SCENE FROM THE TRAIL: 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

December 30, 2012 Cape Lookout

Wow the end of another year and what better way to finish than with a hike? We got the weather to cooperate with our schedule and managed to squeeze in a 5 miler. Short but the fresh air and stretch was wonderful. It also gave us a chance to experiment with the new phone. Based on my experience so far...our blogs are going to be very short! I'm also messing with photos from the phone. I've already discovered it's not as easy as it is portrayed. Grrrr. :-)

Cape Lookout

Look at the cones on this little branch. It's no wonder they break in the wind.

We love hiking (not sure about smart phones!)
Jeff 'n Sue

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Gear Review: Feathered Friends Spoonbill Double Sleeping Bag

This is the second in a series of reviews of the gear we have been testing for our 2013 thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.

December 8, 2012 Fort to Sea (or Sea to Fort in our case)

Finally! We got a break in the weather on a day that we could escape to the 6 mile (OW) Fort to Sea trail.

Gear Review: TarpTent Double Rainbow

This is the first in a series of reviews of the gear we have been testing for our 2013 thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Wildlife?

It is not our intent to

November 25, Bay Ocean

So, winter has arrived on the Oregon Coast with rain nearly every day now.

November 10, Hart's Cove

Finally! A brief break in the weather!

"Two one way tickets to San Diego, please."

Okay, we've got our plane tickets to San Diego!

Gear List!

If you've been wondering what we've been carrying,

October 11-12, Elk Lake to South Sister loop

Blogger's beg...please become a follower! It is really encouraging to know we have friends and family (and strangers) watching us. We'd LOVE to hear from you so please, PLEASE, make comments! Thanks!


We started at Elk Lake. Red: Day one, Blue: Day two.

It was a nice (?) hike. Short, only about 22 miles total.

September 27-29, Diamond Peak Wilderness Loop

The adventure begins!

September 14-16, Breitenbush to Timothy Lake

total miles this hike: approximately 50 (including non-PCT)

Friday, September 14

September 9, 2012 - Silver Falls State Park

Our youngest son Stephen, and his girlfriend, Amanda, have been wanting to try hiking with us and so agreed to join us for

Not hiking...just thinking...

Do you ever have someone ask you about something you are excited about then get that distant, glassy eyed (bored) look when you excitedly tell about it? It’s commonly seen with new parents and

Don't let this trail deceive you...this is at the beginning!

We had a family gathering we wanted to attend so we opted for a short hike close to home this weekend. We'd done Saddle Mountain once before but it had been a long time and so we decided to give it a try once again.

August 23-28 PCT Mile 1988.3 Lava Lake to PCT Mile 2041.7 So. Breitenbush Trail

Another adventure!

We arrived at Lava Lake TH at about 10pm on the 23^rd. Expecting to find an empty parking lot,

August 10-12 Three Sisters Loop

Our tent in 2010-What a drastic change but what wonderful memories!

In late July, 2010 Jeff introduced me to backpacking by

July 29, 2012 Cape Lookout to Netarts Bay

It had been a long hard week so we decided to just do a short 10 mile day hike on the beach. It was a bit overcast in the morning when we hit the beach at Cape Lookout State Park at about 10. There weren't many people either so it was off to a good start! We donned our day packs and off we went!

The sun did come out in full force shortly after we left. I shed my pant legs (ya gotta love those zippered pant legs) and shoes and socks. I did almost all the hike in my barefeet. Not recommended. I blistered my feet so bad. I hope they turn into tough calluses that will prevent blisters and tender spots in the future, but there's got to be a gentler, less painful way to do this! I also spent a lot of the hike walking in the water (the coolness felt good on the feet) so my legs and feet got nice and pink. But I don't compare to Jeff. He got a major (and must admit funny) sun burn. He was wearing his buff so his head is white, but from his forehead down, he's RED. Poor guy. He not only hurts, he's getting a lot of teasing to boot. We both learned valuable lessons for next time. I won't torture you with photos, so you'll have to trust me when I say we hurt. But, we're still happy!

In our first 1/2 hour we collected 4 bags of debris and left it on the beach to pick up on our return. When we came back, some wonderful person (people) had picked up 3 of them for us. That was almost as nice as a glass of water in the desert! Thank you whoever you are! There was so much debris on the beach. We found tires, a dishwasher door, 5 rubber floats, lots of plastic bottles (including a Coke bottle), a whole fluorescent light bulb, and some Styrofoam chunks that were too large for the bags. We hope more people will take an interest in helping out and collecting this stuff. It's a fun way to get some exercise and help our environment. It's not dirty or hard. If you want to help, here's the State Park Tsunami website. (Now I've also done my plug for my job!)

As usual, we hope you enjoy our blog and the photos. Thanks to David who pointed out I had my dates wrong on the last post. I got 'em right now!

Happy Hiking!
Jeff 'n Sue

Our destination--Netarts Bay at the end of this beach. WAAAAAAAAAYYYY down there!

These kayakers are brave. No way I'd go out in that big pond with those little boats. It was fun to watch them though as we'd never seen them take off in the ocean. They sit on the sand and wait for a wave to float them out.

Yup. You guessed, it. We had to pick up Japanese Tsunami debris. We collected 4 bags full in about 1/2 hour and could have spent the entire hike picking stuff up. We need help!