Cascades-Mt. Bachelor

The launch of summer. It's always fun for the kids to get that juxtaposition of heat and snow. We headed up to Mt. Bachelor for a day hike. Shane, Drake and Isaiah.

hiking up Mt. Bachelor

the climbs begins

finding the snow line

sledding down

Black Butte-Sisters, Oregon

Black Butte is a good hike for folks with young kids. Drake and I did a winter overnight that was very fun.

Redwoods (not Oregon)

Family trip down to the coast of California. The redwoods are incredible.

We stopped by the stormy coast before checking out the giant trees.

Flying sea foam glides along

Kris trying to stay warm on the beach

Drake pushes a tree apart

Inland to the lush forest

The scale of these trees is incredible

The fam' riding up a gondola to view the trees. So cute.

The view. Seems like they would have called this area the Smokies if the name hadn't already been taken.

 

Ochoco Mountains-Mill Creek Wilderness-Crook County

It was mid-February and I wanted to get my young boys to appreciate winter camping. So we headed into Mill Creek Wilderness in the Ochoco Mountains above Prineville, Oregon.


View of Steins Pillar from the valley of Mill Creek. This is an 350 foot tall stone that is comprised of volcanic ash produced by of the ancient volcanic eruptions of ash that settled in the ancient inland sea and compacted into stone. The stone all washed away except the pillar!





Drake hikes past a burn area from long ago.







Cascades-Black Butte w/ the boys

If there's anything I've learned about going into the wild with the boys it's that having some overall goal has nothing to do with it. The kids want celebrate the little things on the trail along the way. A tree stump, a bug, a rock, moss and so on. Appreciate the journey. I'm convinced I learn more from them than them from me.

We started off this day expedition shooting to investigate the Metolius and Black Butte. Now as of this trip, Shane (left) is 3 and Drake is 5 so the goal is just check stuff out, not bag peaks.

The trip began with a stop near Camp Sherman. This is a remarkable place where the kids are standing that looks anything but. This spot is about a 1/4 mile walk in from the road and is known by locals, but not much beyond that. So-what is it?

Well, the green you see in the background is algae of course, but it's not a muck filled pond. This spot is the beginning of the Metolius River. It's not a trickle on a mountain side, but a flow blown river that erupts out of the ground at this spot.

You can get a little more perspective on that when I turn the camera to the right with Drake standing in the same spot. The water in the background is the Metolius in all is full glory. Amazing. The river was buried at the base of Black Butte when it erupted recently, (geologically) about 20,000 years ago. The eruption built a cone about 3,000 feet above the surrounding landscape making it one of the tallest such cones in Oregon.

It was time to climb the Butte. Now this being February, it was a challenge getting up to the trailhead in the Prius, but with some chains and gumption we made it.

Unfortunately, I don't own any pictures of Black Butte at the moment, but you gotta see this amazing cinder cone. Google "Black Butte photos" if you haven't seen it. Here the boys huff it up the trail on the southwest side. You see Ponderosas which on the east face, only a mile or so up the trail change to an entire different species of plants-manzanitas and fir trees flourish.

A mile in or so, you see a few ancient ponderosas like the one I'm standing next to. The tree to the left is about 300 years old. I love how they show deep wrinkles of age as the fissures in the bark layers get deeper. Ponderosas get a distinctive orange tint on their trunks around 100 years that stays with them. Their color seems to relfect their wisdom of all they've seen.

These trees are beautiful, but also darn smart. The bark has dozens of layers which are sacrificial by design. When fire comes thru' they can have those outer layers of bark burn while the cambium layer (the tree tissue which acts like a blood vessel) stays protected.

Here Drake investigates a younger ponderosa-counting the rings to determine the age. At this moment he is showing me the distance between rings which varies depending on the amount of rainfall and then subsequent growth that year. When you look at the rings of an old tree like this (this one was about 200 years old) you are seeing a climatic record of the area. When the dry spells hit, wet periods and other stresses to the tree over many decades.

Our little 3 year old is getting spent after a short jaunt in.

Time for lunch and a recharge!

We didn't make it far up the trail that day, but the trip got Drake charged up and we summitted the Butte (6,436 feet) and camped out up there a month later.

John Day Fossil Beds

About 1 1/2 hours from our house is the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The Painted Hills area is the remnant of ancient volcanic ash from the Cascades to the west, eroded by water and winnowed by wind.

Finally, I took a decent photo. I knew that the odds would eventually go my way if I just took enough pictures.

5 year old Drake sprints thru' the nature trail.

Chilly November day.

3 year old Shane at the Painted Hills

The find for the day. Drake gets out of the car at a trailhead and finds a fossil. We left it of course, but discovered that the fossils in this area are between 6-54 million years old. What a GREAT trip for young families!

Cascades-Blow Lake-Drake, Dad and Shane

Blow Lake is a wonderful short backpacking trip with small children. About 30 miles west of Bend in the Cascades and easily accessible from the Cascade Lakes Highway, Blow Lake gives you and the kids a wilderness experience close to home. Drake (age 5), Shane (age 3) and I headed out on a brisk fall day.

The hike in from the highway is only about a mile and only gains about 140 feet. Far enough that the little ones will feel accomplished, but not too far if things go nutty.

The hike in is through a burn area that is slowly recovering. Lottsa sticks for the kids play with and a good teaching moment as you can explain the fire cycle.
Along hikes like this for the kids, it's always important to take time to enjoy the little things. The rocks you find, interesting plants, ants and funny tree trunks. Remember that the kids aren't so interested in the destination, they like the cool things they find along the journey.
Dinner after the grueling hike in.
The moonset over Blow Lake.
Hmm. Yummy oatmeal! A good lesson on this trip was to bring extra layers-way more than you think-for the kids. This is October and the nights can get cold in Central Oregon, but you can still get some good outdoors trips in.

I'm usually a no fire guy, but if there's a fire ring already established I'm okay with it. The kids of course love the fire. Yay!
The morning before the hike out as the mist floats across the lake. Yes we were only a mile into the wilderness, but in the end the kids felt great and really experienced the outdoors without an umbilical cord.