Looking Through the Filter of Perfection

Portland turns into paradise just about this time every year. The flowers have all blossomed and the birds are out chirping. It's almost like a Disney flick, minus the cutesy little fury things (unless you put hippies in that category). I have been trying to take full advantage of the weather by spending as much time away from the television and outside of the house as i can. That may mean i'm chilling on the front porch with Riley, riding my bike up the volcano to catch a last glimpse of the sun before it hides behind the Portland skyline, hiking some of the local and not-so-local trails, or. . .what else but playing football (i'm on a mission to convert the sport's name back to the proper term, please join me). I could probably go on but it would start to get boring (for both of us).

This is the view of Mt Hood from the backside of Mt Tabor. Not a bad view for a Thursday afternoon.

The weekend before this past weekend was my boy Trip's birthday. He turned the big 2-5, talk about old. He celebrated with a weekend long party, if you will. The weekend started off with a night of vicious beer pong. I don't think i've played beer pong in over 5 years and it showed. Not to mention i was surrounded by kids. Trip was the oldest person in the room, next to my geriatric ass. There was no shortage of old man/medicare jokes. I didn't even think kids that age knew about medicare; shows how much i know. Saturday started late and we ended up going to watch the mighty Portland Timbers play Juventes Jr team. I can't remember the final score, on account of the 16 oz beers they were serving, but i think we won, 1-0. After the game we "maxed" (subway, metro, call it whatever you would like) back to "Thrillsborritto" for another wild and crazy (read Scott drank too much cheap beer) night. While we were downtown we had the fortunate experience of catching (far too much of) a glimpse of the Naked Bike Ride. This is a protest of some sort. Portlanders undress and ride their way around town. It is quite the sight to see. If anyone wants to join us next year, let me know.

This past weekend i spent a little time (not as much as i would have liked) in the woods. I took a trip up to Mt Hood for some peace and quiet. I chose to tryout the Ramona Falls loop, located just outside of Zig Zag, Oregon. The trail was pretty quiet on Saturday. Overall the trip wasn't too tough, minus the sketchy river crossing. The Muddy Branch of the Sandy River is fed by the never ending (this doesn't mean global warming isn't real you freaks) supply of glacial melt. This time of year the river is only about 30 feet across but the log "supplied" to cross the river was flimsy, greasy and dangling over rushing, ice cold, dirty, frothing water. It's funny how just a little thrashing water below your feet make something that, over dry land, would be otherwise harmless. Although the river was only 30 or so feet wide the river bed and carnage the river has brought over the years is close to an 1/8th of a mile. I wasn't expecting many more challenges on my trip but the snow"pack" still existed at 3500 feet. There were sections of the trail that disappeared under the remaining snow. This left to some back country meandering but after finding a creek i made my way to a clearer path. The falls, as you have probably already read, are of the cascading, stair step type. I stopped for a few peaceful bites of my Fallafel wrap, sink my teeth into my apple and headed back to the truck. The trip back took me along the banks of the Muddy Branch, which provided me with some good shots of the "hill." The time out in the back country kind of reminded me of the good ol' days with the family running around the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains or Shenandoah National Forest. Expecting good weather on Sunday i had made plans with Trip and his lady to conquer Saddleback Mountain. I can't tell you how disappointed i was when i woke to grey skies and winter-like showers.

This was the view from my truck as i tried to find Forest Road 1825. I don't mind looking at something like this when i'm driving around lost.

I guess this is what the Forest Service calls a foot bridge here in Oregon.

The river knows no friends. It pretty much takes down whatever it wants in it's path to the mighty Columbia, including old growth forest.

After a short scramble over the downed trees the willing are treated to a view worth writing home about.

I guess this is why the trail was empty on Saturday. Everyone was lost.

Thankfully the trees parted enough to resemble something trail like. I never thought i would need my snowshoes in June.

The wet kicks and tired calves are well worth the trek when you find a lunch spot like this.

Another look at the falls and footbridge that is more up to code.

On my way back to the truck i scrambled back down to the river bed to snap a couple more shots of the mountain, this time i got the man in it too.

Not too much else to say. A week from Thursday Willy will be out here enjoying what Oregon has to offer. Our agenda includes a trip to Crater Lake and a two day raft trip on the North Umpqua river. I'm looking forward to a break from work and some q.t. with the Ol' Man. I'm sure there will be no shortage of antics and pictures that come out of our adventures. Until then. . .