J&S triplog 5/6-9/10/02

[montezumawell]

(This topic was started "way" back in May when we set out on a trip that we hoped would stretch for up to six months. We posted our dayi hikes here in this topic because we were almost always working at a public library internet terminal. Time was short so this was the best method to make a "log" of sorts. Anyway, you can read through and get an idea of where we went and so on. The most recent post(s) is at the end of this topic. Our trip ended prematurely on September 10th because our house was flooded. Text below within this post is Week #1. Following that is Week #2. After that is Weeks 3 & 4; 5 & 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12, 13 & 14, 15, 16,... You get the idea. )

5/13--Posting from the Kanab Library. Here's some trail observations from the past week (5/6-5/13).
Lee's Ferry: Spencer Trail. 3 mi RT 1,500 gain. Lots of history. Great views. Drive to launch ramp and ask for directions. Goes straight up a cliff. Awesome.
Lee's Ferry: Paria Beach. A one-quarter mile sand strand. Perfect place to "hike" barefoot. The 42 degree river water is a great tonic for sore feet. Spend an hour or two!
Lee's Ferry: Cathedral Wash. Best bet to day hike down to the river. About a 300 foot loss while hiking down the wash. Some rock moves. Nothing major--people take babies down this trail. Great river beach with a noisy ripple. Nice canyon, too. Allow about 3 hours.
Near Lee's Ferry: Soap Creek. We only wnet in 90 minutes and got tired of the rock scrambling. Nice rock slides. Some small pictographs.
North Rim: We went straight for the Widforss Trail on Opening Day, May 10. Fast trail. Great 10 mile RT. A "must do." The NPS has a trail guide to make it a 5 mile RT. Costs a quarter. Super treadway. Awesome forest. Allow -5 hours. Saw only 22 people.
North Rim: Uncle Jim Trail. Nice 5 mile "loop" as you hike some of the Ken Patrick out and back. Mules do this trail.
Allow 3 hours. We saw 4 people on a Saturday
North Rim: We also did a portion of the N. Kaibab, the paved stroll to Bright Angel Point, a portion of the Point Imperial terminus of Ken Patrick and a little bit of the East RIm ViewPoint trail out on the forest. Camped outside the park to save the $$$.
This morning hiked the Squaw Trail in Kanab. 3.5 mi RT, 600 foot gain. Nice way to enjoy the Vermilion Cliffs here.
More next week. Happy Trails!

J&S Out there somewhere

[montezumawell]

Emailing today from Brookings, Oregon. The Public Library here is awesome--best yet. Broadband connection and you can make an appt. to use it! Can't get much better than that. (They even let you download, too!)

Walking this morning at Harris Beach State Park. while a pod of five whales frolicked not far offshore. Seeing their tails and waterspouts and big, broad bodies rolling in the waves while walking through daisy-lined, soft trails in 65 degree ocean breezes was truly blissful. We're camped in the northernmost grove of coastal redwoods 13 miles upstream on the Chetco River, hunkered down to bracket the July 4th Holiday. Will be moving north along the coast next week so will check in on HAZ over the next few days while still in Brookings. Already read up on all the Shindig posts. Sounds awesome! Hiking last week was slowed because of a minor cold for both of us. We both felt pretty weak all week but kept walking anyway. Cold's gone so this week should be better. Here's the summary:

6/23-Red Bluff Downtown ("Roll-Your-Own-Volkssport") (flat) 3.0 mi. Red Bluff Lakeshore 1.0 mi Total time 2:00
6/24-Lake Red Bluff Trail (flat) 4.0 mi 1:08
Basic workout trail along Sacramento River
6/25-Lake Red Bluff Trail (flat) 4.0 mi 1:10
Saw full moon set w/sunrise over Lassen
6/26-Trinity Lake (+200) 3.0 mi 1:30
Tried to hike Trinity River but couldn't find TH
6/27-Grey Butte & Panther Meadows (+250) 2.0 1:00
Neat spots on shoulders of Mt. Shasta. Couldn't do all of Grey Butte Trail--too much snow! Panther Meadows has a neat spring at its head.
6/28-Bunny Flat & Panther Meadows (+1,000') 5+ mi 2:45
Main Mt. Shasta climber access trail. Hordes of climbers on trail.
A nearby store rents crampons & ice axes by the scores!
An official said there were 100 hikers camped on top of Mt. Shasta.
6/29-Fish Lake Trail West half 5+ mi 2:00
About 35 mi East of Medford, Oregon near Mt. McLoughlin.


Well, that's about all. Have a great day and we are sure rootin' for MORE RAIN for Arizona!!!

[olesma]

What...no Hash report?

[kurthzone]

Walking this morning at Harris Beach State Park. while a pod of five whales frolicked not far offshore. Seeing their tails and waterspouts and big, broad bodies rolling in the waves while walking through daisy-lined, soft trails in 65 degree ocean breezes was truly blissful.

ENVY ABOUNDS

[AZHiker]

Sheesh youze guys, my envy runeth over. Glad to read that there IS life after work. Best

[montezumawell]

Thanks for the notes. Believe it or not, it sure makes us feel like we are part of the "HAZ Club." Checking in on HAZ is as important when we are traveling as it is when we are home. HAZ is MORE than a website--it is a TRUE community and we sure appreciate getting comments on these reports. It is also very nice to have a place to "archive" this stuff-otherwise we'd most likely forget. The discipline of having to organize them for a small space within a short time on some public library computer is a VERY good exercise.

Well, we are still in Brookings but getting ready to go a little farther north Sunday or Monday. The July 4th Holiday was a good, old-fashioned zoo around here. July 5th, we couldn't even drive north of town because Highway 101 was bumper-to-bumper and stopped. No crawl. Just flat stopped! Luckily, there were some other trails nearby.

We logged only about 25 miles the past week because we're still slowed by lingering affects of that cold mentioned earlier. Our goal is 30 miles per week.

We're already real fond of hiking along the Oregon Coast and we've only just started. The entire coast is public and the Oregon Coast Trail follows more than 300 miles of it. Trailheads EVERYWHERE! It's real easy to do short sections out and back. Great treadways and awesome views, even in the fog, of which there has been a lot of late. Oh, one other neat thing: No day use fees! Yep, practically too good to be true. No window tags, no fee booths. Just show up and hike. We like that A LOT!

Ok, here's Week #9--

6/30-Fish Lake East half (+200) 5 mi. 2:00
7/1-Mt.McLoughlin approach (+400') 4 mi 2:00
7/2-McVay Rock State Beach (flat) 1 mi :45
7/3-Harris State Beach (+200') 2+ mi McVay Rock 2+ mi 2:25
7/4-Cape Ferrelo (+400') 2.5 mi 1:15
7/5-Chetco Pt.; Redwood Loop, Loeb SP River Trail (+200') 5 mi 2:30
7/6-Sam Boardman State Park (various sections) (+200') 3.5 mi 2:00

The climate around here is neat. The coastal area will often be in soupy fog so thick you can't see the ocean or beach when hiking practically right next to it. Morning temps will be 50-54 degrees. Later, we drive up the Chetco River back to camp 13 miles inland and it will be clear with temps in the upper 60's. We couldn't get our house in Rimrock that cool even if we built an igloo around it.

Thanks again for your comments! Happy Trails!

[montezumawell]

My, how time flies! We left the Brookings area last Sunday and thought we'd spend a day near Gold Beach, a mere 25 miles up the road. We liked Gold Beach so much the days kinda slipped by and here a week has passed. Now, we think we're going to stay in Gold Beach for another couple of weeks. We're even signed up to do some volunteer trail maintenance next week to earn two free Northwest Forest Passes. (EVERY trail around here-except coastal trails--requires that danged pass.)
We found a $5/night camp ground with buck showes. We're perched on the south bank of the Rogue River and have a wide range of inland and coastal hikes to choose from. Some of our camp neighbors took us salmon fishing the other day and when we didn't catch anything they whacked off a six pound chunk of the 36-pounder they caught the day before and gave it to us. Dang.
Well, here's the previous week through today.

7/7-Boardman State Park (+/200') 5.0 mi 3:00\
Around various headlands to various beaches
7/8-Cape Sebastian (+700') 4.0 mi 2:30
Amazing vistas and great hike down to surf-draped rocks with secluded beach
7/9-Bailey Beach (flat) 4.0 mi 1:45
Agate-laden beach with lots of off shore rocks. Heavy surf.
7/10-Port Orford Head & Otter Point (+/200') 3.0 mi 2:00
Various trails around the Head and neat point a few miles away.
7/11-Cape Sebastian (+700') 3.0 mi 2:00
This hike is addictive
7/12-Humbug Mountain (+1,700'- not a typo) 5.5 mi 2:47
Hard to believe there a 1,700 gain next to the ocean. True.
Incredible vegetation!
7/13-Woodruff Homestead (+/-200') 2.5 mi 2:00
About 20 people lead by a 76-year-old local guy. Learned a lot.
Learned there's no local hiking club or anything even remotely resembling HAZ. HAZ is SOOO coool. It's so awesome. Long live HAZ. We love HAZ!

Well, we will be working on the Lower Rogue River Trail Monday and Tuesday all day. Got al the paperwork squared away today and were issued out tools. Bought an old Camp Trails frame pack at a yard sale today for a mere buck so we'll use it to carry the long handled tools.
Should be interesting.

Keep up the great posts, you all!

J&S in Gold Beach, Oregon

[Pellegrino]

Thanks for the report from the Rogue River. We camped there as kids and it has lingered in my memory since; big deep clear pools; raspberries; blackberries; dew on our Cheerios.......ahhh

[GeorgAZ]

I am sooooooooooooooooooooo envious I can hardly even use this keyboard! Anyone up for Zion + Bryce in Sept?? ( How does one retire+still be able to travel-someone tell me those secrets! Come on you guys!!

[jeremy77777]

Great report! Wish I was there!

[montezumawell]

THANKS for those great posts since our last update on Week #10. We loved the "dew on the Cheerios," that was awesome! We so look forward to finding a computer fast enough and with enough "terminal time" to be able to look over HAZ. What's that old quote, "absence makes the heart grow fonder?" Sure applies to this website and the wonderful people who make it what it is!
Well, we traveled up the Oregon Coast to Fort Stevens/Astoria and then over through the Western Cascades and decided we liked Gold Beach and the Rogue River so much we'd return there and roost awhile like until the 5-day average daytime high in Good Ol' Rimrock returns to 80 degrees--late October or November probably.
We were amazed at the crowding on the North Coast and the North Central Coast. Incredible congestion at the trailheads! No thanks.
It's real hot inland and real dry, as verified by Oregon's wild fire season this year. Unfortunately, almost the entire nearby Kalmiopsis Wilderness is now toast. We wish we could have glimpsed it before it turned black.
We will probably post up some thoughts on the Hike OR Forum. We really had a hard time finding internet access after we left Gold Beach. Circumstances coincided to make it literally impossible to get on the net. Back here in Gold Beach we can actually make daily appointments up to a week in advance to use the net. How nice! So, we will become somewhat regular contributors again. Anyway, too much chatter. Here's the last couple of weeks:

Week # 10
7/14- Sam Boardman State Park (various) (+/-400') 4.5 mi 3:00
This is one great day hike park. More on it later
7/15-Lower Rogue River Trail 4.0 mi +3 hours trailwork 5:00
Getting to the TH was a 72 mile RT from our campsite.
7/16-Lower Rogue River Trail 5.0 mi +3 hours trailwork 5:30
The work earned us two free Northwest Forest Passes.
7/17-Cape Sebastian North (+700') 3.5 mi. 1:45
A new trail was put in last year. Pretty neat
7/18-Cape Perpetua (+700') 3.0 mi. 1:27
Al old CCC lookout on top of the Cape provide an awesome view.
7/19-Cape Perpetua (flat) Giant Spruce & Capt. Cook Trails 3.5 mi 2:30
There's a huge sitka spruce there that's really worth seeing.
7/20-Pioneer Trail-Mt. Hebo. 4.5 mi. (+500') 2:30
Trail dates back to the 1850's. Bracken ferns over our heads.

Week #12
7/21-Clatsop Spit/Ft. Stevens (flat) 4.0 mi 2:30
Walked out to look at the joining of the Columbia River with the ocean.
The Columbia River "Bar" is a soul-stirring sight!
7/22-Riverside Trail 4.0 (mostly flat) 4.0 mi 2:30
A National Recrational Trail alongside the Clackamas River.
7/23-RIverside Trail 1.5 (mostly flat) 2:00
Went back to photograph a log bridge. Neat bridge.
7/24-North Santiam Pacific Crest Trail (+/-300') 5.5mi. 2:45
This PCT TH is one of the best TH's we've seen anywhere. Nearby fires smoked up the place really badly. Our eyes were watering. Also short hike to The Head of the Metolius--a BIG springfed river is born there.
7/25-Pilot Butte (Bend, Oregon) (+500')2.0 mi :45
7/26-Pilot Butte (+500') 2.0 mi :45
(See Note below)
7/27-Wickiup Reservoir (flat) 1.5 mi. :45 Rough Rider Falls (near Crater Lake on Rogue's headwaters) (+250') 2.0 1:30, 4 various waterfalls on North Umpqua River 1.0 mi. 2:00.

This Pilot Butte thing was pretty neat. It would take too long to explain it here but we will be posting up a topic on it on the Hike OR Forum. You might want to read it just as a general FYI. Is there anywhere in AZ that does sometehing like what they do at Pilot Butte?

Well, Happy Trails, as usual and have a great day!

J&S in Gold Beach
(We even got an address here! PO Box 1372, GOld Beach, OR 97444)

[montezumawell]

Howdy once again. After roaming about 7,500 miles around various parts of the west we have settled in here at Gold Beach, Oregon, until it cools off enough to return to our home in Rimrock, AZ. The nearby 380,000 acre fire isn't much of a problem unless the winds shift to blow from the east. Then we get smoke and ash but we can drive north not far and it's clear again. Most of the time, the winds are from the NW and the smoke goes to N. California. Basically, the fire has burned/destroyed 99% of the famous Kalmiopsis Wilderness. They admit they won't be able to put it out, just keep it "in check," so to speak. Kinda like a chess game. They predict that fall rain and snow will put it out sometime in October or November. Some privately speculate the acreage total will go up near 700,000 before it's all over. Yep--it's a dousy!

Late this week we will have day-hiked 100 consecutive days. Early this week we went over 400 miles total since leaving Rimrock in May, even though our weekly totals have barely been above 20 miles for awhile.
We've pretty much settled into hiking four trails: Humbug Mountain; Cape Sebastian, Otter Point and the Huntley RV Park Myrtle Tree Trail. We will discuss them here rather that make notes below them in the "log."

Humbug is a conical mountain lying right smack next to the ocean about 7 miles south of Port Orford. It rises 1,748 feet out of the sea. The TH is about 50 above MSL so we figure it's a 1,700 foot gain in 6 miles RT. The old growth vegetation there is spectacular and there's even a mini-waterfall. Nice peek-a-boo views of the coastline and the Port Orford-Cape Blanco headlands. We're trying to work upto hiking it at least twice each week but so far it's a weekly hike.

Cape Sebastian--we noted in an earlier post that this hike could become addicting. It has. We're hooked. There are actually three variant trails there. We think the TH parking lot view is one of the bestviews, bar none, on the entire Oregon Coast. Simply amazing. The SouthTrail is the most used. Not even the locals know about the North variant. You can go about four miles RT or 3 miles RT on the South side. The longer version takes you to a nice beach out of the prevailing winds with lots of cool rocks and driftwood. No one is EVER there. You have to do a short "rope move" to get down a bluff. Some old guy we met says he planted the rope there. Nice. The short version on the South side goes down to a Creteacous (sp?) era sandstone ledge where the onshore waves break in great showy displays of foam and fury. There are some resident sea lions and seals there and they are fun to watch. The sandstone has been eroded into some pretty weird shapes by the sea. The North side trail goes down a "new" trail put in by volunteers last year. It connects to an old road system that will eventually take you to the beach. Either side gains 700-750 feet to get back to the parking lot TH.

Otter Point--We officially "adopted" Mile 31 of the Oregon Coast here. It's the mile that goes south from Otter Point. This is an awesome beach at any tide level and there's never anyone there. The most people we have seen is about 6-8. Even when the winds are howling at 35 mph we can get out of the winid in the lee of the point near a little dripping spring and watch thewave crests being blown off by the wind.

Huntley Myrtle Tree Trail (Huntley MTT) This is a nice old trail that winds through some old growth myrtle trees along the banks of the Rogue River. We can make it as long or as short as we want and we don't have to drive out of camp to hike it.

Well, here's the log:

7/28-Coquille Point 1.0 mi :25
7/29-Huntley Myrtle Tree Tr 1.5 mi :45
7/30-Cape Sebastian North 6.0 mi 3:00
7/31-Otter Point Mile 31 2.5 1:15 1:15
8/1-Otter Point Mile 30-31 4.5 mi 2:00
8/2-Cape Sebastian North 6.0 mi 2:40
8/3-Huntley MTT 2.0 1:00
8/4-Port Orford Heads/Humbug Mtn 7.0 3:30
8/5-Otter Point Mile 30-31 4.5 mi 2:30
8/6-Cape Sebastian South 4.0 mi 2:30
8/7-Cape Sebastian South 3.0 1:30
8/8-Huntley MTT 2.0 1:00
8/9-Otter Point Mile 31 2.0 mi 1:00
8/10-Huntley MTT 1.0 :30

J&S in Gold Beach

[montezumawell]

Well, pretty much the "same old stuff" for the past two weeks. We are "addicted" to Cape Sebastian, Otter Point, Humbug Mountain and the Huntley RV Park Mrytle Tree Trail. No new trails made the log in the last two weeks. Weather here in Gold Beach has been pretty good. Smoke from the Biscuit Fire got pretty bad only a couple of days. Otherwise, the NW winds kept it at bay. Last week, we had to wear pile jackets and poly sock caps and gloves each morning and evening. Temps in the low 50's and upper 40's with real high humidity make it feel pretty cold.
OK, the fact and nothing but the facts:
8/11-Humbug Mtn +1,700' 6.0 mi 3:00
8/12-Cape Sebastian South +700' 3.0 mi 1:30
8/13-Otter Pt. Mile 31 2.5 mi 1:30
8/14-Huntley Park RV Pk MMT 1.5 mi :50
8/15-Otter Pt. Mile 31 2.5 mi :60
8/16-Humbug Mtn +1,00' 6.0 mi 2:39
8/17-Otter Pt. Mile 31 2.5 mi :60
8/18-Humbug Mtn +1,700' 6.0 mi 2:40
8/19-Junt Rv Park MMT 1.5mi :55
8/20-Cape Sebastian South +700' 3.0 mi 2:00
8/21-Huntley Rv Pk MMT 1.5 mi :55
8/22-Humbug Mtn +1,700' 6.0 mi 2:37
8/23-Huntley Rv Pk. MMT 1.5mi :40
8/24-Otter Pt Mile 31 2.5mi 1:30

Here's a picture of the mile we adopted for the Oregon Coast Watch (Otter Point Mile 31)

http://www.fromthedge.com/goldbeach/otterpt/nview.jpg
http://www.fromthedge.com/goldbeach/ott ... wsouth.jpg

[montezumawell]

Well, it's September 7th and we've been on the road for a day more than four months with more than the last two here in Oregon and 50 out of the last 60 days here at Gold Beach watching the "guvmint" spent $140-million on the Biscuit Fire. Great weather, great trails, great place.
Today we will log our 500th mile of the trip on our 125th hike so wwe're still plodding along at 4 miles per hike average. However, we haven't missed a day of hiking yet so it's 125 and counting. This week has been one of our better week hiking wise with 33 miles and 8,200 accumulated feet of elevation gain. We will be leaving Gold Beach tomorrow and taking 4-6-8 weeks to get back to Rimrock, less if it gets cold and rainy. More if it stays balmy and pretty nice fall weather.

8/25- Humbug Mtn 6.0 miles
8/26-Huntley RV MMT 1.5 mi
8/27-Humbug Mtn. 6.0 mi
8/28-Huntley RV MMT 1.5
8/29-Humbug Mtn 6.0
8/30-Cape Sebastian 3.0 mi
8/31-Otter Pt Mile 31 2.5 mi
9/1-Humbug Mtn 6.0 mi
9/2-Cape Sebastian 3.0 mi
9/3- Humbug Mtn 6.0 mi
9/4-Otter Pt. Mile 31 2.5 mi
9/5-Humbug Mtn 6.0 mi
9/6-Cape Sebastian 3.0 mi
9/7-Humbug Mtn. 6.0 mi Huntley RV MMT 1.5 mi.

Love Live HAZ!

J&S in Gold Beach, Oregon

[montezumawell]

A lot of cliches come to mind when preparing to write this post. "The best laid plans..."
"Into every life some rain must fall..." Those sort of cliches.
Our last post on September 7th told of finishing our 125th straight hike and reaching 500 miles for our trip. We thought we would be spending 4-8 weeks meandering home from Oregon. Ha! Ha!
We were in Red Bluff, California, Monday when we checked email and one of the messages had the onimous title, "RETURN HOME IMMEDIATELY!" The sender wasn't kidding. That heavy rainfall that's been making the news was REALLY heavy in our neck of the woods and it flooded our house and did a lot of damage to our property as well. We even got a "new" car--the kind that get wrapped around a tree in the middle of our arroyo! Anyway, we called our friends in Rimrock and learned the news was truly grim so we dropped everything and drove 1,000 miles nonstop in 18 hours from Red Bluff to Rimrock, arriving about 11 a.m. Tuesday. We did some stabilization yesterday and crashed from lack of sleep. We spent most of today preparing our travel trailer for long-term occupany as we won't be able to live in our house for awhile. Some of our neighbors got hit a lot worst than we did but that's no consolation. Anyway, our consecutive day hiking streak ended at 126 and we are most definitely home now for awhile. We got tired of slopping around in muck this afternoon and went over to Bell Rock for a one hour walk around the base of the rock. That helped lighten up our moods somewhat. Hiking is truly wonderful! Well, we sure enjoyed our time "on the road," but now it's time to buckle down and clean up the mess. Maybe we can get together for some hikes during the next few weeks. Thanks for your messages and thoughts. They have meant a lot to us and we appreciate them very much. You are all truly wonderful people on this list and we appreciate you! THANKS!

J&S in Rimrock

[GTG_AZH]

J&S, welcome home. Sorry it had to be on those terms though. I hope you can get things back together soon.

I guess we all hoped for rain too hard.

GTG

[evenstarx3]

Sorry the rain hit you so hard! Hope you're able to get things straightened away soon.

[ck_1]

Aww guys...that sucks...my wife just informed me that someone tried to break into our neighbors house last night, her husband works nights and she has two small kids at home, she called 911 but was still had to wait for them to arrive...felt bad that I hadn't given her our number...so I was just sitting here worrying about my place...man, makes my concerns disappear.

Sorry guys...wish your holiday didn't have to end quite so soon...and in such a unpleasant way.

all my best
Colin

[olesma]

It stinks you had to return home - uh - homeless. Not too much fun I imagine. But at least you are back and safe. At least there was no loss of life or limb.

On the bright side - you still have your land, and you have the health, strength, willpower and resources to rebuild/clean up.

Not everyone can make claim to all that.

I bet, by the way, that if you put out a call for volunteers to help with your clean up - you would get a lot of willing hands out your way. I know I would do my best to come out there and help with the clean up. Just a thought.

[jimmyjam]

[Jim]

@jimmyjam
That could be your avatar.