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
This blog is amazing !!
ReplyDeleteLOL. Don't make me blush. Thanks.
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