Cascadia Hiking

Generally I try to avoid high traffic areas during their peak usage. Iron Mountain is world renown for it's impressive collect of wildflowers. Being that the only time to see the wildflowers is during the time of peak use, I opted to hike on a Monday. Though the wildflowers were slightly passed their peak it was still incredible. Having a vague idea of where I wanted to hike, I stopped by the Sweet Home Ranger Station, Isabel Fish was very helpful. She gave me a map of the area trails and a booklet on some of the wildflowers growing along the trail. Deciding that I wanted to hike out of Tombstone Pass I set out for the trailhead. Turn off for the Tombstone Pass trailhead Not sure of what the trail was like in either direction I opted to hike toward Cone Peak first, saving the wildflowers of Iron Mountain for last. The trail starts out just passed a large fairly new sign, area maps are located in the box there. The beginning of the Cone Peak Trail The trail d...

I vividly remember sitting along the shore of Upper Deadfall lake while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 2011 and looking over at my friend Scarecrow and telling him how awesome it would be to come back here and really enjoy it. While hiking the PCT I was often in a hurry. Looking back I wish I would have spent more time in some areas and less in others. The opportunity to go back came when another guy I hiked with, Moses called me and wanted to backpack for a few days. He mentioned Mount Eddy and I remembered seeing it on a PCT map, shortly after I realized it was directly below the Deadfall Lakes. I couldn't have been more excited. Upper Deadfall Lake After kicking around a few different ideas of what we should hike in the area, summiting Mount Eddy was a must, after that we would go where the wind took us. Sunset at Parks Creek Trailhead I spent the first night at the Parks Creek Trailhead ( directions ) and in the morning I headed down to Weed, CA to meet M...

Morning Sun On Dillon Lake After my day hike on the Rebel Rock Loop , I wanted to return to the Western Three Sisters Wilderness, this time for at least one night. While looking at my map of the McKenzie Ranger District I came across Dillon Lake, I'm not sure why but it captured my attention. At that point all of my energy was focused on the best route to Dillon Lake from the Pat Saddle Trailhead. Noticing that Forest Road ( FR) 1993 was the only one to the Pat Saddle Trailhead, I gave the McKenzie Bridge Ranger Station a call. The guy on the phone said that the only way in was from the Cougar Reservoir side and that it was probably still blocked by snow. Slightly disappointed, but not ready to give up my girlfriend and I set out to see if it was still blocked. Trailhead along FR 1993 While the rest of the country has been blazing hot we had been getting some fairly heavy rain and cool temperatures. As we pulled into the parking lot there was a cool breeze and st...