Squaw Ridge camping

In attendance:  Adam Scherer, Matt York, Michael Meza, Geoff Ho, Dustin & Ben and Kyle.

Where:  Squaw Ridge, Highway 88 in the Sierras

With winter quickly approaching we headed to the Sierras for one last camping and four wheeling trip.  This trail is moderately difficult, very scenic and lots of fun.  We left Sacramento Saturday morning and met the Bay Area guys, Matt and Geoff, in Jackson before heading to the trailhead.  The trail begins off the access road to Lower Bear Valley Reservoir, where we aired-down the tires and had lunch before hitting the dirt.  Adam is new to his 4Runner and four wheeling, but with a little spotting and encouraging words we had him driving over boulders and across granite slabs.  The worried look on his face eventually gave-way to all-smiles.  He's hooked.  The weather was perfect for driving through the forest with the windows down and the recent rains kept the dust to a minimum. 

We found our campsite on the ridge and settled in for dinner and beverages.  Some had more beverages than others, but the convo around the fireplace that evening was priceless.  Actually it did have a price, and that price was a few day old pair of not-cheap trail running shoes than I melted in attempt to keep my feet warm.  Let's just say my feet stayed warm and leave it at that.

Kyle came on the trip even though he had recently sustained a very serious wakeboarding injury, which put him in an impressive leg cast and "moon boot."  The story of my accident came up around the campfire and it was interesting hearing Mike talk about my condition and things that had happened while I was hospitalized.  This is difficult to put into words, but parts of the discussion triggered recollection of things I was either previously unaware of, had forgotten or otherwise had blocked from my memory.  I find it fascinating that there are things locked away in my memory that I cannot access unless someone else provides a clue or tidbit of information to allow me to recall those items from memory.  Sorry I can't describe this any better. 

We slept comfortably in our trucks that night as we had moments of rain that extended through late morning.  I awoke to the sound of rain and heard it stop briefly, which made me worry we were getting snow.  We were camped at high elevation with a difficult obstacle directly behind us and an even more difficult one directly ahead of us.  Snow would make travel in either direction pretty sketchy, but as it turns out it did no more than rain that evening.

Following breakfast we worked our way through the most difficult section of the trail, a bouldery climb that requires careful spotting and a steady clutch foot.  We stopped several times to take in the scenery, then headed back to Highway 88, stopping to enjoy Mud Lake (much prettier than it sounds) on our way out. 

Portland, OR - Sep 28 through Oct 3, 2011

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Portland is a place that has been on my list for years to visit.  I passed this great city several times in 2004 and 2005 when I was still driving my Grandparents to Seattle to visit family.  When traveling on Interstate 5, you get a great vantage of downtown Portland from the raised bridge over the Williamette River.  Hanna and I were looking for a getaway and apparently Portland has been on her list too.  Our friends Ricardo and Maria as well as Lisa had gone to visit on vacation and after hearing about their trips we knew where we needed to go.

 We hopped in the car Wednesday morning (September 28th) and began our 10 hour trip.  We decided to drive because we wanted to take our bikes and it meant we had the ability to see the countryside along the way, not to mention the ability to take day trips from the Portland area.  Interstate 5 between Sacramento and Redding is pretty darn boring, but the scenery from Lake Shasta north is beautiful.  Of note are the Castle Crags State Park and Mount Shasta in California and pretty much the entire drive from Yreka over the grade to just south of Eugene, Oregon.  I didn't find the stretch of I-5 between Eugene and just south of Portland particularly interesting.  We arrived at our hotel in the early evening; neither of us feeling particularly tired from the drive as we kept each other pretty entertained.  Our hotel was located near the Rose Garden Arena, a two block walk over the Steel Bridge into downtown.  We loved the location--we found we were able to walk into downtown in just a few minutes time, or we could take the lightrail over the bridge in about the same time if we were feeling lazy.



Thursday, September 29, 2011

Thursday morning we had breakfast and headed east out the Columbia River highway to Multnomah Falls.  The falls are 611 feet tall and it is recognizable in photos by the infamous Benson Bridge in the foreground.  We hiked to the top of the falls and back down to the visitor's center at the bottom.  We were in the mood for more hiking so we drove down the road and hiked the Wahkeena Falls trail from the waterfall and up onto Larch Mountain.  The scenery and the falls were pretty spectacular.  Unfortunately I made the decision to *not* pack my dSLR camera on this trip, so the photos leave a lot to be desired.  I won't make this mistake again, the point and shoot will only come out for mountain biking and kayaking adventures.

Multnomah Falls:

The Columbia River from the hiking trail:

 
Wahkeena Creek from the hiking trail:

 

Part of Wahkeena Falls:

 
The switchbacks on the Wahkeena Falls trail:

Friday, September 30, 2011

We walked into downtown Portland from our hotel to look around town.  The City had a clean, tidy feel to it.  There were numerous bridges over the Williamette and Columbia Rivers, something that Sacramento desperately lacks.  (The only surface street automotive bridges in Sacramento are Hwy 160, H/J Street, Howe Ave, Watt Ave, Sunrise and Hazel covering a huge area, and getting around town suffers as a result.)  The public transportation was clean, convenient and felt safe.  Travel from our hotel into the downtown area is free to encourage use of public transit.  We loved the architecture with lots of old brick buildings with businesses occupying the first floors and apartments and lofts above that. I even noted some environmental considerations such as the street-side water retention settling basins.  Rather than runoff pouring into a drain where it is combined in some cases with the city sewer system, the water flows into shallow concrete planters, waters the vegetation, then in heavy rains water then enters storm drains, but now devoid of oils and metallics that are found in city gutter water.  This naturally filters the water, waters landscaping that otherwise wouldn't be there and allows for some groundwater recharge.

General downtown shots:

 

We hit the Pearl District, Chinatown and the Business Districts, as well as a portion of the University at the southern end of downtown.  Lunch at Deschutes Brewery and a stroll around the enourmous, full city block book store, Powell's Books.

 

The column supporting the second story at Powell's Books:

Hanna modeling:

 Later in the afternoon we went back for the bikes, rode across the Steel Bridge (aptly named, I suppose) and rode along the waterfront to the southern portion of Portland known as South Waterfront.  The City appears to really think-through city planning as they were installing a new gondola to support tourism, they were laying down pavers and a rail system to bring the lightrail into the newly developed areas.  They also added small shops in the bottom stories of the buildings, walkways and bikepaths as well some beautiful landscaped city parks.  We took a tour of a 25th story apartment/condo (in a 30 story building) where you get a view of the Williamette River as well as the downtown area.  It's totally different from the lifestyle we live now but it sure was neat thinking about waking up to that cityscape view every morning.


Portland from the Steel Bridge:

The 30-story waterfront apartment/condo building we toured:

The breathtaking view from the living room:

View from the balcony:

The interior:

 Again, that view!

 Prices (for the apartment, not the condo):
1 bedroom starting at $1499/mo.      (+ den is $1749)
2 bedroom starting at $2199/mo.      (+ den is $2799)
Townhomes starting at $2999/mo.

We took the bikes back to the hotel and walked into downtown to check out the nightlife. 

Hanna oogling over the Voodoo donut sign

Saturday, October 1, 2011

We drove due west of downtown into the Washington Park area to see the Pittock Mansion.  Just a couple of miles out of downtown you climb a steep grade and you find really nice homes stacked up the hillside with amazing river and cityscape views.  We took the Pittock Mansion tour and weren't too surprised to find lots of mahogany, limestone and marble inside the home, along with the most beautiful staircase I have ever seen.  I think the staircase railing was made out of bronze.  The landscaping and views were equally stunning.

Pittock Mansion from the front:

Backyard:

View:

Staircase:

In the Washington Park area we also visited the Japanese Gardens.  Some of the trees were 160 years old yet they were "trained" and pruned to remain as small as possible.  During the tour they explained that vibrant flowers and landscaping are not relaxing to Japanese people, however different tones of green along with running water and controlled vegetation overstory create a relaxing and peaceful environment.

 

 

 

 

 

We did a lot of exploring around Washington Park, including a peek at the rose gardens, tried to get into the zoo but they were closing and took a drive through the neighborhoods to check out the upscale homes.  We stopped into the South Waterfront area after dark to check out the gondola and the beautifully-lit park at night, then headed to dinner.




Sunday, October 2, 2011

Drove to Astoria, Oregon for the day.

Bridge connecting Astoria, OR to Washington:

We happened-upon this impressive tower that we know nothing about, other than it had some neat detail work on the outside with great views once you climbed the circular staircase inside that goes for days.

 

Close up of the detail:

View:

Monday, October 3, 2011

We picked the right time period to visit Portland, we had great weather when we wanted it for hiking and exploring around town and rain on days we didn't care, such as the day we visited Astoria and our entire drive back home.  The drive home went reasonably quick with no drama, other than discovering a new feature on Hanna's car....lock the doors from inside and the radio shuts off.  I figured it wasn't a flaw, it was merely a conscience-minded Volvo engineer decided that if you were locking the car from inside you were probably in the ghetto and it would be safer to mute the stereo so  you can hear the gunshots and flee to safety.  Go Volvo. 
I am new to concept of visiting cities on vacation.  Other than San Francisco and Seattle, I think Portland might be only my third multi-day vacation to a city destination.  The trip was super enjoyable and I see more of these trips in our future.