Back to Work

Well vacation is over...
I don't know, it was ok, kinda lonely...
pretty much everything I did I did by myself (what else is new?).
Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun and got alot of rest,but the whole vacation thing just gave me too much time to think. Too much time to realize how unhappy I am. Too much time to see all the mistakes I've made. Too much time to miss everyone and everything I left behind.

To those of you I did leave behind, I want you to know that throughout all the adventures I had this week you guys were there too.

OK, so on with the show...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What a Day!

Today I hiked to the summit of Black Butte. This volcano rises 3,000ft and it was really challenging. Just to get to the trail head you have to drive five mules up a narrow gravel road which turns into a VERY narrow dirt and rock strewn road.

Once at the trail it wasn't too bad (just steep) until patches of snow started to appear on the trail.

Here are some views of the hike up;

The last 100 yards was covered with about four feet of snow. By this time the air temp. was nearing seventy, so to avoid a slide which could easily turn into an avalanche (not good), I had to cut straight up over snow that was in the shade and still hard.

The view from the top is pretty much indescribable:

There is rubble from the old fire watch tower which was built in the thirties up there and a small cabin used by the rangers during fire season.

The trip down was just as hard as climbing up because the snow was melting (it's so quiet up there you can actually hear it melt). At one point I gave up and just slid down a few yards on my butt and back pack!
The ride back down:

So that was the day. I had been looking forward to making this trip ever since I first saw the Butte more than two years ago and I'm so glad I finally got to do it.

Day Tripper Part 2

These were taken on the banks of the Deschutes River just outside of Bend, Oregon this morning.

Day Tripper

Took a little drive outside of town this morning. This is what I found:

Two Days 'Till Vacation!

Now I'm getting excited. I don't have any solid plans or anything, it's just the thought of staying home with no e-mails or phone calls for eight whole days...man that's sweet!

First Hike of 2007

I climbed Smith Rock in Central Oregon yesterday...the first real work out since knee surgery. I went alone with just my back pack, lunch, water, and ofcourse my camera. It was a pretty challenging trek. You gain about 900 feet in altitude and do that very quickly by taking switch-backs at up to 60 degree angles, but once up there it's fantastic. The main attraction is a 400 foot spire known as Monkey Face. At the hightes point of the hike I stepped out on a huge rock and had some people I met on the way snap some shots of me .

It wasn't a long hike, only about four miles or so but the terraine was tough. I couldn't tell you which was worse going up or coming down because the trail is very narrow in some spost with alot of loose volcanic pebbles which make it like walking on ball-bearings, but it was very exciting.