Boardman Lake

GNATS! The hike to this lake is a quick and easy one. You reach your destination of Boardman Lake in just under a mile. This was my first time there which is surprising considering it's one of the more popular ones on Mountain Loop Highway. GNATS! But I decided to finally make my way up there for a couple reasons: I knew it was an easy hike (and that seemed like a good plan because I was just coming back from an ankle injury) and I wanted to camp overnight because I knew the weather was supposed to be great and Boardman lake has established campsites.

The trail up to the lake is almost all dirt and considering this is Western Washington it was mostly soggy /muddy due to the wetness of the region. GNATS! (For a brief time I was hiking behind a family and a girl about 10 or 11 years old was complaining that her feet were wet/muddy because she was wearing sandals. Her mom said "I told you to wear shoes." And the young girl replied "but those didn't go with my outfit, and you never know who is going to see me up here!" I thought the whole thing was funny and it made me laugh.)

Unfortunately the trail was in pretty bad shape. There was quite a bit of blow-downs all over the place. They were easy enough to maneuver around but it just made the trail seem sub-par. GNATS! I'm sure it has to to with the recent budget cuts. And at one point where there is a switchback in the trail there is a mudslide right into the trail and it masks the turn, consequently I missed the turn and went a few yards before I realized the trail had disappeared and had to backtrack to find the right trail again.

Once I reached Boardman Lake I had to cross a single narrow log over the outlet of the lake to get to the campsites. I made it across just fine but the family I previously mentioned didn't even attempt to traverse the lone log. I searched for a suitable campsite where I could hang my hammock between two trees. I found one and set up camp. GNATS! I slept great on the hammock, for those of you who have never tried it, you should, sure beats sleeping on the ground! There are 4 campsites at Boardman Lake and all of them were full: one looked like it was a boy scout troop and two had families with young kids and then I occupied the last one.

In the morning I got up, took down my gear and headed out early...I planned on hanging around a bit more and enjoying the day but there was one major problem with this lake. Perhaps you've already noticed it. GNATS! The bugs were absolutely unbearable. Every single second they were swarming unrelentingly. I was afraid to open my mouth for fear of consuming several gnats at one time. I was totally unprepared for the bugs. I didn't bring any bug spray or any kind of repellent. The only solace I found was in my hammock with my bug net. So I made my quick exit and left the others to deal with the bugs.

Distance: .9 mile
Elevation gain: 300 ft.
Peak Elevation: 3100 ft.
Difficulty: very easy

Pass requirement: Northwest forest pass.
Vegetation: Lots, everywhere, including but not limited to conifers, deciduous, and evergreen trees, ferns, moss, mushrooms, skunk cabbage, and sticker bushes.
Water source: Evan Lake .1 mile into the hike, Boardman Lake .9 miles.
Wildlife: Gnats, lots of them, everywhere. Snakes, birds, woodpecker, fish, posting of "Beware of Bears" at the trail head.

Trust your Gut

Lately I have been trying to get back into better shape. I have been exercising and working out almost every day for a couple months now. I've been able to get out and hike a handful of times this year. And I've also been playing basketball a couple times a week to help get my endurance up to par. Yesterday I was playing some pickup ball after work and played several games and had won 3 or 4 games in row. I was about to call it quits for the day and head home. But then my teammates convinced me to play one more game. I should have trusted my gut and left when I initially felt like I was done. 

About half way through that last game I jumped up to attempt to block a shot but then got undercut by another player and came down on the outside of my foot and rolled my ankle with all my weight coming down on my turned ankle. I felt a pop in my ankle and went down immediately. There was massive swelling almost instantly. I elevated my foot and iced it for quite a bit before I left the gym. Got home took some Ibuprofen and continued to ice and elevate my foot. Within an hour my ankle was massivley swollen and by the next morning it started to turn a light purple color. 

Needless to say this will prevent me from hiking for some time.  I'll try to work on other aspects of this site and keep things updated as much as possible. Hopefully I can make a quick and complete recovery and get back on the trail as soon as possible. 

Lime Kiln Trail

Well today I was back in my home town and looking for a hike I've never done before. This one just happened to be only a short distance from where I lived so I thought I'd give it a go. I headed toward the trail slightly later than I anticipated and when I normally would have gone. But when I got to the trail head I found out I was lucky I did, because the trail head is closed until 7:00 am. So I got there about 7:20 am and started during a slight drizzle and about 56 degrees. The trail started out looking like a bonafide rain forest. (Or perhaps it just seemed that way since I just spent the last week hiking around the much dryer central Oregon.) But needless to say it was very green, with trees, ferns and moss all under a beautiful canopy.

After a short distance the trail opens up, the canopy disappears and you are walking down a wide path that looks like a 4wheeler trail (although they aren't allowed here). The trail is mostly heavily packed dirt and rocks. There is little elevation change and is quite easy. The scenery changes off and on from under a thick canopy and narrow trail to an open trail where you can look to the sky, which happened to be covered in clouds today, however the light drizzle did stop shortly after I started this morning.

Once I got to the kiln site I was amazed at how big the kiln actually was. It was much bigger than I anticipated. I did have the desire the climb it, but there was a sign that said "Please do not climb" so I didn't. But all in all it was an impressive thing to look at and examine. To be able to build such a thing hundreds of years ago is quite a feat. At the site there is also a bunch of scattered bricks and metal shards of old tools. After the kiln I continued on the trail which descends to the South Fork Stillaguamish River. Down at the river it seems to be a common practice to stack rocks on top of each other...which seemed a little strange to me.

I jogged about half way on the way back. This trail is well suited for trail running, however I didn't run the whole way because I wasn't wearing my trail running shoes, and my hiking shoes weren't made for jogging. On my way back I only came across 6 people. Which isn't entirely surprising considering its a Friday morning and not-so-great weather. But it made for an enjoyable hike for me. This is a great hike for kids and the whole family, its easy and it has some interesting history to it. Check it out.

Vegetation: Lots, everywhere, including but not limited to conifers, deciduous, and evergreen trees, ferns, moss, wildberries, mushrooms, skunk cabbage, wildflowers, and sticker bushes.
Wildlife: I heard lots of birds singing along the whole trail. While walking along I heard some movement in the bushes, I'm assuming they were just birds. I saw a rabbit, slugs, snails and a snake. Bugs were almost non-existent. I didn't have any problems with pesky bugs or mosquitoes, too cold for that still.
Water Source: About 1.3 miles in you pass Hubbard Lake which is small and is easy to miss from the trail due to thick trees and vegetation. About 1.7 miles in the trail follows South Fork Stillaguamish River, but you cant access it very easily because the trail is high above the river. But the trail does end up at the at the River after 4 miles.

Peterson Ridge Trail

Well today was a day full of disappointments. I started out in search of a good Lake hike. I headed toward Green Lakes Trailhead. About 6 miles from the trailhead I ran into a "Road Closed" sign. Apparently there had been some wildfires in the area and the roads were closed in that whole area for the next year or so. I didn't feel like hiking an extra 6 miles just to get to the trail head, I was on a time crunch this morning. So I headed back toward Sisters Oregon looking for option number 2. Luckily I did find a cool spiderweb of trails just outside of the small town of Sisters called the Peterson Ridge Trail. So I parked and started hiking, I soon realized this is a perfect spot for some trail running so I synched up the backpack and started jogging. It was a perfect trail for jogging and biking and in fact I came across several people doing just those things. Although there were many different trails interconnected to one another it might have been easy to get lost, but at every intersection there was a sign clearly labeled with where you are and where each path goes with a distance marker on it. The trail was almost all dirt with an occasional rock or tree root in the trail. As I ran I would constantly run from under the sunbeams into shade from the dispersed trees. It was a great clear warm morning and I had a good workout.

I managed to jog several miles and then came across a spectacular view point along the trail of several of the peaks here in Central Oregon. I took pictures of the Three Sisters and one other peak I am unaware of what its called. It was truly a sight to be seen. Then I turned around and headed back...this is where another disappointment came in my day. While transferring my photos I had just taken today to my computer somehow they were all deleted and I wasn't able to save or use any of them. So unfortunately you'll have to just read this post and take my word for it...

UPDATE!!!

Somehow my photos reappeared. I think they got saved to my iPhoto Stream account as soon as they entered into my computer but thats when my computer froze and then the photos were gone once I rebooted. I thought they were lost forever, but they saved to the cloud! Thank you iCloud! Enjoy!

Deschutes River Trail

Today was a pretty easy hike, it was more or less a walk. But it was pretty and enjoyable. I had my wife, baby and pregnant sister tag along with me this morning. We hiked along the Deschutes River Trail here in Redmond Oregon. Nothing too strenuous, just a nice easy dirt trail along the river. There were several other people hiking along the trail and all of them mentioned how cute the baby looked sitting in my baby carrying backpack. The morning started to warm up under the bright sun and as we headed back our little one fell asleep in sitting up in my pack. It was just a nice relaxing hike by the beautiful river.

Misery Ridge Trail

This morning I started from the trail head Smith Rock State Park at 7:00 am. There were a few other people in the park, some looking to summit the rocks (as I was) some looking to do some rock climbing at this world renowned park for rock climbing. It was a cool sunny morning but the temperature starting to rise along with the rising sun.

The climb to the summit happens via Misery Ridge Trail which is very appropriately named. The trail is literally a climb everyone step of the way. The trail is a dry dirt trail with loose rocks every now and then. So be cautious at every step. Once you reach the summit you get spectacular views of the valley below, the Deschutes River, the town of Terrebonne, and the 7 peaks that central Oregon is famous for.

After taking a few pictures at the summit, and eating a few snacks (and catching my breath) I headed back down the steep trail to the trail head. The park has much more to offer than just this trail I took today. There are many trails to hike, bike, climb, and horseback along the river or up to the summit. It seemed to be a very popular state park as witnessed as I returned to the parking lot full of cars and tour buses at about 10:00 am. It truly looks like a park full of options and fun to be had.