Tag Archives: Portland

Oct11

Not laboring on Labor Day

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Weekend of 04-Sept-2023 – Friday, 01-Sept-2023 through Monday, 04-Sept-2023


I didn’t really labor, over labor day. I’d spent the last few weekends in the woods exploring, and felt the need to relax and recenter myself a bit before the coming few backpacking adventures. I had three big backpacking trips lined up – two days in Goat Rocks, then three days in the Alpine Lakes, then four days in the Wallowas.

It’s important to balance rest and adventure, so thus – a weekend of rest.

I didn’t stay in the whole time, of course. I mean… I’m kinda antsy, so laying on the couch wasn’t quite in the cards… though I did try to maximize the couch time as best I could, to give myself some legit rest time before the next few weekends.


I started off with Brunch, because clearly Brunch is the best way to start a long weekend… as evinced by the capitalization of Brunch.

Then a long roadtrip, driving south past Salem, around Bend, to Mt. Hood, and back to Wilsonville. I stopped to fly the drone a bit, stretch my legs, and even swing the sword around. I explored, appreciated the rumble of the engine, saw a beautiful sunset, and alternated between listening to music and embracing the silence.



Saturday I rested, hit the gym a bit, and went out to dinner. I couldn’t tell you exactly why, but Labor Day weekend marked a turning point for me in Wilsonville… I felt the drive to explore some nearby restaurants, and Saturday felt like a Mexican day… which found me staring down a massive plate of enchiladas paired with a margarita the size of my head and a delicious bowl of fried ice cream for the little sweet tooth I have.



Sunday and Monday brought more relaxation and more fun meals – I painted one of the figurines that I’d bought ages back, walked to the grocery store to pick up some steak, and even did dinner with my neighbors – finally watching Stand By Me with them! Such a great movie… and definitely helped prepare me for backpacking (and avoiding leeches)!



An excellent weekend.

Oct6

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Saturday, 26-Aug-2023 & Sunday, 27-Aug-2023


Okay let’s start off with the most important part. I saw a SUPER cute chipmunk.

Just look at ‘im! Grabbing the grass and eating it! Ahh!



Okay now that we’re past that.

I finally backpacked out to McNeil point! With people, even!


That’s a pretty hefty accomplishment for this year – two trails that I’ve wanted to backpack for years, effectively since I moved to Oregon, complete! Paradise Park, which was absolutely stunning, and now McNeil Point, which… spoiler alert… was also absolutely stunning!

I’ll admit that the sunset wasn’t quite as intense this time, nor were the flowers in quite as intense of a bloom, but… I adored the rocky landscape and amazing adventure of McNeil. Not to mention getting to do as a group – I went with Jess and her friend Stevie, the first time I’ve been backpacking as a group in… ohh, I can’t quite recall how long.



It was excellent, without many stories to be told aside from the enjoyment of the mountains and the excitement of completing a trail long aimed for. We hiked, we camped, we ate and chatted, and read and explored.

It was a good weekend.

Oct4

A pivot to and Elk and a King – Hiking the Elk Mountain to King Mountain loop

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Sunday, 20-Aug-2023


The day before, Jess and I had gone to a work event of mine – a fairly impressive shindig at a nearby resort, where we got the chance to meet and greet with various coworkers, play games, and give a rather epic showing for ourselves at Laser Tag.

We had our backpacks packed and ready in the car, so when we left we headed directly East, toward Mount Hood for a weekend of backpacking… nothing heavy, mind you, but a good opportunity to get the legs moving and get ourselves into the woods to relax and disconnect from the world.

Unfortunately, this was the Pacific Northwest in Wildfire season… and the Wildfires had turned on us a bit overnight. The air was rough, Jess’s asthma was kicking in, and the sky had taken on a singularly ominous “blood orange” hue. Backpacking up on the mountain simply wasn’t in the cards.



Instead, we simply laid low – headed back to Wilsonville, had a lovely relaxing afternoon and evening, and then headed out toward the coast in an attempt to evade a bit of the smoke.



Our goal was a hike I hadn’t done in years – the Elk Mountain and Kings Mountain loop. Interestingly, I’d last done it with Daniel, during another bout of wildfire-induced smoke… Thinking back, it wasn’t any less smokey then, and it wasn’t any less smokey now…

Maybe this isn’t the best hike to do in the smoke?


Ehh, we did it anyways.




The nice thing about wildfire smoke, if there is a nice thing to be said, is that the light can be stunning. It’s a sort of golden hour that lasts all day long… if you can push through the burning lungs and painful eyes, some great views can absolutely be had of the Sunlight filtering through the clouds and smoke and into the trees.

We hiked, we rested, we ate and drank. We drank tons of water, and even took a few moments to fly the drone around… not that it got any particularly good views, but it was definitely fun none the less.

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After the drive home, we stopped to grab dinner from the grocery… and saw our extra little neat view of the day – a “do it yourself convertible”, complete with an anti-theft Club, since… you know… doors didn’t exist.

Kinda cool. Interesting weekend. I’ll take it.