hammock and Asheville and Cheeri-O stayed in their tent. The coolest new piece of gear I've been the most excited for in a while goes up over the hammock. I bought "The Party Fly" by Bear Butt. This fly is AWESOME! Its super light and easy to work with, it drizzled all night and oh-so-cozy dry.  The price was so right on. Bear Butt is a smaller company still and so they actually responded to my tweets, lol that was cool, but I recommend checking out their line of stuff. This fly is a solid 5 stars so far. The experience of sleeping in the hammock needs some work though. I wasn't super ready for it. I tried using my sleeping pad and my old down bag. It was just a little cold. I know Atreyu was a little cold cause half way through the night he climbed up and slept on my belly to keep cozy, I do love cuddles. I bet a good wool blanket would have been better choice than the sleep system I had. I hear they have hammock quilts that are good choice, but I don't know anything about them. *Hit me with some good info.*

     Get a fire going in the morning to warm up and do some oatmeal and coffee packets. I make my own instant oatmeal blends at home. It costs less and I pack them into plastic sandwich bags I can reuse. One thing I really like doing is putting dried fruits in the oatmeal. I'm not a big oatmeal guy so the more flavor the better, besides its more nutritious that way anyway. If you use dehydrated rather than freeze dried they will (at least partially) reconstitute in the bowl and become warm and mushy fruit. So far I like bananas and blueberries the best.

    Clean up the camp and pack up. Clear away a couple of fire rings that aren't necessary. And hit the trail back down.

   Quick overnight but so nice. The ride back to town was a little insane trying to keep two super-over-excited, not worn out enough boys from going crazy in the back seat. Put this one down as a win boys and girls. This trip was great. 

Remember to share, like and comment. All that good stuff. Im starting an Instagram that'll be public and only have adventure photos. Right now the name is Woobley McFiddley but I'm gonna change it to reflect my camping dad nickname, Otter.    https://www.instagram.com/mcfiddley/

Hotsprings, Waterfalls and Faerie Magic. Three weekends, three trips.

   Its been a couple weeks boys and girls. I've got a couple little trips to talk about and some new gear I'm excited to tell you about!!!

   Wanna tell my readers, all 4 of you, that I appreciate you taking the time to read the blog. If you find it interesting enough do all the normal stuff you do to support someones hobby, let me know you're there (like, subscribe, comment, share) and keep reading.

 BAGBY
    I have a couple of adventures to tell you about. Brought out a regular participant in our adventures who we shall from now on call: Sparky, and her new-ish partner we shall call Everest. I have opted since this trip to give everyone nicknames, not just the core team, the intials aren't as cool. So Fawn, Atreyu, myself, Sparky and Everest, as well as Luna (our sweet boxador) all pile into a van for Friday overnight, get out on the road early enough in the day and strike out for Bagby hot springs. A little more than a hour from Portland. No trouble on the road, the van is going along and the music is playing. Everest enjoys napping in the farthest back row it seems. Its one of the first weekends the road up to Bagby is open and so we have the place pretty much to ourselves at first. We get pick of the litter on campsites, the campground and trailhead share an entrance. Very handy if you want to soak and not drive after. The campground is in a great location and that about the best thing you can say about it. The sites are all mostly pretty small and uneven, they just have the standard table and fire pit. Just one pit toilet for the 20-ish sites. AND it wasn't easy to pay for camping, bring cash, the host came around in the morning to collect, and it was at least 8am (#ninja...?). We jump right onto setting camp and got a fire going and cooked and ate 3 course dinner. Salad, followed by roast chicken/veggie/potato foil packs over the coals and for dessert obligatory s'mores. After dinner, an evening stroll in the twilight up to the hot springs. If you've never been to Bagby, I recommend it at least once. The water comes out of the spring VERY HOT and fills giant tubs made out of dug out logs. You add water from a drawn well or a nearby cold creek to make it bathable. There are 10 or so tubs in all half of which are good for a single person or a couple, and several that are group size. The amount of chill and nudity one will see up here depends on a lot of factors but I have been here many times, all times of  day and night or time of year, and not once had the place to myself. Truly an experience.
   We get in a good soak for a bit, and after a while a Friday night teen party team all show up, a common occurrence here on a weekend night. This makes it feel less chill and family friendly so we hit the trail backdown. I spend the most of the walk, in the dark, back down the trail keeping Everest on his toes by scaring him and telling him all about predators of the PacNW. It was a fun walk. We chill by the fire for a bit and hit the sack. CoooOOOOLD night. It IS in the mountains and it was super early in the season for this region.
    In the morning we do coffee and break camp. Get into a long conversation with the host who proceeds to tell me her whole story. WHOLE STORY. The only part pertinent to this post is that they are doing piping and flow improvements to the springs to help the tubs fill faster and more efficiently. If you go up there, don't break the piping....
   We hit the road and grab a bite on the way, Everest treated for breakfast. Thanks dude! It was a great overnight and the team we went with all gets along really well. From Portland this trip is super easy to get to and makes a great shoulder season getaway for an easy trip. This place is a heavy use area in the summer and early fall, expect to wait fir a tub and to limit your soak time as others will be waiting as well.

*Pro-tip. Do NOT LEAVE ANY Valuables in your car at the trailhead parking lot. Even thought here is a host living right there people have broken into cars with some regularity here in the past. I had my wallet stolen out of the glove box when we went for a backpacking trip at this trailhead.



ZIG_ZAG    Trip number two. Overnight at my go-to overnight spot. This location near Zig-Zag Oregon is like 40 minutes from my house. I love it and within a 5 square mile radius I know of 15 or 20 different locations for camping here. The core team: Fawn, Atreyu, Luna and myself head out for a quickie throw up the tent night. Bare minimum. BUT!!! NEW GEAR TO TRY OUT!! #SoExcited. We set up our trail tent and got a fire going. Hot dogs and marshmallows. Fawn and I splurged and bought a hammock, kinda like a spring gift for Atreyu and I got a new sleeping pad for my bday. The hammock, a Eno Double nest is super easy to put up and the straps (SOLD SEPARATELY) gave lots of places it could go up, no problem and is super comfy. We didn't sleep in it overnight but Atreyu thought it made a great swing and he and Fawn found lots of time to just relax in it.
  Chilly night but my new pad (Therma-rest, ProLight Plus) was oh so comfy and was easy to set up and pack back down. I'll still use the heavy ones for car camping I think, at least some of the time , just so I don't risk messing this one up as fast. I can't wait to take this out on the trail.

   In the morning we have some hot drinks and cold cereal, clean up around the campsite. RULE NUMBER 1 Always leave it cleaner than when you got there, especially those free sites, they can get trashed sometimes pretty bad and the forest service will close them. Besides 15 minutes of picking up liter is cheaper than paying $22 a night.... I will never understand how its no problem to carry in a 30 rack of ranier to a remote campsite but somehow the empty cans weigh too much and have to be left behind.We jam on out of there and head for home and back in time for lunch. Easy peasy.

The short and skinny on the ENO. I'm taking this thing backpacking, in conjunction with my ultralight tarp it seems like it will be at least as easy to set up and maybe hella more comfy than my ultralight tent set up. But it doesn't weigh less and it doesn't take up less room in the pack than my ultralight tent. For sure less than my family backpacker but that is for 3 people and still comes in less than 4lbs.


LATOURELL FALLS
   This day trip is another super short drive from my house. City of Portland is well located to outdoor activity if nothing else. The day required a walk and I wanted to try the full pack weight out and put in a couple of miles anyway, so we headed up the Gorge on a beautiful Saturday morning. The weather was perfect for walking in the woods: sun shining, not too hot, not too cold. Just right. We decided on Latourell falls loop. This loop comes in at just under 2.5 miles and has a waterfall at the start and at just past the midway point. There is less than 700 feet of elevation gain and lose on this trail. I wore a full overnight pack and Atreyu wore a pack that had some snacks and his full rain suit, I knew he wouldn't need it (gotta keep raising the weight) and a few emergency essentials. Fawn carried the our newest pack, a great day bag by North Face, the Borealis with stuff for Luna (lazy dog doesn't carry her own pack.... yet), and a picnic lunch. A wonderful hike, not too long for Atreyu, who carried his pack the whole way with minimal breaks. And the upper falls were great as you walk under them and get spray all over. If I were being picky, just for my readers *I Swear!, I'd say there were a lot of people on this trail and so you never really felt any solitude, but it I understand with the nature of the hike and proximity to Metro, and there were very few places to stop and have a break. Only one or two benches along the way, and not too many mini side trails for a vista or a place to sit, you couldn't really just pop-a-squat anywhere either because the trail is fairly narrow in most places for the amount of use it gets (a pro mostly... I know). So just be aware if hiking with little ones here.


I am super excited to be getting ready for lots of trips in the near future. You'll get to read about our trip to Mt Rainier soon. I'm taking the boy on a daddy and son Otter and Atreyu only backpacking trip this week . And My buddy and I are putting together a canoe trip that'll be a couple of nights in the near future. Make sure you subscribe so you can get notifications as soon as new stuff goes live. I have no shame and self-promotion is not beneath me. If I can get this blog going and in some magic way it lets/encourages me to camp and/or write more, I'm all about it.





Eno Double