pictures

Many missing pictures that I was unable to load until now...

Climbing Mt St Helens...

Nancy and I...before we started...still smiling!

Donna and I...we made it to the summit together

View from the top...Rainier in the background

Looking into the crater...still smoking

Other misc. pics...

Mountain biked around this entire, beautiful lake...23 miles...I was tired!

After camping in Mt. St. Helens I decided I wanted to drive a a little further south to do this "epic" trail according to one of my books. It was a hot hike along the ridge of a mountain most the way, but the view from the top was spectacular! I could see five mountains: Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier, Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson, and Mt Adams. Apparently on even clearer days you can see the three sisters south of Portland.

This is biking south of Portland, can't see well in the picture, but the sisters can be faintly seen in the background

Backpacking Olympic National Park...

And we are off into the big, beautiful forest

The top of Appleton Pass, where we camped. It was cold and rainy. The rain on this backpacking adventure was very interesting. We were lucky to be able to set up camp while it wasn't raining very hard, but later we got completely drenched. It was very hard to keep some clothes dry to sleep in.

Day 2 we hiked from our campsite to the other side of the pass to these natural hot springs. There was nobody else there. It was great. But I was already so wet I didn't get all the way in, but it was nice to soak the feet.

Driving...

I left Oregon on September 23rd, and it has been quite a journey since! It is going to wear me out just talking about it!

To start, the night before leaving one of my amazing co-workers, Liane, threw an awesome goodbye party for me. It was quite a turn out! She did a great job. There were tons of food, good company, and good conversation. I truly miss all the people I worked with and got to know in Oregon. It was a wonderful experience, something I will always remember! Thank you to all the amazing people for giving me great friendship and an unforgettable experience!

Izzy and I

Cute Diana and Scarlet, I am holding little Willie!

Liane and I

All of us. Missing some very important people though. Love ya and miss you all!

After packing up as quickly as possible and doing a quick cleaning, I left Thursday morning, destination the Redwood Forest in Northern California. This is day 1 of the long trek back to CO. This drive took me about 8 hours. It was a gorgeous drive, along the northern pacific coast. It looked the same most the way, views of beaches and coastal cliffs. It was cloudy and rainy most the time, what's new, lol! Just a little north of the Redwoods it cleared up and the temperature was perfect. I was so excited. The Redwoods are somewhere I have wanted to visit for a very long time. It was unfortunate I only had that evening pretty much to be in the area. I got to see some gorgeous trees and found this perfect trail to experience the gorgeous forest and not take too long. It was actually about a 3 mile trail that I ended up jogging since I was short on time, it was going to get dark soon. It was perfect, trail winding through the forests, leaves changing colors and falling on the trail, and even a waterfall! No pictures of the actual trail though since I was running.

Shots taken pulling over on the side of the road while driving through the Redwoods

Near the trail I saw a sign for a campground that was on the beach. It was about 8 miles down a dirt road, but sounded great. I got at the campground and was able to snag the last camp spot! I was so excited to camp on the beach. Didn't even camp on the beach the whole time I was in Oregon. It was a bit chilly, but it was gorgeous! Got my camp set up then took a walk on the beach. The sounds of the ocean were amazing and it was a full moon, perfect evening walk along the ocean! And sleeping next to the ocean was so cool! Having a natural sound machine to sleep to! haha. In the morning I had to leave really early because I had to make it to LA by 7 to pick Luke up from the airport. I was visiting him and Jackie for the weekend and he was flying back from a TDY. It was nice that I was able to pick him up from the airport, but man is California a LONG state! It took me at least 12 hours just to drive from the Redwoods to LA. Crazy. Then he was nice and drove from LA to his house near Edwards Air Force Base. It was funny because my car was packed of course because I was traveling home, not really ready to carry the driver plus a passenger, so I sat with a cooler and two bags in my lap, and Luke unable to see out the rearview mirror. I was so happy to get to his house that evening and have two days off with no driving!

Huge elk in the Redwoods

Beach at campsite

Gorgeous full moon night, perfect for beach camping!

Cliff and mountain on one side, beach and ocean on the other!

The drive to his house was interesting at first, then after San Francisco got very boring and redundant. Long time just driving south on I-5. Some interesting things I passed included going through Big Foot territory, saw the one log house (literally a house in one big, single log), saw tons of road bikers biking the pacific coast trail, saw one biker pushing his bike up a hill towing a decent size trailer (crazy), along with more interesting things. Too bad I was unable to blog until now because I am sure there was a lot more I could have written about that I saw, but unfortunately I have a horrible memory!

Footprints in the sand! This is in northern Cali

All pics from northern Cali, the last of the coastal scenic part of the drive

Saturday Luke, Jackie, and I relaxed in the morning and visited, then we decided to do something we have been wanting to do for a long time, Geocaching! Luke has a nice GPS perfect to do this. I have hiked up upon a geocache one or two times in the past, but never set out hiking purposely seeking a cache. We went to Devil's Punchbowl Park, southeast of where Luke lives. It was a cool area, outside of Los Angeles National Park. It was hot and in the desert, but pretty. It was interesting having to worry about snakes in the area. Luke and Jackie saw one of the deadliest snakes in their driveway not too long ago, the Mojave Green. Luckily their neighbor assisted them in killing this deadly creature! We set out to find four geocaches, found three of the intended ones and one that was unintended. The third one we found was a backcountry cache, more difficult to get to and discover, but totally worth it! It was tons of fun. We had to do a little bouldering to get to it. Got a little bit of my need for some rock climbing out of my system. Not enough though, still in great need to do some rock climbing!

Bouldering our way to the third cache

These are dead cacti that grow really tall before they die, they look so cool

Jackie and Luke climbing up the side of a rock

Luke working on his rock climbing skills!

Now he's working on his weight lifting!

Trying not to fall into the nasty water

3rd cache, do you see it? We didn't either, for a LONG time. Luke and Jackie both were standing right over the spot where it was hidden for quite some time. It was so difficult to see. We were going to be so bummed if we never found it, but we found it!

The treasures inside the cache, we took the travel bug and left the skull patch from the previous cache that we traded matches for the skull patch

Day 2 with Luke and Jackie we went to church, watched some football, had some good family time playing games, then went to the new frisbee golf course on base. It was brand new, so it was kind of cool to get to play on, had a few recommendations for them to improve on. It was fun. We always have a good time playing frisbee golf! I'm always very thankful for the time I get to spend with Luke and Jackie, I don't get to see them enough. I miss them both. Can't wait for the next visit.

Monday morning I left early for the next day of driving...to Salt Lake City to visit Brea and Tom! I definitely don't get to see these two often enough either. I love them both. Monday night I got to see some of Brea's family. She has so many nieces and nephews. I got to see one of my fav's, Dekker. He attaches himself to me when I get to see him, I love it. I think I have seen them the most because they live the closest to Brea.

So happy to see each other

Teaching Dekker how to do flips!

On Tuesday we set out on a hike. It was so gorgeous. The trees were amazing. It was a bit chilly in the morning, but then warmed up quickly. We hiked up to Dog Lake where the reflection from the mountains was spectacular! God's beauty is so amazing!

We hiked a little farther trying to find another lake we thought was in the area, but turned out we were wrong. That's ok though, we got some good bonding and hiking time. That afternoon Brea taught me the art of Slacklining. It was very weird feeling, didn't think there was any way possible I would be able to do it. But it was really fun. Cheap entertainment!

That evening it was nice we got to kind of celebrate Brea's birthday together, a bit early. Afterwards, Brea plays volleyball with a bunch of people that are decent players. I was stoked to get to play some competitive v-ball. This doesn't happen much. We played for like two hours, it was so fun. We were worn out, but it was worth it!

The next day I set off early for my next day of driving. This was the shortest day of driving however, only 8 hours! It was pretty in parts of Utah with the fall colors, and CO was gorgeous. I love seeing the changing colors in the Aspen trees. When I got a little ways outside of Leadville (30min. from home) I started smelling something weird from my car. I was thankful I was almost home, my car needed a break. It's been making a weird vibrating noise lately too, I'm wearing it out! Definitely time for a new car! I was thankful when I made it home, but it wasn't too relaxing. I had to unload all my stuff and then repack for leaving the next day to go to Pueblo and then Oklahoma for my annual camping trip with old college friends. This will be for an upcoming post!

It was a very long journey home, broken up with great visits with friends and family. I am so thankful for the time I was able to spend in Oregon, all the friends I made and adventures I partook in. Now time to create more memories...!

Olympic National Park

I just went backpacking in Olympic National Park with my dad and brother, Nick. It was quite the experience... but I have some bad news...not many pics to put up. Not that I didn't take many, I just took them with my little camera, since we were backpacking you know. Being that I still have yet to go back to BV since coming to Oregon, I do not have the cord to download my pics to my computer. When I do finally get this cord it is going to be like Christmas! Have many pictures to look at that I have forgotten about. I am really excited to get some of my climb up Mt. St. Helens.

Anyway, driving up to Olympic National Park we had to stop in Forks, WA to obtain our backcountry permits. This is where the Twilight books were based. La Push is also mentioned in the books, where Jacob is from, which in reality is quite a distance west from Forks, right on the coast. The books make it sound like they are right next to each other. On the drive home we drove through Port Angeles, the "city" in the books. Mainly in Forks there were many things we saw relating to Twilight just driving through the main strip of town. Didn't recognize anything from the movies, but who knows if any of the movies were actually filmed in Forks. Anyway, there were a few Twilight stores and there was a place that ran Twilight tours! Funny. No worries, I did not take a tour! It was cool to go through the town.

Night one we car camped at the trailhead. It was a decent night. Not too chilly and no rain...! I worked the night before and only got less than two hours of sleep before we left so I was beat and went to bed super early! Did not even feel like smores, haha.

In the morning we heaved our heavy backpacks onto our backs and set out for our destination, Appleton Pass. They are very picky here about planning your itinerary early. Its quota area, I assume meaning they need to keep a good count on how many people are hiking to different areas and camping, and to be sure everyone makes it out safely. They are also VERY strict on the use of bear cans and bear wire! uh oh...

The hike went well. It would be nice if I had a backpack that fit me and backpacking shoes. I was using one of dad's packs, my upper body is way too short to fit right in it. My shoulders were killing me. I had to put the hip strap way up on my abdomen to get weight off my shoulders, therefore causing a really bad stomach ache or sore hips! Did not start raining on us until about the last 1-2 hours of our hike. Towards the end I went on ahead of Nick and dad and made it to the top of the pass to go ahead and set up my tent. Luckily by the time I was on top the rain had lightened up and I was able to pitch tent without getting everything soaked right off the bat! Dad and Nick arrived a short time later. They were tired!!! We made some dinner, hung all our food and stuff that smelled on bear wire, then headed off to bed!

Top of Appleton Pass, cold and wet!

Woke up the next day to a bit of sun poking through, no rain. We cooked up some breakfast, eggs and sausage then set out for a 10.5 mile day hike. Nick was funny, he kept saying how he has never hiked this much in one day. He did a good job! We hiked to a natural hot springs. It felt great! Until we had to hike back, which, unfortunately was uphill. The switchbacks up Appleton pass were pretty steep, both sides. And at about halfway through the hike back, it is raining pretty hard. Not too cold because of working so hard hiking, but definitely soaked through and through. By the time I made it back to camp I was drenched, tired, and cold. My shoes had already gotten totally soaked the day before so the whole trip I was hiking with wet feet. They were my only shoes so when I got back to camp I didn't want to change into dry clothes before I was ready to stay in the tent because I didn't want my dry clothes and socks to get wet. So I boiled up some water as soon as I got back and had some hot cocoa and soup while waiting on dad and Nick to get back. Nick arrived shortly after I did, but 30 min. later, wet and freezing, dad still had not arrived. I decided to call it a night and crawl in to the tent to dry off and warm up. It was getting pretty late and cold, I was getting worried. Finally, an hour after I had gotten back dad shows up! Nick and I had already had our emergency plan in case he didn't show up. I still didn't get out of my tent though. I was just praying I didn't have to pee in the middle of the night because there was no way I was getting out of my tent again! With very few clothes still dry, it is very important to keep them that way!

Next morning we awoke to it still raining very hard. Everything is completely soaked. We were able to sit under a tarp we brought to cook breakfast without getting too wet. Then we packed everything up and set off for the hike back down the mountain. It was a good hike back. Felt long, but it was peaceful. I went off ahead of Nick and dad. The forests we hiked through were so big and peaceful, everything so green, wet, and fresh! It was gorgeous! Got back to the car and thank the Lord it wasn't raining so I could get changed into dry clothes again! Nick finished 15 min after I did and dad...well we just kept waiting and waiting...waiting...and finally an hour and a half later he shows up at the trailhead, drenched from head to toe! From sweat! It wasn't even that hot, he said he wasn't used to humidity! haha. It was disgusting!

All in all it was a good trip. I'm glad I got to see Olympic National Park and do some backpacking. Always an experience living out of a bag! Definitely not too pleasant constantly being wet and not being able to dry things out. But it was a fun trip!

Waiting for dad at the trailhead, just a little exhausted!

One more adventure to go before I am back home in CO, and that is the drive back home. The west coast is a long but gorgeous drive I have heard so I am going to drive down to CA to camp in the Redwoods, see Luke and Jackie, then head over to visit Brea and then finally, home! Only to be home a day before heading off to Pueblo and OK for an annual college friends camping trip! I am excited, but it will be exhausting I am sure!

I can't believe my time in Oregon is almost up. Only two more nights of working. It has been great, gone fast, but I have enjoyed it. I am so thankful of all I got to see and experience. I will truly miss the relationships I have formed here. For anyone that has not ever been to Oregon, GO! It is beautiful, minus lots of rain and clouds, but the scenery is worth it! Just don't come in the winter, definitely count on rain then! Still no word on where I am off to next, but hopefully time will tell. I just have to be patient! I am in God's hands...

Rainier

MT RAINIER

NOT my pic, it was too cloudy for us to even see the mountain. Just thought it would be good to post a picture of the mountain because it is beautiful!

I flew back to Portland and had to work that night. Not much sleep. I worked six nights in a row. I do not do good with night shift and sleeping during the day, so I really did not sleep much. But I survived! After my last night of work my friend Tiffany flew in to Portland for a short visit. I decided to take her to Mt Rainier area to camp and do some hiking. I knew it would be an interesting experience because she is not a big camper. She was a trooper though. She did great, I was proud of her. She didn't complain about not getting to shower. And the weather was ridiculous. It was cold, rainy, and foggy. We were right at Mt Rainier and she never even got to see the mountain. That's how cloudy and foggy it was. Very sad, its such an awesome mountain!

We got there pretty late the first night, and thankfully the rain cleared up enough that it wasn't raining too hard when we set up camp. It rained all night on us and it was cold, but we managed to stay decently warm. I ended up sleeping until 11 the next morning! I couldn't believe it. Obviously I was very tired and in need of sleep but it had also rained all night long so I was trying to sleep out the rain, but it never stopped, haha. It was also my first day off after working six nights so I was used to sleeping at that time. It was ok though, we got up and went on a decently steep little hike. Unfortunately it was a ridge hike and perfect for the views, but there was no view, it was too cloudy. So a little disappointing. Then we went and got something warm to drink, drove around a bit, saw a couple awesome waterfalls. Still raining so we went back to camp and hung out in the tent a while. It was raining too hard that I didn't feel like attempting to make a fire. It cleared up a little so we went on a little walk around the campsite. Then went back to camp, played a few games and read. Next morning started out much earlier. We were going to camp three nights but since the weather was so sucky we packed up camp on day early and decided it would be nice for Tiffany to see Seaside. So second day in Rainier we did a hike up to a 1000 yr old forest. It was awesome. The trees were so huge! And then coming back was along a gorgeous river with great views and waterfall.

Tiffany and I (a little cold and wet)

I love being out and enjoying seeing and hearing things like this!

These are some BIG trees!

This canyon was amazing. Walking up it sounded like the water was close, then looking down the canyon was so deep. About 115 ft looking down until the water. Not somewhere you want to jump into the river! It was gorgeous!

After Rainier Tiffany and I drove back to Seaside. She liked the area. We attempted to go boogie boarding, but the waves were not big enough. It was fun to get in the ocean though. Always entertaining putting on and taking off the wetsuits! The next day we got to enjoy some gorgeous sunny weather in Portland before she had to go to the airport. It was kind of cool because my dad and brother flew in the same day and about the time I needed to drop her off at the airport. So now my brother and dad are in town, got some good backpacking plans, and then they leave two days before I leave Oregon :( Time goes by so fast. So with only a little over a week left in the northwest, I am going to try to attempt to enjoy every minute of it to the fullest!