Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but I was in the midst of what Sonny and I called August Rush. My August went a little something like this:
Weekend 1: Backpacking trip to Goat Rocks.
Sonny and I went off on our “Dudes into the Wild 09″ backpacking trip to Goat Rocks in Washington. We started by driving the 4 hours after work up to the trailhead, complete with about 15-20 miles on a single lane gravel road in the dark. We slept in the car overnight. The next morning we hiked about 5 miles with 50lbs of gear each on our backs and found a campsite. After setting up camp, we rested for a few hours and then conquered Old Snowy Mountain. It’s a glaciated peak and qualifies us for the Mazamas(Portlands oldest outdoor/mountaineering club). After sleeping that night, we hiked out to Goat Lake and then grabbed our gear and hiked out. We did about 20 miles in 2 days.
Goat Rocks was the most amazingly beautiful natural area I’ve been thus far. The wildflowers were in full bloom and the scenery is incredible!
Here’s a few pics with the best of found here and the full sets found here here
Weekend 2: Camping at Crater Lake
I took the week off and we headed down to Crater Lake to camp with Sonny and Rachel. I’d only been to Crater Lake one other time, in the winter. It’s absolutely spectacular. We camped two nights at the main campground and did some hiking. We hiked to the highest peak in the park at 8900+ feet: Mt Scott. We watched the Sunset from up there:
The next day we went around to some of the viewpoints and explored/took pics:
We then hiked the Watchman (a fire lookout tower) for Sunset. It was incredible!
The next morning we got up really early and hiked the Watchman again for sunrise. Another incredible experience!
The best of set can be found here and the full sets here, here and
After crater lake, we headed to Medford/Grants Pass to visit with friends and stay the night. Had a great time catching up. We headed home for a day and a half of rest until:
Weekend 3: Camping at Trillium Lake
We planned this camping trip as soon as sites went on reserve. Trillium Lake is one of my favorite places to visit as it is a beautiful little lake with a great view of Mt Hood. We camped here two nights and did a hike from Timberline Lodge to Paradise Park. It was 12.5 miles round trip, including a decent into a 700 ft deep canyon. Twice we had to decend into it, and rise back out. Pretty Tough! It was worth it though. Again I got to see some awesome wildflowers in an alpine area. I’m still working on pictures for this trip, but they will be up soon. Great time of hanging around the lake, hiking, and camping with Amanda.
Weekend 4: Camping at Lake Merwin
This was our big family camp trip. We headed up to Lake Merwin, near Cougar,Washington. Had a great time at the lake playing in the water, hiking Ape Caves and visiting the Mt Saint Helens viewpoint. We had a good run of playing hearts, and The Office game 
Now August rush is over 
At least college football season is a few days away…
